Umm Al Maa

The word umm is Arabic for "mother", and is a commonly used prefix used to signify geographic features. Maa, the second constituent, is the Arabic word "water"; it was given this name in reference to multiple freshwater wells found in the area. ==History==

British diplomat and researcher J. G. Lorimer gives an account of Umm Al Maa in his Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf in 1908, presenting it as a bay known as Dōhat Umm Al Mā. He gives its location as below Ras Ushayriq and just above Dohat-Al-Usaiwad. He goes on to state: During the 1937 Qatari–Bahraini conflict, the Al Jabor faction of Al Naim tribe were forced to evacuate here from Zubarah, where they were besieged by Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani's forces due to their allegiance to the emir of Bahrain. During anthropological fieldwork conducted in 1950 by Henry Field, an estimated 30 tents belonging to the Bu Rumaih tribe were recorded in the area. ==Area description==

Umm Al Maa is situated on the west coast of Qatar, around northwest of Doha and southwest of Madinat ash Shamal. It forms the southernmost extension of the middle sector of Qatar's interior plain region. For the most part, the area consists of level rocky plains and is accentuated with occasional low hillocks, depressions and furrows. Elevations of between can be observed on its hillocks, which mainly comprise limestone but which are also composed of sedimentary depositions and sand. Depressions in the area show great variations in size and length, with some only measuring a few meters in diameter and the largest depression, named Mleiha, having a length of several hundred meters. Most of the human activity seems to have been concentrated in the central Mleiha depression, which has an area of approximately . However, the burial ground's boundaries are known to extend much further; at least from the coastline in the west to the highway between Al Jemailiya and Al Ghuwariyah in the east, and from as far north as the highway linking Zubarah and Al Ghuwariyah to the Dukhan Highway in the south. These boundaries would give it a minimum size of roughly . Many of the burial mounds are grouped around low hillocks or in the depressions. The majority of these burial sites are in poor condition as a result of grave robbers, chemical and wind weathering, human traffic and recreational off-roading. These mounds are overlain mainly with limestone and on average have diameters of between and stand from to tall. Similar ancient cemeteries have been observed at Ar Rakiyat to the north and at a smaller scale near the city of Al Khor on the eastern coast. Although the first official estimate of tombs was put at roughly 50 by the Danes in late 1950s, a German archaeological team that conducted a preliminary survey of the site in 2008 claimed there were at least a few hundred, if not thousands of mounds. ==Settlement==

British archaeologist Beatrice de Cardi and her team were the first to study the settlement at Umm Al Maa in any great detail. Among their discoveries were Indian red polished ware and glazed earthenware, which they dated to the Sasanian period ( third century AD to seventh century AD). The German archaeological team which carried out a preliminary survey of the area in 2008 noted that it had not found conclusive evidence of a settlement. Remnants of various stone structures were observed, but the majority were associated fire pits, prayer areas, barns and tent corrals, all of which would point towards more recent origins. The most convincing evidence of prior settlement was uncovered in the Mleiha depression near the only water well still in use, where outcroppings of old structures can be seen. However, an earthenware fragment found by the team near the well was said to be no older than 200 to 300 years, thus this area may also be associated with more recent habitation. The team theorized that the ancient cairns were likely constructed by nomads rather than settled peoples, as the climate and geography of the area discouraged a sedentary lifestyle. ==Graveyard==

Discovery In 1957, an ancient graveyard containing 50 cairns was found here by a Danish archaeological duo consisting of Geoffrey Bibby and Peter Glob. The average cairn had a diameter and stood around . One of the cairns uncovered by the Danes in 1957, which had a diameter of , a height of and a length of , was of particular interest. Further investigation uncovered that it had a stone cist with three roof slabs (flat rocks used to cover a grave) encompassed by smaller rocks. The cist was facing north-to-south and was fitted into the bedrock. Within the cist was a skeleton facing towards the north. As no grave products were found alongside the skeleton, the Danes were unable to date it. However, they were able to date pit fired earthenware and sherds of an alabaster bowl found in the cairns. They postulated that the cairns and pottery most likely dated to the Bronze Age (), which they concluded by comparison of similar Bronze Aged cairns found in Bahrain. Japanese Archaeological Mission First season A Japanese archaeological mission composed of Masatoshi A Konishi, Takeshi Gotoh and Yoshihiko Akashi picked up where the Danes left off. They surveyed Qatar from 1988 to 1991. Second season During the second season, 1990–91, the Japanese group unearthed two burial complexes labelled J-3 and J-4, which featured a series of oval burial mounds measuring between in diameter. The mounds were heaped on a thin, level layer of dark-colored sand with a depth of . The mounds themselves were made mainly of light-colored sand and were slightly slanted. More artifacts were discovered in the other chamber, including a cylindrical-shaped agate bead, two circular flint glass beads, pieces of bronze and copper rings, and an intact bronze and copper ring. Further items were found beneath the mound, including a stone mortar and fragments of pottery. Archaeologist Muhammad Abdul Nayeem has stated that these burials were reminiscent of graves purportedly built by nomads in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia around the third millennium BC. ==References==