Abandoned Village at Ibri

Driving towards the oasis city of Nizwa in Oman, we stopped in Ibri where we discovered an abandoned village at the edge of town.

The mud buildings looked ancient but were wired with electricity - we could not determine when the village had been abandoned and what caused the ruin - earthquake? flood? too hard to maintain?

The village was built on a hill so it was common that multiple rooms in one house were on different levels. The rooms were small to medium size and all had these niches with shelves set into the walls. One room usually had an alcove that looked like a fireplace - but there were no chimneys. Windows and doors were small.

A nice view of the palm oasis inside the town of Ibri.

Many rooms had painted palm trunks as roof beams. They were thatched with palm fronds above.

This is a similar structure attached to an occupied house in town. A common site to have these mud structures adjacent to newer concrete ones.