Fossils shed light on a different environment of Abu Dhabi in the ancient past

posted on 10/01/2008: 51 views

The fossils discovered recently, in conjunction with geological investigations have shed light on an amazing picture of Abu Dhabi's ancient environment that was far different from its hyper-arid modern desert landscape. A lecture delivered by Professor Andrew Hill of Yale University, USA at a gathering organised by Abu Dhabi Authority of Culture and Heritage (ADACH) and the Emirates Natural History Group at the Cultural Foundation here claimed that in the ancient past, Abu Dhabi featured a large system of shallow rivers that supported a diverse ecosystem teeming with hippos, crocodiles, turtles, and catfish. Animals such as monkeys, elephants, rhinos, giraffes, horses, antelopes, and ostriches occupied forested areas and savanna-like grasslands in the surrounding areas.



The lecture described the recent work of an ADACH-Yale project set up to investigate the Baynunah Formation, a set of geological deposits rich in fossils, dating to between 6 and 8 million years ago, exposed in Abu Dhabi Emirate's Western Region.



Professor Hill explained that these fossils were important locally not just for their appeal and interest to people in general, but for providing information about Abu Dhabi's heritage and past, millions of years before historical documents and archaeological traces were available. They were internationally important as well, as they constitute the best fossil site of any age in the whole of Arabia, and on a global scale provide important additional information on this important time period. As it was through much of the last tens of millions of years, Abu Dhabi in the late Miocene was geographically situated to be a biological crossroads between the continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa. Consequently Arabia has largely controlled the distinctive nature of animal life in these three great biogeographic zones of the world. The fossil collections from the Baynunah Formation contain elements in common with sites of similar age from Africa, Asia, and Europe, and there are a number of species first discovered and described from Abu Dhabi.



The ADACH-Yale project, directed by Professor Hill (Department of Anthropology and Yale Peabody Museum) and PhD student Faysal Bibi (Yale Department of Geology and Geophysics), began its work in Abu Dhabi on December 8th, 2007. Additional Yale team members included Marilyn Fox (Chief Preparator), and Walter Joyce (Collections Manager), both in the Division of Vertebrate Paleontology of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, and Professor David Evans and PhD student Daniel Peppe, of the Yale Department of Geology and Geophysics.



The field team also included Professor Ali Haidar, a geologist from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, as well as members of ADACH's Historic Environment Department. These included Dr Walid Yasin (Head of Division: Archaeology), Dr Mark Beech (Head of Division: Cultural Landscapes), Ali El-Meqbali and Hamdan Al-Rashidi (Field archaeologists).



The work follows on from previous paleontological investigations conducted between 1989 and 1995, also co-directed by Professor Hill, which resulted in a monograph published by Yale University Press (Fossil Vertebrates of Arabia, 1999).



Professor Hill described the current work involving surveys of about a dozen sites, most located along the coastline. Among several important new fossil specimens recovered this season is the synsacrum (the pelvic bone and associated structures) of an extinct ratite bird (a relative of the ostrich), jawbones of elephants and a hippopotamus, and the partial skeleton of a small crocodile. The team has also been studying a cluster of inland sites that preserve trackways made by elephants and other animals that roamed through the region in the late Miocene.



Besides discovering and collecting new fossil material, a major goal of the project is to refine the age and duration of the fossil-bearing deposits and Professor David Evans contributed some remarks at the meeting about this. He and Daniel Peppe have sampled Baynunah Formation rocks for paleomagnetic analysis. They are working to determine the distinctive pattern of reversals of the earth's magnetic field as preserved in the Baynunah sediments. This local pattern will then be compared to a well-dated global record of magnetic reversals.



Additionally, team member Professor Ali Haidar sampled rocks of the Baynunah Formation for remains of microscopic marine organisms that may help further refine the age of these deposits and the fossils they contain.



The Baynunah Formation represents the only terrestrial fossil bearing rocks of late Miocene age known from the entire Arabian Peninsula and as such it is of vital importance to paleontological investigation. The ADACH Historic Environment Department has been tasked with the goal of mapping the location of all fossil sites within Abu Dhabi Emirate for the purposes of conservation and resource management. Most of the late Miocene fossil sites are located along the coast of the Western Region, an area subject to heavy construction and rapid development which is jeopardizing most of the fossil sites. As part of their work, the Yale team is providing ADACH with recommendations for site protection.



Professor Hill concluded with some remarks about the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and of ways in which further collaboration might be beneficial . The Peabody Museum is a very significant one for natural history and ethnography, having over 12 million specimens and very active research programs on its collections. It also has a large number of public and educational programs. Fossils need specialized preparation and conservation when they come from the ground. Laboratory facilities need to be provided for this, for adequate storage, for producing accurate replicas of important specimens, and research services for scientists studying the specimens. Ideally all of these facilities should be located in one centre for paleontology, preferably in the context of a museum that provides displays and educational materials for the public. As an example of such an institution with an international reputation, the Yale Peabody Museum is well placed to provide advice and training in these areas. On the public side, they could assist in displays - life size replicas of the fossil elephant and hippopotamus for example could adorn Abu Dhabi's Corniche, for example, or be placed in the courtyard of the Cultural Foundation, analogous to the large dinosaur replica which attracts people at the entrance to the Peabody Museum.



It is expected and hoped that this visit will be just the first in an annual series of ADACH-Yale projects in the western region over the next four or five years, during which it is anticipated that much more will be learned about the life and landscapes of Abu Dhabi in the remote past.



The ADACH-Yale paleontological research project is principally supported by ADACH, as well as by other grants from the Revealing Hominid Origins Initiative (U.S. National Science Foundation), the Division of Vertebrate Paleontology of the Yale Peabody Museum, and the Office of the Provost, Yale University. – Emirates News Agency, WAM

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