Wadi Sur is the former defensive town wall of the settlements of Julfar and Ras Al Khaimah and is the largest historical fortification in the United Arab Emirates.
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A 7 km long defensive structure, Wadi Sur stretches from the site of Shimal Fort (known locally as Sheba's Palace) in a straight line to the coast. The wall has been estimated to originally stand at a height of five metres with a ditch, stone-lined mudbrick wall and rampart, and to have been two metres thick. [1] Towers are constructed along the entire length of the wall at 150 metre intervals with the sole exception of one length of wall, since destroyed by water erosion in a wadi bed, which has an irregular 'gap' of 60 metres. It has been postulated this would originally have been an entrance, with the dual purpose of admitting visitors and also allowing the wadi waters to pass through at times of spate. [2]
Creating a defensive barrier between the sea at Nakheel and the Hajar Mountains, the wall likely protected both the ports, oasis settlements and agricultural hinterland of Julfar and its successor settlement Ras Al Khaimah. It consists of a 3.5 metre wide and 2.5 metre deep ditch, with a rampart and wall forming the 5 metre high defensive structure. [1] The date of its construction is uncertain and has been variously estimated as being concurrent with the construction of Shimal Fort in the 11th century and as being constructed during the 'Hormuzi boom' at Julfar in the 14th centuries. [3] Shimal Fort appears to have been abandoned in the 16h century, possibly after direct rule from Hormuz was imposed on Julfar in 1520. [4]
Wadi Sur was first surveyed by British archaeologist Beatrice de Cardi in 1968. De Cardi postulated the wall was intended as a dam to divert flood waters from Wadi Bih away from the plantations and date groves to its north, which comprised something like 85% of Julfar's agricultural hinterland. [2] This theory was eclipsed with the discovery of watchtowers during a survey of the wall in 2003. [5] A limited exploration of the portion of the wall at the foot of Shimal Fort was undertaken by a German team in 1994, which found a 15th-century ceramic sherd. Although much of the original wall has been destroyed by the construction of modern houses and roads, erosion or incorporated into more recent buildings, significant portions survive. [2]
The United Arab Emirates is a country in the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula located on the southeastern coast of the Persian 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, after UK armed forces left the region. 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.
Ras Al Khaimah is the northernmost of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. The city of Ras Al Khaimah, abbreviated to RAK or RAK City, is the capital of the emirate and home to most of the emirate's residents. It is linked to the Islamic trading port of Julfar, its predecessor settlement. Its name in English means "headland of the tent". The emirate borders Oman's exclave of Musandam, and occupies part of the same peninsula. It covers an area of 2,486 km2 (960 sq mi) and has 64 km of beach coastline. As of 2023, the emirate had a population of about 400,000.
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Shimal is the name of a settlement in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. It is associated with the Shihuh tribe of the Northern UAE and Oman and with the foundation of the Islamic era port of Julfar, and was once the seat of the Ruler of Julfar. It is also the location of an important archaeological site dating back to the Umm Al Nar culture.
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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 to 600 BCE, and Iron Age III from 600 to 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.
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Ras Al Khaimah, often referred to its initials RAK and historically known as Julfar, is the largest city and capital of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The city had a population of 400,000 in 2023, and is the sixth-most populous city in UAE after Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al Ain and Ajman. The city is divided by a creek into two parts: old town in the west and Al Nakheel in the east.
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