The burial fields of Wadi Halfayin

Wadi Halfayin is an alluvial corridor located to the south of Jebel Akhdar with its northern boundary to the south of the town of Izki and its southern boundary to the north-east of the oasis of Adam. The region comprises several contemporary villages such as Zukayt, Habl al-Hadeed, Sooq Qadeem, Shafa and Al Akal. The region yielded evidence of 682 monumental funerary structures - ranging from the end of the fourth millennium to the first half of the first millennium BC (ca. 3100-600 BC) - and some diagnostic findings. In terms of later prehistoric cultural phases the valley comprises Hafit (ca. 3100-2700 BC), Umm an-Nar (ca. 2700-2000 BC), Wadi Suq (ca. 2000-1300 BC), and Iron Age (ca. 1300-600 BC) structures. Wadi Halfayin produced evidence of intense occupation over a long time-span, and offers a useful laboratory to observe change in the funerary landscape of Arabia from the Early Bronze Age to the late pre-Islamic period. In this region Bronze Age and Iron Age seem to be closely connected and even overlapped, suggesting a persistent attractiveness of the area during the whole pre-Islamic development.