Terraced landscapes of the jabal akhdar (2022-23): Fieldwork at shuraijah and wadi bani habib

Contenu

Titre

Terraced landscapes of the jabal akhdar (2022-23): Fieldwork at shuraijah and wadi bani habib

Créateur

Turner, Sam

Zerboni, Andrea

Kinnaird, Tim

Kindi, Mohammed al-

Sevara, Christopher

Brandolini, Filippo

Pezzotta, Andrea

Sujet

Archéologie -- Oman

Résumé

Agricultural terraces are prominent features in landscapes across the world. Terraces enable the cultivation of steep land for crops including cereals, fruit, vegetables, flowers and trees, and can be irrigated where careful water management is required. They allow the redistribution of sediment to create soils with improved root penetration and water retention. Terraces are highly variable, their regional development reflecting a combination of natural factors (differing geologies, geomorphology, hydrological conditions) and landscape histories (manuring, field management, crop selection, water availability). The histories of terraced landscapes remain poorly understood, including in Oman. Little is known about when they were constructed, and how they were used and developed across different periods and environments. A key reason for this lack of knowledge is that terraces have proven exceptionally difficult to date using conventional or scientific archaeological methods. This research project uses a new method developed by the research team to date terraces in Oman for the first time and use geoarchaeological methods to investigate how they were used in the past. In March 2023, targeted fieldwork in two villages of Jabal Akhdar (Ash Shuraijah and Wadi Bani Habib) allowed collection of sediment samples for dating and geoarchaeological analysis.

Est une partie de

Athar: Bulletin of Archaeological Research in the Sultanate of Oman

numéro

1

pages

235-245

Date

2025

Langue

eng