Research > Archaeological Fieldwork > Sapienza "Grandi Scavi" > Social complexities, nomadism and tribal alliances in South-Eastern Arabia. Archeological researches, multidisciplinary surveys and sustainable tourism projects in South Batinah of Oman and in North Qatar Peninsula
Principal Investigator: Marco Ramazzotti
Sapienza Archaeological Mission in the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf (MASPAG) supported by Sapienza Athenaeum Great Excavation and Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) in 2022 signed with the Omani Ministry of Heritage and Tourism (MHT) and in 2025 with Qatar National Museums (QNMs) two institutional five years agreement for excavations, surveys, conservation, restoration and valorization both projects in Omani South Batinah and in North Qatar peninsula. In Omani South Batinah near Wadi al Maawil we discovered a so far unknown new multi-millennial archaeological landscape where hundreds of collective burial mounds appear to be associated to long lasting settlements, outlining broad spectrum of social complexities, nomadism and tribal alliances from the Bronze Age Land of Magan to the Islamic Period. Through this
multidisciplinary researches we continue in South Batinah the excavations and geo-spatial mapping in the large area under the institutional agreements and the palnning of the Natural and Archeological Park in Wadi al Maawil. In Northern Qatar thanks to the agreement and the supports of Qatar National Museums we will start an intensive geo-spatial mapping of Northern Qatar to explore the southern margins of the Land of Dilmun, we will start the excavations and restorations activiries in Al Zubarah as well the territorial plannings to identify specific visit routes connecting Doha with the cultural heritages in northern peninsula as well the Al Zubarah Late Islamic city, the only World Cultural Heritage in Qatar protected by UNESCO.
Collaborators:
Ahmed Fatima Kzzo (field director); Alessandro Di Ludovico (field direcror)
- Bibliography
Ramazzotti 2021
M. RAMAZZOTTI, Costeggiando l’Eurasia. Relitti e rotte della navigazione tra il Mar Inferiore (Oceano Indiano) e il Mar Superiore (Mediterraneo orientale), Vicino Oriente, 25, 2021, 81-104.
Ramazzotti 2022
M. RAMAZZOTTI, Fumi e profumi d’Oriente. Legami essenziali e aromatici tra l’Asia occidentale e l’Africa orientale, ISIMU, 25, 2022, 185-196.
Ramazzotti 2023
M. RAMAZZOTTI, Il progetto Missione Archeologica della Sapienza nella Penisola Arabica e nel Golfo (MASPAG), in AA.VV. (eds.), L’archeologia italiana nel mondo, Archeo Monografia 56, Roma 2023.
Ramazzotti 2023
M. RAMAZZOTTI, Complementary Grammars for the Atlas of the Ancient Near East (AANE): Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, Historical Geography and the Modern Geographies of the Past, in R. ROLLINGER et al. (eds.), The Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East. Proceedings of the 64th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale and the 12th Melammu Symposium, Wien, 2023, 661-678.
Ramazzotti 2024
M. RAMAZZOTTI, Le ricerche della missione archeologica della Sapienza nella Penisola Arabica e nel Golfo (MASPAG) in Oman settentrionale, Scienze dell’Antichità, 29/3, 2024, 347-374.
Ramazzotti 2024
M. RAMAZZOTTI, Sapienza University of Rome Archaeological Mission in the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf Area (MASPAG): Archaeological Explorations in Wadi Al-Ma’awel 2022-23, Al Athar 1, 2024, 188-194.
Ramazzotti 2024
M. RAMAZZOTTI, Il segno geometrico e il codice ideografico. Osservazioni sul rapporto tra geometria e ideografia in Eurasia centro-occidentale durante l’Età del Bronzo, in E. GARGANO (ed), Dal segno alla parola: lingue e decifrazioni. Dalle antiche scritture ad oggi, Roma 2024, 55-80.
Ramazzotti 2024
M. RAMAZZOTTI, Prefazione, in M. RAMAZZOTTI (ed.), Costeggiando l’Eurasia / Coasting Eurasia. Archeologia del paesaggio e geografia storica tra l’Oceano Indiano e il Mar Mediterraneo. Primo congresso di archeologia del paesaggio e geografia storica del Vicino Oriente antico Sapienza Università di Roma 5-8 Ottobre 2021, Roma 2024, 9-11.
Ramazzotti 2025
M. RAMAZZOTTI, Archeologia, arte e paesaggio tra Asia occidentale e Mediterraneo orientale ca. 4500-323 a.C., Mondadori Università, Milano 2025,
Ramazzotti
et al. 2023
M. RAMAZZOTTI et. al., MASPAG 2022 Archaeological Survey — Methodological Perspectives and Preliminary Results, Seminar for Arabian Studies, 53, 2023, 1-18.
Ramazzotti
et al. 2025
M. RAMAZZOTTI, A. F. KZZO, A. DI LUDOVICO. (eds.), MASPAG 2023-24 Wadi al-Ma’awil Archaeological Preliminary Report, Rapporti dell’Atlante del Vicino Oriente Antico 1 (= RAVOA 1), Roma 2025.
Further details about this research:
- Research type: Sapienza "Grandi Scavi"
- Research topic: Arachaeology, Ancient History, Epigraphy, Heritages Studies
- Fundings: Grandi Scavi di Ateneo; MAECI; Qatar Museums