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| Coinage has been used in the U.A.E. since
the 4th century B.C. when the first coins in the area - imitations
of Athenian types from ancient Greece - were struck. Early coins
are particularly well-represented at the sites of Mleiha, in
Sharjah, and ed-Dur, in Umm al-Qaiwain, and examples can be
seen in the museums of both emirates. At Mleiha a local king
named Abi’el used some of the very few mould-made coins
in the ancient Near East. Hundreds of his original coins, as
well as later copies which kept on being made into the first
centuries A.D., have been found on the surface of these sites
and smaller numbers have been recovered in excavations. Ed-Dur,
which had extensive trading contacts with India, Iran and Mesopotamia,
has also yielded examples of foreign coinage originating in
all three areas. During the late pre-Islamic era, when the region
of Oman and the U.A.E. came under the control of the Sasanians
in Iran, Sasanian coinage began to circulate in the region.
Sasanian coins are known from ed-Dur and Fujairah, where early
Islamic coins have also been found. Several Islamic coin hoards
have been discovered over the years in Ras al-Khaimah as well.
The coins from Fujairah and Ras al-Khaimah can be seen in the
archaeological museums of these emirates. In the later Islamic
era coins from Iran, Iraq and India were recognised as legal
tender throughout the region |
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