An Iron Age II snake cult in the Oman peninsula: evidence from Bithnah (Emirate of Fujairah)

2007/05/01 by Anne Benoist · 3 citations
Arts and Humanities · #Archaeology and Historical Studies #Ancient Near East History #Ancient Egypt and Archaeology

paper · doi:10.1111/j.0905-7196.2007.00279.x

openalex publication_date 2007/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21

Abstract

Excavations carried out by the French Archaeological Mission at Bithnah‐44/50 (Emirate of Fujairah) have provided new data about Iron Age II cultic practices in the Arabian Peninsula centred on the symbol of the snake. The site includes a public building, various types of shrines, and a central area of offerings where the remains of animal sacrifices were buried in pits. These remains are presented and a preliminary account of the evolution of the site is given on the base of the site's stratigraphy.

Cited by

• Recent archaeological research at Saruq al‐Hadid, Dubai, UAE
• The provenance of early Iron Age ferrous remains from southeastern Arabia
• Al Bithnah [wikipedia]

Related

• Snakes and Sacrifices: Tentative Insights into the Pre-Christian Ethiopian Religion
• Monumentality, Social Memory, and Territoriality in Neolithic–Chalcolithic Northwestern Arabia
• Dendara at Its Origins: New Evidence for a Pre- and Early Dynastic Settlement Site in Upper Egypt
• A fifth-millennium BC cemetery in the north Persian Gulf: the Zohreh Prehistoric Project
• New Rock Art Discoveries in Aṣ Ṣafiyya (Wadi Nafūn, Duqm), Sultanate of Oman