Excavations at 30 sites across the Emirate of Fujairah reveal a different picture of the Arabian region at the end of the Ice Age.
Fujairah is one of the emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE), an area once thought to be uninhabited until about 7,000 years ago.
However, a major archaeological survey has recently changed that narrative.
An excavation at Jabal Kaf Addor – (Photo: Fujairah Tourism and Antiquities Authority – United Arab Emirates (UAE))
According to Ancient Origins, the Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation, in collaboration with international experts, has identified more than 30 significant geological sites indicating the existence of a large community at a time when it was believed that Fujairah was uninhabited.
The sites form a large settlement known as Jabal Kaf Addor, where primitive houses were constructed using high-quality limestone from the region.
This rock shelter provides access to a variety of landscapes, including inland plains, the western foothills of the Al Hajar Mountains, and nearby waterways.
As many as three layers of sediment containing stone tools, animal bones, and fire pits have been discovered at these sites, suggesting humans inhabited this area from 13,000 to 7,500 years ago, according to GDN Online.
Previously, there was a hypothesis that this area may have been inhabited, but by very ancient peoples who left during the Last Glacial Maximum (around 20,000 years ago), or even earlier, during a prolonged drought lasting up to 6,000 years.
About 10,500 years ago, the region began to gradually become wetter over thousands of years due to changes in the balance between two climatic systems.
Today, Fujairah is located at the convergence of several mid-latitude regions, bringing winter rains and hot summer Shamal winds, along with summer monsoons from the Indian Ocean.
Along with other evidence, it is believed that around 7,000 years ago, humans truly began to settle permanently in this area.
However, the aforementioned evidence indicates that despite the harsh conditions of 13,000 years ago – a time when the world was still engulfed in a cold, dry Ice Age – people still chose to take refuge in this Arabian land.
This is a significant milestone, especially as the settlement phase coincided with the time when agriculture began to develop in the region.
The Near East – encompassing countries on the Arabian Peninsula – is considered one of the first areas where agricultural civilization developed in the world, around 12,000 years ago, including both crop cultivation and livestock raising.
Meanwhile, the melting of the Northern Hemisphere’s ice sheets only began about 11,700 years ago, and it wasn’t until over 10,000 years ago that the Ice Age finally ended.
