A joint team from Royal Museums of Arts and History in Brussels Belgium, and Sharjah Archaeology Authority carried out archaeological investigations at Cemetery Area in Mleiha where “Amod Tomb” Oman ruler inspector in the third century BC had already been unearthed.
Dr. Sabah Aboud Jassem director general of Sharjah Archaeology Authority stated: “Ten burials were fully excavated. Although all these burials were looted in the old ages, yet they still contain such important information about the early history of the site. A collection of luxurious pots imported from Mesopotamia and the locally produced pots, and others were from India and Iran, were found in the cemeteries.
In addition to the pots, fragments of Bronze decorated utensils and sieves and wine amphora (pots) from Rods were found in Mediterranean Sea. This shows the importance of Wine in the Burial rituals. Also, a Unique Indian Bronze statue was unearthed, representing a crystal clear example showing the strong commercial and trading relations of Mleiha.
He added: the team also found remains of two main cemeteries which included huge burial buildings upstairs. There was a vast area around the cemeteries fully paved with mud bricks. They represented foundations for instilling roots holding palms (Brasti). In the past, they were installed near the said cemeteries, which mean that the said part of the cemetery was intensively used.
Many large pits were also discovered. High quality Calcaric soil was extracted from them in order to produce Clay bricks used in building burial buildings nearby them.
Plans have been set to carry out further researches in order to know the area of the paved cemetery; in addition to excavating the huge cemeteries in their center part. The vicinity of these tombs from Amod tomb shows that they could unearth some information about the early history of the site.
