The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage (ADACH) has unveiled its plans for two key projects in Al Ain. The Al Ain National Museum and Hili Archaeological Park were both publicly announced by the Abu Dhabi Executive Council last week.
The AANM forms part of the Al Ain Oasis Cultural Quarter Master Plan and is located within the centre of downtown Al Ain within an Eastern Cultural Campus that is a flagship cultural quarter for Al Ain. It will celebrate the heritage and culture of the city – at the point where the city and nature meet at the edge of the Al Ain Oasis.
Hili Archaeological Park is an internationally significant archaeological site, comprising unique Bronze Age, Iron Age and Islamic remains. The project will protect and preserve the site and its archaeology, and create a centre of learning and discovery where visitors will engage with the history of the site, the early roots of the UAE, the lives of the people who inhabited this landscape, and how Hili’s rich history was uncovered.
The Chairman of ADACH, His Excellency Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan stated:
“These are two very significant projects, that are drawing on the resources of this country’s heritage and protecting them.The Al Ain National Museum will provide the intellectual foundation of a Cultural Quarter. Hili Archaeological Park will enclose some of the most important Bronze (Umm an Nar) and Iron Age tombs, settlements and falaj systems found in the United Arab Emirates.
“The World Heritage Site status that was awarded to Al Ain recently is further testament to Abu Dhabi continuing to be developed as one of the main international centres of culture by embracing and valuing its cultural diversity and making it an attractive visitors destination.
Dr Sami el Masri, Deputy Director-General for Arts, Culture and Heritage and Director of Strategic Planning and Development at ADACH, said:
“The Al Ain National Museum project will revitalise this institution in ADACH’s Museum Department and be the anchor for the Eastern Cultural Campus. It will be an exemplary modern, urban, archaeology and cultural history museum. The museum will be the centre of the cultural life of the city – and a gateway to its many treasures and stories.
“The strategy of ADACH is to protect and maintain Abu Dhabi’s resources and ensure and reinforce the role of culture and heritage as both an important educational and cultural tool. ADACH is as much about the present and the future as it is about the past.
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References:
Past Horizons. 2012. "Museum and archaeological park for Abu Dhabi". Past Horizons. Posted: February 1, 2012. Available online: http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/02/2012/museum-and-archaeological-park-for-abu-dhabi
Showing posts with label Arabian pre-history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arabian pre-history. Show all posts
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Google Earth reveals Nazca-like structures in Arabia
Google continues to allow us to virtually go where no archaeologist has gone before. The latest finds, in the Arabian peninsula, are of spectacular stone structures that rival the Nazca lines of southern Peru in their intricacy.
The ruins are known to local Bedouin groups as "the works of the old men", and were first spotted from the air in 1927 by Percy Maitland, a lieutenant in the British Royal Air Force. But their full extent became apparent only when David Kennedy at the University of Western Australia, Perth, clicked onto Google Earth.
Kennedy says that many countries in the Middle East will not provide aerial photographs or permit flights for archaeological research, so Google Earth provides the only way to analyse the region.
Earlier this year, he identified almost 2000 potential archaeological sites in Saudi Arabia from his office chair using Google Earth's satellite images. Expanding his virtual exploration to cover the entire Arabian peninsula he has now found over 2000 "kites" – stone structures with a roughly circular head and tails hundreds of metres long. Thought to be animal traps, the tails may have funnelled in gazelle and oryx, leaving them stuck in the head.
Wheels between 20 and 70 metres across, thought to have a spiritual purpose, pepper the desert too. Similar structures in more accessible Yemen are around 9000 years old, says Kennedy.
David Thomas at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, is also an armchair archaeologist. In 2008, he used Google Earth to find 463 potential sites in the Registan desert of Afghanistan. "Google Earth has a policy of no censorship, so you can get access everywhere," he says.
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References:
Zukerman, Wendy. 2011. "Google Earth reveals Nazca-like structures in Arabia ". New Scientist. Posted: September 20, 2011. Available online: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20941-google-earth-reveals-nazcalike-structures-in-arabia.html
The ruins are known to local Bedouin groups as "the works of the old men", and were first spotted from the air in 1927 by Percy Maitland, a lieutenant in the British Royal Air Force. But their full extent became apparent only when David Kennedy at the University of Western Australia, Perth, clicked onto Google Earth.
Kennedy says that many countries in the Middle East will not provide aerial photographs or permit flights for archaeological research, so Google Earth provides the only way to analyse the region.
Earlier this year, he identified almost 2000 potential archaeological sites in Saudi Arabia from his office chair using Google Earth's satellite images. Expanding his virtual exploration to cover the entire Arabian peninsula he has now found over 2000 "kites" – stone structures with a roughly circular head and tails hundreds of metres long. Thought to be animal traps, the tails may have funnelled in gazelle and oryx, leaving them stuck in the head.
Wheels between 20 and 70 metres across, thought to have a spiritual purpose, pepper the desert too. Similar structures in more accessible Yemen are around 9000 years old, says Kennedy.
David Thomas at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, is also an armchair archaeologist. In 2008, he used Google Earth to find 463 potential sites in the Registan desert of Afghanistan. "Google Earth has a policy of no censorship, so you can get access everywhere," he says.
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References:
Zukerman, Wendy. 2011. "Google Earth reveals Nazca-like structures in Arabia ". New Scientist. Posted: September 20, 2011. Available online: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20941-google-earth-reveals-nazcalike-structures-in-arabia.html
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Horses Domesticated 9,000 Years Ago in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has found traces of a civilization that was domesticating horses about 9,000 years ago, 4,000 years earlier than previously thought, the kingdom said.
"This discovery shows that horses were domesticated in the Arabian Peninsula for the first time more than 9,000 years ago, whereas previous studies estimated the domestication of horses in Central Asia dating back 5,000 years, Ali al-Ghabban, vice-chairman of the Department of Museums and Antiquities, said at a news conference late Wednesday.
The remains of the civilization were found close to Abha, in southwestern Asir province, an area known to antiquity as Arabia Felix.
The civilization, given the name al-Maqari, used "methods of embalming that are totally different to known processes," Ghabban said.
Among the remains found at the site are statues of animals such as goats, dogs, hawks, and a three foot-tall bust of a horse, Ghabban said.
"A statue of an animal of this dimension, dating back to that time, has never been found anywhere in the world," Ghabban said.
He added that archaeologists also found arrowheads, stone tools, weaving tools and mortars for pounding grain, reflecting the development of that civilization.
The remains were found in a valley that was once a riverbed, at a time when the now-arid Arabian Peninsula was more humid and fertile, the official said.
An international team of archaeologists published an article in January that suggested human beings could have been present on the Arabian Peninsula about 125,000 years ago.
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References:
Discovery News. 2011. "Horses Domesticated 9,000 Years Ago in Saudi Arabia". Science Daily. Posted: August 25, 2011. Available online: http://news.discovery.com/animals/horse-domestication-saudi-arabia-110825.html
"This discovery shows that horses were domesticated in the Arabian Peninsula for the first time more than 9,000 years ago, whereas previous studies estimated the domestication of horses in Central Asia dating back 5,000 years, Ali al-Ghabban, vice-chairman of the Department of Museums and Antiquities, said at a news conference late Wednesday.
The remains of the civilization were found close to Abha, in southwestern Asir province, an area known to antiquity as Arabia Felix.
The civilization, given the name al-Maqari, used "methods of embalming that are totally different to known processes," Ghabban said.
Among the remains found at the site are statues of animals such as goats, dogs, hawks, and a three foot-tall bust of a horse, Ghabban said.
"A statue of an animal of this dimension, dating back to that time, has never been found anywhere in the world," Ghabban said.
He added that archaeologists also found arrowheads, stone tools, weaving tools and mortars for pounding grain, reflecting the development of that civilization.
The remains were found in a valley that was once a riverbed, at a time when the now-arid Arabian Peninsula was more humid and fertile, the official said.
An international team of archaeologists published an article in January that suggested human beings could have been present on the Arabian Peninsula about 125,000 years ago.
_________________
References:
Discovery News. 2011. "Horses Domesticated 9,000 Years Ago in Saudi Arabia". Science Daily. Posted: August 25, 2011. Available online: http://news.discovery.com/animals/horse-domestication-saudi-arabia-110825.html
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