Field Survey
February saw the start of MASPAG’s first field survey. The aim is to document a hitherto little-studied landscape, identifying its main archaeological features including settlements and necropolises. Located in the governorate of South Batinah, between the provinces of Nakhal, al-Awabi and Wadi al-Ma’awil, the area under investigation is characterized by the relief and rocky alluvial plains of the wadis that lie between the northern slopes of the Jebel Akhdar and the Arabian Sea.
As it has not yet been the subject of archaeological studies and exploration, this area offered the ideal context to begin a new landscape archaeological project aimed at analyzing the complexity of social organizations and human mobility at the centre of the Land of Magan.
The goal of the first survey campaign was to highlight the archaeological potential of the area and test a predictive geomatic model for the identification and documentation of archaeological features in the landscape. Integrating satellite images remote sensing with targeted field verifications of the anomalies identified via satellite, an unexplored multi-millennial archaeological landscape was documented. At the end of the fieldwork we will get to work on presenting our preliminary results this summer at international conferences in Rome and Berlin.
Stay tuned for more updates!
