Editing Beehive tomb (section)

==Eastern Arabia==
{{See also|Eastern Arabia|Oman|United Arab Emirates}}

The earliest stone-built tombs which can be called "beehive" are in [[Oman]] and the [[United Arab Emirates|U.A.E.]], built of stacked flat stones which occur in nearby geological formations. They date to the [[Hafit period]] of the early [[Bronze Age]], between 3,500 and 2,500 years BCE, a period when the [[Arabian Peninsula]] was subject to much more rainfall than now, and supported a flourishing civilization in what is now the [[Arabian Desert]], to the west of the [[Hajar Mountains]] along the [[Gulf of Oman]]. No burial remains have ever been retrieved from these "tombs", though there seems no other purpose for their construction. They are only superficially similar to the Aegean tombs (circular shape) as they are built entirely above ground level and do not share the same tripartite structure – the entrances are usually an undifferentiated part of the circular walling of the tomb. Currently there are three areas where these tombs can be found: Al-Hajar Region (particularly [[Jebel Hafeet]] near [[Al Ain]] in the U.A.E.,<ref name="Magee_2014">{{Cite book |title=The archaeology of prehistoric Arabia (1968–) |last=Magee |first=Peter |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-3160-0318-3 |location=New York |oclc=879421807 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/879421807}}</ref> and the [[Archaeological Sites of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn]] in Oman),<ref name="UNESCO_BKA">{{cite web |publisher=[[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Convention]] |title=Archaeological Sites of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/434/ |access-date=2020-02-29}}</ref> Hat Region, and Hadbin area close to [[Barka, Oman|Barkaʾ]]. The Hajar tombs are very numerous and one or two have been restored, allowing one to crawl into the centre of a tall stone structure measuring {{convert|5|–|6|m|feet|abbr=on}}.

<gallery mode="packed">
File:Jebel Hafeet tombs.jpg|Beehive tombs dating to the [[Hafit period]] (approximately 5000 years ago), near [[Jebel Hafeet]] in [[Al Ain]], the U.A.E.
File:Beehive Burial near border with Al Ain.jpg|The [[Archaeological Sites of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn]] in the [[Hajar Mountains]] of Oman
</gallery>