MASPAG 2022 Archaeological Survey — Methodological Perspectives and Preliminary Results

The paper presents the methodology and preliminary results of the first MASPAG (Missione Archeologica della Sapienza nella Penisola Arabica e nel Golfo) archaeological survey, carried out in Oman in February 2022. The area under survey falls within the territory of South al-Batinah Governorate, and more specifically in the provinces of Nakhal, al-‘Awabi, and Wādī al-Ma’awil, and had not previously been touched by any archaeological investigation. The survey mainly covered foothills and wadi plains that are located between the Jebel Akhdar and the Arabian Sea, or Lower Sea, according to ancient Babylonian geographical sources. The spatial context was an ideal one in which to undertake a new project concerned with the study of human mobility and the social compositions of the so-called Land of Magan in all their complexity. By integrating satellite images with aerial and ground-collected data, we were able to document a multi-millennial archaeological landscape in which hundreds of burials and significant concentrations of surface materials have emerged. Particularly remarkable in this regard were the data recorded at the village of Khatum, on the eastern bank of Wādī Far’, and at the village of Muslimat in Wādī al-Ma’awil. Preliminary analysis conducted on the morphology of the funerary structures, together with the study of surface materials, suggests these areas in the Hafit, Wadi Suq, and Early Iron Age periods were continuously frequented.