Numerous metallic artefacts, deposited in a hoard in ancient times, came to light by chance on the campus of the Sultan Qaboos University in Al Khawd, Sultanate of Oman. Mostly fashioned from copper, these objects compare well with numerous documented artefact classes from south-eastern Arabia assigned to the Early Iron Age (1200–300 BCE).
Numerous metallic artefacts, which anciently were deposited in a hoard, came to light per chance on the campus of the Sultan Qaboos University in Al Khawd, Sultanate of Oman. Mostly fashioned from copper, these arrowheads, axes/adzes, bangles, daggers, knives, socketed lance/ spearheads, metal vessels, razors, rings, swords, and tweezers compare well with numerous documented artefact classes from south-eastern Arabia assigned to the Early Iron Age (1200-300 BCE). Discussion of the international trade between ancient Makan, Dilmun, and Mesopotamia during the 3rd millennium BCE dominates the archaeological literature about Arabia archaeology. The Al Khawd hoard and its contemporaries lend weight to the suggestion that 1st millennium BCE Qadē (the name of south-eastern Arabia at that time) was even more important than Bronze Age Makan in terms of the copper trade volume. A reassessment shows the Early Iron Age by no means to be a dark age, but rather an innovative, successful adaptive period characterised by evident population growth.
This volume presents results from the rescue excavations of the Qidfa’ 1 site, a multi-period tomb (Wadi Suq-Late Bronze /Early Iron Age). The richness of the discoveries demonstrates the wealth and significance of the culture of the 2nd millennium BC in southeast Arabia.
This two-volume book presents cutting-edge archaeological research, primarily as practiced in the Eastern Mediterranean region. These volumes’ key foci are inspired by the work of Thomas E. Levy. Volume 1 provides an in-depth look at new archaeological research in the southern Levant (primarily in modern Israel and Jordan) inspired by Levy’s commitment to understanding social, political, and economic processes in a long-term or “deep time” perspective. Volume 2 focuses on new research in several key areas of 21st century anthropological archaeology and archaeological science. Volume 1 is organized around two major themes: 1) the later prehistory of the southern Levant, or the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Bronze Age, and 2) new research in biblical archaeology, or the historical archaeology of the Iron Age. Each section contains a combination of new perspectives on key debates and studies introducing new research questions and directions. Volume 2 is organized around five major themes: 1) the archaeology of the Faynan copper ore district of southern Jordan, a key region for archaeometallurgical research in West Asia where Levy conducted field research for over a decade, 2) new research in archaeometallurgy beyond the Faynan region, 3) marine and maritime archaeology, focusing on issues of trade and environmental change, 4) cyber-archaeology, an important 21st century field Levy conceived as “the marriage of archaeology, engineering, computer science, and the natural sciences,” and 5) key issues in anthropological archaeological theory. In addition to presenting the reader with an up-to-date view of research in each of these areas, the volume also has chapters exploring the connections between these themes, e.g. the maritime trade of metals and cyber-/digital archaeological approaches to metallurgy. The work contains contributions from both up-and-coming early career researchers and key established figures in their fields. This book is an essential reference for archaeologists and scholars in related disciplines working in the southern Levant and the Eastern Mediterranean.
A report on an Early Iron Age metal hoard found in 1979 at Selme in Oman. Comprising more than 500 pieces, the hoard included a number of daggers, bangles and bowls, as well as other miniature vessels, some of which were unique to this hoard.
This book, first published in 2007, offered the first and only summary of decades of archaeological research in the Oman Peninsula. The original eleven chapters are expanded and enhanced in this new edition by a number of new ‘windows’, written by a new generation of scholars, in order to include more recent research and interpretations.
Angelo E. Fossati takes the reader on an in-depth journey into the various themes present in the rock art of Oman, offering theories on the chronology and interpretation, while exploring the landscape setting of the decorated panels. Highly illustrated throughout, beautiful photographs and scientific tracings of the rock art accompany the text.
The Early and Late Iron Ages in both the United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate of Oman form a cross-road in temporal and spatial terms. Paradoxically, in some ways the Iron Age is more difficult to understand than the Bronze Age in this part of Arabia, although many more such sites are known. In recent decades numerous field projects have dwelt on south-eastern Arabia's Iron Age. Nonetheless, closer scrutiny reveals the path to a prehistory of this exotic part of the world to be indirect indeed. Surveys written ten or more years ago are obsolete in significant ways. The Early Iron Age (1300-300 BCE) is better known than the Late Early Iron Age (post 300 BCE-300 CE) in south-eastern Arabia. The quality of the mapping and of the published images has plagued scholarship, which the present new volume attempts to remedy. Despite the close proximity of the two adjacent Arabian lands - actually both encompassing traditional Oman - aside from random comments, comparison of their archaeological traditions is rare. The author updates and synthesizes ideas and field-work publications. This extended essay contains numerous changes in the interpretation of the sites and their finds. Otherwise, the archaeological literature is scattered over a large number of publications. This book targets both professionals and students.
