Interpreting Inland Networks during the Umm an-Nar period (3rd Millennium BCE): Spatial and Network Approaches to the Circulation of Indus-related material

This thesis investigates inland connectivity across the Oman Peninsula during the 3rd millennium BCE, focusing on how Indus-related materials circulated within the region historically identified as Magan. While maritime exchange between the Indus Valley Civilisation, Mesopotamia, and southeastern Arabia is well established, the mechanisms of inland movement remain under-researched. A spatial database of Umm an-Nar sites in Oman and the United Arab Emirates was analysed using Least-Cost Path modelling and network centrality measures. Topography-based cost surfaces were used to reconstruct movement corridors, which were evaluated through degree, betweenness, and closeness centrality. The results indicate that overland movement followed a limited number of wadi-aligned corridors and was mediated by a small group of structurally embedded settlements rather than direct coast-to-site distribution. Indus-related materials, therefore, circulated through staged inland redistribution networks rather than uniform access from maritime entry points.