In 2016, a young Geography teacher from Suhar chanced upon a rare tooth of a marine reptile of the time of Mosasaurs, the large extinct marine reptiles.
This ancient discovery is claimed to be the only one discovered in the Sultanate of Oman and the Arabian Gulf so far.
Meet fossil collector and paleontologist Majid bin Khalfan bin Saeed Al Muqbali from Suhar.
His love for the ‘study of the earth’ was born at an early age as he began to learn the geological diversity that Oman abounds with.
He set his passion since his early school days, when Majid Khalfan Saeed al Muqbali, his father, presented him a precious quartz stone that he found from one of the mountains of Oman.
From then there has been no looking back. Today, he has an amazing collection of over 3,000 geological pieces, one of which dates back to over 600 million years ago.
“The Sultanate of Oman has rocks and fossils, some of them, which are over 850 million years old (granite rocks in Hasik), and traces of glaciers and pine trees dating back to over 270 million years,” says Majid.
His Suhar home looks like a miniature museum with its vast collection which he has been able to collect over the years many of which are some rare geological gems with valuable data.
Oysters, shells, pine wood fossils, rare tooth artefact, shark teeth, Trilobite footprints, coral reefs and many others form part of his stunning collection.
So far, he has been able to collect over 3,000 fossils of various sizes and types, which he has been able to collect from geological exploration tours crossing mountains and deserts in all governorates of Oman.
Majid has collected and classified fossils according to historical sequences from the oldest to the most recent ones. He has displayed ample information which makes it easier for any visitor to read and study the details about the time period it belongs.
Majid says the geological pieces belong to three different ages from ancient to modern and all of them have been collected from the Sultanate of Oman.
The oldest pieces about a fossil of microorganisms known as Stromatolite dates back to 600 million years ago, which is a primitive bacterial colony, and the rarest geological piece he possesses is from a dinosaur age called Mosasaurus.
A geologist specialist who visited him confirmed after matching its components with scientific research studies.
A member of the Geological Society of Oman (GSO), Majid teaches at the Naeem Bin Masoud School in Suhar and was able to collect several unique geological pieces that add up to his collection.
Majoring in Geography, he graduated from Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), College of Education, which really gave a boost to his interests.
He later went on to participate in a number of geological exploration missions from the university and also the GSO as well as other foreign missions in Oman.
Says Majid: “I did not keep these findings for myself, but rather I strived to introduce fossils to the public through my participation in various public exhibitions implemented by government institutions in North Al Batinah, including the General Directorate of Education and the General Directorate of Heritage and Tourism in North Al Batinah and the Department of Culture and Youth and the municipality of Suhar.”
Fossils give us a useful insight into the history of life on Earth. Based on the response from visitors to the mini museum, Majid decided to set up a permanent museum at his residence.
Majid (Instagram @Maajidkhalfan) has registered his geological findings with the General Directorate of Heritage and Tourism in North Al Batinah and also presented proposals to place his treasures in the museum.
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