The present-day Sultanate of Oman lies in the south-eastern Arabian Peninsula. There are different definitions for Oman: traditional Oman includes the present-day United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), though its prehistoric remains differ in some respects from the more specifically defined Oman proper, which corresponds roughly with the present-day central provinces of the Sultanate. In the north, the Oman Peninsula is more specific, and juts into the Strait of Hormuz. The archaeology of southern Oman Dhofar develops separately from that of central and northern Oman.
Different ages are reflected in typological assemblages, Old Stone (Paleolithic) Age, New Stone (Neolithic) Age, Copper Age, Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, Late Iron Age, and the Age of Islam. A "period" is an inferred classification from recurring artifact assemblages, sometimes associated with cultures. Ages, on the other hand, are on a much larger scale; they are conventional, but difficult to date absolutely—partially due to different rates of regional development. A barometer of transition is the amount of industry and manufacturing going on, particularly that of copper—refused as slag—and other metallic artifacts. The absolute dates for the different periods are still under study and it is difficult to assign years to the Late Iron Age of central and southern Oman. Even major monuments have been dated variously, spanning millennia. (moved from the last paragraph)
Archaeologically speaking, differences increase between the area of the present-day U.A.E. and the Sultanate particularly toward the end of the Early Iron Age, conditioned locally by the different geographical situations. The amount of moisture dictates the carrying capacity of the area, with a variety of subsistence strategies used to exploit the available resources. Since archaeological field work began in the early 1970s, numerous teams have worked in the Sultanate.
Prehistoric period
Paleolithic The Paleolithic age ranges from 3 million to about 10,000 years ago, with anatomically modern human occupation outside of Africa beginning about 100,000 years ago,Jeffrey I. Rose & Anthony E. Marks, "Out of Arabia" and the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition in the southern Levant, Quartär 61, 2014, 49-85. bringing their ways of life with them. Theories state that the Nubian Tool Complex (c. 128,000-74,000 years ago) spread from Africa to the Arabian Peninsula during the Late Pleistocene, via the Red Sea. This theory was headed by the Dhofar Archaeological Project (DAP) in 2010 to 2011, when they surveyed and discovered Levalloisian cores—a recognizable type of the complex—Wadi Abyut, central Dhofar. The team had ruled that the Nubian Complex only extended into Western Oman.
A slightly more recent series of surveys, the French Mission of Adam conducted from 2007 to 2013, found numerous lithic artifacts scattered about many hills in the Adam area, specifically in the Sufrat Valley. They dated the finds, based on typo-technological traits to mostly the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Levalloisian, wa'shah, laminar, and bifacial lithic remains were primary tool types found.
Neolithic The Neolithic Age coincides with the beginning of the Holocene and sees the advent of a food producing, or agricultural, society, as opposed to hunting and gathering; it ranges loosely from about 10,000-3,500 BCE. The process was slightly different in the Arabian Peninsula; as animal husbandry was first to arise in 5500 BCE in the area of Oman and agriculture did not arise until the early Bronze Age. Rather, fishing became more diversified and tools more specialized; about 80% of the bone assemblage at Ra's al-Hamra' specifically was fish, mostly made up by larger fish caught with things like nets and line fishing—determined by a collection of fishhooks and net-sinkers.
Key sites on the Western Coast include shell middens at Ra's al-Ḥamrā' and Suwayh—where indication of some mother-of-pearl fishhooks were located--, Ra's al-Ḥadd, Ra's Dah, and Maṣīrah. Their middens were dated using radiocarbon techniques and dated circa the middle of the fifth to the third millennium BCE. Several sites exhibited evidence of structures; semi-circular or circular constructions delineated by postholes, hearths, and middens. Some of these middens also held human burials, which of course contained grave goods mostly consisting of simple jewelry. Beads from shells are found all up and down the coast into the UAE. Though certain types of shells which are not naturally occurring in the UAE are found in jewelry there, indicating that there was some sort of trade between communities in Oman, where there shells occurred, and communities in the UAE.
In 2010, the French Mission of Adam located Jabal al-'Aluya; an in-land site with 127 structural remains of varying shapes and compositions, supposed to be hut-like dwellings, hearths, and graves—similar to those discussed above. Of the lithic assemblage found, cores were fairly rare, with mostly blades and laminar flakes being observed. The site is associated with the latter part of 4000 BCE.
A site named Al-Dahariz 2, located in the Dhofar governance, has been found to contain fluted-point lithics—a form before thought to be unique to the Americas. The fluted technology has a large, linear chunk taken out from the bottom or top of the lithic, creating a lighter projectile that can keep its sharpness. However, the current theory is that the lithics were non-functional and actually communicated cultural value and exhibited the skill of the craftsperson.Crassard R, Charpentier V, McCorriston J, Vosges J, Bouzid S, Petraglia MD (2020) ed. Biehl, P.F.. Fluted-point technology in Neolithic Arabia: An independent invention far from the Americas. PLoS ONE 15(8): e0236314.
Copper Age The Copper Age in this geographic location partially coincides with the Hafit Period (3100-2700 BCE), known originally from a cemetery site on the Jebel Hafit in the UAE, though attributed artifacts extend well into the Sultanate. Most burials are located on hill sides, with deposits of supposed pottery imports from southern Mesopotamia. Such finds have been documented on the eastern coast of the Sultanate near Ra's al-Hadd, especially HD-6 and Ra's al-Jinz. Also present in the tombs was diagnostic pottery of Jemdet Nasr period type. As for copper, crucibles with metal traces, small furnaces, and about 300 copper tools were found at Ras al-Jinz.Story of Ras Al Jinz. Archived 2016-09-10 at the Wayback Machine Oman Information
Copper smelting began perhaps at al-Batina, however such ores would leave little slag and the process did not require special conditions, so there would be little to indicate its presence in the archaeological record. Already at this time there is textual evidence from Sumer for international trade in copper and other commodities, probably from Oman.
Bronze Age The Bronze Age typically ranges from 3300 to 1300 BCE, encompassing part of the Hafit period (3100-2700 BCE) and the Umm al-Nar (2700-2000 BCE) and Wadi Suq Periods (2000 - 1300 BCE).
Early Bronze Age During this age, metal production increased considerably in relation to that of the preceding Hafit Period, with several plano-convex copper ingots, weighing 1–2 kg, being found. Tower or beehive tombs, such as those at Shir, can only be approximately dated, and may date to the Hafit or Umm al-Nar Periods. During the Umm al-Nar Period, large communal, free-standing tombs contain numerous interments and were more common. Other tombs are smaller and may contain one or a few interments.
Similar tombs to those at Shir appear in the area of Shenah, which is already slightly famous for its rock-art sites. A 2006 survey counted 325 beehive tombs, dating from the late fourth to the early third millennium. They either have single or double stacked walls of mostly limestone or sandstone, with short, rectangular entrances that face the East. All of them built directly on top of the bedrock, with no indication of any digging before building took place.
The site known as Al-Khashbah, was the focus of a surveying project by the University of Tübingen in 2015. The various pedestrian surveys found slag and metal objects, furnace fragments, stone vessels, jewelry, stone tools, and glass objects. They located approximately 200 tombs and 10 monumental structures that could be dated to circa the 3rd millennium BCE, with some more specifically dating to the earlier Hafit period and others dating to the later Umm al-Nar period. Some of these monumental structures were towers with some evidence for copper processing; as some scholars have suggested that various stone tools—not just classical anvils and pounding stones—played important roles in the process of beneficiation of copper. However, some other buildings had indications of flint knapping.
In 1982, a potsherd attributed to the Indus Valley Civilization was found at Ras al-Jinz, located at the easternmost point of the Arabian Peninsula. It was considered landmark proof that at least coastal Oman was connected to India in the third millennium BCE. Also found there, were pieces of bitumen impressed with what appeared to be ropes, reed mats, and wood planks, with a few of the fragments still housing barnacles; implying it was caulking for an early boat.
In Dhofār weapons came to light in a confirmed grave context datable to the 3rd millennium BCE.Paul Yule, A Prehistoric Grave Inventory from Aztaḥ, Ẓafār, in: P. Yule (ed.), Studies in the Archaeology of the Sultanate of Oman, Orient-Archäologie, vol. 2, Rahden/Westfalia, 1999, 91–6,
Late Bronze Age The Late Bronze Age is mostly represented by grave goods and excavated settlements. It includes the last 200, 1500 to 1300 BCE, years of the Wadi Suq period.Christian Velde, Wadi Suq and Late Bronze Age in the Oman Peninsula, in Proceedings of the First Archaeological Conference on the U.A.E., London, 102–13Paul Yule & Gerd Weisgerber, Al-Wāsiṭ Tomb W1 and other Sites, Materials for a Definition of the Second Half of the 2nd Millennium BCE, Anschnitt, 2015, 9‒108.
Of the structures found Al-Khashbah, only six tombs, all of them subterranean, could be dated to the 2nd millennium and the Wadi Suq period.
Iron Age The Iron Age is divided into two different periods, 'Iron Age A' (1300-300 BCE) and 'Iron Age B' (325 BCE-650 CE).Juris Zarins, The Land of Incense. Archaeological Work in the Governorate of Dhofar, Sultanate of Oman 1990-1995, Muscat 2001, 79-104[ISBN unspecified]
Early Iron Age Known from different cemetery and copper producing sites, especially the fort on the Jebel Radhania, Lizq and the fort at Salut. the Early Iron Age is generally accepted as lasting from 1300 to 300 BCE. This period is known from some 142 archaeological sites located in the eastern part of the U.A.E. as well as the central and northern parts of the Sultanate of Oman. One scholar in particular offered concrete argumentation for a gradual transition as a model from the Early to Late Iron Ages at certain sites in Central Oman.Jürgen Schreiber, Transformationsprozesse in Oasensiedlungen Omans. Die vorislamische Zeit am Beispiel von Izki, Nizwa und dem Jebel Akhdar. Dissertation, Munich, 1977. URL http://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/7548/1/Schreiber_Juergen.pdf However, graves goods show no similarities between the two periods.
Usually hand-made and hard-fired, the pottery from the Lizq fort is most similar to that from the latest Early Iron Age sites at al-Moyassar (or al-Maysar) and Samad al-Shan. In terms of pottery chronology, its beginnings there are obscure.Stephan Kroll, The Early Iron Age Lizq Fort, Sultanate of Oman, translated and revised by P. Yule, Zeitschrift für die Kultur außereuropäischen Kulturen 5, 2013, 159–220,