The small, sandy island of this name in the lagoon of Umm al-Qaiwain is the location of one of the more unusual archaeological sites in the UAE For on Akab French archaeologists in the early 1990s discovered a dugong butchery site which had been in use around 3700-3500 BC Flint tools belonging to the Arabian bifacial tradition were found here along with rod-like shell beads, perforated at either end, and masses of dugong bone. The early fourth millennium (4000-3500 BC) is a period about which we know very little, so Akab is an important site for the prehistory of the United Arab Emirates. Beads similar to those from Akab have also been found at Jebel Emalah in the interior of Sharjah.