

But it was also the start of something bigger: the revolution of a scientific field. It was an early step in an unlikely search for the long-lost trading post at Ubar, a mythic place that once teemed with wealth and lavish feasts. “The only guys who knew where we were were the helicopter pilot and co-pilot,” Blom recalled later. For navigation, they mostly relied on compasses and grainy satellite images civilian-grade GPS systems were still an inconsistent novelty. A handful of Omani soldiers came along for protection in the country’s tribal territories. Then there was Ron Blom, a geologist and remote sensing specialist from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.īetween them, they had a large duffel containing some old military-supplied “meals-ready-to-eat,” archaeological sample bags, and a small pickaxe-the sort used to pry artifacts loose from clay. Their ringleader was documentary filmmaker Nicholas Clapp, accompanied by his wife Kay, a federal probation officer. There was George Hedges, an entertainment industry lawyer from Los Angeles Sir Ranulph Fiennes, a British baronet and explorer and Juris Zarins, an archaeologist. This was a reconnaissance mission, their first to the desert of Oman. The group was on a quest to find the ruins of an ancient, remote outpost-a destination that would have taken days to reach by camel. Their transport, a Vietnam War-era Huey helicopter, had returned to Thumrait Air Base to refuel, leaving them grounded until morning. They had not planned on stopping here for the night, so they had no radio, nor any mode of communication. The small group spread out their sleeping bags on a desert mesa, under the setting Sun.
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You can purchase it on either as a paperback or as a download for your Kindle.It was the summer of 1990 and broiling hot in southwest Oman. We encourage interested readers to check out Eric’s book. Chanda currently serves as a volunteer with Aramco Gardening as the only arborist in the country, working extensively with the trees on the Dhahran compound and xeriscaping.

During that time they have traveled by car extensively throughout the region, visiting the tombs of Al Faw, Kuwait, Oman and other noteworthy places. Eric wrote his novel during his first Ramadan at Aramco and has now published it three years later.Įric has lived in the Kingdom for three years with his wife Chandra and their two children. The third part is set in present-day Saudi Arabia and concentrates on two Aramco surveyors who have been seconded to the Saudi Geological Survey Commission. Lawrence of Arabia) to portray him on a mission to locate what he referred to as “the Atlantis of the Sands” before an Ottoman military force can sack and loot the site. The second part takes advantage of a several-month gap in the biography of T. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, the city was punished and all who did not give up the false worship were destroyed along with the city. The first third of Eric’s novel concentrates on the last days of Iram, viewing events there from the perspective of the pre-Islamic prophet Hud, who warned the city of its folly in worshiping false idols. Long thought to be buried somewhere beneath the sands of Arabia-according to some in the Rub’ al Khali, according to others in any of several other places-the city has returned to life after being lost for centuries in the form of a novel by an Aramcon.Įric Stone III, currently working in the Project Management Office Department in Dhahran, recently published a fascinating historical novel titled “The Lost City of Iram.” Available today on, Eric’s story is divided into three parts, separated in time from one another, each with its own distinctive set of characters, all of whom discover various elements and solve certain mysteries related to the city. Known to Roman, Nabatean and Sabean traders in ancient times as a city of vast wealth and “towers,” Iram/Ubar is mentioned in The One Thousand and One Nights.

At the center of some of its most enduring legends is the fabled city of Iram, also called Ubar, the capital of the Kingdom of Ad. The Arabian Peninsula has been known as a land of many mysteries for thousands of years.
