3200 BC copper smelting site found

man has uncovered new archaeological excavations in Al Khashabah village in Al Mudhaibi province, dating back to 3200 BC.

Sultan Al Bakri, director of Excavations and Archaeological Studies Department at the Ministry of Heritage and Culture, said the excavations uncovered the oldest copper smelting sites, which date back to 3200BC, or the Hafeet period, the early period of the Bronze Age. The excavations also found a tower that is one of the oldest archaeological towers belonging to that period.

He told Oman News Agency that Al Khashabah site dates back to the third millennium BC. It is one of the most important sites of Oman’s Majan civilisation, located on the path of the copper trade. Moreover, some settlements and more than 250 tombs that dated back to the Bronze Era were found,

Last March, a collection of bronze weapons dating from the Iron Age II (900600 BC) were uncovered near Adam province. The remains were found scattered on the ground in a building, seemingly a religious complex, during excavations carried out by the French archaeological mission.