Tracing prehistoric pastoral occupation in Dhofar: New Chronological, archaeological and faunal insights from Laheem, southern Oman

• New multidisciplinary data on Middle Holocene pastoralism in Dhofar, Oman. • Radiocarbon modelling shows site use from ∼ 4950 to 1000 BCE. • Well-preserved faunal assemblage reveals cattle and caprine exploitation. • Evidence for on-site butchery, marrow extraction, and meat processing. • Peak occupation intensity identified between ∼ 4200–2450 BCE. The prehistoric occupation of Dhofar, Southern Oman, was facilitated by the Indian Summer Monsoon, which engulfs the Dhofar Mountains and the Salalah coastal plain annually with a thick fog that condenses across the southern-facing slopes of the mountains. Current traditional herding practices demonstrate the potential of this territory for its pastoral usage, which goes back to the Neolithic period and has been recorded on the coastal plain, the mountain slopes and the desert interior of southern Arabia. These are mostly known from megalithic structures and flint knapping sites, which have poor potential for preserving organic remains. The limited archaeological information on subsistence practices, due to the lack of faunal data, places considerable constraints on our understanding of cattle, goat and/or sheep pastoralism in southern Oman between 4500-1000 BCE . This paper presents a reconstruction of subsistence and mobility patterns from the Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age units of the Laheem site using a multidisciplinary approach. The site presents a nearly four-meter-thick organic deposit with seven archaeological layers. Bayesian modelling of a radiocarbon dated charcoal sequence reveals an accumulation history extending from 4950-3921 BCE ( 6899-5870 calBP) (Unit 7) to 1938-972 BCE ( 3887-2921 calBP) (Unit 2), with a period of intense human activity between 4166 and 2450 BCE ( 6115 – 4399 calBP) (Unit 6). A well-preserved faunal assemblage, including bovids and ovicaprids, was excavated and analysed, indicating mainly anthropogenic use of the site from the Middle Holocene onwards, as reflected in the presence of diverse stone tools used for cutting and scraping organic material.