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)