Rescue excavation of a third‐millennium BC tomb at Al‐Khubayb, Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

A third-millennium BC tomb was subject to a rescue excavation in connection with the construction of a new road near the village of Al-Khubayb in the Sultanate of Oman. It yielded a small number of finds, especially small metal objects that belonged to a later reuse of the tomb in the Samad period. As all diagnostic finds from the tomb date to the reuse, its architectural elements were the only indicator for the construction date of the tomb. Besides its small size and large wall thickness, which might suggest that the tomb is a transitional type between the Hafit and the Umm an-Nar periods, its separation into two chambers and its facade made of white, dressed stones, can be seen as a clue for a construction date of the tomb in the Umm an-Nar period.