Fulayj

Fulayj is an archaeological site occupied from the Early Iron Age until the Late Islamic period; its main building is a late Sasanian and early Islamic fort.

Location

Fulayj is located on the Batinah coastal plain of Oman, ca. 30 km to the south-east of the medieval port of Sohar and ca. 12 km inland from Ṣaham (Fig. 1). The fort occupies a low terrace at the end of an interfluve overlooking the broad braided course of the NW/SE oriented Wādī al-Maḥmūm. It is located roughly halfway between the coast and the mountains.

History of research

The site was discovered by chance by Prof. Nasser al-Jahwari during the Sultan Qaboos University Saham Survey Project in 2012. Finds collected during the initial discovery, were inspected by Prof. Derek Kennet and recognised as likely to be of late Sasanian or very early Islamic date. Following further recording in 2014, a broad, multidisciplinary archaeological investigation was initiated in 2015. The Fulayj Fort Project was developed as a research collaboration between Durham University and Sultan Qaboos University operating under the authorisation of the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism. It was co-directed by Dr Seth Priestman, Prof. Nasser al-Jahwari, Prof. Derek Kennet and Dr Eve MacDonald.

Archaeological remains

Fulayj is a small, regularly planned, heavily defended, stone-built fortification with projecting ‘U’ shaped corner and entrance flanking towers. It has a square form with sides measuring ca. 30 m and a single 1.62 m wide entrance facing east. The building was carefully and expertly constructed with flat faced blocks of locally obtained limestone and rounded basalt with tightly arranged packing layers of smaller stones bound together lime mortar. The walls are thick, extending to a width of ca. 2.64 m and are preserved to a conspicuously even height across the structure. This, combined with the relatively limited quantity of collapsed masonry on the surface, supports a hypothesis that the stone walls provided a foundation for a more substantial mudbrick superstructure. This interpretation seems to be further supported by the presence of decayed mudbrick material within the excavations. Located 160 m to the south of the fort is a low, fire-reddened mound measuring ca. 40 m across covered with vitrified kiln wall material. This material, together with the preserved base of a kiln floor, and accumulations of burnt lime, indicate the presence of lime mortar production. Ceramic evidence and the results of a test excavation, clearly link the lime kilns chronologically to the occupation of the fort.

History/Chronology

The results of survey and excavation indicate that the occupation can be characterised in terms of four main phases of activity. This includes: Phase 1) unrelated and relatively extensive domestic activity across the same location during the Early Iron Age; Phase 2) after a hiatus of probably more than a millennium, the construction and use of a small, heavily defended, and relatively isolated fort between the 5th to mid-6th century CE; Phase 3) reuse and continued occupation of the fort during the late 6th and 7th century; Phase 4) a protracted sequence of abandonment in which the structure of the building gradually collapsed but its remains continued to be used on a limited and episodic basis as a place of temporary shelter over many centuries into the Late Islamic period.

Seth Priestman

References and suggested reading

• Al-Jahwari, N., D. Kennet, S. Priestman & E. Sauer 2018. Fulayj: a late Sasanian fort on the Arabian coast. Antiquity 92(363): 724–741. DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2018.64.
• Dabrowski, V., C. Bouchaud, M. Tengberg, A. Zazzo & S. Priestman 2021. Archaeobotanical analysis of food and fuel procurement from Fulayj fort (Oman, 5th-8th c. CE) including the earliest secure evidence for sorghum in Eastern Arabia. Journal of Arid Environments 190: 1–17. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2021.104512.
• Priestman, S., N. al-Jahwari, E. MacDonald & D. Kennet, 2023. Anglo-Omani Excavations at Fulayj Fort. The British Omani Society Review 2023: 95–98. 
• Priestman, S., N. al-Jahwari, E. MacDonald, D. Kennet, K. Alzeidi, M. Andrews, V. Dabrowski, V. Kenkadze, R. MacDonald, T. Mamalashvili, I. Al-Maqbali, D. Naskidashvili & D. Rossi, 2023. Fulayj: a Sasanian to early Islamic fort in the Sohar hinterland. PSAS 52: 291–304. 
• Priestman, S., 2019. The archaeology of early Islam in Oman: recent discoveries from Fulayj on the Batinah. The Anglo-Omani Society Review 2019: 40–43.