I am taking part in the 7th International Palaeontological Congress (IPC7), due to be held in the vibrant and beautiful city of Cape Town, South Africa, from 30 November – 3 December 2026.

I will be the presenting author making an oral presentation in the Congress Session Theme 21: Communicating paleosciences.  The paper is as follows:

Communicating palaeosciences at the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi
Mark Jonathan Beech¹*, Luca Bellucci¹, Shamma Alhammadi¹, Mariam Alhassani¹ & Phillip Manning¹

¹Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

*e-mail: mbeech@nhmad.ae

Abstract:
The Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi (NHMAD) is dedicated to advancing public understanding of natural history, but with a major focus on geoscience and palaeontology through innovative exhibitions, education, and research programs. The museum aims to bridge the gap between research and community awareness by showcasing global geological and fossil heritage but with a focus on UAE sites and specimens Through immersive exhibitions, interactive displays, and educational programs tailored to diverse audiences, the museum brings to life the story of Earth’s history and the evolution of life. A central goal for the museum is to facilitate palaeosciences to be more accessible and relevant to the wider public. The approach of the museum team is to integrate cutting-edge technologies, such as state-of-the-art X-ray imaging, to foster curiosity and facilitate hands-on learning experiences based on objects from the collections. The NHMAD has curated an exceptional gallery dedicated to Late Miocene fossils discovered in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, showcasing fossils that date back approximately seven million years. The exhibition offers a unique opportunity to resurrect a long-extinct world and bring both flora and fauna from the Late Miocene back to life. Key partnerships with schools, universities, and international research institutions further enhance the museum’s education and outreach program, supporting the development of scientific literacy and inspiring future generations. Special attention is given to engaging Emirati youth and families, aligning with national strategies to promote knowledge-based growth and cultural relevance of the natural world. Ultimately, the NHMAD serves as an intercultural platform for dialogue between scientists and the 200+ nationalities that live or visit Abu Dhabi. Through the democratization and access to natural history and the palaeosciences, the museum not only enriches local and regional cultural landscapes but also contributes to global conversations on Earth’s past, present, and future.

Key words:
natural history, museum, UAE, communication, palaeoscience

Our Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi team will also be co-authoring a second paper in the Congress Session Theme 22: Cenozoic vertebrates of Africa. The paper is as follows:

A new large civet from the Late Miocene of Abu Dhabi highlights the biogeographic crossroads between Asia and Africa

Alberto Valenciano ^1,2*, Mark Jonathan Beech³ & Luca Bellucci³

¹ Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

² Research and Exhibitions, Iziko Museums of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa

³ Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

*e-mail: albvalen@ucm.es

Abstract:
The Baynunah Formation of western Abu Dhabi preserves one of the most important Late Miocene terrestrial vertebrate records in the Arabian Peninsula. In February 2026, a right hemimandible of a large viverrid (NHMAD2026.00059.1) was discovered at Shuwaihat 2 (c. 7 Ma), representing the first record of the family Viverridae from the Arabian Peninsula. This discovery provides a unique opportunity to investigate the evolutionary history of large viverrines and to assess the role of the Middle East in Late Miocene faunal exchanges between Asia, Africa and Europe. Preliminary morphological and biometric analyses indicate that the specimen differs from the extant African civet, Civettictis civetta, in possessing a more elongated p4 and a more slender m1. It is also distinct from the living Asian civets Viverra zibetha and Viverra tangalunga, the Late Miocene African species Sahelictis korei from Chad, and several Asian Miocene species of Visnhuictis from the Siwaliks and China (e.g. V. yuanmoensis, V. (?) chienjensis and V. hasnoti). In contrast, the Abu Dhabi specimen exhibits notable similarities to the early Pliocene Civettictis vulpidens from Langebaanweg (South Africa) as well as to the Eurasian giant civets Megaviverra carpathorum and Megaviverra peii. These affinities suggest that the Arabian Peninsula may have functioned as an important dispersal corridor for large viverrines between Asia and Africa during the end of the Late Miocene. Ongoing morphological, phylogenetic and palaeobiogeographic analyses will further test these evolutionary and biogeographic hypotheses.

Key words:
Carnivora, Viverridae, Miocene, Paleobiogeography

I will be attending the Homo erectus 2026 conference due to be held at the lecture hall of the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi. The conference is entitled “100 +35 years of Homo erectus: Dmanisi and beyond. – Reassessing the Evidence in Light of Human Palaeontology, Archaeology, and Environmental Science“.

In 1991, exactly 100 years after the 1891 discovery of Pithecanthropus erectus in Java, the International Senckenberg Conference was held in Frankfurt to review a century of Homo erectus research. At this centennial meeting, the first hominin find from Dmanisi made its debut on the international scientific stage. What followed was an extraordinary story of discovery in the southern Caucasus: over the next 35 years, systematic excavations revealed five remarkably well-preserved skulls, fundamentally reshaping perspectives on early human evolution.

By 2016, a quarter century later, the “Homo erectus enigma” remained one of the most intriguing questions in paleoanthropology, inspiring another major international conference in Tbilisi. Since then, the Dmanisi hominins have continued to challenge the scientific community and refine our understanding of early Homo evolution. With each new analysis, they provide not only answers but also raise new questions, highlighting how much of our evolutionary history remains unresolved.

Now, after 135 years of the first discovery of Homo erectus, and a decade after the last major international conference devoted to this topic, these questions remain as vital as ever. With new evidence accumulating, the time is ripe to once again reassess what we know — and what we have yet to uncover — about one of the most significant species in human evolution.

The conference includes an excursion to the prehistoric sites of Dmanisi (the archaeological site where the oldest hominin fossils outside Africa were discovered) and Orozmani (prehistoric site with significant archaeological findings), as well as Bolnisi Museum (a regional museum showcasing local history and archaeology).

nhm_abudhabi Instagram, 13 August 2026

nhm_abudhabi Instagram, 4 August 2026

nhm_abudhabi Instagram, 24 July 2026

I co-authored a publication on Plaster production in the Late-Seventh Millennium BCE. This was based on the excavation of a series of Neolithic plaster processing pit kilns located at site GHG0063 on Ghagha Island, close to the western border of the United Arab Emirates with Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The published paper includes details of the associated finds, as well as analysis of the plaster ware sherds discovered at the site.

Al Hameli, N., Cuttler, R.T., Crassard, R., Lidour, K., Zaggia, C., Elfaki, A.A.,  Beech, M.J., Dingwall, L. and Magee, P.  2026. Plaster production in the Late-Seventh Millennium BCE:  the earliest Arabian Neolithic plaster processing pit kilns discovered on GHG0063, Ghagha Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 74, JASREP 105880. ISSN 2352-409X. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2026.105880

Abstract:
Excavations on the northern coast of Ghagha Island (UAE) revealed multiple stone lined pits within large deposits of ash and charcoal. Two further trenches to the south and west of the pits revealed the remains of domestic structures and a large quantity of artefacts. Preliminary evidence suggest that these structures are the ephemeral remains of plaster processing pit kilns. If so, these are the first of their kind to be discovered in the regional Neolithic, making GHG0063 the earliest plaster production site in the Arabian Neolithic. Radiocarbon dates place the activities associated with these pits within the latter half of the seventh millennium BCE. This is around two hundred years later than the earliest settlement site on Ghagha (GHG0014) but immediately predating the 8.2 ka BP event that regionally saw a shift from increased precipitation to a period of hyperaridity. This paper will detail the excavations and results from preliminary analyses to provide evidence for plaster production kilns on GHG0063.

Keywords: Lime; Pit kiln; Plaster wares; Projectile points; Neolithic; Arabian Gulf; Arabian Neolithic; Pyrotechnology; Plaster; Lithics

On the 1st June 2026 I celebrated the anniversary of my 20th year working for the Department of Culture and Tourism, and its predecesors (Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, and the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority). Note: that is 15 years since the establishment of the combined Culture and Tourism Authority, hence the trophy and certificate stating “15 years”.

In actual fact, I have conducted palaeontological and archaeological fieldwork for 32 continuous years in Abu Dhabi emirate, since I began in 1994 on the archaeological excavations on Sir Bani Yas Island, where we discovered the  7th-8th-century CE Church and Monastery of the Church of the East. I  worked initially for the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey (ADIAS) from 1994-2006, and moved to Abu Dhabi to work here permanently from October 2002 onwards. At the end of May 2006 the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey (ADIAS) became integrated into the newly created, at that time,  Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH).

My first contract began on the 1st June 2006 for the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH)  where I worked from 2006-2012 as Cultural Landscapes Manager in the Historic Environment Department. Our office was based in the Cultural Foundation and then in the ADACH former National Archives building in Abu Dhabi.

I then worked as Head of Coastal Heritage and Palaeontology in the Historic Environment Department for the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) from 2012-2018. Our office then moved to Nation Towers on the Corniche in Abu Dhabi.

In 2018 we became the Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT Abu Dhabi) and I became the Head of Archaeology: Al Dhafra and Abu Dhabi in the Historic Environment Department, which was a role I carried out up to 2023. I was for two years from 2023-2024 the Head of the Maritime and Palaeontology Unit in the same department, whilst in parallel I worked as Curatorial and Scientific Lead for the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi from 2021-2024.

From 2024-2025 I was appointed Scientific Research Lead in the Curatorial and Collections Management Section of the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi.

On 15 October 2025 I was appointed Acting Geoscience Section Head in the Curatorial Department of the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi.

All long serving employees were awarded with a trophy, certificate and gift voucher in Nation Towers, the headquarter’s building of the Department of Culture and Tourism in Abu Dhabi. It is nice to be recognised for all the hard work put in over the years for countless projects.  May there be many more years to come!

I was a co-author on the following paper which was presented at the
Programme Jaussen & Savignac International Conference:

THE PARTHIAN–SASANIAN EMPIRES AT THE SOUTHERN FRONTIER: ARCHAEOLOGY OF PRESENCE, INFLUENCE, AND INTERACTION IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA

held from 28-29 May 2026

Venue: Institut d’Art et d’Archéologie, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Centre de recherches archéologiques J & S, Salle 303 (3rd floor), 3 rue Michelet, 75006 Paris.

Organiser: Parsa Ghasemi (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre de recherches archéologiques J&S, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne / UMR 7041 ArScAn–OrAM)

Here is the abstract of the paper presented at the conference:

Animal remains from Late Pre-Islamic, Parthian–Sasanian contexts in the Arabian Peninsula. Local or Global?

Marjan Mashkour (1)*, Karyne Debue (1), Azadeh Mohaseb (1), Homa Fathi (2), Mark Jonathan Beech (3), Wim Van Neer (4), Michel Mouton (5) and Seth Priestmann (6)

1 – UMR 7209 (BioArch)- BioArchéologie, Interactions Sociétés Environnements CNRS (Centre national de Recherche Scientifique) & MNHN (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle), Paris, France.

2 – Bioarchaoleogy Laboratory, Central Laboratory, University of Tehran, Iran.

3 – Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi- United Arab Emirates.

4 – Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels; KU Leuven, Belgium.

5 – Centre Français de Recherche de la Péninsule Arabique (CEFREPA)- CNRS, France

6 – Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, University of Chicago, USA.

*Corresponding author

In recent decades, bioarchaeological investigations have greatly improved our understanding of how mobile and sedentary communities in the Arabian Peninsula utilised natural resources. This presentation focuses on archaeozoological assemblages dating to the Parthian (c. 247 BCE–224 CE) and Sasanian (224–651 CE) periods, which were found in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman from various contexts.

Mleiha, (Sharjah in the UAE), is a significant site from the Late Pre-Islamic Arabian Kingdom, which emerged by the 3rd century BCE. Excavations in the necropolis revealed funerary practices involving camels and horses. During the final occupation levels (2nd and early 3rd century CE) in three areas excavated by the French Archaeological mission in Sharjah, mammalian and ichthyofaunal remains were found, composed of predominantly domestic bovids, as well as evidence of the hunting of gazelle and oryx for the terrestrial animals. The fort (CW) and the fortified residence (H) were occupied by the ruling elite, and some dwellings were excavated in proximity to the fort (DA).

Ed-Dur (Umm al-Quwain, UAE) was a key port on the Persian Gulf that linked trade routes between Mesopotamia, the Indian subcontinent, and the eastern Mediterranean. The extensive faunal remains, dating to the 2nd–4th century CE, show a reliance on fishing and sheep/goat herding, as well as stable terrestrial hunting, and potentially the over-exploitation of marine resources. Dog and sheep/goat remains also appear in ritual contexts.

On Sir Bani Yas Island (Abu Dhabi, UAE), archaeologists recovered fish remains and sparse mammalian remains within the Christian monastery. Similar material has recently been discovered in Umm Al-Quwain.

Finally, excavations at the fort of Fulayj in NE Oman indicate occupation in the late Sasanian and early Islamic periods. The fort’s occupants depended heavily on sheep, goats, cattle, and marine resources, and donkeys were used for transport.

While investigating the subsistence of various communities and the exploitation of animals in coastal and inland sites in NE Arabia, we will gain a broader perspective by making comparisons with contemporary Parthian and Sasanian sites in neighbouring Iran.

Come and celebrate International Museum Day at Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi. Free entry to the museum on Saturday 16th, Sunday 17th and Monday 18th May 2026.

Explore the wonders of the natural world through hands-on science and creative workshops.  See: This International Museum Day – One planet, many stories. You can register here.

Meet the Palaeontologist

Visit the PalaeoLab and meet real palaeontologists who work in the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi. The team includes: Dr Mark Jonathan Beech, Dr Luca Bellucci, Dr Caroline Malem, Shamma Alhammadi, Mariam Alhassani and Avaneesh Khatavkar.

Date:  Monday 18 May, 2026
Time: 9 AM – 12 PM, 2-3 PM, 4-5 PM

This International Museum Day, Abu Dhabi Culture invites you to a special three-day celebration with free entry to all Abu Dhabi museums and cultural institutions, alongside hands-on workshops, live performances, and guided tours across the emirate.

Under this year’s global theme “Museums Uniting a Divided World“, discover how Abu Dhabi’s museums act as bridges across cultures, fostering dialogue, understanding, and connection within and between communities worldwide.

From Saadiyat Cultural District and Al Ain Cultural Sites to the shores of Delma Island— there’s never been a better time to explore Abu Dhabi.

On Friday 8th May we celebrated Sir David Attenborough’s 100th Birthday at Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi. Sir David Attenborough was born on the 8th May 1926. A special film highlighting segments from four of his internationally known nature documentary programmes was shown in the Library of Nature inside the Our World  gallery at the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi. This included:  “Introduction” (my boyhood journey from the Charnwood Forest), “The Worlds’ First Creatures”, “The magic of fungi”, “The missing link between dinosaurs and birds”, and “How reptiles adapted to survive”. The film was produced by Atlantic Studios in partnership with Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi.

The film transcript was as follows:

Introduction:
A journey that began for me near my boyhood home of Charnwood Forest has taken me around the world and through 600 million years of evolutionary history.

The world’s first creatures:
Single-celled life dominated the planet for billions of years, till a global ice age triggered the emergence of the first animals. Many animal groups lasted millions of years, but eventually their time ran out and they disappeared.

The magic of fungi:
As the leaves fall, a new world reveals itself from beneath the soil. Fungi. Fungi can’t photosynthesize, because, unlike plants, they have no chlorophyl. In fact, they are more closely related to animals and are made of chitin. The material insects use for their skeletons. They produce powerful chemicals that enable them to break down about 90% of all organic matter, including leaves and wood. In doing this, they release the nutrients into the soil that plants need to fuel their new growth in the spring.  So fungi are essential links in the cycle of life.

The missing link between dinosaurs and birds:
Could this strange looking dinosaur with feathers all over it actually fly?  Some people think that those feathers on its hind legs would have made it rather difficult for it to walk around on the ground, and that it would have been more at home climbing. But those aerodynamically shaped feathers certainly suggest its arms were being used as wings.  This four-wing dinosaur must have been a really extraordinary animal. Its front wings were broad enough to enable it to glide, and its muscles on the chest were sufficiently strong to enable it to flap. Every now and then, and help on its way. Now clearly these dinosaurs were on their way to join the pterosaurs in the sky.

How reptiles adapted to survive:
In their ancestral rainforest habitat, iguanas are vegetarians. Here, they browse on juicy leaves. But there, at first appeared in the Galapagos, could find no such things,. So these iguanas to survive had to eat the only kind of leaf that was available. Seaweed. And to get the best of that, they had to something even more radical. They had to swim.  They even learned to dive.  They acquired the ability to hold their breath for up to an hour, so that they could swim down toa  depth of 20m.  Their claws strengthened so they could cling to the rocks on the seabed. And under the water,  they found an endless supply of seaweed, which grew in abundance in the nutrient rich currents that flow around the islands.

For more information about Sir David Attenborough and his contribution to improving our understanding of the natural world of our planet, please visit the following links:

David Attenborough – Wikipedia

100 years of Sir David Attenborough – BBC (YouTube)

The Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi is featured in National Geographic Arabia magazine. The article was written by Richard Conniff, and the photographer was Craig Cutler.  You can read a sample of the article here.

(From left to right: Sara Almarzooqi, Professor Donald Johanson, Dr Peter Kjaergaard, and Dr Mark Jonathan Beech)

I was recently honoured to meet Professor Donald Johanson, the American palaeoanthropologist, when he visited the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, to be reunited with “Lucy”. In 1974 he discovered “Lucy”, also known as “Dinkinesh” (Amharic: ድንቅ ነሽ, ‘you are marvellous‘), Australopithecus afarensis, at Hadar in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia. “Lucy” is a  40 per cent complete skeleton of one of the most important early human ancestors. The famed 3.2-million-year-old fossil transformed our scientific understanding of humanity’s origins. “Lucy” is on temporary loan to the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi courtesy of the Ethiopia Heritage Authority. She has been placed on display in the Human Story Gallery from the opening of the museum on 22 November 2025 and will remain here up until 23 March 2026, after which she will return home to Ethiopia.

Special thanks go to Abebaw Ayalew Gella (Director-General of the Ethiopia Heritage Authority) and Sahleselassie Melaku (Department Head and Research Associate Palaeontology and Paleoanthropology, National Museum of Ethiopia) for their kind assistance and support to make this all happen.

 

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The National, 12 February 2026
From Ethiopia to Abu Dhabi: What Lucy, our prehuman ancestor, teaches us 50 years after discovery

The National, 27 November 2026
Lucy at Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi: 3.2-million-year-old fossil now on display

Professor Donald Johanson and Dr Mark Jonathan Beech (centre), Robin Johanson (right), Dr Peter Kjaergaard (third from right) and Tine Jess (fourth from right) meet local staff at the Faya Palaeolandscape UNESCO World Heritage site in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.