Your search

Despite the significant scarcity of water resources, human groups in Oman developed long-term strategies enabling sustainable occupation of drylands. These adaptive capacities were shaped over millennia of settlement in challenging and fluctuating environments that, over the past 10,000 years, experienced major shifts from humid to arid conditions driven by monsoon variability. Such climatic fluctuations profoundly influenced the availability of water, plant, and animal resources. The long-standing interactions between environment and early Omani societies, situated at the intersection of natural processes, climatic trends, and resource management strategies, are traceable in both archaeological and environmental records. The UmWeltWandel joint project (2020–2024) investigates the local-scale environmental evolution of the Al-Khashbah area in Oman through a multidisciplinary approach integrating geochemistry, geomorphology, geophysics, soil science, archaeobotany, and palynology. The project aims to reconstruct the long-term evolution of landscapes and resources in Central Oman over the last 10,000 years. This paper presents an overview of the project’s results, focusing on how the Al-Khashbah sector in the Ash Sharqiyah North Governorate evolved from the humid conditions of the Holocene Humid Period to the present arid climate, and how Bronze Age societies began to transform the surrounding landscape to optimize local resources around Al- Khashbah. By intensively investigating a single area through a multidisciplinary framework, this study both extracts new and challenging datasets and highlights the potential of selected environmental proxies for reconstructing human–environment interactions in Oman and, more broadly, in drylands.

Research conducted along the Omani coastline of the Arabian Sea has revealed a new chapter in the history of early maritime communities. Globally, most coastal habitats from the early Holocene have been submerged by rising sea levels. The caves in the cliffs of Natif (Hasik, Dhofar) are an exception in Arabia: they are currently the only evidence of maritime communities from the Late Paleolithic period on the peninsula. Between the early 9th and 8th millennia BCE, these early Arabian fishermen focused on catching small pelagic species (anchovies and sardinella), as well as rays and sharks. Around 6000 BCE, the shores of the Arabian Peninsula were covered with Neolithic settlements, sometimes consisting of large shell middens. The mission discovered a large number of these along the Arabian Sea and explored several, notably at Suwayh, Ruwayz, Khuwaymah, Masirah Island, Sharbithat, Hasik, Ad Dahariz, Hallaniyah Island, etc. Among these, the Suwayh SWY-1 settlement is particularly noteworthy, as its inhabitants specialized in shark fishing between 5800 and 4400 BCE. This Neolithic period also saw the conquest of island environments, including the large island of Masirah and the Hallaniyat archipelago. While Masirah was occupied early on (5900-5600 BCE), Hallaniyah was settled much later (around 4400 BCE). By this time, the entire territory of Oman had been conquered by Neolithic communities. At the same time, the mission worked to establish a chronology for these periods. In Sharbithat Bay, as in Hasik, it is currently bringing to light a new facies from the very end of the Neolithic period, between 3700 and 3100 BCE.

This paper presents new evidence of Late/Final Palaeolithic occupation in central Oman... [cite: 4]

The wide scope of the Salūt and Bisya Archaeological Mission (SBAM) includes the survey and investigation of the different types of archaeological remains that together form the remarkable palimpsest of the ancient oasis of Bisya and Salut. A significant component of this work, involves the investigation of graves located on Jabal Salūt. Among these are burials dating to the Wadi Suq period (Middle Bronze Age, c. 2000–1600 BC). While Wadi Suq funerary architecture is generally characterized by a high degree of variability, with unique variants suggesting the expression of specific intent, new research suggests the presence of regional trends in these practices. This contribution specifically highlights the recent discovery of peculiar structural annexes to Wadi Suq graves on Jabal Salūt. These features are interpreted as a possible demonstration of such emerging regionality and will hopefully contribute to a broader understanding of Middle Bronze Age funerary patterning.

Recent excavations carried out at Al-Ghoryeen (2018–2024), located on the western slopes of the Hajar Mountains in North Al-Sharqiyah Governorate, have uncovered a distinctive building (S3) dating to the early phase of the Umm an- Nar Culture (2800/2700 BCE). The structure was built with a certain and specific architectural layout, consisting of two symmetrical halves separated by a wall running along the building. One half includes a series of parallel, adjoining rooms that open onto a long corridor, while the other half contains fewer rooms, arranged differently from those in the adjacent section. The building is connected to a large courtyard enclosed by a massive wall. This architectural concept shows a remarkable similarity to Dahwa (DH1)—particularly in building (S10). Dahwa lies about 200 km northwest of Al-Ghoryeen, on the eastern slopes of the Hajar Mountains in North Al-Batinah Governorate, and dates to the middle phase of the Umm an-Nar Culture (2500/2400 BCE). What, then, is the spatial and chronological relationship between the two sites? And does the architectural similarity reflect a shared functional aspect of both buildings?

Archaeological excavation is a systematic method, providing direct and detailed information for the recovery of buried structures at archaeological sites. Its limitations are the labor-intensive nature of the implementation, the low rate of production and the disturbance of the stratigraphy. Applied geophysics provide several methods which are non-invasive and non-destructive... [Texte intégral conservé]

Oman’s built heritage needs a modern, repeatable way to document complex sites and make conservation decisions based on evidence rather than intuition. This pioneering study demonstrates a complete, end-to-end Heritage Building Information Modeling (HBIM) workflow on the Bibi Maryam Mausoleum (Qalhat) and shows how the same method can scale nationally. The research integrates four strands: (1) literature synthesis on documentation in hot- arid contexts; (2) stakeholder engagement through surveys and expert interviews; (3) multi-sensor field capture— terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), UAV photogrammetry, close-range imaging, and selective manual measurements; and (4) a semantic, parametric HBIM at roughly LoD 300, encoding geometry, construction systems, materials (including lime–sarooj plasters and stucco layers), chronology, and pathologies within a single, queryable model. Implemented in a Revit-based environment, the workflow privileges interoperability (IFC/CSV) and living records over one-off drawings, enabling multi-party updates without model corruption. Results show that compared with mesh-only outputs, HBIM delivers greater adaptability, semantic depth, and life-cycle updatability. It supports diagnosis, risk mapping, and option evaluation (from minimal intervention to compatible repair) while reducing duplication of effort across agencies. The pipeline translates directly into policy actions: defining national HBIM standards (LoD/ LOI/metadata and QA/QC), assigning custodianship, and training teams to extend the method to forts, harāt, and urban ensembles. Crucially, the model accommodates intangible heritage, oral testimonies and craft knowledge, anchoring conservation in the memory of making. In short, this case proves HBIM is feasible and scalable under Omani conditions, offering a template to standardize workflows, de-risk conservation spending, and build a national digital heritage backbone.

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.