The Al-Mudhaybi Regional Survey: Field Seasons 2021 and 2022
Keywords:
Archaeological survey, Transects, Central Oman, Find scatters, landscape archaeologyAbstract
During the final two field seasons of the Al-Mudhaybi Regional Survey in central Oman conducted in 2021 and 2022, systematic fieldwalking of north-south transect continued. This resulted in the discovery of a possible Neolithic to Early Bronze Age flint scatter northeast of Al-Khashbah and an Iron Age settlement at Shariq. The area of the Iron Age settlement also incorporates a possible Umm an-Nar period tower. Additionally, excavations were carried out at the Umm an-Nar period site of Al-Qabrayn. Here, stone walls and mud-brick structures that were radiocarbon dated to 2800–2400 BC were uncovered. They possibly form the remains of another third-millennium BC tower. These findings, together with those from the 2019 and 2020 field season, allow initial reconstructions of the archaeological landscape of the region. Different phases of site concentration and dispersal as well as shifting site locations are demonstrated in a diachronic perspective. While the Neolithic and Hafit periods are scattered over most of the survey area, Umm an-Nar, Wadi Suq and Iron Age remains are concentrated in few places. Interestingly, there is little continuation regarding site location between the different periods.
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