Miscellaneous Finds at Wadi Safwan

The group has made several trips to Wadi Safwan in search of a fort that is marked on a map originally produced by the British military. Some believe all that remains of the fort are some rocks piled on an outcrop on the plain between the dunes and Wadi Subaitnah. Others believe the remains are buried under soil piled beside one of the large camel farms. And others believe the fort is long gone, replaced by one of the camel or fodder farms.

The area is littered with pottery and artefacts left by countless generations of individuals who once visited the fort. Dozens of bronze arrowheads have been collected, along with hundreds of coins.

Two of the local herdsmen have been especially diligent in collecting as many items as possible; some of their collection is shown in the photos below.

The dark red sand of Safwan barely covers some of the pot sherds	Almost all of the pottery found at Safwan is recent Islamic, such as these remains of a cooking pot	The flat area appears to have been used by visitors to set up tents and camps	More pottery at the site
Speculation is that bedouin were visiting the fort and, earlier, the well	The thin, dark pottery of cooking pots	Flint stone scattered among the sherds	The red sand at Safwan is some of the darkest we have recorded
A sample of the coins collected by the herdsmen	Other coins in the collection	Most coins are bronze but there are some silver coins	Two of the arrowheads found
An assortment of metal objects; the item top, right appears to be for cleaning rifle barrels	Grinding stone	Bottom half of grinding stone with stone weight used for spinning wool	A small jug
A more modern jug	Reverse of modern jug	One of the herdsmen holding a grinding stone