The Archeological Area of Al Ain, a Decade as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Discovered in the second half of the XX Century, the cultural sites of Al Ain, declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 2011, celebrate ten years of this important recognition. These are historic archeological sites and six oases which are a witness to the sedentary human inhabitation of a desert region from the neolithic period. On the top of Gharn bint Saud, a huge stratified rock sticking out of the desert floor, stone tombs were found, most of which date back to the Bronze and Iron Ages. In the same area, a falaj was found, an ancient irrigation system from 3000 years ago which allowed water to be taken from beneath the surface. And from 3000 B.C., the site of Hili which provided the first proof of agricultural settlements in the United Arab Emirates. Many of the buildings found in this area date back to the Bronze Age and, today, are part of an archeological park opened to the public. Among the discoveries to be admired are also a rich variety of fossils dating back thousands of years ago when the area was covered by the sea. Among the most ancient remains are those of Jebel Hafit, tombs which date back 5000 years, discovered by a team of Danish archeologists in 1959.