This film is part of Free

Musandam Expedition 1971-1972

Scientific endeavours along the ancient shoreline of the Musandam peninsula in the straits of Hormuz, Oman 1971-72

Amateur film 1971 41 mins Silent

Overview

A detailed record of everyday life for a research expedition camp on the shores of the Musandam peninsula. Scientists are pictured shown working collaboratively with local people to help collate and gather data. More widely this is evidence of the kinds of co-produced scientific knowledge generated on these research expeditions. Significantly it records the inclusion of local people in their contributing role in the sourcing and gathering of primary data.

The Musandam peninsula is one of the remotest regions of Arabia and is notoriously inaccessible. It is an area known for its fjords, small villages, and winding mountain roads. Much of the region’s settlements are only accessible via boat; the primary form of transport visible in the footage. It is also a region known for its high geological significance which has attracted the attention of a global scientific community. The Musandam expedition of 1971-72 sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society created a vast array of scientific findings from geological sketch maps, geophysical profiles of the landscape and tacheometric surveys which are all still housed at the society today.