 | Iram of the Pillars: Encyclopedia II - Iram of the Pillars - Re-Discovery of Ubar/Iram
Iram of the Pillars - Re-Discovery of Ubar/Iram
Recent discoveries have brought Iram out of the realm of myth into history.
The first came when tablets found in the archives of Ebla were found to mention Iram by name.
A more recent discovery occurred when archaeologists examined photographs taken of the Persian Gulf Coast from the space shuttle Challenger in 1984. These photos revealed some buried cities along the ancient frankincense trade route dating from 2800 BC and 100 BC. One, on the eastern edge of Oman in the Dhofar province, proved to be a city known as Ubar, which is usually identified with Iram.
In the early 1980s a group of researchers became interested in the history of Ubar. They used remote sensing satellite ground penetrating radar data from NASA, and identified old caravan routes and the point where they converged. Excavations uncovered a fortress which protected the caravan routes and the all-important water source, which was a large limestone cavern underneath the fortress. Evidence of wide-spread trade was also found. An earthquake apparently broke open the water cavern and thus the water source was lost, after which the city fell into oblivion.
In 1992, the city was believed to have been rediscovered by Nicholas Clapp, an amateur archaeologist, by using the NASA data. Founded in 900 B.C. and located at one of the few watering holes, the ancient city had been an important trading post on the Incense Road, thus linking the frankincense groves of the coastal Omani Mountains to the markets of the rich cities of he north. Over the centuries the city, now called Ubar, had prospered and grown larger, until one day half of the city collapsed into a giant sinkhole and was abandoned to the sands by its citizens.
In reality, Ubar was not the name of the city, but the name of the region. In the 2nd centiry AD Ptolemy made a map which called the area "Iobaritae", i.e. the Ubarites. The Qur'an called them "the people of 'Ad". Later legends referred to the fabulous wealth of the city and used the region name Ubar to designate it.
Other related archives100 BC, 1984, 2800 BC, Ad, Arabian Peninsula, Arabian peninsula, Atlantis, B.C., Challenger, Children of Dune, Dhofar, Ebla, Frank Herbert, God, H. P. Lovecraft, Hud, Incense Road, NASA, Nicholas Clapp, Noah, Oman, Persian Gulf, Ptolemy, Qur'an, Rub al Khali Desert, Rub' al Khali, Shaddad, Sodom, Sura 89, The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, The Nameless City, Ubar, caravan, decadent, earthquake, frankincense, ground penetrating radar, lost city, myth, occult, sinkhole
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Re-Discovery of Ubar/Iram", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
