Digging graves at a site in Oman. (Roman Garba and Alžběta Danielisov/ CAS Institute of Archeology in Prague)

dig and tweet
a report in AVCR says last year’s work at two different sites in Oman represented the third consecutive season of excavations. This research is part of a larger archaeological project led by Viktor Černý, an evolutionary anthropologist at the Institute of Archeology in Prague, which focuses on “the biocultural interactions of populations and their adaptation to climate change.”

One team searched in Dhofar Governorate in southern Oman, while the second group operated in Duqm province in central Oman. And spreading their work around the world, the two teams of researchers shared their findings on the Twitter account @Arduq_Arabia.

Tools of the first waves of African migration
The Rub’ al Khali desert in the Dhofar province of Oman is known as the ‘Empty Quarter’. This sparsely populated region represents the world’s largest contiguous sandy desert, spanning more than 250,000 square miles on the Arabian Peninsula. Among the sand dunes that rise up to 300 meters (984 feet), archaeologists have also found a fossilized dune and an ancient river bed from a time when the climate in Arabia was significantly wetter.

At this location, the team of archaeologists not only discovered eggshells from an extinct species of ostrich, but also unearthed a collection of stone hand axes. Later dating determined that these tools were made and used by some of the earliest humans who migrated from Africa around 300,000 years ago.

Hand axes dating back at least 300,000 years have been found at the site. (Roman Garba and Alžběta Danielisov/ CAS Institute of Archeology in Prague)

Application of Nuclear Physics to Stone Age Artifacts
Expedition leader Roman Garba of the CAS Institute of Archeology in Prague told Live Science that these discoveries should provide valuable data for reconstructing ancient climates in the world’s largest sandy desert. Furthermore, by understanding the natural conditions that shaped prehistoric settlements, researchers will gain a better idea of “human adaptability to climate change”, which is in line with the goals defined by Professor Viktor Černý.

Garba explained that “nuclear physics” is applied to this research project to help date the discoveries. Garba said the CAS Institute of Nuclear Physics performed radiocarbon dating and “cosmogenic radionuclide dating” of the finds, using “the first accelerator mass spectrometer in the Czech Republic.” Cosmogenic radionuclide dating is used to estimate the age of geological materials by measuring the concentration of isotopes created by cosmic rays. This method can accurately date rocks and sediments on the Earth’s surface and is used to assess historical changes in climate and tectonics.

Radiocarbon dating and spatiotemporal analysis have helped researchers learn more about ritual stone monuments, known as triliths, found in southern Arabia. Dating back around 2,000 years, Garba compared these circular burial structures to “a smaller-scale version of England’s better-known Stonehenge.” However, it is currently not known who built them and what they were for. Furthermore, Garba says that no one is sure “what is hidden under these burial chambers.”

Archaeologists examine a stone monument, known as a trilith. (Roman Garba and Alžběta Danielisov/ CAS Institute of Archeology in Prague)

Team 2’s unique discoveries
The second expedition team focused its work on a Neolithic tomb at the Nafūn site, near the city of Ibri, in Duqm province in central Oman, along the Arabian Sea. Built between 5000 and 4600 B.C. C., this site contained the remains of a large fortified settlement dating to the third millennium BC. C., which later became an important commercial center in the Bronze Age.

Professor Alžběta Danielisová, from the Institute of Archeology in Prague, said the second team had identified “a megalithic structure concealing two circular burial chambers”, in which the skeletal remains of several dozen people were found. Danielisová believes that isotopic analyzes of bones, teeth, and shells will inform “the diet, natural environment, and migrations of the buried population.” The researcher described these findings as “unique in the context of the whole of South Arabia.”

An archaeologist traces one of the inscriptions found on a rock. ( Roman Garba and Alžběta Danielisov/ CAS Institute of Archeology in Prague )

In search of a pictorial record
Not far from the 7,000-year-old circular tomb, the second team also investigated Late Stone Age stone tool production sites, including a collection of rock engravings. Also described as ‘unique’, scientists have found more than ’49 boulders’ of different styles and varying degrees of erosion providing ‘a pictorial record’ of life at this site, between 5000 BCE. C. and 1000 d. c.

Viktor Černý of the Institute of Archeology in Prague, said that the detected interactions of African and Arab archaeological cultures “characterize the mobility of populations of anatomically modern humans.” He added that the results of these two excavations will now be compared with the genetic diversity of the two regions. This comparison is expected to lead to “a fuller picture of the formation of contemporary society in South Arabia,” Černý explained.