Thursday 07 / November / 2024
The Bat settlements are among the most fascinating archaeological sites in Oman, famous for their ancient beehive tombs and cemeteries made from stone. The site is believed to go back to the third millennium BC.
The tombs are one of many UNESCO World Heritage Sites located in Oman, and are found near Ibri in the Governorate of Dhahirah. “The vast necropolis at Bat includes different clusters of monumental tombs that can be divided into two distinct groups,” said UNESCO. “The first group is Hafit-period “beehive” tombs located on the top of the rocky slopes surrounding Bat, while the second group extends over a river terrace and includes more than a hundred dry-stone cairn tombs.” The organisation added: “Another important group of beehive tombs is located at Qubur Juhhal at Al-Ayn, 22km east-southeast of Bat. Most of these tombs are small, single-chambered, round tombs with dry masonry walls dating to the beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE. Others are more elaborate, bigger, multi-chambered tombs from the second half of the 3rd millennium BCE.”
“As in many other ancient civilisations, monuments in ancient Oman were usually built with regularly cut stones,” UNESCO went on to say. “Unique of Bat and Al-Ayn are the remains the ancient quarries from which the building materials were mined, and the many workshops that attest to the complete operational procedure, from the quarries, to the stone-masonry, to the buildings construction techniques.”
“The continuous and systematic survey activities constantly increase the types and number of monuments and sites to be documented and protected, which include villages and multiple towers, quarries associated with the Bronze Age stone-masonry workshops, Bronze Age necropolises, an Iron Age fort, Iron Age tombs, and two Neolithic flint mines connected with workshop areas for stone tool-making,” said UNESCO.
Oman’s Ministry of Tourism added: “A must-see attraction in the A’Dhahirah region, the Al Ayn and Bat Beehive Tombs are not only recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but also boast the title of the most complete collection of necropolises and settlements in the world, dating back to the 3rd millennium BC.
“More than 100 tombs stand defiantly on the hilltops of Northern Oman, all shaped like beehives. Little is known about the tombs, or the culture that constructed them, but they are thought to date from 3000 to 2000 BCE,” added the ministry. “All together they form one of the largest protohistoric necropolises in the world.
“It is a bit difficult to spot the tombs at first, since they merge harmoniously with the hills they were built on, but upon closer inspection they are easily spotted. The tombs are arranged in three main clusters, the one in Bat, which is arguably the most famous, as well as the sites of Al-Ayn and Al-Khutm. The best preserved tombs of the site are the ones of the Al-Ayn grouping,” said the Ministry of Tourism.
