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Papers by Tara Beuzen-Waller

<p>In Oman, quaternary climatic fluctuations alternated between humid and arid peri... more <p>In Oman, quaternary climatic fluctuations alternated between humid and arid periods. As humid periods triggered increasing rainfall and fluvio-lacustrine activity, allowing for less restrictive arid conditions, they are a key component in the landscape evolution and in the early human-environment history. Fluvial archives are of great interest for understanding the hydrosystems&#8217; local responses to Holocene regional climatic fluctuations and water ressources availability and reachability. For the Holocene, little data are available in Northern Oman to examine the impact of the Holocene Pluvial Phase on hydrosystems and the timescale of the onset of arid conditions around 5.500 BP. Here, we will present fluvial records from southern part of the Hajar Mountains&#8217; piedmont. Geomorphological mapping, morphostratigraphic analyses of natural and excavated sections, malacological analyses and age-dating supported by OSL and radiocarbon methods provided us a better understanding of aggradations phases in link with fluvial activity and increasing rainfall. Phases of aggradation has been identified between around 11,500 cal. BP, between 6,610 cal. BP and 5,400 cal. BP and around 2,700 cal. BP. We will compare and discuss the hydro-climatic data obtained with fluvial archives to archaeological sites distribution and development of hydraulic system during the Bronze age and the Iron age in several archaeological areas of the southern piedmont of the Hajar mountains (Bisyah, Adam, Al Khashbah)</p>

HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific re... more HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

The region of Adam is situated on the southern flank of the Oman Mountains and in the northern pa... more The region of Adam is situated on the southern flank of the Oman Mountains and in the northern part of interior Oman. It is organized around the Salakh Arch, which acts as a natural dam like other anticlinal chains, allowing the existence of the Adam oasis (Adam) that formed in a gap. Despite present aridity, archaeological investigations have highlighted that the Adam region has supported extensive human communities throughout the Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Ages (between 2007 and 2013, more than 1800 structures were documented). Located at the door of the Rub al-Khali desert, this wetter area was certainly a strategic place for seasonal migrations during protohistoric periods. Surveying campaigns will continue, whereby environmental and archaeological data will be combined in a GIS database to point out strategic areas, areas which will be surveyed and that will allow an integrated analysis.

Taming the Great Desert: Adam in the Prehistory of Oman

Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, Jul 1, 2014

ABSTRACT

Ministry of Heritage and Culture of Oman, Mar 1, 2014

Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2018

Workshop organisé par K. Bretzke et N.J. Conard : The Lower Paleolithic of Arabia, Jul 24, 2016

The Bronze Age Towers at Bat, Sultanate of Oman

Registered as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1989, the extensive archaeological site of Bat i... more Registered as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1989, the extensive archaeological site of Bat is situated within the Wadi Sharsah and around the modern village and palm grove of Bat, 24 km from the modern city of Ibri in northwestern Oman. The archaeological remains from the Bronze Age excavated by the American archaeological team are located in two mains areas. The northern area consists of a chain of low limestone hills cut by wadi tributaries leading to the main Wadi Sharsah. It is characterized by an exceptionally high density of graves from two successive Bronze Age periods: Hafit (ca. 3100-2700 BCE) and Umm an-Nar (ca. 2700-2000 BCE). South of the Bat cemetery, in the flat part of the valley, there are several large circular structures (known historically as « towers ») and remains from both Hafit and Umm an-Nar periods, as well as later periods. Geoarchaeological study of the floodplain, associated with archaeological survey, have identified walls suggesting that during the...

Archaeological surveys conducted since 2012 in the Adam region (North-Eastern part of the Sultana... more Archaeological surveys conducted since 2012 in the Adam region (North-Eastern part of the Sultanate of Oman) highlight an extensive area, the Sufrat Valley, rich in lithics industries discovered lying on the surface. The Sufrat valley, flanking the southwestern of the Jebel Salekh, is composed by a small hills complex where both water supply and raw materials are reacheable. The current surveyed area where lithics remains have been found extents more than 5000 hectares (50km2). Lithic remains covered all the topographic units of the valley, except the present time alluvial plain. High density in situ lithics scatters were discovered on the flat-top summit of the hills. The clearest indicator of the Middle Palaeolithic attribution for those remains is the founding of many Levallois Flakes and Levallois cores. Also, two bifacials pieces with typo-technological traits characteristic to the Lower Palaeolithic period have been discovered of the slope The hypothesis of a long-term, probab...

Taming the Great Desert: Adam in the Prehistory of Oman

Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, Jul 1, 2014

ABSTRACT

Ministry of Heritage and Culture of Oman, Mar 1, 2014

Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2018

Workshop organisé par K. Bretzke et N.J. Conard : The Lower Paleolithic of Arabia, Jul 24, 2016

The Bronze Age Towers at Bat, Sultanate of Oman

This paper reports on a project for mapping archaeological oasis settlements of Al-Hasi and Bat i... more This paper reports on a project for mapping archaeological oasis settlements of Al-Hasi and Bat in the interior of Oman. The following methods were applied: (1) high-resolution satellite remote sensing to map local topography and to detect surface features, (2) ground-truth mapping of features using global navigation satellite system (GNSS), laser range finder (LRF) and field geographical information system (GIS), (3) systematic and intensive surface collection of artefacts, and (4) soil sampling and particle size analysis. The settlement of Al-Hasi was situated on a terrace between two wadi systems, Wadi al-Kabir and Wadi Khuwaybah, located to the east and west respectively. Surface finds of potsherds along with soil particle size analysis suggest that the Bronze Age (ca. 3200-1300 BC) settlement was probably buried beneath an Islamic period field system. An irrigation channel and aqueduct were built across the active wadi drainage, along which bunds and a dam-like structure were constructed to protect the Islamic settlement from occasional floods. Similar flood-prevention facilities were also observed at the Bronze Age oasis settlement of Bat, located 18 km southeast of Al-Hasi. At Bat, long bifacial stone walls were built along the margin of a possible Bronze Age settlement. A dam-like structure was built in the alluvial lowland between the settlement and the cemetery. The stone walls appear to have functioned as bunds to protect the settlement from wadi floods, while the dam-like structure was used for receiving and storing flood waters. These discoveries indicate that Bronze Age and historic oasis towns paid special attention to construct facilities for prevention of flood hazards and to utilise flood waters for their subsistence economy. This was in addition to building underground channels (aflaj) for groundwater exploitation.

This paper reports on the geoarchaeological survey in the Wadi al-Kabir basin, located in the sou... more This paper reports on the geoarchaeological survey in the Wadi al-Kabir basin, located in the southern piedmont of the Hajar mountains, to the northeast of Ibri, Oman. The goal of the survey was to understand the spatial patterns of human occupation of the region during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, paying special attention to the development of landscape and topography. The survey comprised archaeological and geomorphological explorations. Both approaches employed satellite remote sensing and GIS-based mapping of surface features. From the geomorphological viewpoint, the survey area was an alluvial plain washed and surrounded by two major wadis––Wadi al-Kabir and Wadi al-Khuwaybah. In this area, the archaeological team documented 21 sites and scatters. Middle to Late Palaeolithic artefacts were identified in the piedmont areas, while Holocene lithics, characterised by Fasad points, end-scrapers and drills, were scattered on residual hills and terraces. The team identified a total of 246 cairns, most of which look like Hafit-type tombs. Some of the cairns were associated with lithic concentration. There was a Bronze Age and Islamic settlement on the terrace between the two wadis. At that site, called al-Hāsi, the team mapped at least five Bronze Age towers, two Umm an-Nar type graves, enclosure walls, irrigation channels with an aqueduct bridge, bunds to prevent floods, and traces of crop field boundaries and buildings. The results of systematic surface collection and soil sampling in the northern sector suggested that a Bronze Age settlement is probably present underneath the crop fields of the Islamic period.

If you are interested, please write us a short email with an abstract of a max. of 200 words unti... more If you are interested, please write us a short email with an abstract of a max. of 200 words until 20.09.2016.

FROM REFUGIA TO OASES Living in arid environments from prehistoric times to the present day, 2017

In the Sultanate of Oman, the early Bronze Age (3,100-2,000 BC) is characterized by a major chang... more In the Sultanate of Oman, the early Bronze Age (3,100-2,000 BC) is characterized by a major change in settlement patterns: the emergence of sedentary practices and the emergence of oases. The aim of this study is to reconstruct these territories based on geomorphological, geographical and archaeological criteria. A modelling and comparative approach has been conducted in four archaeological areas of the Jebel Hajar’s foothills: Bat, Bisyah, Adam and the Ja’ alan. The proto-oasian territories identified have a similar micro-local organisation but their distribution at a regional scale varies greatly between the upstream and downstream parts of the foothills.