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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]

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]