Published papers

© 2016, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a concurrent implementation of sustainable inventory for the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn in the interior of Oman. Design/methodology/approach – A digital heritage inventory (DHI) was developed through an action research to realize demands of the local agent and to co-design the solution. The Ministry of Heritage and Culture of Oman, the local agent, demanded to have archaeological information of the sites shared with foreign expeditions, which had worked at the sites for decades, for efficient heritage management, scientific research, outreach, and education. To this end, the Bat Digital Heritage Inventory (BatDHI) was implemented by a combination of network-access-ready database application, open source geographical information systems, and a web-based map service to incorporate and visualize previous works, which were concurrently cross-checked and updated by ground-truth surveys. Findings – The online inventory made it possible to update information during archaeological fieldwork in real time and accelerated the decision-making process in heritage management by prompt data updates and visualization. Research limitations/implications – The DHI is extendable for other sites or regions. It should also be considered to install Arches, an open-source suite of digital heritage inventories. Practical implications – The BatDHI was implemented through the action research mentioned in the design/methodology/approach section and yielded the implications mentioned in the findings section. Originality/value – This paper is a challenging application of transdisciplinary approach to the sustainable heritage management, in which researchers and societal stakeholders collaborate for co-design of research agendas, co-production of knowledge, and co-dissemination of outcomes.

The Shahrizor Plain is in a mountainous basin in the eastern part of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where evidence of prehistoric occupations has been increasingly accumu- lated by recent investigations. Regarding the chronology of its late prehistory, however, there are some ill-defined archaeological gaps yet to be filled, the most critical of which lies in the early 6th millennium cal. BC. To address this issue, new excavations began at Shaikh Marif in 2022, following investigations at Shakar Tepe in 2019. Our work in 2022 successfully uncovered cultural deposits that yielded artefact assemblages typical of the Late Neolithic period. The dates of the site were estimated to be approximately 6000 cal. BC and thus fill a part of the chronological gaps in the archaeological records of the late prehis- tory in this region.

This paper reports on the geoarchaeological survey in the Wadi al-Kabir basin, located in the southern piedmont of the al-Hajar mountains, to the north-east of Ibri, Oman. The goal of the survey was to understand the spatial patterns of human occupation of the region during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, paying special attention to the development of landscape and topography. The survey comprised archaeological and geomorphological explorations. Both approaches employed satellite remote sensing and GIS-based mapping of surface features. From the geomorphological viewpoint, the survey area was an alluvial plain washed and surrounded by two major wadis Wadi al-Kabir and wadi Khuwaybah. In this area, the archaeological team documented twenty-three sites and scatters. Middle to Late Palaeolithic artefacts were identified in the piedmont areas, while Holocene lithics, characterized by Fasad points, end-scrapers, and drills, were scattered on residual hills and terraces. The team identified a total of 246 cairns, most of which look like Hafit-type tombs. Some of the cairns were associated with lithic concentration. There was a Bronze Age and Islamic settlement on the terrace between the two wadis. At that site, called al-HasT, the team mapped at least five Bronze Age towers, two Umm an-Nar type graves, enclosure walls, irrigation channels with an aqueduct bridge, bunds to prevent floods, and traces of crop field boundaries and buildings. The results of systematic surface collection and soil sampling in the northern sector suggested that a Bronze Age settlement is probably present underneath the crop fields of the Islamic period.

© 2015 Copernicus GmbH. All rights reserved. This paper reports on the on-site development of a local-scale digital heritage inventory (DHI) of the Bronze Age site at Bat in the interior of Oman. The goal of this inventory project was to share geospatial and archaeological information of tombs and other built structures with researchers and government agents to conduct cultural heritage management, scientific research, outreach, and education. To this end, the Bat Digital Heritage Inventory (BatDHI) was compiled at the local office by incorporating previous survey records, which were concurrently crosschecked and updated by ground-truth surveys. The current version of the BatDHI was implemented using a combination of a network-access-ready database application, open source geographical information system, and web-based map engine. This system assisted both fieldwork and management works including decision making and planning. This inventory project exemplified a transdisciplinary research, in which researchers and societal stakeholders collaborated for co-design of research agendas, co-production of knowledge, and co-dissemination of outcomes.

This paper reports on ground-surface surveys and test excavations at the cave of Mugharat Al Kahf in the Wādī Tanūf, the Ad Dākhiliyah Governorate, in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons. The cave was discovered in the course of the regional survey in the 2017/18 season and is located on the cliff approximately 200 m above the right bank of the Wādī Tanūf. More than 200 potsherds were collected from the ground surface inside the cave, mostly from the Wādī Sūq period (2000–1600 B.C.E.). Moreover, two stone vessel fragments, which can be dated to the Umm an Nar (2750–2000 B.C.E.) and Wādī Sūq periods respectively, were found on the surface. Three test pits were opened, and radiocarbon samples were collected from the ash layer of Test Pit 1. The finds from this cave, especially storage jars, may enhance our understanding of cave use for storage in the Wādī Sūq period.