The Time of Magan projects, led by Valentina Azzarà and Alexandre De Rorre, has focused on the archaeology of settlement in the coastal areas of Oman since 2017.  

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Research on the pre-protohistoric populations of Eastern Arabia has significantly advanced over recent decades, offering essential insights into the cultural and socio-economic specificities of the region. Therefore, populations of Eastern Arabia, often referred to as the “land of Magan” in Mesopotamian sources, have increasingly gained recognition within broader Early Bronze Age cultural frameworks. Building upon several decades of research in the region, we adopt a perspective that considers local dynamics as central to the development of socio-economic structures, with a specific focus on the transitional phases marking these transformations, from the Late Neolithic (c. 4300–3300 BCE) to the Early (c. 3200–2000 BCE) and Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000–1600 BCE), through the lens of coastal settlement life.  

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Our long-term excavations at Ras Al Jinz RJ-3, in the Sharqiyah region, carried out between 2017 and 2023, have uncovered a rare and continuous sequence of occupations from the Late Neolithic through the Early Bronze Age, offering a unique opportunity to study the development of non-urban societies and early socio-economic complexity in Eastern Arabia. 

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Since 2023, the project began a new chapter, expanding the chrono-geographic scope to include coastal occupations within and outside the Sharqiyah region, up to the Qurayyāt region, in the capital area of Oman, and spanning from the Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age.  

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In a comparative perspective, these excavations are critical for understanding the everyday lives and economic strategies of prehistoric coastal communities across a wide region. And reconstructing local processes of socio-economic change. 

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In this frame, our programs are an excellent opportunity for BA and MA students to gain experience in the field of Arabian Archaeology, and more broadly in settlement archaeology (excavation and documentation) and artefacts/ecofacts processing and recording. We provide a range of expert-led research-focused training designed to introduce students to practical archaeological field methods (stratigraphic excavation, SU sheets, graphic documentation, Total Station) and to build and expand on knowledge and experience gained during their university studies (computer-assisted recording and management of the finds, photogrammetry, GIS, 3D).