Nothing but Towers? The Early Bronze Age Landscape of Central Oman

阿曼公元前三千年是社会复杂性、新资源的使用和生活方式发生根本性变化的时期。人们对这一时期的定居模式知之甚少。学术将具有纪念性建筑的遗址视为聚落等级顶端的中心，近几十年来，这一点受到了大部分研究人员的关注。然而，缺乏数据来证实这一假设，因为他们腹地的小型遗址的存在在很大程度上是未经勘探的。因此，我在Al-Mudhaybi地区的DFG项目从2018年持续到2021年(正在续展到2022年)，目的是结合不同的调查方法和小规模挖掘，详细和全面地了解公元前3世纪在阿曼中部的定居点模式，以及这一时期重大社会变化的原因。到目前为止，该项目发现：(1)小型非纪念性聚落很少，因此需要重新考虑关于聚落等级的常见理论，(2)纪念性建筑在公元前3千年初就已经建成，(3)乌姆安纳尔时期研究地区的活动减少，这与认为它代表着文化高峰的假设相反。这挑战了青铜时代早期阿曼中部以农业和定居为主的社会的叙事，强调了流动社区的作用。由于在新发现的Mukhtru和Sinaw定居点出人意料地发现了大量的地表发现，以及田野工作于2020年春季提前结束，并不是所有的工作都能按计划在2021年10月项目结束前完成。这意味着缺乏关于青铜时代早期定居点系统及其发展过程的统计可靠陈述的数据。完成系统调查对于实现该项目的目标尤为关键。系统调查与传统调查的不同之处在于，它不限于在以前在遥感或其他方面确定或预测的地点对文物进行地面收集，而是明确地侧重于地点之间所谓的空白区域。这是找到较小地点的唯一途径，如游牧民族的露营地，从而产生研究地区具有代表性的整体图景。出于这个原因，我正在申请该项目8个月的续展。这一数据将使首次能够全面评估公元前3千年阿曼中部的定居点系统和社会经济变化的相关意义。

The 3rd millennium BC in Oman was a period of fundamental change in social complexity, the use of new resources and modes of life. Little is known about the settlement patterns of this period. Scholarship views sites with monumental buildings as centres at the top of a settlement hierarchy, which have received the bulk of researchers’ attention in recent decades. However, there is a lack of data to substantiate this hypothesis, as the presence of small sites in their hinterland is largely unexplored. My DFG project in the Al-Mudhaybi region, which runs from 2018 to 2021 (and is in the process of being renewed until 2022), therefore aims to use a combination of different survey methods and small-scale excavations to gain detailed and comprehensive insights into the settlement pattern of the 3rd millennium BC in Central Oman as well as into the causes of the significant social changes of this period. So far, this project has found that (1) small non-monumental settlements are rare and thus common theories of settlement hierarchy need to be reconsidered, (2) monumental buildings were already built at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC and (3) activity declined in the study area during the Umm an-Nar period, contrary to the assumption that it represents a cultural peak. This challenges the narrative of a predominantly agrarian and sedentary society with a hierarchically structured settlement system in Central Oman during the Early Bronze Age and instead emphasises the role of mobile communities.Due to the unexpectedly large number of surface finds in the newly discovered settlements of Mukhtru and Sinaw, as well as the premature termination of the fieldwork in spring 2020, not all work can be completed as planned by the scheduled end of the project in October 2021. This means that data for statistically reliable statements on the settlement system and its development in the course of the Early Bronze Age are missing. Completing the systematic survey is particularly crucial to achieving the project’s aims. The systematic survey differs from traditional surveys in that it is not limited to surface collection of artefacts at sites previously identified or anticipated in the remote sensing or otherwise, but explicitly focusses on supposedly empty areas between sites. It is the only way to find smaller sites, such as nomadic groups’ campsites, and thus to produce a representative overall picture of the study area. For this reason, I am applying for an 8-month continuation of the project. This data will make it possible to comprehensively assess the settlement system and the related significance of socio-economic changes of the 3rd millennium BC in Central Oman for the first time.