The significance that Salut has had in the history of Oman can be seen in some historical narrations, in particular in `Al-Awtabi`, kitab Al—Ansab. In Arabic tradition Salut appears in two particularly interesting episodes during two separate periods.
The First episode dates back to the mists of time bearing witness to the antiquity of the site. It was a building distinguished by its strength and solidity, about whose origins no memorial remains.
When Sulayman bin Dawud (Solomon son of David) arrived there during one of his voyages, nothing was known about its history or who built it. All that is known is its exceptional state of conservation, despite its antiquity and the fact that it had been uninhabited for centuries. An eagle, the sole inhabitant of Salut, told this to Sulayman.
Sulayman bin Dawud as a builder is linked not only to the story of Salut but also to the territory of Oman and the construction of a great number of aflaj for the people of Oman.
In the second episode, the area in which the event that begins the “Arabic history” of Oman is set, is not so much the Husn but the territory surrounding Salut. The “Arabisation” of Oman took place after the open-field battle at Salut lead by Malik b in Fahm against the Persians (Parthian) which enabled the Omanis to prevail.
This is how Salut became centre—stage for the long and complex epic narration surrounding the heroic figure of the Arab king Malik bin Fahm Al—Azdi. It was through his courage and political acumen that the yawm as-Salut marked the end of the migration of the Azd and the first dominance of the ’Arab in Oman and its arabisation.
Legends almost always have an historic base and Salut was undoubtedly an evocative and historically important place; almost the essential place for the beginning of Omani history.
Salut today is a lot different from when excavations were initiated, and it is now beginning to reveal in all its monumentality.
There are remains of Early Bronze Age occupation on the small hill of Salut that date from the early third millennium, two building phases from between the second half of the second and the mid-first millennium (Iron Age I-III) and an Islamic settlement from the 12th Century, followed by a further occupation in the l8th / l9th century.
Bahla region is an area of long history and is extremely rich in archaeological remains. The first systematic archaeological surveys in the Sultanate of Oman were conducted in the early 1970’s.
A major objective for some archaeologists was to search for evidence to confirm the identification of Oman with the place named Magan in Mesopotamian cuneiform texts. The survey conducted by Harvard University was one of the first to document a number of third millennium B.C. Bronze Age sites in Oman.
The survey showed that the wadi Bahla was one area in particular where Bronze Age sites, which include settlements and tombs, are well preserved.
Following the Harvard survey, the wadi Bahla was further surveyed by Beatrice de Cardi in 1974 – 75, as a result of which some additional further Bronze Age sites were added to those already known.
The results from both these surveys were included in the first two volumes of the journal of Oman Studies.
And from 1980 until now the wadi Bahla has been central in a project conducted by Birmingham University aimed at reconstructing Bronze Age settlement patterns and landscapes.
In the wadi Bahla not far from Bisya, and in particular near the village of Al-Dhabi, five Bronze Age towers are known. In the wadi Sayfam, where Salut is located, there are at least four towers, which in contrast with those found in the wadi Bahla are located on the plain and not on rock-outcrops. As in the wadi Bahla, beehive tombs are also visible on the hilltop ridges around Salut.
