Prehistory and palaeo-geography of the coastal fringes of the Wahiba Sands and Bar al-Hikman, Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

The aim of the new French archaeological mission in Oman is to study overall cultural development along the shores of the Arabian Sea, from hunter-gatherer societies to the emergence of the first complex societies, i.e. from the end of the Pleistocene to the Bronze Age, between 10,000 and 2000 cal. BC. The area of exploration is situated between the eastern end of Arabia (the present city of al-Sūr) and the shores of Dhofar. In November-December 2010, the coastal fringes of the Wahiba Sands (Ramlat al-Wahībah) and Bar al-Hikman (Barr al-Ḥikmān) were surveyed. Prehistoric and protohistoric sites, which date from the eighth to the first millennium BC, were discovered and investigated. Most of the sites are shell middens. They are sometimes deflated, but some have deep stratigraphy, especially in Raʾs Jibsh or in al-Khuwaymah, where both the Neolithic necropolis and the settlement were investigated. Analysis of satellite images of coastal morphology and development were combined with geo-archaeological fieldwork better to locate archaeological sites.