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  • The Bat Archaeological Project conducted its winter field season from December 26, 2022 until March 5, 2023. Our research focused on different areas of the Bat area’s Bronze Age archaeological landscape, including Rakhat Al Madrh, the Khutm Settlement, and the proposed location of the new Bat Visitors Center. At Rakhat Al Madrh, the team excavated three Umm an-Nar period houses. With assistance from a team of geomorphologists and geologists from the Sorbonne University, we also discovered that the houses were located around an ancient marsh/wetland where Umm an-Nar people likely experimented with early agriculture and pastured livestock. This ancient settlement is unlike any other known Early Bronze Age village or town in Arabia because of this environment. At Al Khutm, the team discovered and excavated Umm an-Nar houses and tombs and digitally mapped a very large fortress at the site dating to the Iron Age II. At the proposed location for the new Bat Visitors Center, we excavated and surveyed several mounds, which appear to be tombs that continue from the necropolis across the wadi. With the generous permission of the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, laboratory analyses on geological, C-14, botanical, and ceramic samples collected this season are currently underway.

  • The early Islamic period was marked by a resurgence in large-scale copper production in south-east Arabia. This is in contrast to the preceding era (early first millennium BCE to the mid-first millennium CE) and its notable lack of evidence of copper production. Various external and internal factors, including a flourishing Indian Ocean trade and environmental limitations, have been suggested as factors in this renewal and in its subsequent decline. However, the socio-political and economic factors that formed the framework for industrial growth during this transformative period are rarely considered. This paper delves deeper into the socio-political background of the early Islamic period in relation to industrial growth in south-east Arabia. To bridge the gap between historical and archaeological evidence, we also present new data from surveys and excavations conducted at early Islamic industrial sites in Wadī al‑Rākī, Oman. These findings offer new insights into the history of large-scale copper processing in the region.

Dernière mise à jour : 10/05/2026 23:00 (UTC)

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