Figure 1
Map of ancient Arabia showing the location of Dadan and the main ancient trade routes. (Drawing by J. Rohmer; basemap: H. David/UMR 8167).
Figure 2
Aerial view of the site of Dadan at the end of the autumn 2022 season, from the northwest. (© J. Rohmer).
Figure 3
Number of animal bones recorded in the different excavated areas (in number total of bone remains) (© F. Lesguer and H. Monchot).
Table 1
List of Dadan species in number of identified specimens according to the different excavated areas.
| SPECIES | A | B | C | D | E | G | S | 4215 | TOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic mammals | |||||||||
| Sheep/Goat (Ovis aries/Capra hircus) | 1,606 | 18,245 | 24,325 | 1,027 | 7,899 | 297 | 461 | 828 | 54,688 |
| Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius) | 28 | 650 | 4,186 | 18 | 9 | 181 | 3 | 146 | 5,221 |
| Cattle (Bos taurus) | 46 | 52 | 3 | 101 | |||||
| Pig (Sus scrofa cf domesticus) | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| Donkey/Mule/Horse (Equus sp.) | 3 | 33 | 54 | 1 | 3 | 94 | |||
| Dog (Canis lupus familiaris) | 45 | 5 | 32 | 50 | 18 | 150 | |||
| Cat (Felis catus) | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| Wild mammals | |||||||||
| Oryx (Oryx leucoryx) | 3 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 18 | ||||
| Gazelle (Gazella sp.) | 3 | 166 | 18 | 19 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 214 | |
| Striped Hyaena (Hyaena hyaena) | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| Leopard (Panthera pardus) | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 10 | ||||
| Hare (Lepus capensis) | 1 | 5 | 2 | 8 | |||||
| Small carnivora (size red fox/cat) | 10 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 16 | ||||
| Black rat (Rattus rattus) | 50 | 50 | |||||||
| Rodentia sp. | 39 | 31 | 5 | 7 | 30 | 7 | 1 | ||
| Chiroptera sp. | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||||||
| Birds | |||||||||
| Chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) | 8 | 6 | 4 | 18 | |||||
| Brown-necked raven (Corvus ruficollis) | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Rock dove (Columba sp.) | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Accipitridae | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Ostrich (Stuthio camelus syriacus) | 2 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 24 | |
| Marine species | |||||||||
| Marine mammal | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Fishes sp. | 355 | 31 | 56 | 4 | 38 | 2 | 113 | 599 | |
| Urchin (Heterocentrus mamillatus) | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Coral | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||||
| Seashells | 43 | 105 | 81 | 10 | 36 | 32 | 307 | ||
| Indeterminate specimens | |||||||||
| Bird indeterminate | 23 | 3 | 15 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 58 |
| Small sized mammal | 60 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 82 | ||
| Medium sized mammal | 3 | 8 | 4 | 15 | |||||
| Large sized mammal | 133 | 1,211 | 5,410 | 29 | 60 | 185 | 3 | 121 | 7,152 |
| Indeterminate | 2,760 | 47,633 | 40,039 | 1,934 | 4,146 | 652 | 506 | 1,061 | 9,8731 |
| Total | 5,180 | 68,196 | 74,312 | 3,087 | 12,286 | 1,329 | 1,135 | 2,171 | 167,696 |
| %NISP | 42.5 | 28.3 | 38.8 | 36.3 | 67.4 | 36.7 | 54.4 | 47.6 | 36.8 |
Table 2
Number of bones showing cut marks and chop marks.
| SPECIES | A | B | C | D | E | S | 4215 | TOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheep/Goat (Ovis aries/Capra hircus) | 10 | 29 | 558 | 2 | 121 | 2 | 9 | 731 |
| Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius) | 4 | 130 | 1 | 4 | 139 | |||
| Cattle (Bos taurus) | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||||
| Donkey/Mule/Horse (Equus sp.) | 3 | 3 | ||||||
| Dog (Canis lupus familiaris) | 3 | 2 | 5 | |||||
| Oryx (Oryx leucoryx) | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Chicken (Gallus gallus) | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Grouper (Epinephelus sp.) | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Large sized mammal | 1 | 1 | 6 | 8 | ||||
| Indeterminate | 3 | 1 | 4 | |||||
| Total | 14 | 37 | 704 | 2 | 125 | 2 | 13 | 897 |
Figure 4
Percentage of caprine and camel from several sites on the Arabian Peninsula with the total number of associated remains. (Non-exhaustive list of sites, © F. Lesguer and H. Monchot). [Datas from al-Yamamah: Monchot 2016; Mons Claudinius; Hamilton-Dyer 2001; Berenike: Osypińska and Woźniak 2019; Tayma; Prust and Hausleiter 2020; Aqaba: De Cupere et al 2017; Hegra: Studer 2010; Dumât al-Jandal: Monchot 2014; Thaj-Al Bad-Gaza-Petra: Monchot unpublished].
Table 3
List of mammal and bird species from Dadan Area C according to the different chronological phases.
| PHASES | CHRONO | CAP | CD | BT | EQU | GAZ | OL | SS | LC | VV | CL | ROD | GG | COR | SC | AV | %CD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 4–20 CE | 4,306 | 1359 | 3 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 32.5 | |||
| II | 1–3 CE | 141 | 30 | 0.7 | |||||||||||||
| III | 1 CE-1 BCE | 5,424 | 1083 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 25.9 | ||||
| IV | 4–1 BCE | 6,471 | 1173 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 28.1 | |||||
| V | 5–4 BCE | 4,861 | 369 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8.8 | ||||||
| VI | 5–4 BCE | 1,168 | 113 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2.7 | |||||||||
| VII | 8–5 BCE | 372 | 34 | 6 | 4 | 0.8 | |||||||||||
| IX | 11–10 BCE | 367 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0.5 | ||||||||||
| X | 13–11 BCE | 25 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| XI | 15–13 BCE | 636 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||
| XII | 17–16 BCE | 76 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||||
| XIII | 19–18 BCE | 458 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||||
| XIV | 22–20 BCE | 5 | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| TOTAL | 24,310 | 4,181 | 52 | 54 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 32 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 17 | — |
[i] [AV: Aves sp.; BT = cattle (Bos taurus); CAP: caprine (Ovis aries/Capra hircus); CD: camel (Camelus dromedarius); CL: dog (Canis lupus familairis); COR: brown-necked raven (Corvus ruficollis); EQU: Equids (Equus sp); GAZ: gazelle (Gazella sp.); GG: chicken (Gallus gallus domestica); OL: oryx (Oryx leucoryx); LC: cape hare (Lepus capensis); ROD: rodentia; SC: ostrich eggshell (Struthio camelus); SS: pig (Sus scrofa cf. domesticus); VV: red fox (Vulpes vulpes)].
The absence of bones in phase VIII (9–8 BCE) comes from the fact that they are purely architectural phases, with no associated layers. The slight differences in the count with Table 1 are due to the fact that some SU could not be properly located chronologically.
Table 4
List of the different fish species in number of identified specimens at Dadan according to the different excavated Areas.
| AREAS | A | B | C | D | E | F | S | TOT | %TOT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demersal fish | ||||||||||
| Acanthuridae | Acanthuridae | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1.75 | |||||
| Acanthurus sp. | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1.31 | |||||
| Naso cf. | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | |||||||
| Zebrasoma cf. velifer | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | |||||||
| Zebrasoma sp. | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | |||||||
| Zebrasoma velifer | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.87 | ||||||
| Lethrinidae | Lethrinus cf. xanthochilus | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | ||||||
| Lethrinus mahsena | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.87 | ||||||
| Lethrinus lentjan | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | |||||||
| Lethrinus sp. | 11 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 18 | 7.86 | ||||
| Lutjanidae | Lutjanus bohar | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | ||||||
| Lutjanus cf. argentimaculatus | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | |||||||
| Lutjanus sp. | 1 | 7 | 8 | 3.49 | ||||||
| Scaridae | Hipposcarus harid | 34 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 49 | 21.4 | ||
| Scarus arabicus | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | |||||||
| Scarus frenatus | 9 | 9 | 3.93 | |||||||
| Scarus ghobban | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 4.8 | ||||
| Scarus sp. | 6 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 5.24 | |||||
| Scaridae | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4.37 | ||||
| Serranidae | Aethaloperca cf. rogaa | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | ||||||
| Cephalopholis sp. | 12 | 1 | 13 | 5.68 | ||||||
| Epinephelus cf. tukula | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | |||||||
| Epinephelus radiatus | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1.31 | |||||
| Epinephelus tukula | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.87 | ||||||
| Epinephelus cf. indistinctus | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | |||||||
| Epinephelus sp. | 8 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 23 | 10.0 | ||||
| Plectropomus leopardus | 2 | 2 | 0.87 | |||||||
| Plectropomus sp. | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | |||||||
| Variola sp. | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | |||||||
| Serranidae | 8 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 17 | 7.42 | |||
| Sparidae | Acanthopagrus sp. | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | ||||||
| Rhabdosargus sp. | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1.75 | |||||
| Rhabdosargus haffara | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | |||||||
| Sparidentex hasta | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | |||||||
| Muraenidae | Gymnothorax cf. | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | ||||||
| Pelagic fish | ||||||||||
| Shark | Shark | 6 | 6 | 2.62 | ||||||
| Carangidae | Caranx ignobilis | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | ||||||
| Caranx sp. | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.87 | ||||||
| Carangoides cf. chrysophrys | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | |||||||
| Carangoides fulvoguttatus | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | |||||||
| Carangoides sp. | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | |||||||
| Carangidae | 5 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3.06 | |||||
| Pristigasteridae | Illisha compressa | 1 | 1 | 0.44 | ||||||
| Total identified | 120 | 6 | 41 | 2 | 19 | 1 | 40 | 229 | 100 | |
| Unidentified teleostei | 213 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 69 | 292 | — | |||
| Total | 333 | 8 | 43 | 2 | 25 | 1 | 109 | 521 | — |
Figure 5
Graphic representation of the distribution of the family of fish, in number of remains (NR in orange) and weight of remains in gram (WR in blue).