The present-day Sultanate of Oman lies in the south-eastern Arabian Peninsula.
While traditional Oman also includes the present-day United Arab Emirates, their prehistoric remains differ from the more specifically defined 'Oman proper' which corresponds roughly with the present-day northern provinces of the Sultanate of Oman. Differences occur between the area of the present-day U.A.E. and the Sultanate particularly after the end of the Early Iron Age. Archaeology is conditioned by the geographical situation. The amount of moisture dictates the amount and place of agriculture and population which are possible. A variety of subsistence strategies exploit the available resources. Since archaeological field work began in the Sultanate in the early 1970s, numerous teams have worked in the Sultanate.
Different ages are reflected in typological assemblages, Old Stone Age, New Stone Age, Copper Age, Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, Late Iron Age, that is Samad Period, so-called late pre-Islamic culture and the Age of Islam. What is referred to as a period is inferred from a regularly recurring assemblages of artefacts. Some specialists equate periods with cultures. The names of the ages are conventional and are difficult to fix in terms of absolute years. Aside from this the development is highly regional. The archaeological assemblages of the South Province Dhofar=Zafar differ completely from those of the central part of the country. A key barometer of industrial activity is the amount of copper production, as known from smelting refuse (slag) and metallic artefacts.
Except for the Islamic period, What all share is that they are known primarily from cemeteries, tombs and grave goods. The absolute dates for the different periods are still under study and it is difficult to assign years to the Late Iron Age of central and southern Oman.
Old Stone Age: Known primarily from survey finds.
New Stone Age: The first agricultural settlements. Known from a variety of sites, most of which lie on the coast. The most characteristic feature is the domestication of plants and animals and a shift toward settled life.
Copper Age, Hafit: Known originally from a cemetery site on the Jebel Hafit. Typically cairns lie on top of hill crests. Copies and pottery imports from southern Mesopotamia occur. Such finds have been documented on the eastern coast of the country near Ra's al-Hadd and Ra's al-Jins. Diagnostic pottery of Jemdet Nasr type has survived in some tombs.
Bronze Age: The Umm an-Nar and Wadi Suq Periods. Known from numerous sites, for example respectively on the island Umm an-Nar and in the Wadi Suq. Typical are nice wheel-turned painted pottery which distinguish these two periods. Metal production grows considerably in relation to that of the preceeding Hafit Period. During the Umm an-Nar Period, large communal, free-standing tombs contain numerous interments. Other tombs are smaller and may contain one or a few interments.
Early Iron Age: Known from different cemetery and copper producing sites including the settlement on the Jebel Radhania, Lizq. Hand-made, hard-fired pottery. The dead are interred in exisating tombs or in hut-like free-standing ones. Copper production reaches a peak at this time which will only be surpassed in Islamic times. The chronology for this age resembles but also differs from the better known one of the present-day U.A.E. During this Iron Age paradoxically in Oman iron artefacts have not yet been recovered. In neighbouring Iran after 1200 B.C. iron weapons are characteristic.
Late Iron Age, Samad Period: The type-site of this illiterate, copper alloy and iron-using period is Samad al-Shan. Typically, individual stone-built graves are sunk into the earth in the plain. Generally handmade pottery, some glazed imports. Some believe that at this time Oman is dominated by Parthian and later Sasanian invaders from Iran. The contrasting theory is that resources allowed only to dominate a few coastal sites and the bulk of the population were mixed Semitic speakers. Persian presence is inferred by a few place-names on the coast. from 500 B.C. to 50 A.D. scholars believe that waves of migratory tribes from South and Central Arabia settle in Oman.
Late Pre-Islamic Northern Period: Known from different sites, for example Amla, al-Fuwayda. Such sites are partly contemporary with the Late Iron Age of Samad and other sites in the Sharqiyah.
Late Iron Age in Dhofar: Survey and a few excavations shed light on the archaeology of the South Province of the Sultanate. The largest and best-known site is Khor Rori - a trading fort established by the Hadhramite kingdom in the 3rd century B.C. While this site shows a mixture of artefacts, many of which are of Old South Arabian type, the surrounding countryside reveals a melange of different kinds of artefacts. Khor Rori owes its existence to the trading of aromatics, in particular frankenscense.
Islamic Age: From the very beginning just after the arrival of Islam nothing has survived. The earliest building structures to survive date to medieval times.
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