An Iron Age village in the Hajjar Mountains of Northern Oman: QA 21 in the Qumayrā microregion

Abstract

Excavations at the site of QA 21 near the village of ʿAyn Banī Saʿdah in the Qumayrā microregion yielded new information on Iron Age (IA) II settlement in the Hajjar mountains. Located halfway between the modern towns of Yanqul and Buraymī, in an area with little-known Iron Age occupation, QA 21 is a c. 2 ha open site scattered with the remains of numerous buildings. The pottery found on the surface is largely of IA II date even though some of the structures can date from a later, possibly Late Islamic period. Excavations of a large IA II house provided a rich and well-stratified collection of pottery, some stone tools and marine shells. Analysis of the finds’ distribution and the building's construction details revealed functional differences between certain areas of the house. The entire structure can be interpreted as a large village household with domestic, storage and food-processing areas. The provenance of the ceramic assemblage associated with this household is both regional and local, as indicated by geochemical analysis of the pottery, suggesting that the settlement participated in regional exchange networks.