What's new? - 2010

Future events:

23-28 August 2010

11th International Council for Archaeozoology, Paris, France. Dr Marjan Mashkour and myself are co-organising a session on "Old World Camelids" (S1-3) on Wednesday 25th August 2010 from 9.00 - 12.30. This will take place at the Amphitheatre Astier, Université Pierre and Marie Curie Paris 6 (UPMC). To download the programme click here (pdf).

22-24 July 2010

Seminar for Arabian Studies at the British Museum, London.

29 June 2010

Added link to a new publication:

Beech, M.J. 2010. Mermaids of the Arabian Gulf: Archaeological Evidence for the Exploitation of Dugongs from Prehistory to the Present. Liwa (Journal of the National Center for Documentation and Research) 2 (3): 3-18.

21-22 June 2010

Undertaking two school visits in Abu Dhabi, to the Al Sokour Model School and Umm Ammar School, to give a "What is Archaeology?" presentation and workshop. This forms part of the ’Special Summer’ activities programme, a joint initiative between the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) and Abu Dhabi Education.

20 June 2010

Abu Dhabi eyes world heritage status boost (Source: BBC News website)

17 June 2010

Read Friendship, history and interests unite Britain and the UAE by David Cameron, British Prime Minister (Source: The National), in which he mentions "His Highness Sheikh Zayed wisely said: “He who does not know his past cannot make the best of his present and future, for it is from the past that we learn.” So I am delighted that the British Museum is partnering with the Sheikh Zayed National Museum and that British archaeologists continue to work with Emiratis to uncover the UAE’s fascinating past."

16 June 2010

Visit the Abu Dhabi Coastal Atlas, produced by the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi. Select the "Cultural" and "Archaeology Sites Layer". This is not absolutely complete and up to date, but it does show some of the major archaeological areas situated on the coast and islands of Abu Dhabi emirate. I am currently working on updating the ADACH sites database for the Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Center (ADSIC) and the Abu Dhabi Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), so these data and those on the Abu Dhabi Geospatial Portal will be updated during the summer.

14 June 2010

Abu Dhabi launches ’Special Summer’ activities (Source: Abu Dhabi City Guide) .... I am amusingly described as "Mubarak Beteesh, archaeology expert at the Department of Historic Environment at ADACH" lol !

13 June 2010

Archaeology law in the offing (Source: UAEInteract.com)

11 June 2010

Added link to the publication by Beech et al. (2009). Cultural Heritage Resources in Abu Dhabi Emirate. AGEDI Report - Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi. This can be obtained as a pdf (1.9 MB) - click here to download via the AGEDI website.

7-8 May 2010

Visited the National Museum of Saudi Arabia, as well as the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities.

4-6 May 2010

Attended 2nd Adumatu Conference - Man and Environment in the Arab World in the light of Archaeological Discoveries - Sakaka, Saudi Arabia, where I presented a paper entitled: "In the Land of the Ichthyophagi: Prehistoric occupation of the coast and islands of the southern Arabian Gulf - a regional review".
Abstract: This paper provides a regional review of the prehistoric occupation of the coast and islands of the southern Arabian Gulf. The earliest archaeological evidence for settlement in this region dates to the Middle Palaeolithic, between around 200,000 to 150,000 years ago. The site of Jebel Barakah, whilst located on the present day coastline of Abu Dhabi emirate's Western Region, was at that time a hill overlooking the eastern edge of the Sabkha Matti river valley, which flowed northwards into the Gulf basin. Innundation of the Gulf took place from around 18,000 years ago. The earliest radiocarbon dates for occupation of the coast and islands of the southern Gulf suggest that human occupation flourished here by the mid to late 6th millennium BC These were Ubaid-related sites founded soon after the filling up of the Gulf to its maximum sea level stand, nearly two metres above present at around 6000 BC. The results of the author's excavations on Dalma and Marawah Islands will be discussed. New evidence will be presented which demonstrates that the people of the southern Gulf formed a cohesive social group distinguishing themselves from the peoples of the central and northern Gulf. Evidence for coastal activities during the Bronze and Iron Age periods is also discussed.

26 April 2010

Womad brings desert cultures together in Abu Dhabi (Source: BBC News website)

22-24 April 2010

WOMAD Abu Dhabi

To catch a flavour of this see on YouTube:
Hanggai's Mongolian Country Music Rock
Hanggai's Funniest Moment
Tinariwen at WOMAD
WOMAD Abu Dhabi 2010 report

My favourite moments were Femi Kuti and his dancers doing Beng Beng Beng! plus discovering Hanggai, a Mongolian Folk Rock band. Listen to Haar Hu and the Drinking Song.

29 March - 1 April 2010

ADACH Intangible Heritage Department - Symposium on Heritage Education.

15-17 March 2010

Attending GISWORX 2010 in Dubai on behalf of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage..

15 February 2010

For sale: Iraq's smuggled heritage (Source: The National)

10 February 2010

Smuggled Iraqi treasures seized at Dubai airport (Source: The National)

24 January 2010


8 million year old fossils discovered in Al Gharbia (Source: Al Bayan)
[download a jpg scan of the article]


8 million year old fossil crocodiles discovered in Al Gharbia (Source: Al Hayat)
[download a jpg scan of the article]

8 million year old fossils in Al Gharbia discovered (Source: Al Ittihad)
[download a jpg scan of the article]


8 million year old fossils found in Al Gharbia (Source: Al Khaleej)


Ancient fossils found in Al Gharbia (Source: Alrroya Aleqtissadiya Newspaper)


8 million year old fossils discovered in Al Gharbia (Source: Emaratalyoum)

New rare fossils found in Al Gharbia area (Source: Emirates Business 24-7)
[download a jpg scan of the article]

8-m-year-old fossils discovered in Al Gharbia (Source: Gulf News)
[download a jpg scan of the article]

New fossils found in Abu Dhabi (Source: Gulf Today)
[download a jpg scan of the article]

Important New Fossils Found in Abu Dhabi (Source: Khaleej Times)
[download a jpg scan of the article]

New fossil discoveries in Abu Dhabi (Source: The Voice of Russia)

Important new fossils found in Abu Dhabi (Source: UAEInteract.com)

Eight-million-year-old crocs (Source: 7Days)

23 January 2010

Important new fossils found in Abu Dhabi (Source: abudhabicityguide.com)

Important new fossils found in Abu Dhabi (Source: WAM Emirates Press Agency)

16 January 2010

Abu Dhabi 8 million years ago: fossils help paint ancient portrait (Source: The National)

29 December 2009 - 16 January 2010

Member of ADACH and Yale University (Peabody Museum of Natural History) team investigating Late Miocene fossil sites in Abu Dhabi's Western Region.

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