Overview

Caught between the poles of remembering and forgetting, glorification and neglect, the abandoned mudbrick settlements (ḥārāt) of Oman are a vital object of conflicting processes of interpretation and negotiation. Adopting a diachronic perspective, the multi-disciplinary book’s chapters examine their past, present and future. The book presents approaches and results of archaeological, ethnographic, historical and sociological research on abandoned ḥārāt. Oman’s landscape is dotted with abandoned mudbrick settlements and quarters, known as ḥārāt, either isolated in the countryside or surrounded by vibrant, modern urban centres. Most of them were abandoned during the economic upturn and opening of the country after Sultan Qaboos bin Said came to power in 1970. People’s move from traditional mudbrick to modern concrete houses led to the deterioration and decay of the physical substance of the mudbrick buildings. In the face of these conditions, various Omani and international actors have repeatedly warned against the uncontrolled loss of this valuable cultural heritage. The former inhabitants of the mudbrick houses and their descendants have also repeatedly emphasised their emotional attachment to these abandoned places and their personal significance to them. At the same time, others, especially tourists, have glorified the dilapidated state of the ruins as an aesthetically beautiful backdrop for a romanticised vision of the past. This was the starting point for the interdisciplinary research project “The abandoned mudbrick settlements of central Oman: Between romanticisation and neglect”, funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation as part of the “Lost Cities” programme between 2020 and 2022, and conducted by the editors of the present volume. It constitutes the proceedings of the closing conference of the project, in which team members present their results and leading experts give their input on inhabited, abandoned and re(dis)covered mudbrick settlements in the Sultanate of Oman.

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Stephanie Döpper is Junior Professor for Digital Humanities for Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Würzburg, Germany. She received her doctoral degree from the University of Tübingen in 2015, and conducted postdoctoral research at the Universities of Leiden and Frankfurt on the reuse of tombs in Eastern Arabia and on settlement systems in central Oman. Her research interests include digital archaeology, landscape archaeology, the archaeology of mobility, pottery studies, and mortuary practices. Since 2010 she has been conducting research in the Sultanate of Oman, excavating Bronze Age and Islamic sites in Bat, Al-Ayn, Al-Khashbah and other sites in Wilayat Al-Mudhaybi. Key publications: 1. Döpper, S. (2024) Landmarks of Identity – Bronze Age Towers of the Oman Peninsula. The Archaeological Heritage of Oman 13. Oxford: Archaeopress. 2. Döpper, S. (2023), The Reuse of Tombs in Eastern Arabia, Arabia Orientalis 6. Oxford: Archaeopress. 3. Döpper, S. (2019) (ed.) Beyond Tombs and Towers. Domestic Architecture of the Umm an-Nar Period in Eastern Arabia. Arabia Orientalis 4. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Birgit Mershen (Ph.D. Islamic Studies, Philology, Semitic Studies) is a research associate at Ruhr-University Bochum, taught at Yarmouk University, Jordan and Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, was an adviser to the Ministry of Heritage and Culture, and was co-lead of the GHS, Germany, funded research project ‘Lost Cities: Abandoned Settlements in Oman’. Key publications: Bandyopadhyay, S.; Mershen, B. (2022) Falaj communities in Oman: A case for local governance? Ibadī legal rulings and spatial and ethnohistorical observations, Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World 3/1, 6–47. https://doi.org/10.1163/26666286-12340028. Mershen, B.; Kanditt, J.; Schmidt-Lux, T.; Döpper, S., Biezeveld, I. (2024) Ḥārāt al Hamra: The journey from an Oasis town to a ‘Heritage Village’, _Journal of Arabian Studies_14:1, 136-150. https://doi.org/10.1080/21534764.2024.2448042. Mershen, B.; Al Saqri, S. (2019) (eds.) The Mountains of Oman. An Illustrated Reference to Nature and Society. Hildesheim: Georg Olms. Josephine Kanditt (M.A. Cultural Studies, B.A. Arabic-Islamic Studies/Social and Cultural Anthropology and Theatre Studies) is a PhD student at Leipzig University in the field of Cultural Sociology. She worked for the joint research project on abandoned mudbrick settlements in Central Oman funded by Gerda Henkel Foundation (2020-2022). Key publications: 1. Kanditt, J. & Schmidt-Lux, T., Von »Archiven des Wohnens« und »former glory«. Zeitgenössische Debatten über die verlassene hārāt-Architektur im Zentraloman, In: Habeck, Joachim; Schmitz, Frank (Hrsg.): Ruinen und vergessene Orte. Materialität im Verfall, Nachnutzungen, Umdeutungen. Bielefeld 2023, 185-198. 2. Schmidt-Lux, T.; Kanditt, J., Die verlassenen Lehmziegelsiedlungen im Oman. Über das Werden, Vergehen und den Zustand des Dazwischen. In: Zimmermann, Martin (Hrsg.): Lost Cities. Vom Leben mit verlassenen Städten in den Kulturen der Welt. Berlin/Boston 2024, 249–270. Irini Biezeveld is a curator of archaeology at the Drents Museum, Assen. She wrote her PhD at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany within the joint research project on abandoned mudbrick settlements in Central Oman, funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation (2020-2022). Key publications: 1. Biezeveld, I. (2023) Re(dis)covering the recent: Surveying settlements and society in central Oman from the 17th to the 20th centuries. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 34.1, pp. 107-121. 2. Biezeveld, I. (2024) (ed.) Dacia – Rijk van goud en zilver. Zwolle: Waanders Uitgevers. 3. Döpper, S., Biezeveld, I., Maiorano, M.P., Kluge, J. (2023) The 2018 Archaeological Survey at Tawi Said, Sultanate of Oman. Arabia Orientalis 8. Oxford: Archaeopress. 4. Biezeveld, I., Düring, B.S. (2020) Pre-oil globalization in a rural community: The late Islamic village of Sahlāt in the Ṣuḥār region. Journal of Islamic Archaeology 7.2, pp. 199-219. Thomas Schmidt-Lux is a professor at the University of Leipzig in the field of cultural sociology. He is interested in architecture, the city and religion and works with qualitative research methods. Key publications: 1. Kultursoziologische Stadtforschung. Grundlagen, Analysen, Perspektiven. Zusammen mit Ignacio Farias, Martina Löw und Silke Steets. Frankfurt/New York 2023, 2. Die verlassenen Lehmziegelsiedlungen im Oman. Über das Werden, Vergehen und den Zustand des Dazwischen. In: Zimmermann, Martin (Hrsg.): Lost Cities. Vom Leben mit verlassenen Städten in den Kulturen der Welt. Berlin/Boston 2024, 249–270.

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