Smithsonian - Perishable Pundit

CRAFT TRADITIONS OF THEDESERT, OASIS, AND SEAMARCIA STEGATH DORR AND NEIL RICHARDSON6 61Craftindustries have been .1 defining element of Omani cultural heritagefor more thans.ooo yens. In towns, villages, and desert campsthroughout the country, craftsmen and craftswomen continue to linkthe cultural past with the present. Their crafts express national identityand endow Oman with an unparalleled living heritage.Oman's craft traditions have evolved to meet utilitarian needs, but combinethe most basic of these—food, water, shelter, and safety— with the innate humandesire for self-expression through personal adornment and artistry. The traditionshave been further shaped by harsh climatic conditions, particularly the scarcity ofwater, which has had a strong overall influence on lifestyles, economic development,and settlement patterns in avaried landscape that includes desert, oasis, and sea.VOICES OF THE DESERT< For the Bedouin tribes of Oman's desert regions, survival has depended< .