13 October 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Iron Age Children’s a Unique Funerary Building Discovered in Oman

Archaeologists have uncovered a unique Iron Age children’s funerary building at the Manaqi archaeological site in Rustaq, South Al Batinah Governorate, Oman. This discovery, the first of its kind in the region, dates back three thousand years.

The discovery is the result of joint work by archaeologists from Oman’s Sultan Qaboos University and Sorbonne University archaeologists.

The discovery marks an important turning point in the understanding of funerary rituals on the Omani peninsula, as it is the first funerary building dedicated to the burial of children to be uncovered so far in the region.

The ‘Manaqi’ site is one of the largest Iron Age settlements in the South Al Batinah Governorate. The excavations, conducted by the Department of Antiquities in collaboration with a team from Sorbonne University in Paris and overseen by the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, wrapped up their first season in February. Excavations are expected to continue over the next five years.

Photo: Oman News Agency

Following a preliminary site survey conducted by the joint archaeological team, two buildings, S1 and S2, were chosen for excavation during the first season. Building S2, which stood out from the other buildings in the settlement with its unique T-shaped geometric plan, was especially noteworthy.



📣 Our WhatsApp channel is now LIVE! Stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates, just click here to follow us on WhatsApp and never miss a thing!!



Archaeological excavations within and around the building revealed over thirty children’s graves, including newborns. This distinguishing feature raises questions about the motivations and beliefs that led to the allocation of a separate building for the burial of children in that era, which contradicted the funerary customs prevalent in the Iron Age.

Dr. Mohammad Abdul Hamid Hussein, the research team’s leader, emphasizes the importance of this discovery in understanding the social and religious practices of ancient Omani societies.

Photo: Oman News Agency
Photo: Oman News Agency

Dr. Hussein stated, “This discovery opens new horizons for research and study about funerary rituals and religious beliefs in the Iron Age in the Omani Peninsula, and focuses on an important and unknown part of the history of this region, and deepens our understanding of the cultural and social traditions of the societies that lived in that period.”

The discovery of a large number of residential buildings, in addition to many cemeteries, spread over a wide area of the site and several defensive towers have been interpreted by archaeologists as an indication of the major and central role the settlement played in the region in the 1st millennium BC.

Among the artifacts discovered were jars with basket-shaped handles and a rare piece of pottery adorned with a seal print depicting two men.

Cover Photo: Oman News Agency

Related Articles

Byzantine monk chained with iron rings unearthed near Jerusalem

4 January 2023

4 January 2023

A skeleton chained with iron rings was discovered at Khirbat el-Masani, about four kilometers northwest of Jerusalem, along the ancient...

Recent Excavations in Spain Reveal 7th Century BCE Religious Structure, Showcasing Eastern Influences within Tartessian Culture

18 February 2025

18 February 2025

A research team led by the National University of Distance Education (UNED) has made an important archaeological discovery at the...

Archaeologists reconstructing how the Assyrian army conquered the ancient Judean city of Lachish 2700 years ago

9 November 2021

9 November 2021

Archaeologists discovered how King Sennacherib’s soldiers constructed the huge siege ramp that enabled them to defeat the Lachish city 2,700...

The mythical hero of Troy and Rome Aeneas’s peerless mosaic discovered in Türkiye

11 May 2023

11 May 2023

A large mosaic depicting the legendary Trojan hero Aeneas, the protagonist of Virgil’s epic poem “The Aeneid” and the ancestor...

Archaeologists discovered 130 dwellings around the Ringheiligtum Pömmelte monument “German Stonehenge”

15 June 2021

15 June 2021

Archaeologists have unearthed 130 dwellings at an Early Bronze Age monument in Germany, indicating that the ‘Stonehenge’ was once home...

New Study Finds, 4,000-Year-Old Toolkit Unearthed Near Stonehenge Was Used to Work Gold

16 December 2022

16 December 2022

Archaeologists from the Universities of Leicester and Southampton in the United Kingdom recently published a study claiming that enigmatic artifacts...

A Rare Find That Stuns Archaeologists: Ancient 3,500-Year-Old Dagger Found in Germany’s Heartland

22 August 2025

22 August 2025

A simple family walk near the village of Gudersleben in Nordhausen County, in Thuringia, central Germany, has turned into a...

Archaeologists found gold coins from the time of Justinian the Great in Northern Bulgaria

3 September 2024

3 September 2024

Archaeologists have discovered five gold coins dating from the reign of Justinian the Great (483-565) in Debnevo, the largest village...

Archaeologists in Derbyshire have unearthed a 9th century Anglo Saxon house

15 July 2021

15 July 2021

A nearly complete Anglo-Saxon house, considered to date from the early ninth century and might have been the abode of...

The Ancestors of Today’s Barbie Dolls “Coptic dolls”

23 September 2023

23 September 2023

For as long as there has been civilization, children have played with dolls. Wooden dolls with bead hair have been...

Archaeologists in northern Spanish have discovered what they believe to be the oldest Basque language text

15 November 2022

15 November 2022

Archaeologists have discovered what they believe to be the oldest Basque language text, on  Irulegi archaeological site, near the Aranguren...

One More Missing Links of Evolution Found

29 April 2021

29 April 2021

There is a phenomenon of missing links in the theory of evolution. Theorists of evolution continue to find these missing...

A Large Roman Building Discovered on the Limmat

13 April 2024

13 April 2024

In the Steinacher area (Canton of Aargau) on the Limmat there was a Roman settlement that was significantly larger than...

From Bronze Age to Buddhism: Xinjiang’s Archaeological Journey Through Time and Recent Discoveries

4 March 2025

4 March 2025

Recent archaeological investigations in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have significantly enhanced our understanding of the area’s historical context and...

Archaeologists uncovered a Roman settlement and what is thought to be an extremely rare early Medieval longhouse in North East Wales

16 August 2024

16 August 2024

The team from the University of Chester, Heneb: the Trust for Welsh Archaeology (Clwyd-Powys region), and the Portable Antiquities Scheme...