A new visitor center in the Mleiha region of Sharjah will give UAE residents and tourists a chance to explore the life of pre-Islamic Omani peninsula inhabitants.  Excavations that began in the 1970s, have brought to light the lives of inhabitants from the third century BCE to the third century CE, will be accessible to the general public in order to understand better the Omani peninsula before the Muslim conquest.

However, although most of the excavation dates to the third and second century BCE inhabitants, new discoveries at the Umm al Nar tomb and the Djebel Faya area have provided evidence of the hominid, early man, on the peninsula as far back as mid-second millennium BCE.

The Mleiha and ed-Dur excavation sites in Sharjah and Umm al Quwain, respectively, are two of the most important excavation sites in the Omani peninsula. They offer archaeologists and historians a chance to increase their understanding of pre-Islamic societies in the region. The findings in the peninsula may also offer an explanation of how hominids transitioned from Africa to Asia millennia ago.

“When we start[ed] the work, the history of the antiquity of the region was absolutely ignored,” explained archaeologist Michel Mouton to The Gazelle via email. “All what we know today about the sedentarisation of an Arabian group there in the 3rd c. BC, near an ancient lake now dried, and the history of what was probably the capital of a small kingdom is the result of the excavations carried out at the site.”

The remains of the ancient settlement from the third and second century BCE, found in the western foothills of Sharjah, were preserved due to the limestone, which protected them from the sand. The excavations have led to discoveries that allowed archaeologists to create a timeline of the region and its cultural influences.

“Mleiha is now the reference site for all the chronology in antiquity (what they call locally the Hellenistic and Roman periods) in south-east Arabia,” stated Mouton.

From pots, plates, coins and jewelry, the site traces the Greek, Persian and the Indian subcontinent trade routes that passed through the peninsula. From carbonized remains in a burnt house in Mleiha, archaeologists have been able to determine the diet of third century CE inhabitants and have traced its components, such as fruits, nuts and wood, to be from beyond the Omani peninsula.

The ancient inhabitants participated in the long-distance trade routes with materials like copper, iron and chlorite. Excavations have also uncovered gold jewelry, textiles and wood that originated in Iran and India, evidence of successful trade exchanges.

However, the newest discoveries now date as far back as the second and third millennia BCE, providing evidence of the earliest exodus from Africa.

“Concerning the Djebel Faya and the prehistoric site, it is a major discovery for the understanding of the spread of the hominides from Africa,” said Mouton. The new excavations, carried out by a German team and the government of Sharjah, “[are] critical to define a possible alternative route across Arabia, along the Oman Mountains.”

Theories have circulated about how man’s ancestors migrated from East Africa. Discoveries in the Omani peninsula of ancient tools and arrowheads that date back to 125,000 years ago have demonstrated that early humans did indeed cross the Bab al-Mandeb strait — aptly named it the “gate of tears” or the “gate of cemetery” — from Africa to what is today Yemen.

The tourism center will work alongside the Directorate of Antiquities and will house a visitors’ center, guided tours, a wildlife rehabilitation project, restaurants, lounges and cafés. Opening at the end of this year, the site hopes to be a major eco-tourism center in the UAE.

For visitors in the UAE, it will provide a historical lens from with which to look at the peninsula. In a country only 43-years-old, the discoveries are a substantial addition to the rich history of one of the most ancient sites of human activity in the world.