Your search

The Hasat Bani Salt is South-eastern Arabia's largest and most important rock art monument. Often referred to as Coleman's Rock, it is named after the geologist who, by word of mouth, made it known in expatriate circles in the 1980s. An improvement of its documentation allows a better idea regarding its dating and meaning.

The question arises as to the nature of Parthian and Sasanian presence in south-eastern Arabia. Important is the role of the archaeological record in Oman in the early first millennium CE. The excavator has emended his chronology for late pre-Islamic Oman, de-emphasizing the evidence of radiocarbon dating. Recently in prominent places, Derek Kennet ignored and denigrated key results won from excavation and study in the 1990s. By means of the selective citing of sources, he concludes that the Samad cultural assemblage predates the first century CE.

In September 2018 the population of the capital area reached 1.4 million. Places such as Al Khod need room for growth. The development of this area during the past 20 years includes the building of the Nizwa road, highway 15, to its north-east Lulu Al Bandar super market and flanking to its west a large housing settlement. There, pre-Islamic hut tombs are scattered over the three low mountains (600m x 300m area). The Ministry of Defence plan to develop the mountains (Fig. 2) as a recreational facility – the ‘Heritage Hill’ project. This report sketches the mapping and excavation (12.01. to 26.01.2023) and documents 140 burial structures, the excavated finds, the clearance of stone from the tomb cluster on the southern mountain, figures of the 3D and drawings of the tomb images. This site, with its hut tombs and niche graves is important to solve the problem of the dating and nomenclature of prehistoric funerary architecture. The author searches for an alternative to the nomenclature ‘cairn’ which describes not the original architecture, but rather an undifferentiated, dishevelled state of preservation.

This fresh study thoroughly re-casts the unrecognised Samad Late Iron Age (SLIA) and its archaeological context in the 600 years which flank the year 0 CE, providing valuable insights into the significance and complexities of this enigmatic era. Through meticulous research of archaeological sites and recent discoveries, the authors present an in-depth understanding of the SLIA. A particular focus is given to examining the relationship between the SLIA assemblage and that of the Mleiha/PIR, parsing the cultural connections between these separate yet intertwined archaeological phenomena. By investigating diverse topics such as burial practices, pottery, small finds, trade networks and architecture, this work aims to offer a comprehensive grasp of the material culture and historical scene of the centuries preceding the rise of Islam. With its contribution to the ongoing academic discourse on the archaeology of south-eastern Arabia, this book fills a niche for scholars and enthusiasts seeking archaeological knowledge about this fascinating Arabian period.

Abstract First reported in 2014, a fortified site atop a small mountain adjacent to the village of al-Nejd shows another facet of the settlements of the little-known Samad Late Iron Age (SLIA). Until recently, few settlements of the Early Iron Age and late pre-Islamic period are recorded and published in the land between the Oman Peninsula (U.A.E.) and Oman’s southern province, Dhofar. While analyzing graves with skeletons and finds of the latter period yields information about their owners, settlements lag far behind. With this background, al-Nejd offers new insight into the settlement, in addition to the first coin to be found in Oman. The authors attempt graphic documentation to contextualize the architecture and answer two questions. First, is there a typical kind of SLIA fortification separate from other periods? Second, how closely is the SLIA related to its neighbors and the preceding period in terms of material culture and architecture?

The following evaluates 778 tombs surveyed, 295 from the BEW salvage excavations in the Bāṭina, and 361 excavated from Samad/al‑Muyasser. We entered long‑known and also new sites into an open-source database known as ‘Ent’ – an ongoing effort. Two issues arise for the hut tomb chronology: to determine a more specific nomenclature of the tomb shapes and to date by means of contexted finds. To the extent possible, we disambiguate hut tombs from other burial structures. Specific stone structures previously identified as ‘cairns’ can be more closely typologised. Dating tombs more finely than to the Early Iron Age or late pre‑Islamic period is rarely realistic. Excavated, poorly preserved tombs shed little light on the dating of well‑preserved hut tombs.

In 2023, the author’s gazetteer of Iron Age sites joined as a source in the Digital Atlas of Ancient Arabia. It provides basic data regarding EIA and late pre-Islamic sites in SE Arabia, such as their location, character, discovery date, and bibliography, which were previously difficult to overview. The number of documented SLIA (Samad Late Iron Age) sites has increased to 114, with 78 in Sharqiyah, 33 in Dakhiliya, and 5 in Muscat governorates. The vast majority are funerary. The largest of these, Mahaliya, has the potential to challenge the dominance of the type-site, Samad/ al-Muyassar, as the primary source of information. Artefact classes serve as the method to progress the study of SE Arabian prehistory. Recently, seven stratified 14C determinations of charcoal came to light in the Mahaliya settlement. In combination with previous datings, they bolster the beginning of the period to 300 BCE. Another novelty is the study of imported glazed vessels in some of the graves, which indicates the isolation of this assemblage from centres to the north and south. The Heidelberg project solidifies the typological and spatial definition of the SLIAn (Samad Late Iron Age, near), related to both the SLIA and the PIR. Finally, the different SLIA sites had little contact each other, to judge from the heterogeneity of their find-repertories. This notion is bolstered by the strong individuality of grave structures. While many of the finds were already published, re-examination emended many pottery descriptions. One result is new evidence for a break between EIA and SLIA pottery and other finds.

Numerous metallic artefacts, which anciently were deposited in a hoard, came to light per chance on the campus of the Sultan Qaboos University in Al Khawd, Sultanate of Oman. Mostly fashioned from copper, these arrowheads, axes/adzes, bangles, daggers, knives, socketed lance/ spearheads, metal vessels, razors, rings, swords, and tweezers compare well with numerous documented artefact classes from south-eastern Arabia assigned to the Early Iron Age (1200-300 BCE). Discussion of the international trade between ancient Makan, Dilmun, and Mesopotamia during the 3rd millennium BCE dominates the archaeological literature about Arabia archaeology. The Al Khawd hoard and its contemporaries lend weight to the suggestion that 1st millennium BCE Qadē (the name of south-eastern Arabia at that time) was even more important than Bronze Age Makan in terms of the copper trade volume. A reassessment shows the Early Iron Age by no means to be a dark age, but rather an innovative, successful adaptive period characterised by evident population growth