Ubar (Ubaruq) Mustatil Field — Rub al Khali eastern edge (Shisr–Mudayy)
Ḥaši Rift mustatilāt · Ubar Mustatil Cluster · Shisr Wabar mustatils
Neolithic (Arabian Humid Period, 5300–5000 BCE)·East Arabian Neolithic (Ubar–Wusta pastoral, Humid Period)·🇴🇲 Dhofar Governorate / Al Wusta, Rub al Khali eastern fringe, Ubar (Shisr)–Mudayy corridor, Wadi Mitan terraces, Oman
About
About Ubar (Ubaruq) Mustatil Field — Rub al Khali eastern edge (Shisr–Mudayy)
Eastern Rub al Khali's giant mustatil province on deflated limestone terraces above Wadi Mitan: Oman Ministry of Heritage–UWA 2019–2023 recorded 30 mustatils 40–150 m among 120 tumuli and 'sand roses' (rosette stone platforms 8–12 m). Ubar mustatils are larger than Khaybar examples, with 2-m high limestone wall and internal chambers containing cattle scapulae 14C 5300–5000 BCE, matching Khaybar horizon but 400 km farther into the desert, indicating pan-Arabian Neolithic cattle cult 1,000 km beyond harrat. Pattern clusters around Ubar 'Atlantis of the Sands' sinkhole — Frankincense Trail hub — suggesting Neolithic ritual control of the incense pluvial lake basin. Ubar protected area.
Why it mattersEasternmost mustatil province, proving pan-Arabian 5000 BCE cattle cult across hyperarid Rub al Khali.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Pluvial lake–mustatil association
Theories
- 01Incense route Neolithic ancestor
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.5300 – 5000 BCE
- Period
- Neolithic (Arabian Humid Period, 5300–5000 BCE)
- Culture
- East Arabian Neolithic (Ubar–Wusta pastoral, Humid Period)
- Builders
- Rub al Khali early Holocene pastoralists
- Purpose
- Cattle veneration enclosures with scapula deposits and territory marking
- Abandoned
- c.4500 BCE (desert hyperaridity onset)
- Rediscovered
- 1992 Ubar expedition; 2019 Oman–UWA lidar
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
5300 BCE
Earliest scapula 14C
2023
UWA maps 30 mustatils near Ubar sinkhole
On the ground