Dark Millennium (United Arab Emirates)

The Dark Millennium in the United Arab Emirates refers to the period between 4,000 BCE and 3,200 BCE, which sits between the Arabian Bifacial Neolithic era and the emergence of the Bronze Age Hafit period.

Its name is derived from the abandonment of the west coast of Southeastern Arabia at the time due to harsh aridity and desertification, a period in which the archaeological record of human habitation and activity to the west of the Hajar Mountains goes notably 'dark'.

Background

Habitation in the area by anthropologically modern humans has been dated back to 125,000 BCE, the migration of humans from Africa to populate Earth through the Southern Corridor. Evidence of earlier Hominim population goes back to 210,000 BCE with finds at Faya dating back to 210,000 BCE, and also to 200,000 BCE at Jebel Barakah in Abu Dhabi. ^[1]

However, during the glacial maximum period of the Pleistocene ice age, 68,000 to 8,000 BCE, Southeastern Arabia is thought to have been uninhabitable. At the time, global sea levels were some 150 metres lower and the Persian Gulf would have been a broad valley with slow moving river systems and lakes, home to communities of Paleolithic hunter gatherers. ^[2]

As the Pleistocene gave way to the post-glacial Holocene, from approximately 18,000 BCE to 11,500 BCE, sea levels rose and the Gulf Oasis flooded. ^[2] Evidence of settlements and associated burials begin to emerge on the coastal areas of the current sea from approximately 8,000 BCE, ^[3] with some sixty population centres identified from this time. ^[2]

Finds from the Stone Age Arabian Bifacial and Ubaid cultures (including knapped stone arrow and axe heads as well as Ubaid pottery) show human habitation in the area in the fifth to fourth millennia BCE and define a linkage between the human settlements of the Gulf and those of Mesopotamia. ^[4] The inland necropolis at Jebel Buhais in Sharjah, in particular, ^[5] displays evidence of the use of sophisticated flint tools, axes, spearheads and arrowheads by a pastoralist people who also fished using both hooks and nets. These communities populated Southeastern Arabia, southern Oman and Yemen. ^[4]

Dark Millennium

The Neolithic Arabian Bifacial/Ubaid period came to an abrupt end in eastern Arabia and the Oman peninsula at 4,000 BC, just after the phase of lake lowering and onset of dune reactivation, ^[6] which saw the abandonment of the area to the west of the Hajar Mountains. ^[4] This period, the Dark Millennium, sees virtually no evidence of human activity on the west coast of Southeastern Arabia over the third millennium BCE, while there is abundant evidence of human occupation on the east coast. ^[7] This is thought to be consistent with changing patterns of human settlement as a result of climate change, with a spring discovered at Jebel Buhais drying up at this time, an event contemporaneous with similar discoveries (including cave stalagmites in Oman) pointing to increased aridity in the interior of Southeastern Arabia. ^[4] While the necropolist of Buhais is rich in burials from the 5th to 4th millennium BCE, the absence of any activity over the subsequent period is dramatic. ^[4]

A unique exception to the lack of evidence of human occupation of the area comes from Akab Island in Umm Al Quwain, where a ritualistic dugong bone mound was discovered. The mound, which consists of structurally aligned dugong bones littered with jewellery and other artefacts, has been dated to between 3,500-3,200 BCE. ^[8]

Likely following further climactic change, the emergence of the Hafit people, named for the first find site of their distinctive beehive burials on the foothills of Jebel Hafit in Al Ain, brought the Dark Millennium to an end in approximately 3,200 BCE. ^[4] A continuity in links to Mesopotamia is evidenced by finds of Jemdet Nasr pottery in Hafit burials. The Hafit people appear to have returned from the area to the east of the Hajar Mountains with a knowledge of copper smelting and production, producing the first evidence of copper use in southeastern Arabia. ^[4]

The Hafit period therefore defines early Bronze Age human settlement in the United Arab Emirates and Oman in the period from 3,200 to 2,600 BCE, at which time the Umm Al Nar culture predominates. Hafit period tombs and remains have also been located across the UAE and Oman in sites such as Bidaa bint Saud, ^[9] Jebel Buhais and Buraimi.

Re-occupation of the west coast during the Hafit era is also testified by carbon dated finds of shell middens at Al Daith, Jazirat Al Hamra and Ras Al Khaimah. ^[10]

See also

• History of the United Arab Emirates
• Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates

References

1. Bretzke, K.; Preusser, F.; Jasim, S.; Miller, C.; Preston, G.; Raith, K.; Underdown, S. J.; Parton, A.; Parker, A. G. (2022-01-31). "Multiple phases of human occupation in Southeast Arabia between 210,000 and 120,000 years ago". Scientific Reports. 12 (1). doi:10.1038/s41598-022-05617-w. ISSN   2045-2322. PMC   8803878 . PMID   35102262.
2. McNabb, Alexander (2025). Children of the Seven Sands. Dubai: Motivate Media Group. pp. 33–38. ISBN   9781860635120.
3. Uerpmann, M. (2002). "The Dark Millennium—Remarks on the final Stone Age in the Emirates and Oman". In Potts, D.; al-Naboodah, H.; Hellyer, P. (eds.). Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates. Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Archaeology of the U.A.E. London: Trident Press. pp. 74–81. ISBN   978-1-900724-88-3.
4. McNabb, Alexander (2025). Children of the Seven Sands. Dubai: Motivate Media Group. pp. 41–42. ISBN   9781860635120.
5. Sabah Abboud Jasim (2012). The Necropolis of Jebel al-Buhais. Prehistoric Discoveries in the Emirate of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. UAE: Department of Culture & Information, Government of Sharjah. ISBN   978-9948-04-930-2.
6. Parker, Adrian G.; et al. (2006). "A record of Holocene climate change from lake geochemical analyses in southeastern Arabia" (PDF). Quaternary Research. 66 (3): 465–476. Bibcode:2006QuRes..66..465P. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2006.07.001. S2CID   140158532. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2008.
7. Potts, Daniel (2003). Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates. UK: Trident Press. p. 74. ISBN   978-1900724883.
8. Méry, Sophie; Charpentier, V.; Auxiette, G.; Pelle, E. (2009-09-01). "A dugong bone mound: the Neolithic ritual site on Akab in Umm al-Quwain, United Arab Emirates". Antiquity. 83 (321): 696–708. doi:10.1017/s0003598x00098926. ISSN   0003-598X.
9. Salama, Samir (2011-12-30). "Al Ain bears evidence of a culture's ability to adapt". GulfNews. Archived from the original on 2018-07-16. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
10. Preston, Gareth W.; Thomas, David S. G.; Goudie, Andrew S.; Atkinson, Oliver A. C.; Leng, Melanie J.; Hodson, Martin J.; Walkington, Helen; Charpentier, Vincent; Méry, Sophie; Borgi, Federico; Parker, Adrian G. (2015-09-24). "A multi-proxy analysis of the Holocene humid phase from the United Arab Emirates and its implications for southeast Arabia's Neolithic populations". Quaternary International. Green Arabia: Human Prehistory at the Cross-roads of Continents. 382: 277–292. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.01.054. ISSN   1040-6182.