Editing Oman (section)

=== Prehistory and ancient history ===
[[File:World Heritage Grave Al Ayn Oman.JPG|thumb|250px|The [[Archaeological Sites of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn]] in [[Ad Dhahirah Governorate|Ad Dhahirah]], built in the 3rd Millennium [[BCE]], are [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]]]]
[[File:Lia sites.JPG|thumb|upright=1|[[Late Iron Age]] sites in Oman]]
At Aybut Al Auwal, in the [[Dhofar Governorate]] of Oman, a site was discovered in 2011 containing more than 100 surface scatters of stone tools, belonging to a regionally specific African [[lithic industry]]—the late [[Nubia]]n Complex—known previously only from the northeast and [[Horn of Africa]]. Two optically stimulated luminescence age estimates place the Arabian Nubian Complex at 106,000 years old. This supports the proposition that early human populations moved from Africa into Arabia during the [[Late Pleistocene]].<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0028239| pmid = 22140561| title = The Nubian Complex of Dhofar, Oman: An African Middle Stone Age Industry in Southern Arabia| journal = PLOS ONE| volume = 6| issue = 11| pages = e28239| year = 2011| last1 = Rose | first1 = J. I. | last2 = Usik | first2 = V. I. | last3 = Marks | first3 = A. E. | last4 = Hilbert | first4 = Y. H. | last5 = Galletti | first5 = C. S. | last6 = Parton | first6 = A. | last7 = Geiling | first7 = J. M. | last8 = Černý | first8 = V. | last9 = Morley | first9 = M. W. | last10 = Roberts | first10 = R. G. | pmc=3227647| bibcode = 2011PLoSO...628239R| doi-access = free}}</ref>

In recent years{{when|date=April 2025}} surveys have uncovered Palaeolithic and Neolithic sites on the eastern coast. Main Palaeolithic sites include Saiwan-Ghunaim in the Barr al-Hikman.<ref>Jeffrey I. Rose et al., South Punjab, Oman: An African Middle Stone Age Industry in Southern Arabia, Plos 30 November 2011 {{doi|10.1371/journal.pone.0028239}}</ref> Archaeological remains are particularly numerous for the Bronze Age [[Umm an-Nar]] and [[Wadi Suq culture|Wadi Suq]] periods. At the archaeological sites of Bat, Al-Janah, and Al-Ayn wheel-turned pottery, hand-made stone vessels, metals industry artifacts, and monumental architecture have been preserved.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Bronze Age Towers at Bat, Sultanate of Oman…2007–12|author1=Thornton, Christopher |author2=Cable, Charlotte |author3=Possehl, Gregory |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Museum |year=2016 |isbn=9781934536063}}</ref>

There is considerable agreement in sources that [[frankincense]] was used by traders in 1500 BCE. The [[Land of Frankincense]], a [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]], dramatically illustrates that the incense constituted testimony to [[South Arabia]]n civilisations.

During the 8th century BCE, it is believed that the Yaarub, the descendant of [[Qahtanite|Qahtan]], ruled the entire region of Yemen, including Oman. Wathil bin Himyar bin [[Sheba|Abd-Shams (Saba)]] bin Yashjub ([[Yemen|Yaman]]) bin Yarub bin [[Joktan|Qahtan]] later ruled Oman.<ref name=YWTATss/> It is thus believed that the Yaarubah were the first settlers in Oman from Yemen.<ref name=MIIDN/>

In the 1970s and 1980s, scholars like [[John C. Wilkinson]]<ref>{{cite book |title= Water and Tribal Settlement in South East Arabia – A Study of the Aflaj of Oman |author=Wilkinson, John |publisher=Clarendon Press |year= 1977 |pages=76, 85, 122, 126–130, 132 |isbn=0198232179}}</ref> believed by virtue of oral history that in the 6th century BCE, the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenids]] exerted control over the Omani peninsula, most likely ruling from a coastal centre such as [[Suhar]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Cross-roads Early and Late Iron Age South-Eastern Arabia |author=Yule, Paul |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |year= 2014 |pages=15–18 |isbn=9783447101271}}</ref> Central Oman has its own indigenous Samad Late Iron Age cultural assemblage named eponymously from [[Samad al-Shan]]. In the northern part of the Oman Peninsula the [[Pre-Islamic Arabia|Recent Pre-Islamic Period]] begins in the 3rd century BCE and extends into the 3rd century CE. Whether or not Persians brought south-eastern Arabia under their control is a moot point, since the lack of Persian archeological finds speak against this belief. [[Armand-Pierre Caussin de Perceval]] suggests that Shammir bin Wathil bin Himyar recognized the authority of [[Cyrus the Great]] over Oman in 536 BCE.<ref name=YWTATss>[https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100023697835.0x000028 British National Archive: Salîl-ibn-Razîk "History of the imâms and seyyids of Omân"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707182006/http://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100023697835.0x000028 |date=7 July 2022 }} History of the imâms and seyyids of Omân. British National Archive page 39 QDL</ref>

[[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] tablets referred to Oman as "[[Magan (civilization)|Magan]]"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.archaeology.org/9705/abstracts/magan.html |title=Digging in the Land of Magan – Archaeology Magazine Archive |publisher=Archive.archaeology.org |access-date=14 January 2014 |archive-date=23 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023072850/http://archive.archaeology.org/9705/abstracts/magan.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198303/oman-the.lost.land.htm |title=Oman: The Lost Land |magazine=Saudi Aramco World |date=March 1983 |access-date=14 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006085542/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198303/oman-the.lost.land.htm |archive-date=6 October 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and in the [[Akkadian language]] "Makan",<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198303/oman-a.history.htm |title=Oman: A History |magazine=Saudi Aramco World |date=March 1983 |access-date=14 January 2014 |archive-date=28 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228222525/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198303/oman-a.history.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> a name that links Oman's ancient copper resources.<ref>Gerd Weisgerber "Mehr als Kupfer in Oman" ''Anschnitt'' 5-6, 1981, 180–181 [[Archaeology of Oman]]</ref>