Excavation at the Bronze Age tower of al-Khutm (Bāt, Sultanate of Oman): a preliminary evaluation of the monument

the UNESCO World Heritage list of the Sultanate of Oman. A recent programme of investigations, led by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture of Oman and carried out by an Italian team, began in October 2015 and continued until June 2016 with the aim of completely uncovering the monument and enhancing its value. In this paper, we present the results of the excavations that allowed us to expose the overall plan of the tower and to detect the main features of the interior. The investigation revealed several additional structures nearby, connected with the use of the tower and belonging to several phases of occupation of the site. Among the most interesting results are the reasonable preservation of the outside wall; the presence of inner rooms with entrances and thresholds that are usually not preserved in other similar monuments; a possible pathway to enter the tower; and several other finds, including archaeobotanical remains of charred stone dates, cereals, and fruits. Some final remarks about the 3-D documentation carried out on a daily basis during the excavation will be presented for a discussion about the evolving methods of archaeological excavations.