Death and Burial: Gulf Region

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Burial practices through the Gulf varied between regions. For example, at the site of Tell Abraq, located on the arid coast of the United Arab Emirates, a six meter in diameter, collective tomb was used at the very end of the third millennium B.C. Collective burial, in which most or all of a community were buried together in one large, freestanding, stone structure, was the norm in the Oman Peninsula during this period. At least 394 individuals were buried in the tomb at Tell Abraq, along with objects that demonstrate extensive foreign contacts.

In contrast, in the region of ancient Dilmun (the island of Bahrain and the adjacent portions of eastern Saudi Arabia), collective burial was rare, and individual burial in large burial mounds or within stone chambers clustered in a group (perhaps family burial places) beneath a single mound was the norm. A "collective mentality" seems to distinguish the society of Oman (ancient Magan) from the very mercantile, more literate, society of Dilmun, where the individual seems to have played a greater role.