Unique Finds Discovered In Oman – Rub’al-Chali Desert Reveals Its Secrets

Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - An international team led by the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, has successfully completed the third excavation season in Oman.

Excavation of a Neolithic tomb at Nafun, central Oman. Source: A. Danielisova,  ARU Prague/ARDUQ project

Thanks to the unique findings, scientists will, among other things, contribute to the reconstruction of the climate and history of the world's largest sand desert.

Twenty-one archaeologists and geologists from 10 countries participated in the excavation work in two areas of the Sultanate of Oman. The first expedition team operated in the Zufár province in the country's south. Researchers conducted research in the middle of the dunes of the ar-Rubʿ al-Chálí desert in newly discovered sites rich in stone tools. Scientists have found fist wedges, for example, which date from the first human migration from Africa approximately 300 thousand to 1.3 million years ago.

"Research on Early Stone Age stone tools in southern Oman will allow us to map the gradual spread of settlement from Africa to Eurasia when Arabia served as a natural migration corridor," said Zufár fieldwork leader Jeffrey Rose of the Ronin Institute in the US.

The expedition also dated a sequence of sedimentary layers with stone tools of the so-called "Nubian culture" from 100-70 thousand years ago.  The time data will provide archaeologists with valuable information regarding the spread of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) out of Africa. Anthony Marks greatly assisted the team from the USA, who described the culture in Sudan.

A fist wedge found in the desert of ar-Rub' al-Chali. Source: A. Beshkani, ARU Prague/ARDUQ project

The team also included two stone tool experts from the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Brno.

During the expedition, the shells of extinct ostriches, a fossil dune, and an old river bed from a period when the climate in Arabia was much wetter were discovered among the up to 300 m high dunes.

" Our findings, supported by four different dating methods, will provide valuable data for reconstructing the climate and history of the world's largest sand desert. Natural conditions also shaped prehistoric settlements, and we are trying to study human adaptability to climate change," said expedition leader Roman Garba from the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, in a press release.

Archaeologists used unique dating methods during their work.

"We carry out radiocarbon dating and dating using cosmogenic radionuclides in cooperation with the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, which recently commissioned the first accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) in the Czech Republic, which enables top research in the field of these dating methods," adds the scientist. 

Tracing petroglyphs at the Nafun site, central Oman. Image credit: Roman Garba. ARU Prague/ARDUQ project

Archaeologists in the region also examined 2,000-year-old ritual stone monuments - the so-called triliths found in southern Arabia.

The term originates from Greek 'having three stones,' and the most famous of them are those of Stonehenge in England. Such formations can be found in other locations like in Egypt, Tonga, and Polynesia. However, they are mainly distributed in the landscape throughout the coastal plains of southern Arabia.

Using modern techniques, the team can investigate possible migrations of ancient communities that once used trilith monuments and were involved in rituals performed there, according to Roman Garba.

The second expedition

The second expeditionary team operated in the Duqm region of central Oman. In the Nafūn locality, he continued excavation work on a Neolithic tomb dated to the period 5000–4600 BC

Tracing petroglyphs at the Nafun site, central Oman. Image credit: Roman Garba. ARU Prague/ARDUQ project

" What we find here is unique in the context of the whole of southern Arabia. The megalithic structure concealing two circular burial chambers revealed the skeletal remains of at least several dozen individuals. Isotope analyses of bones, teeth and shells will help us find out more about the diet, natural environment, and migrations of the buried population, " explained another expedition leader, Alžběta Danielisová from the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague.

Not far from the tomb, the Italian-French team documented a unique collection of rock carvings spread over 49 rock blocks, whose different styles with varying degrees of weathering depict the period of habitation from 5,000 BC to 1,000 AD.

Researchers also focused on the production of stone tools dated to the Late Stone Age, which took place at the site.

Award-winning project

Research in Oman is part of a more comprehensive anthropological project by Viktor Černý from the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague. It deals with biocultural interactions of populations and their adaptation to climate change.

" The discovered contacts of African and Arab archaeological cultures characterize the mobility of anatomically modern human populations. It will be interesting to confront these findings with the genetic diversity of both mentioned regions and create a more comprehensive view of the formation of contemporary South Arabian society," adds Viktor Černý.

Written by Conny Waters - AncientPages.com Staff Writer

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