Khor Rori

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Khor Rori (Arabic: خور روري, romanized: Khawr Rawrī) is a bar-built estuary at the mouth of Wādī Darbāt in the Dhofar Governorate, Oman, near Taqah. It is an intermittently closed/open lake/lagoon, with an inlet from Arabian Sea that is usually disconnected. It is a major breeding ground for birds, and used to act as an important harbour for frankincense trade when it was an open estuary. The area represents a popular tourist spot within Oman and since 2000, is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Land of Frankincense. Khor Rori is best known for the ruins of the ancient fortified port city of Sumhuram on the eastern bank, which was founded in the 3rd century BC as an outpost for the Kingdom of Ḥaḍramawt. After the eclipse of Ḥaḍramawt, Sumhuram was under the influence of the Kingdom of Ḥimyar, as indicated by the Himyarite coins excavated from there. It was finally abandoned in the 5th century, most likely due to the formation of the sandbar blocking the estuary. There are also archaeological ruins on the two promontories at the mouth of Khor Rori. The eastern promontory (Inqitat Mirbat) is better explored than the western promontory (Inqitat Taqah). Inqitat Mirbat, also known as Khatiya or al-Ḥamr al-Sharqiya, had been inhabited by the 4th century BC before the emergence of Sumhuram, and its settlement history might date back to the 8th century BC. It was abandoned in the 1st or 2nd century, and re-occupied in the medieval period.