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The first excavation season of a joint project of the PCMA and Department of Archaeology and Excavations, Ministry of Heritage and Culture, Oman, was carried out in the microregion of Qumayrah in the fall of 2016. A single tomb was investigated at an Umm an-Nar period burial site in the area of the village of Al-Ayn. A complete ground-plan was traced, identifying the tomb as an example of a well-known type with interior divided into four burial chambers by crosswalls. The excavated quadrant yielded commingled skeletal remains and mortuary gifts: numerous beads, a number of pottery sherds and a single complete vessel, a few metal objects and a score of stone vessel fragments.

This paper reports briefly on the results of a short reconnaissance at the site of Qumayrah–Ayn 2 (QA 2), a new prehistoric site located in a poorly studied part of the Qumayrah Valley in northern Oman. A survey and limited probing by the Omani–Polish Qumayrah Archaeological Project confirmed the presence of a sediment, approximately 15–20 cm thick, which yielded not just lithics, but also stone installations discovered in situ. One of these installations was evidently a hearth, the other a kind of platform. The lithic assemblage is characterized by a prevalence of flake technology with rare blade products. Predominant in the tools group are side-scrapers, notches and perforators produced by direct-scaled retouch. The most characteristic tools are tanged projectile points made on flakes. The main problem is contextualizing these materials. On the grounds of certain premises they may be associated with the Fasad technocomplex, but not necessarily the pre-Neolithic one as is the case of the classic types. However, a much later chronology is also quite possible.

In the second field season of the Omani–Polish Qumayrah Archaeological Project, the prehistoric leg of the team conducted investigations of previously discovered lithic sites in the vicinity of Al-Ayn village. This paper summarizes the results of archaeological testing at three open campsites codenamed Qumayrah-Ayn (QA) 2, QA 6 and QA 12. The investigations provided new evidence of intensive Stone Age settlement of the Qumayrah Valley (also known as Wadi Fajj). The data, comprising lithic tools and some shell and stone beads, indicate that the occupation of these sites should be dated to various stages of the Neolithic period.

The ancient oasis of Salut, located on the desert's fringes in the heart of the Oman Peninsula, not far from the modern cities of Nizwa and Bahla, is distinguished by its rich archaeological landscape, which the Italian Mission to Oman has been investigating for more than ten years. The impressive Iron Age site of Husn Salut was the focus of the coeval settlement of the area, and in all likelihood it was also a key site at the regional level. Founded in the second half of the second millennium BC, Husn Salut was a place for public gatherings which also entailed a degree of rituality, an aspect enhanced by its monumental architecture, merging, as it does, with the location on top of a small hill which dominated the surrounding plain and made the site visible from the distance. Agricultural exploitation of the plain, made possible by a sophisticated water management, stood at the basis of the site' s subsistence. The site was largely abandoned after almost one millennium of continuous settlement, probably around 300 BC, with some evidence indicating a possible later date. While the investigation of the associated settlement of Qaryat Salut is just started, this book provides a general overview of the excavation at Husn Salut and its results, together with an exhaustive discussion of its material culture, with a specific attention paid to the pottery assemblage from selected, highly significant stratigraphic sequences. The site' s chronology is also specifically addressed, as an array of radiocarbon determinations, which, when considered together with the associated material culture, indicate its fundamental relevance in the discussion about the chrono-cultural phasing of the Early Iron Age of South East Arabia

There are thousands of burial monuments in the Sultanate of Oman. Despite some gaps in the cairn sequence, they are among the most consistent evidence of the human occupation between the third millennium B.C.E. and the seventh century C.E. For this reason, they have been used as a proxy for researching the ancient communities that inhabited these territories. Unfortunately, the majority of the extant studies have failed to develop comprehensive and systematic analyses of these tombs. The cause of the current situation is the absence of efficient methods to detect and record the burials. Traditional archaeological surveys cannot provide quantitative data for analysis of large areas. At the same time, the visual interpretation of satellite images is extremely time-consuming and cannot address the changes in archaeological data that have happened during the last decade. Recent developments in remote sensing have aimed to replicate the operation of visual interpretation automatically using computer power. This application has the potential to overcome the issues of the current methodologies used for the detection of the burial monuments of Oman. This project aims to develop an efficient method to detect and record the burial monuments of Oman automatically. This approach allows for the limits of visual interpretation to be overcome and thus to fully exploit the quality and quantity of satellite images currently available. Furthermore, this thesis seeks to go beyond the simple detection of the burials, developing a process aimed at automatically digitalising the tombs. This will allow for the extraction of morphological information that, together with the geographical position of the remains, will allow for the burials to be dated. As a consequence, it will be possible to create rich datasets of tombs suitable for use in addressing current archaeological issues. Furthermore, the automation will also greatly assist in monitoring the status of the remains over time. This is necessary due to ongoing developments and looting activities that threaten the preservation of the tombs. The study and preservation of the burial monuments are indeed urgent issues for the archaeology of the Middle East

Pionnière de l'archéologie islamique française au Moyen-Orient, Monik Kervran (Cnrs, laboratoire Orient & Méditerranée) s'est illustrée dès le début de sa carrière par ses fouilles à Suse en Iran et la découverte de la statue de Darius en 1972. Elle a dirigé dans les années 70 et 80 la fouille d?importants sites portuaires de la côte arabe du golfe Persique et de la mer d?Oman, à Qal'at al-Bahrain et Sohar. Elle a également mené des recherches en Asie centrale et en Iran oriental, notamment à Nishapour, puis, depuis les années 90, dans le delta de l'Indus où elle a ouvert des fouilles à Sehwan Sharif et Banbhore. 00A travers les dix-neuf contributions internationales présentées dans cet ouvrage, les éditeurs et les contributeurs ont désiré mettre en lumière la diversité des intérêts scientifiques de Monik Kervran. Ils souhaitent ainsi exprimer leur admiration et leur gratitude pour ses apports majeurs aux champs de l'archéologie, de l'histoire, de l'architecture, de l'iconographie et de la culture matérielle du Moyen-Orient et de l'océan Indien occidental aux périodes pré-islamique tardive et islamique