Al-Khutm Project 2017/2018: a Bronze Age monumental tower (Bat, Oman)

Abstract

The extensive investigation carried out between November 2017 and the end of January 2018 at the UNESCO site of Al-Khutm (Bat) has allowed us completely to expose an important tower dated back to the end of the third millennium BC. The excavation revealed the good state of preservation and monumentality of the complex, unique among the towers so far investigated in Oman. The tower was covered by a deposit of collapsed stones several metres deep, which had hidden the tower until recent times. Among the significant results of this season is the exposure of the tower wall reaching a height of c.4 m and a perimeter wall 2.3 m in height, surrounding the western side of the tower. The excavation has also revealed the presence of several structures located inside the tower, including a deep well found in the central corridor. The sloping profile of the substratum and the monumental architecture of both these structures testify to the monumentality of the tower. Preliminary analysis of stratigraphic data and associated pottery suggests dating the construction of the tower to the late Umm an-Nar period and to a second, Wadi Suq, period featured by constant rebuilding. The present article outlines the preliminary results of the two excavations seasons.