Farasan – 2022

The 2022 campaign took place from January 28 to March 1, 2022. The work was organized around three components: surveys east of al-Quṣār, excavations at the Wadi Matar 2 site, and excavations at the al-Quṣār site.

Surveys
The survey component focused on the area east of the al-Quṣār oasis. The objective was to identify archaeological sites, particularly those dating from the Roman occupation, which would clarify our understanding of the strategies used by the Roman contingent to occupy the territory. This inventory was also intended to highlight sites occupied by South Arabian communities contemporary with the Roman presence. More than a hundred sites were recorded, several of which date back to the early centuries of our era. A large number of shell middens were also recorded (these were the subject of the ERC DISPERSE program of the University of York/Heritage Commission).

Excavations
Excavations focused on the Wādī Maṭar site, where two members of the team carried out verification surveys at the end of the first four-year period. The surveys focused on area WM-2/B, a settlement area that saw several successive occupations (Bronze Age, Early South Arabian period, Antiquity), and on temple WM-2/C, where operations concentrated on the northern part of the enclosure, the dating of which is uncertain. The results of C14 analyses should make it possible to determine the date of construction of this enclosure (Bronze Age or Antiquity).

The rest of the team worked in the oasis of al-Quṣār: a preliminary campaign conducted in October-November 2021 had revealed remains attributable to the Roman military contingent. Topographical surveys of the visible and excavated remains were carried out. The excavations revealed a succession of phases relatively close in time (the layout of the buildings was generally preserved during two successive phases, each interrupted by an apparently widespread fire). The artifacts unearthed in the levels of the first phase reflect the military function and Mediterranean origin of the site’s occupants in the 2nd century. In the 3rd century (subject to C14 dating), there was an occupation characterized by partly Aksumite material, which largely preserved the layout of the buildings from the first phase.

Three different sectors were opened:

• Several test pits were opened in a central square of the abandoned village. Two archaeologists from Evéha International participated in the excavation of the southern test pit 11. This revealed a central circulation area that served rooms of regular dimensions (4.7 x 3.5 m) opening only onto this area.
• Test pits were dug south of the al-Quṣār oasis, 50 m from the central square, in order to locate the boundaries of the site. The discovery of several walls of the same thickness and orientation as those in the central square, built using similar construction techniques, made it possible to establish an initial boundary for the site to the south.
• Several test pits were dug to the west. The construction techniques are different, indicating that this part of the site probably served a different function. This area constitutes the western end of the site, overlooking the site of Wadi Matar 2.

Study of material
In 2022, the faunal remains from the excavations carried out during the four-year period that is coming to an end (Wādī Maṭār 2 site, sectors WM-2/C and WM-2/B) were studied by an archaeoichthyologist and an archaeozoologist.
During the mission, the ceramic finds from WM-2/B (test pits 21 and 22) were studied and should clarify the typochronology of the Late Bronze Age and the beginning of the South Arabian period thanks to C14 dating. The fired bricks discovered at Farasān were inventoried in order to establish a typology that will enable the identification of specific types of clay and measurements for different uses.

Study of stone extraction and cutting techniques
Finally, a study of stone cutting techniques was conducted by two specialists on the quarry identified east of the al-Quṣār oasis and on the blocks reused in the modern (now abandoned) village of al-Quṣār.

Campaigns

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  Farasan – 2022
• 
  Farasan – 2023