This was what the road was like to “the lost city of Ubar”. I had no intention of visiting the site of the supposed “rediscovered lost city of Ubar” during my trip to Salalah in July but memories of lost treasure being discovered in different movies on the big screen won out as I noticed this sign on the Salalah-Muscat road: I noticed that the road here to Shisr (or Shasar) was reported to be only 70 kms so I decided that it might be well worth arriving in Muscat a few hours later than planned in order to see an ancient city shrouded in mystery. The latest search was started in 1981 by Clapp, who has made documentaries for public television, National Geographic and Jacques Cousteau.As a HUGE fan of the Indiana Jones films (at least “ Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “ Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade“), myths or legends of “a lost city” are definitely something which are sure to grab my attention. Previous efforts to find Ubar in Oman's dunes failed in 1930, 19. Ground-penetrating radar suggested the ruins might be the remnants of an ancient buried city. One road led to Shisr, where the researchers found a sinkhole and ruins of a "rude fort" noted by an explorer in 1930. and French satellites to trace the ancient roads. earlier and farther south in Arabia than previously known," said Gus Van Beek, curator of Old World anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.Įxplorers in four-wheel-drive vehicles and a helicopter used images created by Challenger and by U.S. "It's certainly possible" that Shisr is Ubar, which "would mean we have settled occupation. "What is emerging is a clear image of a flourishing urban civilization" in Oman and Yemen at the same time civilized life existed to the north in Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization. "There's a good chance that - with qualified archaeologists such as these - we may have found Ubar," Mandaville said. The oldest cities in nearby Yemen date to about 1800 B.C. If that proves correct, urban development in the region began about 1,000 years earlier than previously believed, said Jon Mandaville, a professor of Middle East history at Portland State University in Oregon. 100, based on pottery found there, according to Clapp. The walled city - discovered at a well site named Shisr - probably had fewer than 100 residents but was surrounded by campsites, Clapp said.Ĭlapp and Hedges said Ubar may have been the earliest known shipping center for frankincense, a fragrant gum resin harvested farther south.Įxpedition archaeologist Juris Zarins of Southwest Missouri State University said the city may have been inhabited from about 2800 B.C. Clapp and Hedges said the city apparently fell into a sinkhole created when an underground limestone cavern collapsed. Lawrence, the British soldier known as Lawrence of Arabia, called Ubar "the Atlantis of the Sands," after the legendary sunken continent.Īccording to legend, Ubar - which is known as Iram, the "city of towers" in Islam's sacred Koran - was destroyed and buried by sand about A.D. Hedges, a Los Angeles lawyer with an interest in archaeology. "This is a significant and lasting legacy of the space shuttle Challenger," said documentary filmmaker Nicholas Clapp, who led the expedition with George R. 26, researchers have overcome sandstorms and deadly vipers to find Ubar's octagon-shaped stone walls, 6- to 8-foot remnants of seven of its eight 30-foot mud-brick towers, various rooms, incense burners and thousands of pieces of pottery.Įxplorers found the city by tracing ancient desert roads spotted in pictures taken from space, including images created by Challenger in 1984, more than a year before the shuttle blew up. Ruins of the oasis city were discovered in a desolate region of Oman, a sultanate along the Arabian Sea, researchers reported Tuesday.Since excavation started Dec. Using pictures taken from a space shuttle, explorers have found buried beneath the sands of Arabia the ancient lost city of Ubar, a center of the frankincense trade around the time of Jesus.
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