mcgillianaire | Earliest Evidence of Animal Life Discovered in Oman

(From l-to-r: View of Muscat's coast from the air / Drive to Yiti Beach / Baushar ruins near Muscat Private Hospital)
I was listening to a programme about the earliest evidence of animal life on the radio last night but didn't realise the discovery was made in Oman. It doesn't surprise me. Some years ago a bunch of Scottish geologists visited Oman and were floored by the paradise-like naked beauty that surrounded them throughout the length and breadth of the country. For them it was in stark contrast to the difficulty that they faced in performing the same work on the vegetation-infested slopes of the Scottish Highlands, mixed with the worst kind of rainy weather. If my primary school reading of Oman's geological history is still correct, I believe that millions of years ago Oman was disconnected from the rest of the Arabian Gulf, was located beneath the sea and attached to Antarctica. Then it began breaking off and drifting northwards towards the peninsula and through a collision formed the Hajar Mountains that roughly divides Oman into two unequal parts. Largely due to the weather, vegetation is scarcely grown naturally anywhere in Oman except in the extreme South. This means you can readily pick up fossils that are normally found at the bottom of the sea almost anywhere in Oman, but especially in the heights of the Hajar mountain range. Interestingly though, the discovery in the news was made in the South Oman Salt Basin.