Iron Age Settlement in the Region of Qumayrah, Oman

Since 2015, the Omani-Polish Archaeological Mission has been conducting research in the Qumayrah valley, north-western Oman, on an area stretching from Al-Ayn in the south to the vicinity of Bilt village in the north-east. The region in question was surveyed in the late 1990s, though it was never closely investigated, as only some basic topographic maps were drawn, and the presence of archaeological remains dating from the Bronze Age to the Late Islamic period was merely noted. As a result of surveys conducted in 2015 and 2016 by the Omani-Polish mission, a large Iron Age settlement surrounded by a bulky stone wall was recorded in great detail. The research was also conducted on the area stretching south of the village, where remains of a watchtower and a large village of the same period were do-cumented. Excavations began in 2017 and resulted in uncovering of some of the structural remains enclosed within the stone wall.