The Early Bronze Age Tombs of Jebel Hafit.

• Author: Yule, Paul A.

The Early Bronze Age Tombs of Jebel Hafit. By Bo MADSEN. Aarhus: JUTLAND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY and MOESGAARD MUSEUM, 2017. Pp. 245, illus. DICK 350. [Distributed by Aarhus University Press]

The Jebel Hafit tombs comprise the type-site for the Hafit period, Early Bronze Age, for southeastern Arabia. These tombs found sporadic reuse in later pre-Islamic periods. In the most recent monograph of the Jutland Archaeological Society, Bo Madsen has analyzed a voluminous documentation for this long-awaited monographic report. Karen Frifelt led the excavation beginning in 1968. Madsen brought his excavation experience, discipline, and routine from European archaeology to the excavation in 1971 (p. 21). The organization and editing of this book also reveal the steady redactional hand of Flemming Hojlund, who also saw the other volumes in this series through to publication. It complements sister-volumes, such as the reports on Bronze Age tombs and settlement on Umm an-Nar island, Abu Dhabi.

The volume is well organized, with numerous excellent black-and-white photographs, as well as maps and correct, high-quality drawings, which should attract newcomers to our field. The original tomb plans have been digitized, are uniform in format, and have excellent contrast. The use of many color images is a novum in this series. Colleagues, particularly those from European archaeology, might not appreciate images of finds 1:1 in scale, when, aside from beads, 1:3 is adequate, a minor point. As the team were in the field, large-scale maps of the area were rare, which resulted in a generalized mapping.

The volume's fifteen chapters fall into three parts, the first of which introduces the Danish mission's work and excavation methods in the United Arab Emirates (chaps. 1-5). The excavated contexts, ordered in the book geographically into zones (map: p. 16, fig. 4), form the bulk (chaps. 6-10), followed by a brief synthesis regarding the contexts and finds. Of course, preliminary reports in Kuml and other journals gave a good first impression, but this report brings everything together and adds new finds as well. The net harvest of this attractive volume consists of exhaustive gravegood inventories and excellent documentation of the 773 finds from fifty tombs. Beads and pendants were the most numerous finds (ca. 720 pieces).

Unfortunately, this high catalogue standard is lacking in many recent publications in the Gulf region. Most of the contexts and their finds date...