Survey And Settlement: Preliminary Results of The Bat Archaeological Project's 2019 Field Season

Abstract

This paper presents the preliminary results of the 2018-2019 field season of the Bat Archaeological Project (BAP), which has conducted research at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bat (Sultanate of Oman) since 2007. Recent research by the authors targets ancient settlement located in the site’s dense third millennium BC contexts. Over the course of Winter 2018-2019 BAP surveyed and conducted excavation of three test trenches in a 35 ha area. Over 200 features were documented, of which 60+ date to the Bronze Age. Excavations identified: (1) Hafit or early Umm an-Nar period mudbrick architecture east of Matariya tower; (2) intact Umm an-Nar deposits east of Rojoom; and (3) evidence for widely varying ancient topography on the northern edge of what is now the wadi plain. The analysis of ceramic and lithic artifacts collected over the season provide data on the chronological dynamism and function of different areas within the site. While the strongest material signatures date to the Islamic periods and Bronze Age, evidence attests to the site being occupied continuously since at least the Neolithic. Taken together, these preliminary results reveal shifting patterns of occupation and land-use on the Bat landscape over the past 5000 years. The presence of this complex palimpsest at Bat suggests that such patterns may also exist at similar multi-period sites.