Dhofar, the southern governorate of Oman, lies within a distinctive ecological zone due to the summer Southwest Monsoon. Archaeological surveys and excavations in the governorate, beginning in 1954, have brought to light Dhofar’s ancient past stretching back to the Lower Paleolithic ca. 1.5 my BP.

Dhofar, the southern governorate of Oman, lies within a distinctive ecological zone due to the summer Southwest Monsoon. It is home to numerous indigenous succulent plants, the most famous of which is frankincense (Boswellia sacra). The region, tied in the past to both Oman and Yemen, has a long and distinguished archaeological past stretching back to the Lower Paleolithic ca. 1.5 my BP. Dhofar is also home to a distinctive people, the Modern South Arabian Languages speakers (MSAL) since at least the last 15,000 years. Ancient Zafar (Al-Habudi), now called Al-Baleed, and its successor Salalah was and is the province's largest city. From the seventh century onwards until the arrival of the Portuguese in 1504 AD Al-Baleed dominated the central southern Arabian coastline politically and economically. Archaeological surveys and excavations in the governorate, beginning in 1954, have brought to light Dhofar's ancient past.

Dhofar (Oman); archaeological sites; history.

A summary of archaeological work along the Dhofar plateau and its backslope into the Nejd of Southern Oman, this book documents survey and excavation of small-scale stone monuments and pastoral settlements.

The archaeological evidence presented in this work encompasses the cultural remains of over a million years of successive human occupation of Nejd Plateau, Dhofar, from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Late Palaeolithic. This volumes suggests a fundamental reconsideration of the role of Southern Arabia in the origin and dispersal of our species.

A memoir of how a small number of British officers led Muslim soldiers in the hard-fought anti-insurgency war that has shaped today’s Gulf. While the Americans were fighting in Vietnam, a struggle of even greater strategic significance was taking place in the Middle East: The Sultanate of Oman stood guard at the entrance to the Arabian Gulf, and thus controlled the movement of oil from that region. In the 1960s and 70s, the Communists tried to seize this artery and, had they succeeded, the consequences for the West and for the Middle East would have been disastrous—and yet, few people have ever heard of this geo-political drama at the height of the Cold War. In the Service of the Sultan “is an enthralling book. In a mere 180 pages, Ian Gardiner, an army officer who fought with the Sultan of Oman’s forces, succeeds in three major objectives. He describes what it is like to be a young officer leading men of different nationalities into combat against wily and courageous guerrillas. He captures the landscape and the spirit of Oman, ‘that entrancing, fascinating, hauntingly beautiful country.’ Finally, he puts the battles he fought in their geopolitical context . . . It should be read with enduring pleasure by anyone who wishes to reaffirm his pride in his country and in its fighting forces” (The Telegraph). “For anyone interested in understanding the ingredients behind a successful counterinsurgency campaign, In the Service of the Sultan is a must read.”—Imperial Armour Blogspot “Politics, history, irregular warfare, religion, and international affairs: all are ingredients in this absorbing, informative read.”—Oxford & Cambridge Club Military History Group

“There shall be none greater than the nation which I will raise up unto me of thy seed, upon all the face of the earth.” —Ether 1:43 The brief account of the Jaredite history is recorded in the book of Ether. It is a history of over two thousand years yet was abridged into only a few pages. Where would one even begin to unlock their historical footprints? Now, after more than fifteen years of research, the esteemed Book of Mormon explorer George Potter answers this question and many others in his remarkable new book Discovering the Amazing Jaredites. Using full-color photos, maps, and illustrations, Potter retraces the Jaredites’ lonely journey from the Tower of Babel to the promised land. Discovering the Amazing Jaredites is the result of the author’s tireless exploration of the dusty trails of Arabia’s outback. It is the stunning account of a mighty people who, in faith, braved the harsh wilderness and crossed the vast ocean for the right to worship their God in peace. Their story will inspire and awe you—the account of a truly amazing people!

This volume brings together diverse contributions from leading archaeologists and paleoanthropologists, covering various spatial and temporal periods to distinguish convergent evolution from cultural transmission in order to see if we can discover ancient human populations. With a focus on lithic technology, the book analyzes ancient materials and cultures to systematically explore the theoretical and physical aspects of culture, convergence, and populations in human evolution and prehistory. The book will be of interest to academics, students and researchers in archaeology, paleoanthropology, genetics, and paleontology. The book begins by addressing early prehistory, discussing the convergent evolution of behaviors and the diverse ecological conditions driving the success of different evolutionary paths. Chapters discuss these topics and technology in the context of the Lower Paleolithic/Earlier Stone age and Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age. The book then moves towards a focus on the prehistory of our species over the last 40,000 years. Topics covered include the human evolutionary and dispersal consequences of the Middle-Upper Paleolithic Transition in Western Eurasia. Readers will also learn about the cultural convergences, and divergences, that occurred during the Terminal Pleistocene and Holocene, such as the budding of human societies in the Americas. The book concludes by integrating these various perspectives and theories, and explores different methods of analysis to link technological developments and cultural convergence.

After the British withdrawal from Aden in 1967 the war in Dhofar was a major step in the fight against the spread of communist domination in the Gulf. Dissidents in rebellion against the feudal rule of the old Sultan of Oman exploited the poverty and want in the countryside in order to win converts to their cause and found backing from the communist Yemen. With the help of the British, alarmed by such a threat, the Sultan's son Qaboos deposed his father and promptly set about the modernization of his country and the alleviation of poverty. At the same time Britain sent out a small team from 22 Special Air Service Regiment to aid the Sultan's Armed Forces in their fight against a communist enemy in the Dhofar region of Oman. But an army is only as good as its supplies. However inaccessible the places the patrols were fighting in they had to receive essential supplies. Air Despatch units came into being during the Second World War dropping arms and equipment to Resistance Fighters and Special Forces in Europe and other theatres' of war. They also played a vital role at Arnhem, the jungles of Burma and later Malaya and Borneo and also in the deserts of the Middle East. By the time of Dhofar 55 Air Despatch Squadron RCT, to which the author belonged, was a seasoned unit with an exemplary record of performance and several medals for gallantry. In his very readable recollections of the war, David (Geordie) Arkless recounts his sorties flying into extreme danger and of his encounters with the enemy. He also describes the day to day difficulties of living in the desert, and the methods of grappling with the complicated and intricate tasks in dropping a variety of vital supplies to the troops on the ground.. First published in 1988 this second edition has been extended to include more detailed accounts of various actions along with the names of those who took part. It also contains many photographs including some not previously published.

Muslim Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Empire recovers the stories of five Indian Muslim scholars who, in the aftermath of the uprising of 1857, were hunted by British authorities, fled their homes in India for such destinations as Cairo, Mecca, and Istanbul, and became active participants in a flourishing pan-Islamic intellectual network at the cusp of the British and Ottoman empires. Seema Alavi traces this network, born in the age of empire, which became the basis of a global Muslim sensibility—a form of political and cultural affiliation that competes with ideas of nationhood today as it did in the previous century. By demonstrating that these Muslim networks depended on European empires and that their sensibility was shaped by the West in many subtle ways, Alavi challenges the idea that all pan-Islamic configurations are anti-Western or pro-Caliphate. Indeed, Western imperial hegemony empowered the very inter-Asian Muslim connections that went on to outlive European empires. Diverging from the medieval idea of the umma, this new cosmopolitan community stressed consensus in matters of belief, ritual, and devotion and found inspiration in the liberal reforms then gaining traction in the Ottoman world. Alavi breaks new ground in the writing of nineteenth-century history by engaging equally with the South Asian and Ottoman worlds, and by telling a non-Eurocentric story of global modernity without overlooking the importance of the British Empire.