The Hafit period defines early Bronze Age human settlement in the United Arab Emirates and Oman in the period from 3200 to 2600 B.C. It is named after the distinctive beehive burials first found on Jebel Hafit, a rocky mountain near Al Ain, bordering the Rub Al Khali desert. Hafit period tombs and remains have also been located across the UAE and Oman in sites such as Bidaa bint Saud, [1] Jebel Buhais and Buraimi. [2]
The first find of Hafit era tombs is attributed to the Danish archaeologist PV Glob in 1959, and the first of many excavations of these took place a few years later. [3]
Located in the area south of the city of Al Ain, the Jebel Hafeet Desert Park contains the original necropolis of Hafit Graves which led to the naming of this period in the human history of the emirates. A series of ridges leading from the main part of Jebel Hafit toward Al Ain each harbour groups of Hafit tombs. [1]
Finds at Jebel Hafit include the remains of some 317 circular stone tombs and settlements from the Hafit period, as well as wells and partially underground falaj irrigation systems, as well as mud brick constructions intended for a range of defensive, domestic and economic purposes. The Al Ain Oasis, in particular, provides evidence of construction and water management enabling the early development of agriculture for five millennia, up until the present day. [4]
Pottery finds at Hafit period sites demonstrate trading links to Mesopotamia, contiguous to the Jemdat Nasr period (3100 – 2900 B.C.). [3] Evidence of trading links with Mesopotamia are also found in the subsequent Umm Al Nar and Wadi Suq periods of UAE history.
Finds have shown that locally manufactured pottery emerged during the transitional period between the Hafit and Umm Al Nar periods, approximately 2800 to 2700 BCE [5] It is now thought the transition between the two cultural periods is marked by a decline in links between Southeastern Arabia and Mesopotamia, [5] a pattern that would be repeated, albeit more emphatically, in the transitional period between the Umm Al Nar and Wadi Suq cultures.
The United Arab Emirates is a country in the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Gulf and the northwestern coast of the Gulf of Oman. The UAE consists of seven emirates and was founded on 2 December 1971 as a federation. Six of the seven emirates declared their union on 2 December 1971. The seventh, Ras al Khaimah, joined the federation on 10 February 1972. The seven sheikdoms were formerly known as the Trucial States, in reference to the truce treaties established with the British in the 19th century.
Al Ain is a border city on the eastern side of Tawam oasis and the seat of the administrative division, the Al Ain Region, in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is bordered to the east by the Omani town of Al-Buraimi in the Al Buraimi Governorate. It is the largest inland city in the Emirates, the fourth-largest city, and the second-largest in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The freeways connecting Al-Ain, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai form a geographic triangle in the country, each city being roughly 130 kilometres (81 mi) from the other two.
Jabal Hafeet is a mountain in the region of Tawam, on the border of the United Arab Emirates and Oman, which may be considered an outlier of the Hajar Mountains in Eastern Arabia. Due to its proximity to the main Hajar range, the mountain may be considered as being part of the Hajar range. To the north is the UAE city of Al Ain, in the Eastern Region of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the adjacent Omani town of Al-Buraimi.
Umm Al Nar is a Bronze Age culture that existed around 2600-2000 BCE in the area of modern-day United Arab Emirates and Northern Oman. The Arabic name has in the past frequently been transliterated as Umm an-Nar and also Umm al-Nar. The etymology derives from the island of the same name which lies adjacent to Abu Dhabi city and which provided early evidence and finds attributed to the period.
Al-Ain Oasis is the largest oasis in the city of Al Ain, within the Eastern Region of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.
Al Ain Museum, also known as Al Ain Museum, is a museum in the city of Al Ain, within the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.
Hili Archaeological Park is the location of a Bronze Age site in Al Ain, Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.
The Hajar Mountains are one of the highest mountain range in the Arabian Peninsula, shared between northern Oman and eastern United Arab Emirates. Also known as "Oman Mountains", they separate the low coastal plain of Oman from the high desert plateau, and lie 50–100 km (31–62 mi) inland from the Gulf of Oman.
The Archaeological Sites of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn are a group of beehive tombs or necroploeis from the Hafit period in the 3rd Millennium BC, located near a palm grove. They were declared World Heritage by UNESCO in 1988.
The wildlife of the United Arab Emirates is the flora and fauna of the country on the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula and the southern end of the Persian Gulf. The country offers a variety of habitats for wildlife including the coast, offshore islands, mangrove areas, mudflats, salt pans, sand and gravel plains, sand dunes, mountain slopes, wadis and rocky summits. Because the terrain is so varied, it supports a greater number of species of plants and animals than might have been expected in this relatively small country.
The Wadi Suq culture defines human settlement in the United Arab Emirates and Oman in the period from 2,000 to 1,300 BCE. It takes its name from a wadi, or waterway, west of Sohar in Oman and follows on from the Umm Al Nar culture. Although archaeologists have traditionally tended to view the differences in human settlements and burials between the Umm Al Nar and Wadi Suq periods as the result of major external disruption, contemporary opinion has moved towards a gradual change in human society which is centred around more sophisticated approaches to animal husbandry as well as changes in the surrounding trade and social environments.
Jebel Buhais or Jebel Al-Buhais is a geological feature, an extensive rocky outcrop, as well as an archaeological site located near Madam in the central region of the Emirate of Sharjah, the UAE, about 48 kilometres southeast of the city of Sharjah. The area contains an extensive necropolis, consisting of burial sites spanning the Stone, Bronze, Iron and Hellenistic ages of human settlement in the UAE. Burials at Jebel Buhais date back to the 5th Millennium BCE. The site is located to the side of a limestone outcrop rising to some 340 metres above sea level and which runs almost contiguously from the town of Madam north to the town of Mleiha, itself an important archaeological site.
Bidaa Bint Saud is an archaeological site in Eastern Region of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the U.A.E., notable for its Hafit Period tombs, Iron Age irrigation systems and rare remains of an Iron Age building thought to have been a distribution centre for water from two aflaj. It is a listed UN World Heritage Site. Finds from the site are displayed at Al Ain National Museum.
The Eastern Region (Arabic: ٱلْمِنْطَقَة ٱلشَّرْقِيَّة, romanized: Al-Minṭaqah ash-Sharqiyyah, officially known as AlAin Region is one of three Municipal Regions in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It forms the southeastern part of the United Arab Emirates. Its main settlement is the eponymous city of Al Ain, located on the country's border with Oman, about 160 km from the city of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the Emirate and country. Compared to the Western Region, it is also a rather remote region of the Emirate, but smaller by area, and is not known to hold reserves of gas or petroleum, but is agriculturally important.
The geology of the United Arab Emirates includes very thick Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic marine and continental sedimentary rocks overlying deeply buried Precambrian. The region has extensive oil and gas resources and was deformed during the last several million years by more distant tectonic events.
The UAE's Iron Age I spanned 1,200–1,000 BCE; Iron Age II, 1,000–600 BCE and Iron Age III from 600–300 BCE. This was followed by the Hellenistic Mleiha era, from 300 BCE onwards through to the Islamic era which commenced with the culmination of the 7th century Ridda Wars.
The territory currently known as the United Arab Emirates was home to three distinct Iron Age periods. Iron Age I spanned 1,200–1,000 BCE, Iron Age II from 1,000–600 BCE, and Iron Age III from 600–300 BCE. This period of human development in the region was followed by the Mleiha or Late Pre-Islamic era, from 300 BCE onwards through to the Islamic era which commenced with the culmination of the 7th-century Ridda Wars.
Tawam, also Tuwwam, Tu'am, or Al-Buraimi Oasis, is a historical oasis region in Eastern Arabia that stretched from, or was located between, the Western Hajar Mountains to the Persian Gulf coast, nowadays forming parts of what is now the United Arab Emirates and western Oman. It is marked by the twin settlements of Al Ain and Al-Buraimi on the UAE-Omani border.
Mezyad is a settlement in the Eastern Region of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, located to the south of the main part of Al Ain City, on the border of the UAE and Oman. It is known for having a historical fort, and is part of a desert park, which also includes a necropolis and Mount Hafeet nearby. The park can be called either "Mezyad Desert Park" or "Jebel Hafeet Desert Park".
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a relatively new country – it was formed in 1971. However, the history of the land that the UAE occupies dates back to the Neolithic Age, which is evidenced by inscriptions, drawings and archaeological finds uncovered in the seven emirates during the period from the early 1950s to the present day.