Seafaring in the days of Magan, historical Oman
By Patricia Groves
There was a time when human beings went only where they could walk. As far as can be determined by scientific research to date, of all the early civilisations on the coasts of the world’s continents, only the Polynesians, the Scandinavians and the Arabs ventured far out over the oceans.
For Professor Maurizio Tosi, Prehistoric Archaeologist from the University of Bologna, the conquest of the seas was a human feat of tremendous significance. Professor Tosi believes that, “The conquest of the ocean was the first step forward into a much larger universe”. He evoked, with eloquence, a sense of the extraordinary courage involved:
“The ocean was a dangerous and mysterious realm; those who were carried out to sea never came back. It was not for trade that people took on the challenge of the ocean. It was an incredible adventure, an enormous challenge ... to go out to sea knowing death is waiting for you behind the waves. The ocean was an enemy, but humans would not surrender. They were dreaming, looking into the horizon for more and more interesting places…we humans have to conquer the universe”
Maurizio Tosi, too, is an adventurer who sees his profession of Archaeology as an ultimate intellectual quest. Thirty years ago he began his study of ancient Arab civilisation. His colleagues, Professor Serge Cleuziou from the Sorbonne at the University of Paris and Dr Tom Vosmer from Curtin University of Western Australia also came to specialise in the Archaeology of Ancient Arabia; and, ultimately, the three Archaeologists met up in Oman where they put their findings and perspectives together to create a composite understanding of the civilisations of Magan (including ancient Oman and the UAE), centred in the significance of the Magan boats and the maritime commerce which connected the great civilisations of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley, as early as seven thousand years ago.
Ancient bitumen slab fragments, with the imprints of ropes, bound reeds, or woven mats on one side, and the remains of barnacles on the other, were the clues to a momentous discovery. Many such pieces were found in present day Oman, the UAE, Kuwait and Iraq. The bitumen was used to seal boats made of reeds, rope and wood, as far back as the fifth millennium BC. The bitumen imprints were the first stage in building a blueprint of the ancient watercraft that linked the mighty civilisations of the time.
Further clues came from the discovery in royal graves at Ur in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) of bitumen models of the ancient boats. The famous Mesopotamian texts — clay tablets engraved with the early form of writing known as cuneiform, provided the ultimate detail — a list of the materials involved in building the bitumen boat and their quantities. The ingredients described in the Mesopotamian texts included, in the main: 178 large palm trees, 1,400 large pine trees; 36 large tamarix trees, 12,000 bundles of reeds, 800 kg of alfalfa grass, countless ox hides, and goat’s hair.
After the introduction by Professor Maurizio Tosi, from Professor Serge Cleuziou we learned about the way of life of the Magan people who built these boats; and, from Marine Archaeologist, Dr Tom Vosmer, how the boats were built. The presentations of the three Archaeologists were given as three chapters in a story. First, Professor Tosi emphasised the importance of the monsoon winds, the strategic location of Magan and the resourcefulness of its civilisation.
“Without the monsoons, it would not have been possible to ride over the ocean to the great estuary of the Indus. As we see from satellite pictures, Oman lies between two halves of the world, also between the wet and the dry, between the marshes, swamps and oil fields of Iraq where the black bitumen was found and the copper of Magan — creating an overall regional or area economy with zones of resources. The Arabs were the only people to create wealth in the desert in ancient times”.
In preparation for the second speaker, fellow Archaeologist Serge Cleuziou, Maurizio Tosi made reference to the level of development of the civilisation of Magan circa 4000 BC, mentioning that fishermen used hooks made from shells and lures made from pearl oysters.
The culture of Magan appeared to have ideological elements oriented to the grave. One skeleton was unearthed face-to-face with a turtle — and another, of a girl, was found with the shell jewellery with which she was once adorned; and, poignantly, with a pearl that she had once held in her hand. There was evidence of international trade, “not the beginning of trade, for trade goes back as far as the origins of humanity.”
Professor Cleuziou sketched the components of the ancient world of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Dilmun, Magan and the Indus (Meluhha), focusing first on the ancient capital of Akkad, not yet found, but believed to have been in the area of Baghdad. Mesopotamia was the realm of King Sargon of Akkad at whose command Magan boats came to the capital. Professor Cleuziou spoke also of the promise of prehistoric sites in the mangrove marshes of Iran, just now being re-discovered through Iranian archaeologists.
Professor Cleuziou gave a new dimension to Magan as a land bridge between the two seas, the Gulf and the Indian Ocean, strengthening our knowledge of the connection between Mesopotamia and the Indus. The eastern-most edge of the Magan settlement was at Ras al Jinz where fishermen of the Fourth Millennium BC dropped their lines from the cliffs, taking their catch directly from the sea. There, in 1981, Professor Tosi found “an artifact which changed our lives — a shard with writing from the Indus Valley”, indicating maritime trading links between the two civilisations. This shard came from an amphora vase with a capacity of forty to seventy litres, shaped to fit the hull of a boat.
The site was researched throughout the decade; and it was here, in the inaugural year of the excavation, that they found the first bitumen fragment — one with impressions of reed bundles. The site also held an ivory comb of Indian origin; a jar with Indus inscriptions; a copper stamp seal with the Indus Valley script; and, a frankincense burner, remarkable in its resemblance to those of today. Completing the picture were copper ingots unearthed in Iran, which were analysed and found to come from Magan.
The connection with Dr Tom Vosmer, a marine archaeologist also working in the region, was fortuitous. Dr Vosmer was the first to understand the significance of the bitumen fragments. Working from the bitumen impressions, the Mesopotamian Cuneiform Texts and local ethnography, Tom Vosmer proved to be a highly talented archaeological detective. He experimented with various materials, combinations and designs to recreate the ancient bitumen boats of Magan. The boat that the team constructed weighed four and a half tonnes and could carry seven tonnes of goods and a crew of nine.
Dr Vosmer’s experiments included, for instance, trying out different methods for the hull design. In the absence of archaeological evidence, Tom decided to build one side of the hull in a certain manner, and to construct the other side using a different design. The side that “worked best” later proved to echo the archaeological evidence. With impressive ingenuity, and a passionate pragmatism, Tom Vosmer succeeded in constructing what is, as far as can be scientifically verified, a reasonable replica of the Neolithic Magan boat of many millennia long past.
This work took place in the city of Ravenna, Italy, with the help of scientists from the University of Rome. The present intention is to create two more full size Magan boats in the original homeland of Oman — at Sur. The boats are to be operational in 2006, when Muscat hosts the GCC. The Archaeological team expects that it will take four to five months for the building and testing of each boat. His Highness Sayyid Haitham al Said has been highly supportive of the project. The Ministry of Heritage and Culture as well as the Royal Navy of Oman and India’s Navy are to be involved.
Now in the 21st Century, just as billionaires have the opportunity to travel in space, we might possibly have a chance to sail in a Neolithic boat — while, still the stars above count little the difference.
Oman Observer, 10th February 2004
