Visit the new Department of Culture and Tourism Podcasts page and hear about some of our latest archaeological work on Abu Dhabi’s Islands:

ENGLISH

Listen to the March 1st 2018 Podcast – The Evidence from the Abu Dhabi Islands – Peter Magee (25 mins, english).
https://abudhabiculture.ae/en/learn/podcast-listing-page#72E61D5E18234286B5217F072FB96223

ARABIC

There is also an arabic translation of the podcast about the archaeological evidence from the Abu Dhabi Islands (arabic, 18 minutes).
https://abudhabiculture.ae/ar/learn/podcast-listing-page#72E61D5E18234286B5217F072FB96223

FRENCH

L’aube de la navigation dans le Golfe Arabe – Trouvailles faites dans les îles d’Abou Dhabi
– a french version of the podcast is also available on the mobile phone app version
https://m.soundcloud.com/abudhabiculture/peter-magee?in=abudhabiculture/sets/french

On Wednesday 28th February 2018 we had a visit to the Marawah MR11 excavations from a team from the Zayed National Museum (Noura Al Moubarak and Emma Thompson) accompanied by Peter Magee (Head of Archaeology at the Historic Environment Department at the Department of Culture and Tourism).

Here is a nice selfy of the MR11 archaeological team plus visitors. In a clockwise direction from the giant selfy stick holder: Howell Magnus Roberts, Alan Sartori, Richard Cuttler, Kirk Roberts, Samander Khan, Zahir Khan, Abdulla Jalil Muhammad, John Martin, Mark Jonathan Beech, Rashid Ali, Peter Spencer, Peter Magee, Emma Thompson, and Noura Al Mubarak.

Excavations are continuing at the MR11 site on Marawah Island. The new field season began on 12 February 2018 and continues for six weeks until the 22nd March 2018.

The team includes: Dr Mark Jonathan Beech (Director), Dr Richard Howard Thorburn Cuttler (Deputy Director), Abdulla Khalfan Al Kaabi (not present in picture) and Ahmed Abdalla El Hag El Faki, Zahir Khan, Samander Khan, Abdul Jalil Muhammad, and Rashid Ali Mohammed Akrab – all from the Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT), as well as the following external senior archaeological consultants: John Martin (not present in picture), Howell Magnus Roberts, Kirk Kendrick Roberts, Peter Thomas Spencer and Dominic Alan Tomasi.

Attended the Private Preview of the Galleries of Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum on Friday 10th November 2017. The Museum opens to the public tomorrow, on Saturday 11th November 2017.

It was great to see so many amazing things as I wandered around with friends and colleagues. I feel especially proud that some of our own archaeological discoveries are featured in the Museum. They include the Ubaid vase from Marawah Island, some Bronze Age pottery from Hili, a Carnelian necklace from Hili, a Dilmun stamp seal from the Bronze Age site on Sir Bani Yas Island, and a plaster stucco panel from the Sir Bani Yas Church.

For more information about the Louvre Abu Dhabi visit:
www.louvreabudhabi.ae

The Chairman and  Director General of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi visited the island of Marawah on 23 October 2017 to see the excavations. 

From left to right: Dr Olivier Brunet, Rita Aoun-Abdo, Dr RIchard Cuttler, Dr Mark Jonathan Beech, Abdulla Khalfan Al Kaabi, HE Mohammed Khalifa Al Mubarak, HE Saif Saeed Ghobash, Abdulla Ghanam bin Kadas Al Rumaithi, and Professor Peter Magee.

His Excellency Mohammed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism, HE Saif Saeed Ghobash, Director-General of the Department, visited the island of Marawah yesterday to see the latest developments on the excavation

They were accompanied by RIta Aoun-Abdo (Executive Director – Culture Sector, Department of Culture and Tourism) and Professor Peter Magee (Consultant to the Chairman, Department  of Culture and Tourism).

The group met the team of archaeologists working on the island which included Dr Mark Jonathan Beech (Head of Coastal Heritage and Palaeontology), Dr Richard Cuttler, Abdulla Khalfan Al Kaabi, Zahir Khan, Rabin Rai and Rashid Ali from the Department of Culture and Tourism, as well as Dr Olivier Brunet and John Martin.

Earlier this year, a team of archaeologists on the island announced important archaeological discoveries that provided important information about the nature of human societies in Abu Dhabi more than 7,000 years ago.

Commenting on the previous excavations and ongoing excavations on Marawah Island, HE Mohammed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, said: “The archaeological discoveries on Marawah island are invaluable sources,  which enable us to research and discovery more deeply the history of Abu Dhabi and the region, and to understand the roots of our history and our heritage. We in the Culture and Tourism Department are committed to the conservation and preservation of these historical discoveries. We plan to undertake advanced research, documenting all these discoveries , in order to ensure the transmission of these historical treasures to future generations. Only through careful studies and diligent excavation of such archaeological sites can this be effectively carried out. ”

From left to right: HE Saif Saeed Ghobash, Dr Mark Jonathan Beech, HE Mohammed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Rita Aoun-Abdo, Professor Peter Magee, Dr Richard Cuttler, Abdulla Khalfan Al Kaabi, Unknown, Dr Olivier Brunet and Abdulla Ghanam bin Kadas Al Rumaithi.

The visiting group inspect Room 5 of a new structure identified within the Late Stone Age settlement.

From 2-26 October 2017 we will be renewing our archaeological excavations on Marawah Island. This will continue our investigations of the Late Stone Age settlement site known as MR11. The team includes: Dr Mark Jonathan Beech, Dr Olivier Brunet, Dr Richard Cuttler, Ahmed Abdalla Elhaj Elfaki, Abdulla Khalfan Al Kaabi,  John Martin, as well as Zahir Khan, Rashid Ali Mohammed Akrab , and Rabin Rai.

To see some of the results of our work visit:
http://www.twitter.com/abudhabiturath

Today was the opening of the Memories of a Journey Hajj exhibition at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. I helped with two areas within the exhibition. Firstly, with the showcase featuring nine pieces of decorated plaster stucco from the Sir Bani Yas church, and secondly with the landscape pictures taken by the Emirati photographer, Mussallem Al Darei, who accompanied myself and colleagues on a simulation of the journey which Hajj pilgrims once took along the coast of Abu Dhabi to Saudi Arabia.

Please download the brochure from: https://abudhabievents.ae/Documents/Hajj_Brochure.pdf

Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism is pleased to invite you to attend a lecture entitled “Why is it Important to Study the Past?”

which will be delivered by: Dr Mark Jonathan Beech, Head of Coastal Heritage and Palaeontology, Historic Environment Department, Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism.

Dr Beech will take the audience on a journey to Abu Dhabi 65 million years ago, to a time when dinosaurs were already extinct and when Al Ain and the UAE was under the sea. The story of how the landform of the UAE was created will be told. Geological deposits in Abu Dhabi’s Al Dhafra region provide the best evidence in the Arabian Peninsula for life during the Late Miocene, between 6-8 million years ago. This was a time when the deserts of Arabia were green. Today we can find fossils from a wide range of animals and plants which once lived there. This large diversity of everything from shells to crocodiles, rodents, birds, monkeys, hippos, and elephants were supported by a river system that once flowed through what is now the UAE, and that has long since gone dry and disappeared. Early humans mobilized themselves during climatically optimal periods and were able to spread out of Africa and eventually around the globe. Some of the earliest evidence for human populations in Abu Dhabi will briefly be discussed to show how archaeologists are beginning to piece together the culture and society of our prehistoric ancestors. The results of recent archaeological excavations on Marawah Island will be discussed providing a unique insight into Abu Dhabi’s earliest known people.

Date: Wednesday 27 September 2017

Time : 10:00 – 11:30 am

Location: Al Ain Municipality Theatre, Al Ain

NB:
Simultaneous translation is available.

Attendance 15 minutes before is preferable.

For more information, please contact Mariam Al Dhaheri on 03 711 8302 or email: aanm@tcaabudhabi.ae

Read this press release from 27 August 2017 about the new archaeological work which my colleagues are undertaking at Hili 8 in Al Ain.

click here to read the press release in arabic and english, and to download photographs.

Innovation & Knowledge Initiative – Tourism Sector

‘Lecture’

‘ A Journey through the Prehistory of Abu Dhabi’

Presented by:

Dr Mark Jonathan Beech from the Historic Environment Department, Culture Sector at Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi)

Wednesday 12th July 2017, from 11:00 – 12:30, in the TCA Auditorium on the 4th Floor of Nation Towers Corniche, Abu Dhabi,

This will provide an overview of life in Abu Dhabi 65 million years ago down to around 6,000 years ago. Some of the fossils discovered will be presented along with reconstructions of some of the extraordinary animals which once lived here. The earliest evidence for human occupation if Abu Dhabi will be discussed and an insight provided into life within the earliest Stone Age settlements discovered on Marawah and Dalma Islands.

* Language of the lecture is: English

The following photographs were kindly taken during the lecture by Sarah Collins (Senior Curator, Museums Department, TCA Abu Dhabi):