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In the third millennium B.C.E., the Oman Peninsula was the site of
an important kingdom known in Akkadian texts as "Magan," which
traded extensively with the Indus Civilization, southern Iran, the
Persian Gulf states, and southern Mesopotamia. Excavations have
been carried out in this region since the 1970s, although the
majority of studies have focused on mortuary monuments at the
expense of settlement archaeology. While domestic structures of the
Bronze Age have been found and are the focus of current research at
Bat, most settlements dating from the third millennium B.C.E. in
Oman and the U.A.E. are defined by the presence of large, circular
monuments made of mudbrick or stone that are traditionally called
"towers." Whether these so-called towers are defensive,
agricultural, political, or ritual structures has long been
debated, but very few comprehensive studies of these monuments have
been attempted. Between 2007 and 2012, the University of
Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology conducted
excavations at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bat in the
Sultanate of Oman under the direction of the late Gregory L.
Possehl. The focus of these years was on the monumental stone
towers of the third millennium B.C.E., looking at the when, how,
and why of their construction through large-scale excavation,
GIS-aided survey, and the application of radiocarbon dates. This
has been the most comprehensive study of nonmortuary Bronze Age
monuments ever conducted on the Oman Peninsula, and the results
provide new insight into the formation and function of these
impressive structures that surely formed the social and political
nexus of Magan's kingdom.
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