Buraimi Oasis Landscape Archaeology Project 2014

The Buraymī Oasis Landscape Archaeology Project (BOLAP) is a three-way collaboration between Zayed University, Sultan Qaboos University and TCA Abu Dhabi which aims to explore the historic unity and shared heritage of the Buraymī Oasis. The Buraymī Oasis, as described by Ibādī chroniclers and British explorers of the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, was made up of nine discrete date-palm oases, namely Hīlī, Masūdī, Qattāra, Jīmī, Hamāsa, Sarā, Muwaijī, Mutarid and al-Ayn (Fig. 1.1). However, our understanding of the origin and
development of the Buraymī Oasis group has been obscured by the international border dividing the oasis into Emirati and Omani sections. Archaeological work has, since the midtwentieth century, focused on the Emirati half of the oasis, culminating in the inscription of al-Ayn on the list of UNESCO World-Heritage Sites in 2011, with almost no archaeological work undertaken on the Omani side of the oasis. The Buraymī Oasis Landscape Archaeology Project was set up to redress this imbalance by commencing fieldwork in Oman. The first phase of fieldwork included a desk-based assessment coupled with remote sensing, which informed targeted geophysical survey undertaken by the University of Southampton, together with limited field walking and test pitting to provide ceramic dates. This paper will present the preliminary findings and discuss their contribution to the understanding of the origin and development of the Buraymī Oasis group.