アラビアのオアシスに４０００年前の町 「遊牧から都市へ緩やかに移行」

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】フランスとサウジアラビアの考古学者チームは３０日、サウジのオアシスで発見された４０００年前の要塞化された町によって、遊牧生活から都市生活への緩やかな移行期の生活が明らかになったと米科学誌「プロスワン」に発表した。（写真はサウジアラビア北西部ハイバル郊外のオアシスの中にある要塞跡「ハイバルとりで」）
　「ナタ」と命名された町の遺跡は、アラビア半島北西部の砂漠にある緑豊かなオアシス「ハイバル」に隠れていた。今年発表された研究によると、この場所で１４．５キロにわたる古代の壁が発見された。
　研究を率いるフランスの考古学者ギヨーム・シャーロー氏は「これらの壁が居住地を取り囲むように配置されている証拠」をつかんだとＡＦＰに語った。
　この町は初期青銅器時代の紀元前２４００年頃、最大５００人の住民がいたが、約１０００年後に放棄された。「理由は分かっていない」という。
　ナタの町が建設された時期、現在のシリアからヨルダンにかけてのレバント地域（地中海東部沿岸）では都市が繁栄していた。
　ナタの壁は黒い玄武岩によって隠されていたため「盗掘から守られた」とシャーロー氏は述べた。だが、上空から遺跡を観察すると、発掘すべき場所の手掛かりとなる道筋や住居の基礎が確認できた。
　予備調査では、丘の上に壁に囲まれた約２．６ヘクタールの町があり、約５０軒の住居があったと考えられている。壁は高さ約５メートルに達する可能性があり、この町が何らかの強力な地方権力の拠点だったことを示唆している。
　また論文は、この町が遊牧生活からより定住化した生活への移行期における「緩やかな都市化」の過程を示していると述べている。
　ナタの町は当時のメソポタミアやエジプトの都市と比べると依然、小規模だった。だが、シャーロー氏は、広大な砂漠の中で、都市国家とは異なる「もう一つの都市化への道」が存在したことを示すものだと述べ、それは「より控えめかつ、はるかに緩やかで、アラビア北西部に特有のものだ」と語った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/10/31-18:59）

The discovery of a 4,000-year-old fortified town hidden in an oasis in modern-day Saudi Arabia reveals how life at the time was slowly changing from a nomadic to an urban existence, archaeologists said on Wednesday.
The remains of the town, dubbed al-Natah, were long concealed by the walled oasis of Khaybar, a green and fertile speck surrounded by desert in the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula.
Then an ancient 14.5 kilometre-long wall was discovered at the site, according to research led by French archaeologist Guillaume Charloux published earlier this year.
For a new study published in the journal PLOS One, a French-Saudi team of researchers have provided proof that these ramparts are organised around a habitat, Charloux told AFP.
The large town, which was home to up to 500 residents, was built around 2,400 BC during the early Bronze Age, the researchers said.
It was abandoned around a thousand years later. No one knows why, Charloux said.
When al-Natah was built, cities were flourishing in the Levant region along the Mediterranean Sea from present-day Syria to Jordan.
Northwest Arabia at the time was thought to have been barren desert, crossed by pastoral nomads and dotted with burial sites.
That was until 15 years ago, when archaeologists discovered ramparts dating back to the Bronze Age in the oasis of Tayma, to Khaybar's north.
This first essential discovery led scientists to look closer at these oases, Charloux said.
- 'Slow urbanism' -
Black volcanic rocks called basalt concealed the walls of al-Natah so well that it protected the site from illegal excavations, Charloux said.
But observing the site from above revealed potential paths and the foundations of houses, suggesting where the archaeologists needed to dig.
They discovered foundations strong enough to easily support at least one- or two-storey homes, Charloux said, emphasising that there was much more work to be done to understand the site.
But their preliminary findings paint a picture of a 2.6-hectare town with around 50 houses perched on a hill, equipped with a wall of its own.
Tombs inside a necropolis there contained metal weapons like axes and daggers as well as stones such as agate, indicating a relatively advanced society for so long ago.
Pieces of pottery suggest a relatively egalitarian society, the study said. They are very pretty but very simple ceramics, added Charloux.
The size of the ramparts -- which could reach around five metres (16 feet) high -- suggests that al-Natah was the seat of some kind of powerful local authority.
These discoveries reveal a process of slow urbanism during the transition between nomadic and more settled village life, the study said.
For example, fortified oases could have been in contact with each other in an area still largely populated by pastoral nomadic groups. Such exchanges could have even laid the foundations for the incense route which saw spices, frankincense and myrrh traded from southern Arabia to the Mediterranean.
Al-Natah was still small compared to cities in Mesopotamia or Egypt during the period.
But in these vast expanses of desert, it appears there was another path towards urbanisation than such city-states, one more modest, much slower, and quite specific to the northwest of Arabia, Charloux said.