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| Beautiful location for trading port |
We were up, enjoyed delicious buffet breakfast, and off to Khor Rori (known as Sumharum in ancient times)by 9 am. Driving up to the site we could see the changes in the 20 something years since we had last been there. All we recall was the well and the huge tell on the beautiful location! Today there is so much more to see on the site. Alexia Pavan from University of Pisa gave us a tour. She has been working here since 2005. Michaele, working at Bisyah/ Salut, had let her know we were coming. In both Al Bilad and Sumharam at Khor Rohri it is very impessive to see what has been excavated, what is currently being excavated, as both are still under excavation and restoration. Also, the attractive manner the sites are displayed for tourists, and what is on exhibit at the museum and gallery.
The site was in legend established by the Queen of Sheba to control the trade of frankincense, but archaeologists believe it was established somewhat later, in about 300 BC, and operated until its abandonment in about 300 AD. It was mentioned in many old texts, and contains a temple to the Goddess Sin, who was well-known and widely worshiped in the ancient world. There are many mysteries about the site, including why it was so heavilly fortified (who were the potential enemies?), why they left a few thousand coins lying around, and why they did not find a single piece of frankincense if this was the primary location for sending it by sea.
The site was in legend established by the Queen of Sheba to control the trade of frankincense, but archaeologists believe it was established somewhat later, in about 300 BC, and operated until its abandonment in about 300 AD. It was mentioned in many old texts, and contains a temple to the Goddess Sin, who was well-known and widely worshiped in the ancient world. There are many mysteries about the site, including why it was so heavilly fortified (who were the potential enemies?), why they left a few thousand coins lying around, and why they did not find a single piece of frankincense if this was the primary location for sending it by sea.
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| South Arabia script at entrance with name of city Sumharum |
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| Wonderful place to dig! |
We continued down the road to Mirbat, and drove a few kilometers north to a bay that we thought might be the place where in years past we had found some Turbo Jonathani. In looking at the new develoment plans that are shown in the Marriott, that bay is going to be the marina! We believe we found some Jonathani along with many of other turbo specimens. The tide was not really low so we were collecting crabbed shells. In that bay we saw money cowries, grayana, carneola, turdus, felina and many conus taeneatus just sitting out in the open. We were delighted to see the bio diversity of that area is still excellent. With many live corals, sponges, sea urchins of different varieties and unfortunately a high number of morray eels. The eels made Leslie a more timid hunter than usual!
While we were in Mirbat we made a reservation to stay 2 nights at the Mirbat Marriott which is the only hotel in this area. This is a new resort that just opened last March and has been struggling with service issues judging from the reports on trip advisor. We took the 50 omr ($130) per night regular room and were very kindly upgraded to the delux room by the marketing manager so we will overlook the sea and the pool (thank's to Leslie's AWG 1st VP position). We then headed back the 60 km to Salalah and drove up to Wadi Darbat, which is just behind Khor Rori, and has a water fall in the summer monsoon season and is considered one of the lushest wadis. The water in summer would then flow down to the wadi and into the sea.
We then drove higher up into the Dhofar mountains till we reached Tawi Attair. As it was getting close to sunset and our goal was to be back at Sumhuram to take pictures at that time, we decided to come back another day to finish our visit of Tawi Attair. Sumhuram at sunset was lovely and we re-explored the place again. The setting is just so lovely and peaceful - what a wonderful place to dig in the dirt! We used our wine Privelege Club certificate and had a light salad. Lunch had been a roasted chicken we had picked up at a restraunt in Mirbat.
While we were in Mirbat we made a reservation to stay 2 nights at the Mirbat Marriott which is the only hotel in this area. This is a new resort that just opened last March and has been struggling with service issues judging from the reports on trip advisor. We took the 50 omr ($130) per night regular room and were very kindly upgraded to the delux room by the marketing manager so we will overlook the sea and the pool (thank's to Leslie's AWG 1st VP position). We then headed back the 60 km to Salalah and drove up to Wadi Darbat, which is just behind Khor Rori, and has a water fall in the summer monsoon season and is considered one of the lushest wadis. The water in summer would then flow down to the wadi and into the sea.
We then drove higher up into the Dhofar mountains till we reached Tawi Attair. As it was getting close to sunset and our goal was to be back at Sumhuram to take pictures at that time, we decided to come back another day to finish our visit of Tawi Attair. Sumhuram at sunset was lovely and we re-explored the place again. The setting is just so lovely and peaceful - what a wonderful place to dig in the dirt! We used our wine Privelege Club certificate and had a light salad. Lunch had been a roasted chicken we had picked up at a restraunt in Mirbat.
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| Alexia giving the history of the site |
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