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Analyses of archaeological fuel remains can provide insight into pyrotechnologies, resource management, and the local environment. In this paper, we examine archaeological charcoals from Hafit period (3300-2700 BC) levels in Building V at al-Khashbah (al-Khashaba), Oman, to understand fuel harvesting and burning preferences associated with early copper production. Building V is currently thought to be the earliest identified copper-production site in Oman based on the presence of abundant pyrotechnological remains, copper slag, and stratified radiocarbon results. Here, we build on previous anthracological work reconstructing woodland composition from the site. Anthracologists are increasingly recognising that fuelwood collection is often based on social or functional grounds rather than species availability. To that end, we have combined traditional taxonomic analysis with the application of dendro-anthracological methods to examine how intensive wood harvesting was for copper production and whether it had effects on the local vegetation. Dendrological reconstruction of wood calibre and condition at burning combined with spatial patterning of remains provides a more nuanced view of these preferences than can be achieved through taxonomic analysis alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the final two field seasons of the Al-Mudhaybi Regional Survey in central Oman conducted in 2021 and 2022, systematic field-walking of the north--south transects continued. This resulted in the discovery of a possible Neolithic to Early Bronze Age flint scatter north-east of Al-Khashbah and an Iron Age settlement at Shariq. The area of the Iron Age settlement also incorporates a possible Umm an-Nar period tower. Additionally, excavations were carried out at the Umm an-Nar period site of Al-Qabrayn. Here, stone walls and mud-brick structures radiocarbon-dated to 2800--2400 BC were uncovered, which might be the remains of another third-millennium BC tower. These findings, together with those from the 2019 and 2020 field season, allow initial reconstructions of the archaeological landscape of the region. Different phases of site concentration and dispersal as well as shifting site locations are presented in a diachronic perspective. While the Neolithic and Hafit periods are scattered over most of the survey area, Umm an-Nar, Wadi Suq, and Iron Age remains are concentrated in just a few places. Interestingly, there is little continuation regarding site location between the different periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Al-Mudhaybi Regional Survey seeks to produce a detailed and comprehensive knowledge of the landscape of the Al-Mudhaybi region in Central Oman. This paper presents the results of the 2020 field season, in which transects throughout the survey area were field-walked. The transects were equally spaced, at 4 km distance from each other, and ran north to south. Each transect was walked by a team of four, recording all surface finds with a hand-held GPS device. This method helped to identify more ephemeral structures, such as find scatters, thus providing statistically relevant data on site and artefact density in the region and, ultimately, on the settlement pattern and its diachronic development. At the southern end of the first transect completed in 2020, an Iron Age settlement was recorded near Sinaw. Additionally, this paper discusses small excavations carried out at three sites -- Al-Batha, Mukhtru, and Al-Fath -- which were conducted to provide a more precise chronology for them by radiocarbon dating. While radiocarbon dates on charcoal from the Mukhtru settlement site fall well into the Umm an-Nar period (2450-2050 BC), radiocarbon dates and pottery sherds from the presumably third-millennium BC tower at Al-Fath clearly indicate a reuse in the middle and late Islamic periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sites with towers in eastern Arabia have been interpreted as regional centres of the Early Bronze Age. One of those sites is Al-Khashbah in central Oman. Until now, however, nothing was known about its hinterland that would support the idea of a regional centre. The Al-Mudhaybi Regional Survey was therefore initiated in order, for the first time, to provide comprehensive and detailed knowledge of this third-millennium BC landscape. This paper presents the results of the remote sensing and ground truthing of potential features in the 2019 field season. Nearly 4000 archaeological structures ranging from the Neolithic to the modern era have been positively identified. Interestingly, some periods such as the Hafit and Wadi Suq were abundantly present, while the Umm an-Nar and Late Bronze Age were almost totally missing. It is also important to note that, except for the possible Hafit-period tower at Al-Fath, no Bronze Age settlement sites were found. The reasons behind this pattern remain to be discovered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Al-Khashbah, located approximately 17 km north of the modern city of Sināw, is one of the largest Early Bronze Age sites in the Sultanate of Oman. The University of Tübingen has carried out excavations at the site during the last four years (2015-2018), revealing a significant amount of Hafit-period architecture and finds, including a mud-brick complex (Building I) and a stone tower (Building V). Building I dates to around 2800 cal. BC and has provided evidence of bead and chipped stone workshops. Its layout is comparable to the contemporaneous tower at Hili 8, Phase I. Building V yielded the oldest substantial evidence of copper processing in Oman, dating to the end of the fourth millennium, around 3200 cal. BC. Thus, the archaeological record in Oman can now corroborate archaic texts from Uruk in southern Mesopotamia that mention copper objects from the Gulf. This paper presents the preliminary results of the study of the architecture, metallurgy, lithics, ground-stone tools, and anthracological material from Al-Khashbah. These diverse strands of evidence offer valuable insights into the Hafit-period economy, environment, and lifestyle at Al-Khashbah. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]