Muscat :Rock carvings dating back to the Iron Age were found near the historic Nakhal Fort in the South Al Batinah Governorate.
They were carved on the rock on which Nakhal Fort is located. The carvings are of a knight with two horns holding a spear, horses and knights, and many other rock shapes, such as those previously discovered in the village of Stal in the Wilayat of Al Awabi.
Harith bin Saif Al Kharousi, a researcher in the field of history and a specialist in excavations, explained that these carvings date back to the Iron Age, which is the first millennium BC, and they are similar to several carvings in some mountainous areas in the Sultanate of Oman.
Among the important things in this rock are also the carvings of snakes, and these shapes are unparalleled in the Arabian Peninsula and were carved by sunken engraving on the rock.
Al Kharousi added that the inscriptions of the two-horned knight are evidence of ancient man's impersonation of a number of animal characters, and such characters have been mentioned in a number of ancient books, and it is good to exploit this site culturally and from tourism aspect to integrate with other tourist services.
It is worth noting that the location of the Wilayat of Nakhal in the South Al Batinah Governorate is strategic as it overlooks the Al Batinah Plain on one side, and the Western Hajar Mountains on the other side.
In the past, it was located at the crossroads of ancient historical trade routes, in addition to the presence of Ain Al Thawara, which is a constantly flowing spring, which made man settle in this area since ancient times due to the abundance of constantly flowing water.
