First Assessment of The Research Potential of The Prehistoric Intermountain Site Hayl Al Ajah in The Al Hajar Mountains of Northern Oman (Project SIPO)
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2020 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | The Journal of Oman Studies |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | https://is.muni.cz/auth/publication/1730036/Mateiciucova_Wilding_et_al_2020_First_Assessment_of_The_Research_Potential.pdf |
| Keywords | Al Hajar Mountains; Lithics; Karstic Polje; Late Pleistocene; Middle Holocene |
| Attached files | |
| Description | This contribution presents preliminary results of a first archaeological assessment of an elevated palaeohydrological feature in the central part of the Al Hajar Mountains (Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar). The 2018 Test Season at the karstic polje Hayl Al Ajah yielded the first direct evidence of a prehistoric occupation of intermountain places in Northern Oman as high as 1000 m a.s.l. The deflated and sediment-embedded lithics found are techno-typologically dated to the Late Pleistocene and Middle Holocene, i.e. periods with longer arid phases. The evidence of a human presence at high-elevation places earlier than formerly thought, raises the question what role the sediment-filled depressions in elevated position in the Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar could have played during prehistoric times. The Project SIPO of Masaryk University (Brno, Czech Republic) will inquire when the utilization at the polje Hayl Al Ajah (1012 m a.s.l.) started and if some prehistoric groups could have held out in the interior of Oman during aridization phases, in refugia, by means of a long-term mountain adaption. The deep, layered sediment available at the site (polje fill) is a potential geo-archive suited for palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Together with the archaeological traces encountered the circumstances justify further systematic research at this intermountain site. |