Your search
Results 4 resources
-
The discovery in 2020 of the Nafūn rock art complex, located in al-Wustā Governorate in south-central Oman, has emerged as one of the most extensive rock art sites in south-eastern Arabia. To date, the archaeological investigations led by the Institute of Archaeology Prague and the permission of the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, has brought to the discovery of 61 flat limestone panels, bearing approximately 1000 engraved figures and 200 rock inscriptions offering further evidence of the regional use of South Arabian writing traditions (abecedary of 27-29 letters) used in South Arabian kingdom who are Sabaic, Qatabanic, Minaic and Hadramatic inscriptions, as is the case with the North Arabian variants (Dadanite, Lihyanite, Thamudic, Safaitic, etc.). This variant - Omani script - was also used in the Ẓofār region and in the north of Sultanat of Oman, whose earliest traces date back to around the 4th-3rd century BCE (in the Khôr Rôrî in Ẓofār region). The engravings depict a remarkable variety of subjects, including maritime fauna such as sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea), sperm whales, squid, jellyfish, ray fish, and mola mola, alongside the more characteristic representations of dromedary camels—sometimes mounted—horsemen engaged in hunting scenes featuring oryx and wild canids, and other terrestrial motifs. The Nafūn assemblage attests to a long and complex rock art tradition that can be tentatively dated from the 5th millennium BCE to the 2nd millennium CE, providing an unparalleled window into the evolution of cultural expressions and lifeways in the Arabian Peninsula over a span of more than six millennia.
-
This paper presents new evidence of Late/Final Palaeolithic occupation in central Oman... [cite: 4]
-
This paper presents the newly identified Middle Palaeolithic site of Wadi Baw 4, in the Al Wusta Governate, close to Duqm. Middle Palaeolithic sites are very rare, especially in central Oman, where no sites had been identified prior to this, making this an important site not only for Oman, but the broader Arabian Peninsula. The site is a large (100m2) and relatively dense (>30 artefacts/m2) lithic scatter located on a slightly elevated limestone ridge with outcropping chert nodules at its base and flanks. The lithic assemblages produced from these chert nodules exhibit technological variability and weathering heterogeneity, indicating a likely palimpsest of Pleistocene (Middle Palaeolithic) and later Holocene occupation phases that targeted this raw material. By extending the Middle Palaeolithic record of hominin activity into the Huqf area of south-eastern Arabia with the first evidence of Levallois lithic technology, Wadi Baw 4 helps to diversify the picture of Arabian prehistory and promises to make an important contribution to wider debates surrounding the early peopling of the Arabian Peninsula. Work is in progress to establish a robust chronostratigraphic framework for the site through a multi-technique dating approach. In the meantime, this paper will present some preliminary results from the analysis of the Middle Palaeolithic lithic artefacts from the site and briefly consider where they might fit within the wider context of the Arabian Middle Palaeolithic.
Explore
Resource type
Publication year
-
Between 2000 and 2026
(4)
-
Between 2020 and 2026
(4)
- 2026 (4)
-
Between 2020 and 2026
(4)