Approximately eight kilometers northeast of the city of Ras Al Khaimah, close to modern-day Shimal, lies the Shimal archeological site. Here, prehistoric settlements once thrived. On a ridge overlooking the ancient Shimal village, there also used to stand a medieval fortress and palace, one of the residences of the legendary Queen of Sheba.
The Shimal archeological site is the largest pre-Islamic site in Ras Al Khaimah. Aside from the remnants of two stone summer houses (i.e., the Shimal stone houses) and the ruins of the once-grand Queen Sheba’s Palace, here you will also find two circular arrangements of stone blocks and rough-stone monuments.
Even to untrained eyes, the circular arrangements of well-dressed limestone blocks and the megalithic structures spread along the foot of the mountain cannot appear random. They’re not.
They are tombs and burial sites, part of the register of ancient tombs in the UAE. Additionally, they represent two distinct, ancient cultures, part of the pre-Islamic history of the UAE and collectively known as the Shimal tombs of Ras Al Khaimah.
The Umm an-Nar Shimal Tombs of Ras Al Khaimah
There are two circular communal tombs in the Shimal archeological site.
The first tomb, which archeologists call Unar 1, you’ll find in a separately fenced trench approximately two kilometers from the main road, on the left side when approaching from the north. It is 11.3 to 11.5 m in diameter. The exterior ring-wall was constructed using finely dressed and carved ashlar masonry. The internal ring-wall and the cross walls that divided the large space into eight internal chambers were made out of rough-hewn or unworked limestone.
The tomb contained some 300 burials. Grave goods included black-on-red local pottery, soft-stone vessels, clay vessels (probably imported from Bahrain and southeastern Iran), copper awls, pins, rings, and thousands of beads of different materials. These burial artifacts date the tomb to between 2,600 and 2,000 Before Common Era, with some accounts placing it between 2,400 and 2,200 BCE and others between 2,200 and 2,000 BCE.
In short, the tomb could be more than 4,200 years old and is obviously an Umm an-Nar tomb.
Side note on the Umm an-Nar culture: The Umm an-Nar culture, which is part of the pre-Islamic history of the UAE, existed during the Bronze Age. The Arabic term means “Mother of Fire,” which is also the name of an island in Abu Dhabi. Umm an-Nar Island, currently the location of another archeological site, also contained a Bronze-Age Umm an-Nar settlement and cemetery. Umm an-Nar Island’s cemetery contained circular tombs, some of which were very similar in construction to the Shimal tombs of Ras Al Khaimah.
Approximately 200 meters south of Unar 1, by the foot of the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah’s side of the Hajar mountain range, is a second circular tomb, discovered during a road construction project. Archeologists have dubbed it Unar 2, and it is much larger than Unar 1. In fact, its diameter of 14.5 m makes it (so far) the largest Umm an-Nar tomb on record in both the UAE and Oman. For context, the circular tombs in Abu Dhabi’s Umm an-Nar Island ranged from six to 12 meters in diameter.
Unar 2 is constructed like Unar 1. The exterior ring-wall (the wall facade) was made with ashlar masonry, cut from white limestone and precisely shaped to match the round curve of the tomb. Inside, the interior ring-wall (the wall facing inward) and divider walls were constructed out of roughly hewn stones.
Unar 2 had two levels and 12 chambers compared to the single level and eight chambers of Unar 1. Grave goods also included an assortment of beads (shell, stone, carnelian), soft-stone vessels, and ceramics (both local and imported). These artifacts date the tomb between 2,300 and 2100 BCE.
Umm an-Nar Funerary Practices
Based on archeological accounts, the circular tombs contained co-mingled and fragmentary remains that had been cremated to varying degrees. They are consistent with the remains excavated in other Umm an-Nar tombs in the UAE and Oman.
Apparently, the corpses were interred in a flexed position, placed on the floor of the tomb (on the floor of the lower stories in the case of Unar 2). They were allowed to decompose and, after some time, they were taken out of the tomb for cremation.
After cremation, the bones were returned to the tomb (to the upper stories of Unar 2). The intermingling of the charred bones is the reason archeologists found it difficult to ascertain how many individual bodies the tombs actually contained. Hundreds is the consensus, with an unpublished report indicating there were 438 individuals interred in Unar 1.
The Grave Goods
The grave goods retrieved from the Umm an-Nar tombs included artifacts from the Indus Valley, Iran, and Mesopotamia. They, like the shards of broken Ubaid-period pottery excavated from the archeological site of Jazirat Al Hamra, further prove that Ras Al Khaimah actively traded with its neighbors, traversing the length of the Arabian Gulf, down to the Arabian Sea and even farther out, well into the Indian Ocean trade routes.
The Wadi Suq Cemetery
The Shimal archeological site is also home to a cemetery, Southeast Arabia’s largest cemetery of megalithic tombs. Megalithic tombs are burial sites made with unworked massive or large stones (i.e., megaliths). In Shimal’s case, the megalithic tombs date back to between 2,000 and 1,600 BCE, a remnant of the Wadi Suq culture (named after the Wadi Suq site in Oman) that succeeded the Umm an-Nar period.
The Wadi Suq tombs were elongated (up to 20 m long), not circular like the Umm an-Nar tombs, built with stones weighing up to one ton. They were predominantly above-ground communal burials (some were single-burial graves in subterranean stone cists) with corbelled roofs. There are more than 100 of these graves, spread over a stretch of three kilometers and varying in type, reflecting how funeral architecture changed in 400 years.
One of these, 16 m long and almost 11 m wide, showed a rectangular central chamber with a doorstep in the northern end. An oval chamber, a late addition (also with an entrance aligned to the first one), was built around it, apparently to allow for more burials. It contained the skeletal remains of at least 66 individuals.
Like the Umm an-Nar tombs, the Wadi Suq graves also contained pottery, stone vessels, and many other objects, typically the personal ornaments and property of the deceased.
Visiting the Shimal Tombs of Ras Al Khaimah
The Shimal archeological site is an excellent destination for those who are interested in history and archeology, especially students of the pre-Islamic history of the UAE. In particular, the Shimal tombs of Ras Al Khaimah provide insights into how the ancient Umm an-Nar and Wadi Suq cultures interred their dead and what objects were buried with them.
If you want to visit, the site is a 15- to 20-minute drive from the city of Ras Al Khaimah. Once inside the park, you will need to do a little walking and hiking to the Shimal tombs.
Important: You may access the Shimal archeological site only when accompanied by personnel from the Department of Antiquities and Museums.
