Investigating the Neolithic Presence in South-Central Oman: The DUQ-25A Rock Shelter
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/EtudTrav.36.005Keywords
rock shelter, projectile points, Neolithic, Oman, DuqmAbstract
Over the past decade, extensive surveys have been carried out in the wider area surrounding the city of Duqm (south-central Oman). During fieldwork in 2023, research on the Neolithic encampment in the Wādī Ṣayy area was conducted. Numerous locations surrounding this large wadi have yielded evidence of Neolithic occupation. The proximity to chert outcrops and the presence of elevated fluvial terrace systems overlooking the wadi floodplains likely played a pivotal role in attracting human habitation during that period. Among these sites, DUQ-25A stands out for its exceptional preservation and the abundance of flint scatters. The excavation at the site aimed to achieve multiple objectives: validating the site’s chronology, expanding our understanding of its spatial extent and occupational sequence and filling the gaps in our knowledge about Neolithic societies in south-central Oman. Our research aims to provide new perspectives for the study of the Early and Middle Holocene in Al-Wusṭā.
References
Al Kindi, M., Charpentier, V., Maiorano, M.P., Musa, M., Pavan, A., Heward, A., Vosges, J., Marchand, G., Pickford, M. 2021: Neolithic long-distance exchange in Southern Arabia: A supposed road for the ‘Jade’ axes, JAS: Reports 39, 103116
Białowarczuk, M., Szymczak, A. 2019: An overview of the latest prehistoric research in Qumayrah Valley, Sultanate of Oman, PSArabStud 49, 25–31
Bretzke, K., Parton, A. 2020: New Stone Age sites from Northern Oman, Journal of Oman Studies 21, 43–55
Bretzke, K., Parton, A., Lindauer, S., Kennet, D. 2018: Evidence of Neolithic settlement in the foothills of the Western al-Hajar Mountains, AAE 29/2, 103–114, https://doi.org/10.1111/aae.12118
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2021: OxCal Program v4.4, Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. University of Oxford, https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/oxcal.html (accessed September 2023)
Charpentier, V. 2008: Hunter-gatherers of the “empty quarter of the early Holocene” to the last Neolithic societies: chronology of the late prehistory of south-eastern Arabia (8000–3100 BC), PSArabStud 38, 93–116
Charpentier, V., Berger, J.-F., Crassard, R., Lacaze, M., Davtian, G. 2012: Prehistory and palaeo-geography of the coastal fringes of the Wahiba Sands and Barr al-Hikman (Sultanate of Oman), PSArabStud 42, 57–79
Charpentier, V., Maiorano, M.P., Marchand, G., Vosges, J., Borgi, F. 2023: Twelve years of the ‘Arabian Seashores’ project: How the extensive investigation of coastal Oman changed the paradigm of the Arabian Neolithic, AAE, https://doi.org/10.1111/aae.12236
Crassard, R., Bodu, P. 2004: Préhistoire du Ḥaḍramawt (Yémen) : nouvelles perspectives, PSArabStud 34, 67–84
Crassard, R., Mccorriston, J., Oches, E., Bin ’Aqil, A., Espagne, J., Sinnah, M. 2006: Manayzah, early to mid-Holocene occupations in Wādī Ṣanā (Ḥaḍramawt, Yemen), PSArabStud 36, 151–173
Deif, A., Mohamed, A.M.E., El-Hussain, I., Al-Shijbi, Y., El-Hady, S., Al Habsi, Z. 2021: Site-specific seismic hazard levels at the economic zone of Duqm, Oman, Journal of Geophysics and Engineering 18/5, 740–760, https://doi.org/10.1093/jge/gxab050
Garba, R. 2021: Trilith Stone Monuments of Oman (TSMO) Research Project: Field Campaigns 2018–2019, Journal of Oman Studies 22, 186–213
Garba, R., Danielisová, A., Rose, J., Fossati, A.E., Usik, V., Chlachula, D., Daněček, D., Maiorano, M.P., al Mahri, A., Beshkani, A. 2022: Archaeological landscape evolution and environmental dynamics of Duqm and Nejd (ARDUQ) Arduq. Season 1 Final Report (2021–2022), unpublished report, s.l.
Genchi, F., Martino, G., Maiorano, M.P., Garba, R., Al-Ghafri, W.H. 2017: An archaeological overview of the landscape of the al-Duqm development area, Sultanate of Oman (poster), PSArabStud 47, 93–100
Jagher, R. 2009: The Central Oman Paleolithic Survey: Recent Research in Southern Arabia and Reflection on the Prehistoric Evidence, [in:] Petraglia, M.D., Rose, J.I. (Eds), The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia. Paleoenvironments, Prehistory and Genetics, Dordrecht-New York, 139–150
Jagher, R., Pümpin, Ch., Winet, I., Bolliger, M., Wegmüller, F., Al-Sabri, B.A., Al Maskeri, S.A. 2008: Central Oman Palaeolithic Survey. Final Report of Phase I. Seasons 2007 & 2008, unpublished report, Basel
Lemée, M., Gernez, G., Giraud, J., Beuzen-Waller, T., Fouache, É. 2013: Jabal al-ʿAluya: an inland Neolithic settlement of the late fifth millennium BC in the Ādam area, Sultanate of Oman, PSArabStud 43, 197–212
Maiorano, M.P., Crassard, R., Charpentier, V., Bortolini, E. 2020a: A quantitative approach to the study of Neolithic projectile points from south-eastern Arabia, AAE 31/1, 151–167, https://doi.org/10.1111/aae.12147
Maiorano, M.P., Al Kindi, M., Charpentier, V., Vosges, J., Gommery, D., Marchand, G., Qatan, A., Borgi, F., Pickford, M. 2020b: Living and moving in Maitan: Neolithic settlement and regional exchanges in southern Rub’ al-Khali (Sultanate of Oman), [in:] Bretzke, K., Crassard, R., Hilbert, Y.H. (Eds), Stone Tools of Prehistoric Arabia, PSArabStud 50/2, Supplement, Oxford, 83–101
Maiorano, M.P., Marchand, G., Vosges, J., Berger, J.-F., Borgi, F., Charpentier, V. 2018: The Neolithic of Sharbithāt (Dhofar, Sultanate of Oman): typological, technological, and experimental approaches, PSArabStud 48, 219–233
Reimer, P.J., Austin, W.E.N., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Blackwell, P., Bronk Ramsey, C., Butzin, M., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P.M., Guilderson, T.P., Hajdas, I., Heaton, T.J., Hogg, A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., Manning, S.W., Muscheler, R., Palmer, J.G., Pearson, C., van der Plicht, J., Reimer, R.W., Richards, D.A., Scott, E.M., Southon, J.R., Turney, C.S.M., Wacker, L., Adolphi, F., Büntgen, U., Capano, M., Fahrni, S.M., Fogtmann-Schulz, A., Friedrich, R., Köhler, P., Kudsk, S., Miyake, F., Olsen, J., Reinig, F., Sakamoto, M., Sookdeo, A., Talamo, S. 2020: The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere radiocarbon age calibration curve (0–55 cal kBP), Radiocarbon 62/4, 725–757
Uerpmann, M., Uerpmann, H.-P., Hinderer, M., Lindauer, S., Neureiter, C., Ghukasyan, R., Kesejyan, S., Petrosyan, A. 2018: HLO1-south: An Early Neolithic site in Wadi al-Hilo (Sharjah, UAE), AAE 29/1, 1–9, https://doi.org/10.1111/aae.12107
Downloads
The publisher's shop:
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 164
Number of citations: 0