Stratigraphy, palaeoclimatic context and fossils of the Southern Rub Al Khali (the Empty Quarter): results of a geo-archaeological survey around the area of Maitan in the Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

ABSTRACT Here we summarise the geological work conducted in the desert village of Maitan, in South of Oman, during a geological and archaeological survey. The region is dominated by extensive, tall linear dunes overlying an incised Eocene marine limestone plateau. Above the limestone plateau, the interdunal areas expose various recent deposits including palaeo-regolith and epikarst deposits, fluvial conglomerates, gypsum «playa-like» deposits, aeolianites, semi-consolidated dunes, sand and silt with gypsum-roses, calcareous tufa and loose sand. The sediments indicate the prevalence of largely arid and hyper-arid conditions, with brief intervals of relatively humid conditions, during which humans and their livestock probably inhabited the region. The presence of abundant millstones, grindstones and pestles and mortars, along with fossilised animal bones, beads and other ornaments, scrapers, blades and other instruments, speaks for prolonged occupation of the area. The survey revealed the presence of Late Palaeolithic, Middle and Late Neolithic sites. The discovery of this new archaeological area provides extraordinary information about the middle Holocene peopling of this region, about which little was previously known. Comparisons with known sites in the Rub Al Khali desert show an incredibly high presence of living and moving human populations in an area which now seems so inhospitable.