Archaeologists in Oman have found a 7,000-year-old stone tomb that contains dozens of human remains. The burial chamber, located near Nafun in the Al Wusta province, is believed to be one of the oldest human structures ever found in Oman. The structure is unique since no Bronze Age or older graves are known to exist in the area. The tomb was discovered about ten years ago in satellite images and is estimated to date between 5000 B.C. and 4600 B.C.
Archaeologist, Alžběta Danielisová, from the Czech Republic's Institute of Archaeology in Prague, who is leading the excavation, said that the tomb's walls were made up of thin stone slabs called ashlars. It consisted of two circular burial chambers divided into compartments covered by an ashlar roof. The entire tomb has partially collapsed over time due to annual monsoon rains. Several "bone clusters" were found in the burial chambers, indicating that the dead had been left to decompose before being deposited in the tomb.
Studies of the human remains will be carried out to discover more about the people who were buried in the tomb. Anthropological and biochemical assessments like isotope analysis, which looks at the differing neutrons in the nuclei of several key elements, will be used to learn more about their diets, mobility, and demographics. The scientists from the Czech Republic are leading several archaeological projects in Oman. In Southern Oman's Dhofar province, an expedition found a stone hand ax that may date back to the first early human migrations out of Africa. The same dating techniques provided by the Nuclear Physics Institute of the CAS will also be used to learn more about the roughly 2,000-year-old rows of stone "triliths" found throughout Oman since the 19th century.
Sponsored
The archaeologists are examining rock inscriptions near the site, although they were made thousands of years later. Melissa Kennedy, an archaeologist from The University of Western Australia, commented that these tombs give us a great insight into family relationships and how they viewed death and perhaps life after death. The discovery of the tomb in Oman will help archaeologists to create a better understanding of the Neolithic period across the Arabian Peninsula. These projects are important to know more about our past, how people related to death and how they led their daily lives millennia ago.
Related
