With Nephi at the head, the party departed from Nahom and turned eastward (1 Nephi 17:1). Potter and Wellington note that they do not know exactly where Nephi turned eastward, but whether it was on the edge of the desert north-east of wadi Jawf or whether it was around wadi Jawf itself, in either case the journey from there to Bountiful was "nearly eastward." From wadi Jawf to Khor Rori (the location that they propose as Bountiful), is 7o off east, and from the split in the trail north-east of wadi Jawf to Khor Rori, is 3o off east. Either of these would seem to fit Nephi's description of traveling "nearly eastward" from Nahom to Bountiful (1 Nephi 17:1).
Of this west-east travel, it is intriguing that as recently as 1936 Freya Stark wrote:
The contact between the two incense-bearing regions of east (Dhofar) and west (Hadramaut) must have been intimate and prolonged; the routes by which it was maintained may come to light when the inland country between the wadi Masila and the Qara is explored.
Fortunately for Potter and Wellington, the overland, easterly route to Dhofar did, in fact, come to light within the same time frame that they were writing their book. It came about with the discovery of the ruins of "Ubar" in 1991. The ruins of "Ubar" are found at the village of Shisur in northwest Oman. Since the exact name of this archaeological site is not known with any certainty, the name "Ubar" is used because it is the name the people of Shisur themselves have given to the site. Ubar was a large city, 110 miles (180km) to the northwest of the ancient capital harbor of Dhofar, which was situated at Khor Rori (Moscha). A permanent spring at Ubar had attracted people since Neolithic times (ca. 5,000-2,500 B.C.), and a fortress first built during the Bronze Age (2,500-1,300 B.C.) was in use until A.D. 1500. According to legend Ubar was established by Noah's great great grandson "Ad." the first patriarch of the people of "Ad." Ubar "old town" was built around 900 B.C. or earlier, which dates it "among the oldest, if not the oldest, of Arabia's trading caravasaries." Iron age pottery finds show that the city was thriving 400 years before Lehi would have been there. Ubar was a caravanserai of huge proportions and, according to Sir Ranulph Fiennes "More than 2,000 camels and 500 people would have been there at any time." More than 40 ancient camp-sites at Ubar where "the caravans would have grouped and waited to enter Ubar. have been uncovered"
Dr. Juris Zarins of Southwest Missouri State University researched the frankincense trail which led from Yemen, along the southern fringe of the Rub'al Khali, to Dhofar. In addition to the remains of an ancient fort at Shisur, Zarins found a "sister city" with an identical architectural style, at Ain Humran. The sites at Shisur and Ain Humran in southern Oman, where Ptolemy said the "people of Ubar" lived, would seem to mark the eastern end of the trail. Zarins found similar forts at Gaydah al Kabir and Minar, which would seem to be intermediate fortresses. The position of other settlements found indicates that a trail existed on the southern edge of the Rub'al Khali, which served a frankincense trade, which had been in existence, and based in Dhofar, since before the time of Joseph of Egypt. This trade used both a shipping route and an overland trail, both headquartered in Dhofar, to send the tons of incense first west and then north to Jerusalem and Egypt, as well as other countries. [George Potter and Richard Wellington, Discovering the Lehi-Nephi Trail, Unpublished Manuscript, 2000, pp. 164-167] [For information connecting the region of Dhofar with the land of Ophir see the commentary on 2 Nephi 23:12]
1 Nephi 17:1 We did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth ([Illustration]--Potter Theory): The Trail East. Map showing a trail east to Dhofar based on the work of world renowned American archaeologist Juris Zarins. Map from John Noble Wilford, "Ruins in Yemeni Desert Mark Route of Frankincense Trade," New York Times, Tuesday, January 28, 1997. [George Potter and Richard Wellington, Discovering the Lehi-Nephi Trail, Unpublished Manuscript, 2000, p. 175]
1 Nephi 17:1 We did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth ([Illustration]--Potter Theory): The Frankincense Trail from Mashyniqah to Moscha. (Nahom to Bountiful) [George Potter and Richard Wellington, Discovering the Lehi-Nephi Trail, Unpublished Manuscript, 2000, p. 175]
1 Nephi 17:1 We did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth ([Illustration]--Potter Theory): Taking a rest on the trail east, admiring the scenery! [George Potter and Richard Wellington, Discovering the Lehi-Nephi Trail, Unpublished Manuscript, 2000, p. 175]
1 Nephi 17:1 We did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth ([Illustration]--Potter Theory): The trail ran east along the flat gravel plain bounded on the north by sand dunes and mountains to the south. The halt of Fasad shows up as merely a dot amongst the dunes on the horizon. [George Potter and Richard Wellington, Discovering the Lehi-Nephi Trail, Unpublished Manuscript, 2000, p. 175]
1 Nephi 17:1 We did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth ([Illustration]--Potter Theory): A computer reconstruction of what the city of "Ubar" would have looked like. [George Potter and Richard Wellington, Discovering the Lehi-Nephi Trail, Unpublished Manuscript, 2000, p. 175]
1 Nephi 17:1 We did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth ([Illustration]--Potter Theory): Numerous ancient trails spread out southeast from "Ubar" to the frankincense groves of the "Adites." [George Potter and Richard Wellington, Discovering the Lehi-Nephi Trail, Unpublished Manuscript, 2000, p. 175]
1 Nephi 17:1 We did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth ([Illustration]--Potter Theory): Somewhere between A.D. 300-500 the city at Shisur collapsed into the ground. [George Potter and Richard Wellington, Discovering the Lehi-Nephi Trail, Unpublished Manuscript, 2000, p. 175]