DIMA W’attayeen: The Wilayat of Dima W’attayeen in the Governorate of North Al Sharqiyah hosts many archaeological sites such as castles, towers, engravings and heritage vessels.
Qarn Al Jah Archaeological Site is located in the rocky hill in the town of “Ismaiya,” which is a village in the Wilayat of Dima W’attayeen, specifically on the old road linking Dima W’attayeen with the wilayats of Qurayat and Sur. The archaeological site is an evidence of Omani settlement in this valley since ancient times.
The traces of the Omani presence are found in the newly discovered remains of rock inscriptions dating back to the third millennium BC. These inscriptions depict the life of the ancient man with all his daily details and the nature he lived in. There are inscriptions showing men hunting some animals, others showing men ready to fight or fencing, and others showing men riding camels, horses and donkeys. Some images show camels walking in a straight line in the form of commercial convoys.
According to Mohammed bin Rashid al Ruzaiqi, a researcher in the Omani history, these inscriptions date back to three thousand years BC. The archaeological site hosts various inscriptions and drawings dating back to pre-writing times, before anyone knew how to write in Arabic letters.
He told Oman News Agency (ONA), some of the rock inscriptions discovered in Qarn Al Jah Archaeological Site show some images of a number of animals, such as deer, foxes, tigers, hyena, goats, rabbits and addax. He pointed out that the addax is one of the animals that cannot be seen today in the Arabian Peninsula, and had a presence in the Sultanate in ancient times, where man hunted them for meat, fat and skin to make shoes, clothes and
other things.
The inscriptions also show images of camels, which were used as a means of fast transport for long distances, as well as the transport of heavy goods, such as copper and brass tools from copper mine sites.
Among the inscriptions found in Qarn Al Jah Archaeological Site is a picture of a ship and some men fishing. Perhaps the old man wanted to draw what he saw in the coastal cities of ships and boats.
The site also contains ancient Arabic writings, including ancient Phoenician calligraphy, which is the basis of the Arabic alphabet. The Phoenicians were present in ancient Oman, and their main cities were Sur and Qalhat on the coast of the Sea of Oman. These names were later transferred to the Levant after their migration from Oman and their settlement on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
Around Qarn Al Jah Archaeological Site, there are houses made of stones and caves inhabited in the stone era, which were used by shepherds until recent times. — ONA
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