MUSCAT: Ubar is an archaeological site in the Sultanate of Oman and one of the sites of the Frankincense Road, which was included in the World Heritage List in 2000. It is located in the Dhofar Governorate, which is at the southern end of the Empty Quarter desert in the part called “Shasr”.

The archaeological site of Ubar has unique architecture and interesting historical monuments. The story of this place is surrounded by many secrets and legends, the most common being that there was a rich city in this area famous for the profitable frankincense trade thousands of years ago but was completely buried by a huge sandstorm. Since then, many expeditions of explorers have visited the Dhofar region in southern Oman to find this lost city hidden in the deep sands of the Empty Quarter desert, the largest sandy desert in the world.

From 1992 until 1995, archaeological missions worked with the National Committee for the Survey of Antiquities in the Sultanate at this site, and it was found that the human settlement of this spot dates back more than seven thousand years, and with the discovery of the archaeological site, an excavation program began at the site to verify its identity, architectural features, and archaeological materials in it. Huge columns, towers, metal artefacts, pottery, money, and other things were discovered, including archaeological finds dating back to different periods of the Islamic era.