The modern suburb of Al Ain known as Hili is famous among local residents for its beautiful garden. In fact, the garden and its immediate hinterland are the location of a large number of Bronze Age and Iron Age sites, dating to c.2500-400 BC Of these, Hili 8 is perhaps the best investigated, thanks to a French expedition which began work there in the late 1970s. Hili 8 consists of a round mudbrick tower with associated outbuildings. Such towers are typical of the late third millennium BC in both Oman and the UAE Other examples have been excavated at Tell Abraq, Bidya and Kalba in the Emirates, and at Baat, Maysar and Ras al-Jins in Oman. Hili 8 has evidence of slight occupation at the very beginning of the second millennium BC as well. Thereafter human settlement in the region shifted to other sites, such as Qattarah and Rumeilah.