Stone vessels made of chlorite were found at a mountain village of Aqir al Shamoos, Yanqul province of Oman. The soft-stone vessels are dated roughly to 1300-300 BC.

At a quarry site in the mountain village artefacts such as several pieces of unfinished pots and vessels were recently found. According to the researchers, soft-stone vessels, made of chlorite, were produced at the site during the south-east Arabian Iron Age on a scale far beyond what was needed for local consumption. They must have been part of a larger inter-regional trade network which is so far not known. Geological contexts where raw soft-stone would be available in Iron Age are known from the territory of Oman, but so far local production of such vessels was unknown.

(after Times of Oman)