The field - work

On April 1st, 2012, in the desert sand three tourists stumbled onto what they interpreted as the remains of an ancient battlefield. In reality they discovered the remains of an ancient metal melting site ‒ an ancient crime scene. Most of the finds consisted of weapons fashioned from copper-alloy, especially daggers. They were mostly grave-goods. Everything about this find was unusual. How and when did it get there, just inside the Empty Quarter. Why should it be here, distant for markets and roads? The editors combined an international team which consisted of the original archaeologists at the site and experts on metal-finds. The text begins with an introduction from Sultan al-Bakri in which he explains the discovery from the point of view of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture, which sponsored the field-work. Clearly the true site toponym is ʿUqdat al-Bakrah, although the first archaeologists on the site called it by other names. In the first chapter Gösta Hoffmann explains the geology of the area, in order to get an idea of the pre-requisites for placing the site here. Important is water and fuel availability. Roman Garba tells the story of the discovery from first-hand experience. He also worked in the area prior to the find. Francesco Genchi and Claudio Giardino present the documentation of the excavations and find recovery made a few weeks after the finds were first sited. They establish the site dating and character. Paul Yule updates the chronology for metal-finds in south-eastern Arabia for the time from 3000 to 300 BCE. A main hurdle is to identify heirloom pieces and update the find chronology. Claudio Giardino and Giovanni Paternoster examined the metallic finds by means of energy dispersive X-Ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) and therewith characterise the chemical composition and technology available to the ancient metallurgists. Their results correlate nicely with the inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy of Julie Goy. Guillaume Gernez synthesises the results of the different studies based on his expertise in metallic weaponry. His independent opinion is designed as a final representation of the find and its cultural importance. It was deemed essential to make an exhaustive catalogue study of the find with the intention that it would not be necessary to document any of the finds again. That is why they are drawn and described. A the end concordances order the finds first by catalogue and then by find number. Except for arrow-heads, the finds are drawn 1:3 in scale