ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES OF BAT, AL-KHUTM AND AL-AYN

The Jebel Misht as a backdrop, in a landscape of striking and immediate nobility, twenty-one "honeycomb" tombs stand on a rocky ridge, sentinels of eternal rest for more than 3,000 years (4,000 to 5,000 years according to other sources). We are on the site of Al-Ayn, in front of one of the most beautiful natural and historical spectacles in Oman. This site - and the ensemble it comprises with the necropolises, rural dwellings and towers of Bat and Al-Khutm - was the first in the country to be accepted in the UNESCO World Heritage of Universal Value register, and this is no coincidence. To reach it, one leaves the main road linking Bahla to Ibri and drives towards Amla for 21 km. Then, along a goat path without any signposts, you reach the tombs, which look like shell heads lined up against the blue sky at the foot of Misht, a geological sandstone alien similar - hence its name - to a big comb. In order to protect the place, the authorities have never made an effort in terms of signalling and communication and very few Omanis know how to access it, even though it is easy.

Dating from the 3rd millennium BC. (some even from the 4th), the tombs of Al Ayn are probably a little more recent than the single chamber cairns identified on the slopes of Jebel Hafit in the Emirates. Described here for the first time in 1975, they are characterised by multiple concentric partitions of tightly packed stone without mortar, on a low platform. It is assumed that these tombs were intended for important people such as lawyers. The deceased were buried with offerings, flowers and water to enhance their future stay. Moreover, the discovery on site of knives from Ancient Egypt seems to testify to the importance of the economic exchanges practiced in the region at that time.

Approximately 25 kilometres to the west in the mineral ocean, on a route offering sumptuous panoramas of the mountain ranges, the tombs of Bat are more scattered and less well preserved than those of Al Ayn. However, according to UNESCO, they are "a characteristic and unique testimony to the evolution of burial practices during the first Bronze Age of the Oman Peninsula. The country of Magan was the main centre for the extraction of copper, which was exported to Mesopotamia 3,000 BC. The protohistoric site extends to the north of the village and palm grove of Bat: north of the confluence of a small river and the Wadi al Hijr, there are five stone towers, structures very representative of the first Bronze Age in the Oman peninsula. One of the towers has been completely cleared and its construction has been evaluated between 2595 and 2465 BC. From the tower, which serves as a landmark of the site, one can immediately see, on an eastward slope, a series of rectangular houses with a central courtyard and, to the north, a vast necropolis that can be divided into two distinct parts. The first is located at the top of a rocky slope. Its dry-stone tombs - some of which date from the^4th millennium - are scattered along the path linking Bat to Al Wahrah. The second part, much more concentrated, extends on rice terraces, south-east of the wadi, and includes more than 100 dry stone tombs, in a honeycomb structure; these tombs appear to be arranged in a general plan. The oldest ones face north. They have only one entrance and one burial chamber and were a common burial place for a small number of deceased. Towards the south, the burials become more imposing. They have two entrances opening onto one, two and sometimes four burial chambers and were intended for a large number of deceased. »

According to UNESCO, it appears that, "as in many other ancient civilizations, monuments in ancient Oman were generally built with regularly cut stones. The remains of ancient quarries from which building materials were extracted are unique to Bat and Al-Ayn, as well as the many workshops that testify to the complete operations, from quarrying to masonry and building techniques. Continuous and systematic survey activities are constantly increasing the types and number of monuments and sites that need to be documented and protected, including villages and several towers, quarries associated with Bronze Age stone masonry workshops, Bronze Age necropolises, an Iron Age fort and tombs, and two Neolithic flint mines connected with workshop areas for the production of stone tools".

Inorder to protect the site and to facilitate and promote understanding of it, the Ministry of Culture and Heritage of Oman launched a major study project in 2004 in collaboration with several international museums. Eventually, at a date yet to be determined, as it is difficult to obtain this type of information in the Sultanate, some tombs will be restored and a museum and visitor centre built. We would like to inform you in case, by misfortune, the site was temporarily closed or protected by barriers when you passed through...