Nothing but tombs and towers? Results of the Al-Mudhaybi Regional Survey 2019
Keywords:
Survey, Remote Sensing, Settlement System, Sultanate of Oman, Bronze AgeAbstract
Sites with towers in eastern Arabia have been interpreted as regional centres of the Early Bronze Age. One of those sites is Al-Khashbah in central Oman. Until now, however, nothing was known about its hinterland that would support the idea of a regional centre. The Al-Mudhaybi Regional Survey was therefore initiated in order, for the first time, to provide comprehensive and detailed knowledge of this third-millennium BC landscape. This paper presents the results of the remote sensing and ground truthing of potential features in the 2019 field season. Nearly 4000 archaeological structures ranging from the Neolithic to the modern era have been positively identified. Interestingly, some periods such as the Hafit and Wadi Suq were abundantly present, while the Umm an-Nar and Late Bronze Age were almost totally missing. It is also important to note that, except for the possible Hafit-period tower at Al-Fath, no Bronze Age settlement sites were found. The reasons behind this pattern remain to be discovered.
References
Carter R.A. 1997. Defining the Late Bronze Age in southeast Arabia: Ceramic evolution and settlement during the second millennium BC. PhD thesis, University College London. [Unpublished.]
Deadman W.M. 2014. Investigating the orientation of Hafit tomb entrances in Wādī ʿAndām, Oman. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 44: 139–152.
Deadman W.M. & Al-Jahwari N.S. 2016. Hafit tombs in Ash-Sharqiyah, Oman: Assessing the accuracy and precision of Google Earth remote-sensing survey and analysing their distribution in the landscape. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 27: 19–30. doi:10.1111/aae.12061
Giraud J., Al-Mahrooqi A.H.S., Gernez G., Righetti S., Sévin-Allouet É.P., Sévin-Allouet C. ... Cleuziou S. 2010. The first three campaigns (2007–2009) of the survey at Ādam (Sultanate of Oman) (poster). Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 40: 175–183.
Hastings A., Humphries J.H. & Meadow R.H. 1976. Oman in the third millennium BCE. Journal of Oman Studies 1: 9–55.
Al-Jahwari, N.S. 2008. Settlement patterns, development and cultural change in northern Oman Peninsula: A multi-tiered approach to the analysis of long-term settlement trends. PhD thesis, Durham University. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1357/
Al-Jahwari N.S. & Kennet D. 2010. Umm an-Nar settlement in the Wādī Andam (Sultanate of Oman). Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 40: 201–212.
Kerr A.D.R. 2016. A house complex in Bronze Age Arabia: A study of ‘Umm an-Nar’ and ‘Wadi Suq’ domestic architecture at the settlement slope, Bat (Oman). MA thesis, Durham University. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11730/
Lemée M., Gernez G., Giraud J., Beuzen-Waller T. & Fouache É. 2013. Jebel al-’Aluya: An inland Neolithic settlement of the late fifth millennium BC in the Ādam area, Sultanate of Oman. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 43: 197–212.
Phillips C. 2007. The third-millennium tombs and settlement at Mowaihat in the Emirate of Ajman, U.A.E. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 18: 1–7. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0471.2007.00252.x
Potts D.T. 1991. Further excavations at Tell Abraq: The 1990 season. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
Righetti S. 2015. Les cultures du Wadi Suq et de Shimal dans la péninsule omanaise aux deuxième millénaire avant notre ère. Évolution des sociétés du Bronze moyen et du Bronze récent. PhD thesis, Université Paris 1, Panthéon Sorbonne. [Unpublished.]
Schmidt C. & Döpper D. 2017. The development of complexity at third-millennium BC Al-Khashbah, Sultanate of Oman: Results of the first two seasons, 2015 and 2016. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 47: 215–226.
Schmidt C. & Döpper D. 2019. The Hafit period at Al-Khashbah, Sultanate of Oman: Results of four years of excavations and material studies. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 49: 265–274.
Weisgerber G. 1981. Mehr als Kupfer in Oman — Ergebnisse der Expedition 1981. Der Anschnitt. Mitteilungsblatt der Vereinigung der Freunde von Kunst und Kultur im Bergbau 33: 174–263.
Yule P. 2014. Cross-roads: Early and Late Iron Age south-eastern Arabia. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Yule P. & Weisgerber G. 2001. The metal hoard from ʾIbrī/Selme, Sultanate of Oman. Stuttgart: Steiner.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
License
Archaeopress Publishing, Oxford, UK
