Sultanate of Oman
Wadi Hasid – 2024

The first excavation campaign on Wadi Hasid has highlighted an hilltop site with a complexe architecture composed by structures located everywhere on the slope of the hill. The main monument mesure 32 m length and 7 m width. It is located at the top of a rocky promontory measuring 100 meters long by 60 meters width and surounded by an important number of circular features that could be a dwelling.

The first campaign has concerned the tower located at the north of the monument as well as a circular cell located on the slope of the hill.

At the end of the first campaing of excavation, at least three phases of use was seen on this site.
The first phase, which certainly corresponds to the construction of the monument, occurred during the early Iron Age. It is materialized here by a funerary deposit located in the terminal tower of the building. This deposit consists of an adult individual, still being excavated, placed in a contracted position and accompanied by adornments characteristic of the Early Iron Age. The bioapatite dating gave a date range of 1258-1022 BC.
A second phase of use was detected on this site. This is indicated by dating carried out on a human bone fragment unearthed in the fill of one of the circular cells located on the slope of the site (st.3). The given dating ranges between 50 BC and 114 AD, thus confirming that the site, or at least its surroundings, were certainly still frequented during this period. However, this does not date the construction and use of this cell, whose architecture, linked with the main building’s structure, attests to its contemporaneity with the latter during the Early Iron Age. Future excavations should help to understand the construction modalities of the site, whose architecture seems complex, including dry stone, clay in some places as a binder, and probably also a wooden roofing system.
The final phase of use observed at this site corresponds to a late period in the 6th and 7th centuries AD, between 578 and 654 AD. This involves the re-use of the tower for funerary purposes, characterized by the deposit of an adult male. Despite the certain looting of this deposit, evidenced by the great dispersion of the bones, anthropological studies have determined that its initial position was contracted. It is not possible to say whether the upper fill of the tower, composed only of sand, was intentionally added to cover this deposit or if it is a natural phenomenon.
Finally, it should be noted that small circular structures were seen all around the site. They have not yet been tested and excavated to date, but the scattered material around them, notably ceramics and flint tools, corresponds both to ancient periods, notably the Iron Age, and more recent medieval periods. These structures will need to be excavated next year to determine if they are contemporary with the hillfort and also belong to the Early Iron Age.

While it has been possible to begin understanding the chronology of this site, although this will need to be further clarified during subsequent excavation campaigns, it has not been possible to understand the function of this elevated site: did it play a defensive role? Was it a polarizing monument, an aristocratic residence, around which a settlement developed, evidenced by the structures seen around the site? Or was it a site with a cultic purpose? Future missions should aim to answer this fundamental question regarding the function of this hillfort.