Environmental history and plant exploitation at the aceramic sites of RH5 and RH6 near the mangrove swamp of Qurm (Muscat—Oman)

Abstract

SummaryExcavations of two main mid-Holocene shell middens near Muscat, Oman, have shown a careful choice of the sites, settled along the mouth of a wadi channel between the middle of the seventh and the first centuries of the sixth millennium BP. The analysis on charred materials (from pits and hearths) gives informations about the essential aspects of the territory exploited by the communities of fisher-gatherers. In particular, it is shown that a mangrove ecosystem was widely exploited both in terms of wood (Avicennia marina) and meat (Terebralia palustris). Other aspects of wood collection (Tamarix, Ziziphus, Acacia) show no differencies with the present ecology. Carbonized fruits of Ziziphus and Setaria are also present in the sites.