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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
Click on a letter below to access information on the individual Archaeological Sites.
A
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D
F
G
H
J
K
L
M
N
Q
R
S
T
Kalba - (24)
One of the most important settlements
on the Batinah coast of the UAE, Kalba is also the location of an important
mangrove stand (Khor Kalba). The prehistory of Kalba has been investigated
in recent years by a team from the Institute of Archaeology in London,
working at a mound in the Kalba gardens to the west of the main town.
Here a large settlement dating back to the Umm al-Nar period and settled
well into the first millennium BC is being excavated. The site at Kalba
is comparable in many respects to Tell Abraq and provides a long sequence
of human occupation for the East Coast of the UAE, just as Tell Abraq
does for the Gulf coast. A massive Iron Age wall at Kalba is almost identical
in dimensions and construction to the Iron Age fortification enclosure
wall at Awhala in southern Fujairah.
Early in the sixteenth century
the Portuguese, expanding their empire in the Indian Ocean, built a series
of forts along the southeastern coast of Arabia, including one at Kalba.
In his Viaggio dell'Indie Orientali (Venice, 1590) the Venetian jeweller
Gasparo Balbi mentions a place on the Arabian coast called 'Chelb' which
is probably Kalba. Kalba was visited by a Dutch ship called the Meerkat
in 1666. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Kalba was tributary
to Sharjah, but in 1937 it was recognised as a Trucial sheikhdom by the
British government.
Khatt - (25)
This extensive oasis in northern
Ra’s al-Khaimah is famed for its hot spring which today constitute
one of the area's main tourist attractions. Yet in the past the area was
popular as well, as shown by the large number of archaeological sites
of all periods which dot the district. No fewer than 163 sites were recorded
around Khatt during a survey conducted in October, 1992. These ranged
from sites with stone tools in the Arabian bifacial tradition to nineteenth
century mudbrick fortification towers. While a large number of prehistoric
tombs were identified, relatively few settlements were found.
The most important early settlement
was a site called Nud Ziba, which has painted pottery from c. 2000 BC
comparable to that found at Tell Abraq, while later settlement was clustered
immediately west of the modern date plantations. The apparent absence
of settlement in the area is probably due to the fact that cultivation
over the course of 5000 years has destroyed ancient settlements, whereas
tombs, normally built of stone, were more enduring. Khatt has given its
name to a particular type of large, oval tomb of second millennium BC
date which was first observed in the area.
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Khor Fakkan - (26)
One of the most important harbours
on the East Coast of the UAE, Khor Fakkan has a long history of human
settlement. Excavations by a team from the Sharjah Archaeological Museum
have identified 34 graves and a settlement belonging to the early-mid
second millennium BC. These are clustered on rock outcrops overlooking
the habour.
In 1580 the Venetian jeweller
Gasparo Balbi noted 'Chorf' in a list of places on the East Coast of the
UAE, and this is almost certainly Khor Fakkan. The Portuguese built a
fort at Khor Fakkan. By 1666 this was a ruin, for it figures in the log
book of the Dutch vessel known as the Meerkat where we read: 'Gorfacan
is a place on a small bay which has about 200 small houses all built from
date branches, near the beach. It had on the Northern side a triangular
Portuguese fortress, of which the desolate ruin can still be seen.
On the Southern coast of the
bay in a corner there is another fortress on a hill but there is no garrison
nor artillery on it, and it is also in ruins. This place has a beautiful
valley with a multitude of date palms and some figtrees and there also
grow melons, watermelons and myrrh (!). Under the trees there are several
wells which are used for irrigation. It is good and fresh water'.
One reason for the ruinous state
of the forts at Khor Fakkan may have been that the Persian navy, under
the command of Sheikh Muhammad Suhari (an Omani from Sohar), invaded the
East Coast of what is now the Emirates in 1623 and, facing a Portuguese
counter-attack, withdrew to the Portuguese forts, including that of Khor
Fakkan. When the Persians were expelled, the Portuguese commander Ruy
Freire urged the people of Khor Fakkan to remain loyal to the Portuguese
crown, and established a Portuguese customs office as well. In 1737, however,
long after the Portuguese had been expelled from Arabia, the Persians
again invaded Khor Fakkan, with the help of the Dutch, during their intervention
in the Omani civil war. In 1765 Khor Fakkan belonged to a sheikh of the
Qawasim, according to the German traveller Carsten Niebuhr, just as it
does to this day.
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