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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.

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