Search

In recent decades, the Sultanate of Oman has witnessed growing attention to documentation and architectural survey projects of historic buildings, recognized as a fundamental component of safeguarding Omani architectural heritage and a cornerstone for planning sustainable restoration and rehabilitation initiatives. Governmental and academic institutions have come to recognize that heritage protection cannot be achieved without a precise knowledge base that records the material and symbolic attributes of buildings before they are exposed to deterioration or transformation. This paper aims to analyze the most significant field-based architectural documentation experiences in the Sultanate, with particular emphasis on projects implemented through partnerships between the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism and the University of Technology and Applied Sciences. The study presents selected examples of documentation projects covering a number of prominent sites, including the forts and castles, as well as numerous historic quarters and mosques. These sites were subjected to rigorous documentation programs that, alongside historical data, incorporated photographic documentation, architectural surveying, three-dimensional modeling, three-dimensional visual sections, and the recording and analysis of construction materials and architectural elements. The methodology is based on a descriptive and comparative analysis of traditional documentation methods (manual surveying and architectural drawing) and contemporary digital techniques (3D laser scanning and aerial photogrammetry using unmanned aerial vehicles). Architectural documentation in Oman is undergoing a transitional phase toward digital transformation in heritage preservation, and partnerships between governmental bodies and universities have contributed significantly to the development of national capacities and unified professional standards. The paper recommends the establishment of a national center for the digital documentation of architectural heritage, dedicated to collecting, organizing, and continuously updating data related to historic buildings in line with Oman Vision 2040.

The UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Bat and al-Khutm are renowned for their Early Bronze Age monuments. Together, they form part of a broad archaeological complex dispersed across the Wadi al-Hijr floodplain, its tributaries, and surrounding hills. While archaeological remains are distributed throughout this landscape, the highest densities of materials—towers, tombs, settlement structures, and related features and artifacts—are found on the hill peaks and slopes lining the wadi valley, including the Bat Settlement Slope, al-Ahilya, and al-Khutm Settlement. These locations preserve dense palimpsest of domestic, monumental, and mortuary materials at or just below the ground surface. Rather than a continual occupation, the remains reflect an intermittent presence and repeated reoccupation from the late fourth through the first millennium BCE. Such complex sets of multi-period surface remains are common at archaeological sites throughout the Hajar region, yet are rarely addressed through an explicit methodological or theoretical framework. Drawing on recent fieldwork by the Bat Archaeological Project, this paper conceptualizes the Bat and al-Khutm landscape as a cultural palimpsest spanning the Bronze and Iron Ages. Methodologically, it examines the challenges posted by superimposed occupational layers of site documentation, spatial analysis, and material characterization. Theoretically, it considers how palimpsest—where each occupational phase overlays and interacts with preceding remains—shapes the formation, use, and perception of the site as a cultural space over time. Results speak to larger interpretive issues of continuity and change in this characteristically Arabian landscape.

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.

"This volume investigates the rich spectrum of religious practices and beliefs at Carthage from its foundation until the end of Roman rule. Essays analyse the metropolis's Phoenician, Punic, and Graeco-Roman cults (all exhibiting a remarkable degree of assimilation and amalgamation), mystery cults, Judaism, and Manichaeism. A majority of essays comprehensively examine Christianity's development (including persecution, martyrdom, Montanism, and Donatism) within Carthage's multi-cultural environment. Utilizing methodologies from popular culture studies, biblical exegesis, cultural studies, and archaeology, contributors cover such innovative topics as: polytheistic religiosity; Jewish identity and devotional life based on a recently discovered ancient synagogue near Carthage; and challenges experienced by St. Augustine as a guest-preacher to rambunctious congregations at Carthage"-- Provided by publisher

The article traces the multifaceted path of the Sultanate of Oman: it analyzes the evolution of the Sultanate's role: from a British possession focused on domestic politics and the resolution of internecine wars to an influential player in the region and a mediator in resolving conflicts on an international scale. The article shows how Oman combines a traditional but unique foreign policy with active participation in solving global problems, and neutral, as a peacemaker and mediator in terms of escalating conflicts.

Discover this 2026 paper in Journal of Babylon Center for Humanities Studies by ماجد مزهر حسين focusing on: NETHERLANDS; OMAN; MARITIME shipping; INTERNATIONAL alliances; COMMERCIAL markets; INTERNATIONAL economic relations; MARITIME history Abstract: Trade played a major role in the development of trade relations between the Netherlands and Oman, principally when the Netherlands was considered as one of the major maritime countries in the world in that time. So, it was in deep need to this commercial markets to sell its trade and Oman was considered as the most remarkable country in the Arabian Gulf region at that time. Also, it had significant control over the seas and rivers in the Arabian region . Oman’s control extended to many areas in East Africa. Therefore, the Netherlands found in Oman a strong ally and with this ally it can enter into an alliance, and the Omani markets would become the most important markets for selling Dutch products. Oman welcomed this alliance, through which it found an important way to stand up to the European countries and Persia . The Netherlands used trade as a means to gain a foothold in Oman, both to unload its goods and to secure access to the seas and rivers bordering Oman. The Dutch believed Omani markets were important for selling their merchandise, particularly from their Asian colonies. However, Omani markets were not as large as the Dutch had imagined, as they were not significant enough to purchase Dutch goods.

none

This paper presents the integrated study of a distinctive bleach-decorated (bleached or etched) carnelian bead (S3074) discovered at the South Arabian port of Sumhuram (Dhofar, Sultanate of Oman), a Hadrami trading outpost active within regional and transoceanic trade networks between 100 BCE and 400 CE. Originating from a technology developed in the Greater Indus Valley during the 3rd millennium BCE, bleached carnelian beads remained markers of long-distance trade in the Early Historic and Medieval periods. Stylistic comparisons and SEM-based drilling diagnostics revealed that the Sumhuram specimen, the first securely identified example of this bead type in South-western Arabia, is consistent with production in north-western India. Its discovery in an urban context rather than a funerary assemblage raises interpretive questions about its circulation and meaning. While it may reflect structured trade flows linking Gujarat with South-eastern Arabia, the possibility that it was the personal possession of a South Asian individual temporarily residing in Sumhuram is equally plausible. This case ultimately exemplifies the entanglement of material culture, mobility, and identity in a cosmopolitan port city. Beyond economic exchange, the bead provides insight into personal histories and cross-cultural interactions across the Western Indian Ocean during the Late Iron Age.