Chronology of construction and occupational phases of Nawamis tombs, Sinai based on OSL dating

Abstract

The Nawamis are sandstone-built circular structures, located at several sites across Southern Sinai, Egypt. They are thought to be family tombs, created by the nomadic people that inhabited the area. Archaeological age estimates fall within the Early to Late Bronze Age. Here an interesting suite of nine OSL dates of three stone pieces has been resulted, from two Nawamis at Gebel Gunna and Ain Khodra fields. Single aliquot regeneration OSL of quartz grains provided the accumulated dose. XRD was used to identify mineralogy of several tombs. Based on the estimated luminescence ages a time span from Early and late Bronze ages is obtained, while some possible later activity, due to partial (re)construction or reuse of tombs, was detected.