looking hard for clues

Following independance, the elites of these societies needed to distinguish themselves from the common people of their societies. Fluency in English, French or another Western language did this.
Samuel P Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order

The beach isn’t as pristine as it looked from above: you will see the discarded remnants from fishing trips, pieces of plastic, fishing nets, even the odd kettle kept on a rock, ready for the next boat stop. It is an unremarkable beach, and you will be quickly drawn away to the leftovers of a much older story, on the other side of the strip of freshwater. There is a mound of rocks here, definitely man-made, now grown over by a tangle of plants that do not let you see much. This is quite obviously ancient: perhaps a burial mound, certainly not a watchtower. From it, almost lost in the burnt grass, a double row of stones has been placed that seems to be leading to the sea, but seemingly vanishes before you can make enough sense of it. On the other, eastern side, we had stumbled over what could have been a low stone wall, parallel to the waterfront, also largely hidden by vegetation. People who have been here talk of the remnants of old walls, and perhaps even channels like those of a falaj system, but we found nothing more this time. It might be easier to see what the ground holds at a different time of year when the grass has completely died away – or perhaps this is as good as it gets. Kharfot had given a little, but kept much to itself.

So is this all there is to it, an anticlimax after researching the Internet, looking for maps, tracking down local guides, flying 1,000km from Muscat and then driving hours over the mountains? Of course, it would be disappointing, on a certain level: no one is suggesting you might stumble upon a hidden trapdoor leading to an underground chamber of inscribed tablets. What a visit does prove is that yes, Kharfot is as it has been described in the Mormon writings, and it was inhabited by a people a very long time ago.

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