Opération : Excavation campaign
Excavation period: 1st November – 16th December 2008
Excavation directed by: Axelle ROUGEULLE (from the CNRS, the Centre National des Recherches Scientifiques, or the French National Scientific Research Agency)
Partners:Sultanate of Oman, Ministry of Heritage and Culture, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, French embassy in Oman, Umr 8167 (combined research unit) in CNRS, Total, Eveha

Eveha financed the participation of two employees within this archaeological excavation campaign at Qalhat in the Sultanate of Oman from the 1st November to the 15th December 2008. Commissioned by the French ministry of Foreign Affairs, the French ministry of European Affairs and the Oman Ministry of Heritage and Culture, the excavation was directed by Axelle Rougeulle, researcher at ‘Umr 8167’, a combined research unit within the CNRS.

Qalhat was a medieval town based around its port entertaining world trade links. The town was almost completely destroyed by the Portuguese in 1508, and was abandoned soon after. In this 30 hectare ruined battlefield, only a few walls remain standing among the rubble; all the other buildings were razed to the ground.

The excavation campaign aimed to gain a greater understanding of the town’s layout, draw a geo-referenced plan and clearly determine the period of the town’s foundation. It is first mentioned in texts dating from the 11th century but may have existed as early as the pre-Islamic period.

Besides field excavation, the operation involved the study of ceramics collected to determine which goods the town used to trade more precisely.

In the periphery of Qalhat, we unearthed a small, well-preserved mosque which had been covered with remaining waste material. A small pool was detected in one of the rooms.
The mosque construction dates from the 14th century, as indicated by the material analysis. It was abandoned soon after, possibly due to an earthquake. Such a phenomenon was noted in a nearby mosque. This huge building was partially reused during the 15th century.

Dans In another part of the town we excavated a pottery kiln. The ceramic pieces collected indicated the presence of many misfires which significantly developed our understanding of the local pottery industry.
This local production seems to date from the 15th century, which is relatively late. Nevertheless, a second kiln, found next to this one, appears to be older. It will be excavated during one of the next campaigns.

The operation also aimed to study the fortification system. On the southern side a coastal fortification was unearthed whilst on the northern side was a fortified town doorway. Two notable periods of construction were detected, neither of which date from before the 13th century.

A trench to enable a stratigraphic study was dug within the area most probably at the heart of the old town. The substratum appeared six meters lower than the upper part of the trench. The oldest layers date from the 12th century. After a period of occupation in the 13th century, a vast building was constructed at this place around 1300.One the walls of this building was unearthed. This revealed a well-preserved, 1.50 meter large, 1.20 metre deep, wall covered with a coating. Later occupants raised the height of the floor around the wall and built a second wall leaning against the aforementioned older one. The material collected among the backfilling layers indicates that this second phase dates from the 15th century.
Trial trenches inside the building enabled us to determine its function. It used to be a mosque, as indicated by the presence of a ‘minbar’ (pulpit) and a mihrab (a niche, in the wall of a mosque which indicates the direction of Mecca). The building was divided into naves and bays by paired pillars and columns. The inside of the building was covered with stucco, ceramics, and glossy tiles. The inside face of a wall, probably the ‘qibla’ wall (on the Mecca side), is still covered with glossy tiles and seemingly belongs to the older mosque. These two buildings are very likely to be two successive states of the great mosque of Qalhat. The first state we observed is probably the one described by Ibn Battuta, an Arab geographer who made a stop in Qalhat around 1330 (in his account, Ibn Battuta evokes the magnificence of the great mosque). The second one may have been that destroyed by the Portuguese at the very beginning of the 16th century described in texts dating from that very period.
Ceramic analysis provided a more precise dating of the various buildings unearthed. It also provided information about trade between Qalhat and India: most ceramics come from India. Far-eastern material seemingly arrived to Oman relatively late and we have not found any African ceramics so far. The find of a pottery kiln brings new information about ceramic industry in this part of the world at the end of the Middle Ages. The current research program should continue until 2011.