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The article attempts to place Musandam in the context of a relationship with the ancient trade center of Hormuz. It tentatively tries to give some directions that define Musandam not only as the periphery of the Arabian Peninsula, but also as the southern hinterland of the former world trade metropolis. And in this context as an active part of the flows and activities of the strategic strait for a period of at least 400 years in Hormuz heyday between the 14th and 17th centuries. The spatial approach is based on field research in Musandam focusing on grain production and regional mobility, conducted first in the 1970s and later in the 2010s, completed by the analysis of literature on the history of Ilormuz and the greater region. Traces of this ancient connection are still recognizable, shaping the landscape and culture of today's Musandam.

n Oman, the numerals of sheep and goats in the present time reflect a clear disparity in both animals' populations numbers. The Agricultural Census 2018 stated that the livestock of Oman contains 2,302,000 goats and 605,000 sheep. The divergence between the two animals is attracting attention and notice through the unexpected and conspicuous population numbers. In addition, archaeological excavations in Oman and the United Arab Emirates indicated the same situation during prehistory. This paper examines the discrepancy in the numbers of the sheep and goat populations in Dhofar region, southern Oman. There must be an explanation for this disproportion between goat and sheep in prehistoric and present times. This is an attempt to find the compels and the conditions that characterize this discrepancy. It examines the environmental conditions in Dhofar for both animals and the preference of the traditional herdsmen in Dhofar over sheep and goat. Moreover, the paper examines the effect of copper in soil and grass on both animals and finally provides the archaeological record of the osteological remains of sheep and goat. The examination of these factors can possibly facilitate a reasonable analogy between the present and prehistoric situation.

In May 2013 Gõesta Hoffmann and Maurizio Tosi had the opportunity to document some surface clusters of Islamic period remains in the wilayät Sib, along the coastal area between Wadi Al Lawami and Wadi Al Khars. This consisted mainly of pottery dated between the early to late Islamic period (8th to 20th centuries CE). In June 2013, on behalf of the then Ministry of Ileritage and Culture, a first survey allowed us to recognise more archaeological materials focused around al-Rawdah Roundabout and the remains of a fort made of mudbricks and heavily obliterated by vegetation further to the south. In light of written sources referring to the ancient settlement of Damă as located in the southern al-Bäținah plain probably identifiable as As Sib (Seeb), further field analyses were undetaken in September 2013 in order to define the geoarchacological landscape via systematic survey, investigative excavations, and the definition of the palco coastline pertaining to the fort. The results of the project support the hypothesis that the ancient town and harbour of Dama is indeed to be located in present day As Sib.

While the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bat, Oman, is famous as an exceptionally large and well-preserved Early Bronze Age oasis settlement, the site's archacological landscape extends far beyond the oasis. The Bat Archacological Project (BAP) aims to better understand the complex array of Umm an-Nar period (ca. 2700-2000 BCE) cultural activity and human-environment interactions evidenced at the site and its environs in the Wadi al-Hijr. This paper presents the excavation results and preliminary interpretations of BAP's winter 2022-23 field season, which targeted three areas of suspected Umm an-Nar period settlement in the Bat landscape within a 10 km radius of the oasis: "Operation A," al-Khutm Settlement, and Rakhat al-Madrh. In choosing to look beyond the site's oasis center and examine ancient occupation in three geographically distinct areas within the greater Bat landscape, this research sheds light on the diverse cultural processes and socioecological strategies practiced by the region's Umm an-Nar period inhabitants.

Archaeological campaigns led during five years on the necropolis of Khawr Jirama, located in the Sharqiya, have brought to light what appears to be a new prehistoric funerary tradition still unknown in Oman. The excavation of seven tombs, located not far from the Jarama lagoon, has enabled the discovery of the earliest monumental Neolithic tombs built in Oman. The oldest ones have been dated from the middle of the 4th millennium BC, that is to say several centuries before the tower tombs of the Hafit period. These tombs discovered at Jarama are characterized by new architecture and funerary practices, rising the question of either the arrival of a new population in this area, carrying new funerary tradition reflecting their social organization, or cultural evolution of local Neolithic cultures. This discovery participate to fill a relative void of data observed until now in Sultanate of Oman between 3500-3100 BCE, a period of transition between the end of the Neolithic and the beginning of the Halit period. Moreover, the Jarama tombs challenge the standing interpretation of the first prehistoric socictics in Sultanate of Oman. The evidence presented in the paper suggests that, before the intensification of trading routes with the city-states of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley during the 3rd millennium BC, the region was home to strongly structured and probably hierarchical groups, led by members buried in monumental tombs.

ABSTRACT This study presents a new epigraphic inscription from Ḥimā (Najrān, Saudi Arabia), which records the arrival of an individual from ʿUmān during the reign of Abīyathaʿ Ghaylān, king of the Amīr tribe. Written in a South Arabian script but showing non‐Ancient South Arabian—possibly Hasaitic—linguistic features, the inscription provides rare evidence of trans‐Arabian mobility and diplomatic relations during the Hellenistic period. By contextualizing this text alongside other inscriptions and coins from southern and eastern Arabia, the article explores the political role of Abīyathaʿ, the integration of the al‐Asd tribe and the significance of long‐distance networks involving Gerrha and Mleiha. A newly discovered graffito referencing the gentilic Ġr‐ite also contributes to ongoing debates on the ancient name of Gerrha. The use of regnal and Seleucid‐era dating in these inscriptions offers further insight into evolving chronological systems across pre‐Islamic Arabia.

Une mission archéologique pluridisciplinaire conduite par Corinne Castel, sous l’égide du CNRS, de l’Université Lyon 2 et du Ministry of Heritage and Tourism of Oman, mène des fouilles au Sultanat d’Oman depuis 2019 sur le secteur d’Al-Arid. Ce secteur est situé sur la rive gauche du wadi Khuwaybah, dans une large vallée au pied des monts Al-Hajar, à une quinzaine de kilomètres au nordouest du site archéologique de Bāt classé au patrimoine mondial de l’Unesco. Les fouilles ont mis en évidence deux phases principales d’occupation du site d’Al-Arid au début de l’âge du Bronze, aux périodes Hafit (environ 3200-2700 avant notre ère) puis Umm an-Nar (environ 2700-2000 avant notre ère). Elles ont révélé un nombre remarquable de vestiges : sept tours, une nécropole, des bâtiments, un atelier de transformation du minerai de cuivre en métal de la période Hafit.

The sewn-plank ships that sailed the Indian Ocean during the medieval Islamic period carried people, goods, and ideas between East Africa, Arabia, India, and China. Despite their key role, we know relatively little about them. To date, archaeological work related to sewn boats in the region has been limited, while the few textual references generally lack crucial details regarding their design, structure, and operation. Due to the paucity of archaeological evidence until 20 years ago, the study of medieval shipbuilding in the region has often been flawed by Orientalism and fuelled by principles of the Enlightenment in early studies. Scholars had previously approached this topic through a European lens, typically with a strong colonialist attitude, and viewed this technology as basic, primitive, and incapable of developing without an external force, such as the more technologically advanced Europe. This book presents the first comprehensive study on medieval sewn boats of the Indian Ocean, using new and original data. It provides a technical analysis of the ship timbers recently discovered at al-Balid and Qalhat, Oman, in a comparative context. Pieces are examined from a material perspective, and then compared with textual, iconographic, ethnographic, archaeological, and experimental archaeological evidence. It contextualizes the ship timbers within the broader material networks in the Indian Ocean during the medieval Islamic period, thereby increasing our knowledge of maritime communities and their shipbuilding technology.

Prehistoric Fisherfolk of Oman' reports on excavations at the prehistoric site Ras Al-Hamra RH-5, located on a large promontory in the Qurum area of Muscat, conducted by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Oman with support from the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism. The site dates from the late fifth to the end of the fourth millennia BC and comprises an accumulation of superimposed food discards deriving from continuous and repeated subsistence activities such as fishing, collecting shells, hunting and herding. Dwellings and household installations, including objects of daily use and ornaments, have also been found throughout the occupation sequence. Excavations at RH-5 yielded unprecedented data on the economic and social dynamics of Neolithic societies in eastern Arabia. The exploitation of different ecological niches supplied all the necessary requirements for year-round sedentary human occupation. The lifestyle of fisher-gatherer communities during the Middle Holocene represents a fundamental step of the neolithisation process in Oman

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

<p>Although it is one of the main archaeological sites in Oman, the medieval port of Qalhat, near Sur in Ash-Sharqiyah Governorate, has long remained poorly documented. The extensive research initiated in 2008 by the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism (at the time, Heritage and Culture) shed striking light on the history of this famous harbour city, which was the twin capital of the Kingdom of Hormuz from the 13th to the 16th century. Surface surveys and excavations have revealed the plan and chronology of the city and its different districts. Mosques (including the Great Mosque built by Bibi Maryam around 1300) and other religious buildings, fortifications, and water supply systems have been identified and studied. The craft and economic activities of the city and the regional and international commercial links of the port have been reconstructed, as well as the daily life of its inhabitants, revealing the wealth and cosmopolitan character of this ancient Omani metropolis. All these results highlighted the Outstanding Universal Value of the site and eventually led to the inscription of Qalhat on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2018.</p>

<p>Five thousand years ago, in the Early Bronze Age, monumental stone and mud-brick structures known as towers appeared on the landscape of the Oman Peninsula. Since then, they have served as distinctive landmarks of identity for the people of the region. Despite many years of archaeological research and intensive excavations of some of them, much remains unknown about these impressive structures. This book aims to update the long-standing discussions on these towers and to assess their chronological depth of more than a millennium, with the first of them constructed as early as the end of the 4th millennium BCE and the last substantial building activities at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE. The book also reassesses their possible functions, such as defence, refuge, demarcation of property, residence of elites, involvement in complex irrigation systems, arenas for cultic practices, in the light of recent archaeological research. The book will also provide a richly illustrated catalogue with extensive bibliography, research history and coordinates of all the nearly hundred towers known to date in the Sultanate of Oman and the United Arab Emirates, creating a record for researchers and visitors alike.</p>