FAY-NE15 — Another Neolithic graveyard in the Central Region of the Sharjah Emirate?

The paper describes indications for the existence of another substantial Neolithic graveyard of the fifth millennium BC besides al-Buhais 18 (BHS18) in the Central Region of the Sharjah Emirate. Archaeological explorations in 2006 recovered skeletal remains of three individuals from a primary burial. Deposition of the deceased was similar to BHS18. All three were richly adorned with different kinds of beads found in the head and neck areas. A total of 949 finds of beads from FAY-NE15 are compared to the large complex of personal adornments from BHS18. There are slight deviations that might indicate that the two graveyards were used by different groups. Implications for the relations between the groups are discussed.