<\/p>\n

Archaeologists have discovered the oldest pearling town in the Persian Gulf on Siniyah Island in Umm al-Quwain, United Arab Emirates.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dating back to the late 6th century, this pre-Islamic town is said to be the spiritual ancestor of modern cities like Dubai.<\/span><\/p>\n

The discovery was made by a team of experts from UAE University, Umm al-Quwain’s Department of Tourism and Archaeology, the Italian Archaeological Mission, and the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University.<\/span><\/p>\n

Timothy Power, an associate professor of archaeology at the United Arab Emirates University, explained that this town represents the oldest example of a “very specifically Khaleeji pearling town,” with “Khaleeji” meaning “Gulf” in Arabic.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unique Archaeological Findings: Homes and Pearling Artifacts<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The pearling town, occupying 12 hectares (143,500 square yards), is situated on Siniyah Island, which protects the Khor al-Beida marshlands.<\/span><\/p>\n

The island, whose name means “flashing lights” due to the effect of the white-hot sun overhead, has previously seen the discovery of an ancient Christian monastery dating back as many as 1,400 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

The town is located south of this monastery, featuring a variety of homes constructed from beach rock and lime mortar.<\/span><\/p>\n

The varying sizes and layouts of these homes, ranging from cramped quarters to sprawling houses with courtyards, suggest social stratification among the inhabitants.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike other pearling operations in the region, this town shows signs of year-round habitation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n

\r\n

\r\n \r\n

The island, whose name means “flashing lights” due to the effect of the white-hot sun overhead, has previously seen the discovery of an ancient Christian monastery dating back as many as 1,400 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n <\/span>\r\n\r\n

\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \n

Power said, “The houses are crammed in there, cheek by jowl. The key thing there is permanence. People are living there all year around.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Inside the homes, archaeologists have discovered loose pearls and diving weights, which the free divers used to quickly drop down to the seabed while relying solely on their held breath.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The town predates the rise of Islam across the Arabian Peninsula, making its residents likely Christians.<\/span><\/p>\n

Islam’s Prophet Muhammad was born around 570 and died in 632 after conquering Mecca in present-day Saudi Arabia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pearling and the UAE’s History: Lessons for the Future<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The discovery of this ancient pearling town holds significant importance in the UAE’s history, particularly as the nation faces a looming reckoning with another extractive industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

While crude oil sales built the country after its formation in 1971, the UAE will have to confront its fossil fuel legacy and potentially plan for a carbon-neutral future as it hosts the United Nations COP28 climate talks later this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The pearling industry, which rapidly collapsed after World War I due to the introduction of artificial pearls and the Great Depression, left behind a colossal waste.<\/span><\/p>\n

Archaeologists found a nearby dumpsite filled with discarded oyster shells, with one pearl found in every 10,000 shells.<\/span><\/p>\n

Power mentioned that the pearling industry produced a massive amount of waste, with countless oyster shells being discarded. Even today, visitors to the island can find the remnants of these shells.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":154913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3588],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154611"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}