Preliminary report on a new prehistoric site in northern Oman (Qumayrah/Ayn 2)

Abstract

This paper reports briefly on the results of a short reconnaissance at the site of Qumayrah–Ayn 2 (QA 2), a new prehistoric site located in a poorly studied part of the Qumayrah Valley in northern Oman. A survey and limited probing by the Omani–Polish Qumayrah Archaeological Project confirmed the presence of a sediment, approximately 15–20 cm thick, which yielded not just lithics, but also stone installations discovered in situ. One of these installations was evidently a hearth, the other a kind of platform. The lithic assemblage is characterized by a prevalence of flake technology with rare blade products. Predominant in the tools group are side-scrapers, notches and perforators produced by direct-scaled retouch. The most characteristic tools are tanged projectile points made on flakes. The main problem is contextualizing these materials. On the grounds of certain premises they may be associated with the Fasad technocomplex, but not necessarily the pre-Neolithic one as is the case of the classic types. However, a much later chronology is also quite possible.

New Neolithic sites in the western al‐Hajar mountains

“…Even at this initial stage, the project provided evidence of at least two periods of Late Neolithic occupation of that area, based on morphological comparisons of lithic and non-lithic finds, supported by a 14 C date. Previously suggested presence of older stages of the Neolithic period (Białowarczuk, 2017;Białowarczuk & Szymczak, 2018, 2019, as well as the early Holocene attribution of one point from QA 12 discussed above is not sufficiently evidenced and must remain speculative.…”

“…Four small trenches were also dug on three flanks of the site, proving that although it is strongly deflated, some cultural deposits survived there. It was c. 15–20 cm thick, but gradually thinned towards the south and east (Białowarczuk, ; Białowarczuk & Szymczak, ). Two separate deposits can be distinguished here: context (001) is a surface deposit c. 5 cm thick, which consists of abundant gravels and pebbles with an admixture of lithics – a typical result of deflation and erosion of topmost layers of occupation.…”

“…Just next to it was a hearth (005) and a stone platform (004) (Fig. /4), the best‐constructed structures at the site (Białowarczuk, ). It seems unlikely that locus 1 was an isolated feature and the stone scatter north of it may have originated in other such shelters.…”

Tell el-Farkha. Archaeological Fieldwork 2016–2017

“…Seven of these sites hail from the Stone Age. Restricted testing at one of them, QA 2, in 2016 confirmed it to be a site that was (Białowarczuk 2017). The 2017 season of fieldwork focused on a more detailed reconnaissance of the Stone Age occupation in the region.…”

“…2). A reconnaissance in the autumn of 2016 (see Białowarczuk 2017) showed the site to be strongly deflated, yet with a sizeable cultural deposit still extant in some parts. The current objective was to enlarge the excavated area to investigate whether the well preserved stone hearth and stone platform discovered in the previous season marked the presence of other structures in this part of the site.…”