Unknown Oman by Wendell Phillips HC 1966 Middle East Archaeology - Signed W8
$ 22.31
Description
Unknown Oman by Wendell Phillips HC 1966 Middle East Archaeology - Signed W8. His latest dig was at Sohar, where he found rewarding artifacts but no ancient city. Unknown Oman . Phillips, Wendell. NY: David McKay Company, 1966. Hardcover, 319 pages, notes and bibliography, index, b&w photos. Inscribed by author on front free endpaper. "Wendell Phillips (1921 – December 4, 1975) was an American archaeologist and oil magnate who led some of the first archaeological expeditions in the areas that are part of modern-day Yemen and Oman. Excavating primarily in the 1950s, Phillips unearthed artifacts from the ancient kingdom of Sabaʾ. He was famous in the United States for his dashing style and adventurous stories, leading to his nickname, 'America's Lawrence of Arabia'. Following his archaeological career, Phillips acquired oil concessions in Oman, Venezuela, South Korea, Indonesia, and other countries, which made him the largest individual holder of oil rights in the world, and gave him a net worth of $120 million." - Wikipedia "Wendell Phillips first entered Oman hotfooting it out of Yemen where he had been excavating the Moon Temple of Awwan until the natives became too hostile. He made a friend of the Sultan and has returned several times since, discovering Sumhuram. His latest dig was at Sohar, where he found rewarding artifacts but no ancient city. This book based on his own 'travels, explorations and excavations,' makes known much about this country, 'the one country in Southwest Asia and North Africa which has never received a single dollar in American aid, (yet) is one of America's oldest and truest friends.' He writes of the status of women ('domestic and servile') and medicine ('an unrelieved desert of quackery and ignorance'), of the Badu (Beduoin) 'who will eagerly kiss the hand he can't bite and pray that it will be broken' but who has admirable and endearing traits as well, and the Qara. At Shabwah the extended expedition (by then Phillips had a sheik in tow) outfaced rifles at point blank range, came back with ancient coins that may preface a new dig. This archaeologist gives indication of urbanity, courage, interest deepening to concern for a people who start out life immersed in camel urine, are depleted at twenty-five, often dead at thirty-five. Wendell Phillips again (Qataban and Sheba-1955) makes the unknown known with untoward fascination for the general reader, while there is a full apparatus for the scholar--notes, bibliography, index." - Kirkus Reviews
