At Mleiha, in the Oman Peninsula, the oldest graves, dating to the 3rd-2nd c. BC, are associated with massive mud brick tower like monuments, square in plan and decorated with crowsteps. Parallels with Qaryat al-Fau and Levant monuments have already been discussed (Mouton 1997 and 2006). The closest parallels are found at Petra, in the shape of monolithic towers, generally considered as the earliest expression of the Nabataean funerary architecture. But most of such monuments include a funerary chamber, which is never the case at Mleiha. Excavations have been carried out around the six monuments at Petra (2006-2008) to check the hypothesis of separate graves originally associated with them, and find chronological data indicating whether the graves inside correspond in fact to a re-using of the monoliths. Separated graves, mostly underground, have been found associated with five monuments (one could not be completely explored) confirming the closeness of the funerary traditions. And the picked up artefacts indicate two periods of utilisation of the graves, a first one very lightly represented, dating back to the 1st-2nd c. BC, clearly distinguished in stratigraphy from a second one, much better represented by a large quantity of fine pottery from the 1st-2nd c. AD.