This provides evidence for a distinct Middle Stone Age technocomplex in southern Arabia around the earlier part of the Marine Isotope Stage 5.

[6] Al-Baleed (also spelled Al Blaid), an area near Salalah which contains numerous archeological finds, used to serve as the home of the Manjawi Civilization from the 12th to 16th centuries.

[8] Dhofar is extensively detailed in the 1917 publication Gazetteer of Arabia, produced by the Government in British India and mostly based on information gathered by J.G.

Dhofar's physical geography was noted as consisting mainly of barren plains, a mountain range and several valleys, the most important of which was Wadi Raikut.

[9] Communication outside of Dhofar was made difficult on account of the rugged landscape and the fact that no large harbors existed on the coast, though Mirbat and Risut were said to offer good anchorage for smaller vessels.

He entrusted the task of establishing Muscat authority to one Sulaiman bin Suwailim, a former slave, and supplied him with a small body of soldiers to secure the towns from the tribesmen.

Sulaiman bin Suwailim built a fort on the site of the present palace which was later seized and looted by the Kathiri, but it was not long before Muscat authority was re-established.

During World War I it was fertile enough to produce food and grain to supply a large proportion of the requirement of the British Army fighting in Mesopotamia.

It aimed to depose the Sultan's government, who was assisted by the United Kingdom, Iran, and officers and doctors from Pakistan and India.

Furthermore, it is asserted that they were not overtly observant of Islamic customs, were highly superstitious, and practiced pre-Islamic rites, much to the indignation of the Sultan of Oman.

[14] While Arabic speakers from the dominant culture of Oman have come to live in the province, especially the larger cities and towns, Dhofar has been the traditional homeland of many tribespeople speaking Modern South Arabian languages.

South-west monsoon (locally referred to as Khareef) clouds driving up from the Indian Ocean are here met by winds from the north and east and buffeted and depressed until they are entrapped by the mountains over the Dhofar plain.

The mountains enclosing the western end of the plain are precipitous and inaccessible while those to the east rise steeply with many sheer cliffs and deep gorges but are capped by rolling grassy uplands and interspersed with wide park-like valleys well wooded with groves of wild figs, tamarinds, acacias, sycamores.

[17] The uplands rise gently to a height of between 3,000 and 4,000 feet at the top of the watershed and thence slope away to the north draining into Wadi Muqshin on the southern edge of the Rub' al Khali (Empty Quarter).

The dryness of the air determines the quality of the frankincense, the resin of similar trees growing on the southern slopes being spoilt by the rain.

Underground rivers drain the waters of Jabal Aram into Wadi Darbat, the mouth of which is sealed by a sheer limestone cliff 500 feet high.

The accumulated waters fill a lake two miles long, situated at a height of 1,000 feet, and overflow during the rains to form a picturesque waterfall.

Dhofar and a small portion of the northern tip of Yemen are directly exposed to the South East monsoon from mid-June to mid-September;[22] this is known as the Khareef.

Monsoon clouds keep the summer cool and humid, while the winter months are warm except for periods when cold winds from the northern deserts cause heavy and prolonged dust storms and a sharp fall in temperature.

Salalah, the region's capital, has an international airport, one of the largest seaports in the Middle East, several resorts including the Marriott and the Crowne Plaza, and a university.

[23] According to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the coasts of Dhofar, perhaps Wadi Sayq, are considered the most likely location of the Book of Mormon land of Bountiful, from which the nomadic family of Lehi sailed, some time after 600 BC, in a ship constructed by his son Nephi, to the New World.