A conical stone tomb built by the people of the Early Bronze Age Umm an-Nar culture (ca. 2700–2000 b.c.) at the site of Shir in Oman overlooks a desert landscape.
Today, water flows through a canal shaded from the fierce Arabian sun by overhanging palm trees in the remote village of Maqabil in northern Oman. The settlement is at the edge of the Bat Oasis, a pinpoint of green in the otherwise rocky and barren landscape of Oman’s desert interior. While oases might seem as natural to this la