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

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.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mark Jonathan Beech (@mjbeech)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Family Hub Abu Dhabi | Elpida Kanouta (@family_hub_abu_dhabi)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi (@nhm_abudhabi)

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.

I was honoured to be mentioned in a recent publication by the renowned Bulgarian archaeozoologist, Zlatozar Boev, who works at the National Museum of Natural History in Sofia, Bulgaria. Details of the publication are as follows:

Boev, Z. 2025. History of the Archaeozoology in Bulgaria—Fields, Researchers and Achievements for 120 Years. Quaternary 8: 73 . https://doi.org/10.3390/quat8040073

The article mentions the following contributions by myself and colleagues:

Although extremely rare, archaeomalacological studies in Bulgaria have also been conducted by foreign archaeozoologists. The mollusks at Nicopolis ad Istrum have been studied in detail by Beech, M. The Mollusca. In Nicopolis ad Istrum. A Late Roman and Early Byzantine City. The Finds and the Biological Remains; Poulter, A.G., Ed.; Oxbow Books; The Society of Antiquaries of London: London, UK, 2007; pp. 293–297+307–318. ISBN 978-184217-182-0 1-84217-182-8. ISSN 0953-7163.

Twenty-one freshwater and marine species of fish from the ancient town of Nicopolis-ad-Istrum (CN Bulgaria) have been found by Beech, M.J. and Irving, B. The fish remains. In Nicopolis ad Istrum. A Late Roman and Early Byzantine City. The Finds and the Biological Remains; Poulter, A.G., Ed.; Oxbow Books; The Society of Antiquaries of London: London, UK, 2007; pp. 224–241+307–318:  Without exaggeration, we can consider that study, although by foreign researchers, is the first archaeoichthylogical study in Bulgaria.

The mammalian remains from Nicopolis-ad-Istrum have also been subject to detailed study:

Beech, M. 1997. The economy and environment of a Roman, Late-Roman and Early Byzantine town in North-Central Bulgaria: The mammalian fauna from Nicopolis-ad-Istrum. Anthropozoologica  25–26: 619–630.

Beech, M. 2007. The Environmental Archaeology Research Programme at Nicopolis: Methodology and results. Proc. Br. Acad.  141: 219–248.

Beech, M. 2007. The large mammal and reptile bones. In: Nicopolis ad Istrum. A Late Roman and Early Byzantine City. The Finds and the Biological Remains; Poulter, A.G., Ed.; Oxbow Books; The Society of Antiquaries of London: London, UK, pp. 154–197 + 307–318.

I was very proud to be amongst the first visitors to enter the Zayed National Museum when it opened to the public today, Wednesday 3rd December 2025 at 10:00 AM.  It was fantastic to wander around the beautiful  building, visiting two galleries on the ground floor: “Our Beginning” and “Through Our Nature”, and then four galleries on the second floor: “To Our Ancestors”, “Through Our Connection”, “By Our Coasts” and “To Our Roots”… Followed by lunch sitting outside the Al Ghaf Cafe, and then a wander through the Al Masar Garden.

I was particularly happy to see some of the artefacts which I helped to discover from the excavations I directed on the important Neolithic  settlements on Marawah, Delma, and Ghagha Islands,  as well as on the Christian church and monastery on Sir Bani Yas Island. This was work carried out during my time working for the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey (ADIAS) between 1994 and 2006, and then with the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) between 2006-2012, the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) between 2012-2018, and then with the Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT Abu Dhabi) between 2018-2024.  Here are some photos taken during the visit:

The Marawah Ubaid vase
This was discovered in 2004 within area A, Room 1 of a tripartite structure, at site MR11 on Marawah Island in the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi emirate. It dates to around 5500 BCE.  The following publications discuss this find:

Beech M., R. Cuttler, D. Moscrop, H. Kallweit & J. Martin. 2005. New evidence for the Neolithic settlement of Marawah Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies  35: 37-56.  Download here

Méry, S., M.J. Blackman, M.J. Beech & K. Lidour. 2016. 5500 av. notre ère: le vase de Marawah MR11 et l’Obeid du Golfe. Chapter 17, Pages 155-174, in: B. Perello and A. Tenu (eds.), Parcours d’Orient: Receuil de textes offert à Christine Kepinski. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd, Oxford.  Download here

The Stucco panels from Sir Bani Yas Island

I was part of the original archaeological team from the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey (ADIAS) team which discovered the Sir Bani Yas Church and Monastery on Sir Bani Yas Island in 1994. This sites dates to the 7th to 8th centuries CE, and belonged to the Church of the East.  Thirty one years later, I am proud that the material we originally excavated is now finally going on permanent display at the Zayed National Museum for everyone to see!

The following publications mention these finds:

Department of Culture and Tourism (Noura Hamad Al Hameli, Richard Cuttler and Mark Jonathan Beech). 2023. The Church and Monastery of Sir Bani Yas. Abu Dhabi Culture.
ISBN: 978-9948-776-67-3.  Download here

Beech, M. 2009. Archaeology of the Late Pre-Islamic to Early Islamic Period with a particular focus on recent discoveries on Sir Bani Yas Island, Abu Dhabi Emirate. Pages 99-112 (english version); Pages 105-118 (arabic version). In: New Perspectives on Recording UAE History. Proceedings of the International History Conference, New Perspectives on Recording UAE History, National Center for Documentation and Research 40th Anniversary Conference (23-25 November 2008). National Center for Documentation and Research, Abu Dhabi, UAE. ISBN 978-9948-05-071-1.  Download here

Last updated: 4 December 2025: 10:51 AM (GST Gulf Standard Time)

Today marked the public opening of the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi.  Visit our website now to book tickets: www.nhmad.ae/en

We had over 7,000 visitors on our first day!

Last updated: 23 November 2025: 00:15 AM (GST Gulf Standard Time)

I was very honoured to give a VIP tour of the Late Miocene gallery (Abu Dhabi 7 million years ago) at the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi to His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE, and to His Excellency, Mohammed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi.

You can see some photos of their visit and watch a video about their visit by clicking here.

Last updated: 4 December 2025: 00:15 AM (GST Gulf Standard Time)