Al-Arid, an Early Bronze Age settlement site in the interior of the Oman peninsula

Results of the second season’s excavations (2020)

Authors

  • Corinne Castel Castel CNRS
  • Jacques É. Brochier Aix Marseille University, AMU, UMR 7269
  • Olivier Barge CNRS, Maison de l’Orient, Laboratory Archéorient, UMR 5133
  • Blandine Besnard Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, Minist Culture, Laboratory LAMPEA, UMR 7269
  • Elsa Ciesielski CNRS, Montpellier
  • Lionel Darras Maison de l’Orient, Laboratory Archéorient, UMR 5133
  • Yasmine Kanhoush CNRS associate, Maison de l’Orient, Laboratory Archéorient, UMR 5133
  • Georges Mouamar Maison de l’Orient, Laboratory Archéorient, UMR 5133, Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, Lyon
  • Frédéric Rivière UMR 7044, Université de Strasbourg
  • Séverine Sanz CNRS, Laboratory Archéologie des Sociétés Méditerranéennes, UMR 5140, Université Paul-Valery Montpellier
  • Margareta Tengberg National Museum of Natural History, CNRS UMR 7209, Paris
  • Pauline VÉZY University Lyon2

Keywords:

Interior Oman, Umm an-Nar period, Tower, Irrigation canal, Early Bronze settlement

Abstract

Following a first season of joint investigations carried out at the two settlement sites of Bāt and al-Arid (15 km north-west of Bāt) in the Sultanate of Oman, during winter 2019 (Castel et al. 2020), the MBA Mission (Mission archéologique de Bāt/al-Arid) carried out a second season of excavations at the settlement site of al-Arid in 2020.

This contribution aims to present the latest results from this extensive survey, the excavations, and the different studies of this new mission carried out by a multidisciplinary team of specialists. Three structures were excavated: one of seven towers, with a regular internal plan; a tomb that yielded a Jemdet-Nasr plain vessel and an Umm an-Nar Black-on-Red Fine Ware pot; and a building assigned to the late Umm an-Nar period. In addition, the investigations carried out on two abandoned irrigation canals, one of which may be related to the Bronze Age settlement, were continued. The first results obtained from the analysis of the pottery are presented and the Bayesian chronological analysis makes it possible to place all the radiocarbon dated events in the regional chronology. All these combined results shed new light on the al-Arid site and enable us to refine its chronology, thus enriching the debate on third-millennium settlement patterns in the southern piedmont region of interior Oman.

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Published

28/07/2022

How to Cite

Castel, C. C., Brochier, J., Barge, O., Besnard, B., Ciesielski, E., Darras, L., … Pauline VÉZY. (2022). Al-Arid, an Early Bronze Age settlement site in the interior of the Oman peninsula: Results of the second season’s excavations (2020). Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 51, 71–86. Retrieved from https://archaeopresspublishing.com/ojs/index.php/PSAS/article/view/581

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