Schmidt, C. – Döpper, S. (2017), Die Entstehung komplexer Siedlungen im nördlichen Inner-Oman im 3. Jahrtausend v. Chr.: Bericht über die Ausgrabungen 2015 und 2016 in Al-Khashbah, Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 149, 121–158. (original) (raw)
Related papers
Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orientgesellschaft, 2019
The 2017 and 2018 seasons of the archaeological research project in Al-Khashbah, Sultanate of Oman, provided important new insights into the socioeconomic complexity in northern Inner-Oman in the late 4th and early 3rd millennium BC (Hafit period). The late Hafit period Building-Complex I consists of several mud-brick structures, each surrounded by a monumental ditch. Inside the rooms a number of craft activities have been identified, including the extensive production of stone tools and beads. The early Hafit period Building V proved to be the oldest known monumental so-called tower structures in Eastern Arabia. Further, Building V provided the oldest evidence for large scale processing of copper in Oman and coincides with the so-called Archaic Texts from Uruk from the end of the 4th millennium BC, in which already the copper trade over the Arab-Persian Gulf is mentioned. Thus, for the first time these written sources from Southern Mesopotamia match the archaeological evidence from Oman in this early phase of the Bronze Age.
Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 2020
In November 2018, a survey was conducted at the site of Tawi Said, which is located at the edge of the Sharqiyah desert in the Sultanate of Oman and was discovered in 1976 by Beatrice de Cardi. An area of 150 × 125 m was field-walked. All surface finds were collected and their position recorded with a hand-held GPS device. Nearly 8,600 objects were documented, the majority of them pottery sherds. Other finds include sea shells, chipped stone tools, copper production waste, jewellery and three fragments of chlorite vessels. The most interesting objects from the survey are two stamp seals, one of them resembling Dilmun style seals. Most of the pottery can be dated to the Late Islamic period, but a significant amount in the centre of the survey area dates to the Middle Bronze Age (Wadi Suq period, c. 2000–1600 BC), confirming an early assessment of the site by Beatrice de Cardi as the only settlement site of the Wadi Suq period so far known in central Oman. The far-reaching connections of Tawi Said in the Middle Bronze Age are testified by the presence of Indus pottery sherds as well as by the seal in a Dilmun affiliated style, and for the Late Islamic period by the large quantities of sea shells. One reason behind the choice of the location near the desert might be connected to copper production as other important metal working sites like Saruq al-Hadid (United Arab Emirates) and ʿUqdat al-Bakrah are also located in the marginal desert environment of the Rub al-Khali. All of this demonstrates the high potential of the site for future research.
e-Forschungsberichte des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, 2022
First systematic investigations in the cemeteries of Rujum Sa'sa' south of the Tayma oasis focused on the interdisciplinary excavation and analysis of Bronze Age (3rd and 2nd millennia BCE) built tombs. More than two thousands of such tombs have survived as mounds on the surface, forming an extensive burial landscape. Most of them have a circular shape, and at least two types of different chambers are attested. Rectangular graves, meanwhile, are less common. During the first season of the project (2020), excavations were conducted in six graves. 14C data from human remains from these graves cover the late 3rd to early 2nd millennium BCE. The excavations and analysis of the collapse indicate that the tombs were not designed as ›tumuli‹ but were constructed with visible facades.
Familienanalyse in kupferzeitlichen Kollektivgr�bern aus Umm an-Nar; Abu Dhabi
Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 1995
Skeletal material from three collective burials from the island of Umm an-Nar (Arabian peninsula) dating to the 3rd millennium B.C. was submitted to a kinship analysis with the aid of a set of genetically determined odontologic traits. The analysis yielded the following results: a) phenotype and frequency of odontological traits in the skeletal sample suggest a relatively homogeneous population; and b) there are distinct indications for genetically determined relationships within the individual burial mounds. In spite of the poor state of preservation of the skeletons, the analysis permitted conclusions about the social structure of the local population.