Sarooj Factory, Nakhal, Oman

Sarooj Factory, Nakhal, Oman

Mud bricks fired as part of the sarooj manufacturing process, Nakhal, Oman

For centuries, sarooj was an essential building material in the oasis communities of the UAE and Oman. In the oases that the Al Ain chapter visits, we often find copper smelting rings that have been re-used for the production of sarooj. At Nuway, there is a collection of sarooj manufacturing pits.

However, the exact process of making sarooj was unclear, though it is described in various publications and, briefly, on a website produced by the Oman government.

The Oman website mentioned a sarooj manufacturing site in Nakhal, Oman. The photographs below were taken in the summer of 2007 during a visit to the site.

The current manager has been in charge of sarooj manufacturing for more than 50 years. He patiently demonstrated the various stages and explained that sarooj made in Nakhal is shipped around the Arabian Gulf where it is used in restoration projects. Some of the sarooj on the site was more than 25 years old and still had the characteristics of portland cement.

Each oasis needed a quantity of sarooj to build falaj systems. An archaeologist from Muscat explained that oasis communities often used  old copper smelting 'rings' as sarooj firing sites, explaining -- as is the case at Khutwah, for example -- why the stones are all discolored. Sarooj is not used for wall plaster but, in addition to aflaj, it may have been used for pottery.

One of the 'pans' where the raw material soaks for three days	The raw material has the consistency of talc	After curing for three days, the mud is shaped into discs	Each disc is about the size of a large dinner plate
Thousands of the discs dry in the sun, waiting to be fired	A hand to illustrate the relative size of each disc	One of the workers near the field of discs	Beyond the sun-drying discs is a recently fired pile of discs
The fired discs, some ash-covered, some dark brown	Many of the discs are still neatly stacked	There were five sites for sarooj firing on the site	A view down onto the stack of fired discs
Three of the firing sites, the most recently fired in the foreground, one pile fired days earlier, in the distance a stack being built	The discs, once cool, are bulldozed into a pile	Drying discs waiting to be stacked on the madbah in the distance	A tarp covers the stack of date palm trunks and mudbrick discs
Several thousand mudbrick discs are fired at a time	The manager estimated the quantity of discs at three tons	The madbah is composed of three layers of date palms, eight meters by eight meters	One ton of wadi stones -- limestone? -- are placed between the date palm trunks.
A roller is used to crush the fired discs on steel plates	Some of the 'modern' equipment used in sarooj manufacturing	Some of the fired bricks waiting to be crushed	Each layer of the madbah consists of 20 date palm trunks
		Fresh ash from the date palm trunks is visible on the perimeter
One of the pans where mud is being used to make discs	Each pan is quartered	A complete pan, with another day or two before discs will be made
A general view of  the sarooj factory site	The number of discs on the site was overwhelming	Some of the date palm trunks to be used in firing
The manager shows the premium discs after firing	Like mudbricks found in copper smelters, the discs are very hard	When banged together, the best discs have a metallic ring	The manager demonstrating the test for quality firing
		The stack of mudbricks on this madbah is about half complete	A tarp protects the bricks in the event of rain or heavy dew
The manager demonstrating how the stack is organized	Several 'chimneys' are constructed to improve air flow	This 'chimney' extends down through the stack to the trunks
	The manager inside one of the 'chimneys'
	The manager demonstrates how the discs are stacked
The stacking of the discs is very methodical
		The manager demonstrates how each disc is shaped	A shovel is used to collect a quantity of the mud
	The worker shapes the disk
	Two finished discs		The manager demonstrates how palm branches are placed between the date palm trunks
The palm branches ensure the fire spreads quickly through the stack
	The manager demonstrates how the finished product was used	Water and straw was added
	Sarooj was tested here more than 25 years ago
	Once the well is formed, water is added and the final product made	The manager showing some sarooj-built features
	This platform and low wall were made more than 25 years ago
The manager demonstrates that the sarooj still is very hard	The sarooj has many of the characteristics of cement