The accidental discovery of the hoard of metal weapons, bangles, and vessels in the desert plain called Selme in August of 1979 evoked a complicated chain of events which led to the final publication.
The Department of Antiquities and foreign experts cooperated to preserve the finds, which were threatened by progressive corrosion, and see the documentation and publication through to its end. The finds were restored and studied metallurgically in the German Mining Museum.
Other projects on the archaeology of Oman which took place at the same time yielded much additional information on the hoard and its historical importance.

508 metal artefacts comprise the hoard itself and 82 stone and ceramic vessels belong to the tomb in which the hoard was hidden. This is the largest metal hoard ever found in the ancient Near East. It is studied from the standpoint of the metallurgy of the finds and their prehistoric context. The Selme hoard is a main source for the prehistoric metalwork of South-eastern Arabia.