UAE | General
Artefacts of Stone Age discovered in Abu Dhabi
Artefacts, including an axe and tools to crack open animal bones, dating back to more than 150,000 years have been discovered in Abu Dhabi.
- By Shireena Al Nowais, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:08 February 18, 2008
- Levallois artefacts discovered at the site are a type of tool that is used to split open animal bones to extract the marrow, a nutritious food source.
- Image Credit: Supplied photo
Abu Dhabi: Artefacts, including an axe and tools to crack open animal bones, dating back to more than 150,000 years have been discovered in Abu Dhabi.
The team from the Department of Historic Environment found a type of tool - the Levallois - whose one of many functions was to split animal bones to extract the marrow which was a nutritious food resource.
Dr Ganim Wahida, a specialist in Stone Age archaeology, invited by Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) to study and evaluate the artefacts, says that "the discovered assemblage belongs to the techno-typologically Middle Stone Age Period, well over 150,000 years ago".
Among the discoveries this season was also a hand axe of the Middle Stone Age.
Dr Walid Yassin, Manager of the Archaeology Division at ADACH, who had discovered these two sites and previously discovered other artefacts, said the Levallois technique was first discovered in the nineteenth century at the archaeological site of Levallios, near Paris.
Today, similar artefacts have been found in Europe, Africa and Asia.
In the Near East they are usually associated with Neanderthal man.
The significance of this major discovery "lies in the fact that it alters our understanding of the beginning of the first human activities in Abu Dhabi Emirate which seem to have gone back well into the Old Stone Age," he said.
Contradiction
"This important discovery does contradict an earlier claim made by archaeologists during the late twentieth century that the earliest occupation of the Arabian Gulf was during the New Stone Age, some 7,500 years ago. This discovery complements earlier findings made last year at the same area," Yassin said.
Share this article
Popular in UAE
-
Have your say
Living in untidy homes
Do you think that people who live in untidy homes have bad character?
Latest news
- Fog sweeps the UAE
- Emirati students in US set to rise
- No friends of mother Earth
- Tussle on for tertiary students
- Faded parking lines pose a problem
- UAE to announce H1N1 vaccination campaign
- Focus on best methods of crime investigation
- Benefits of pill-sized camera displayed
- Prosecutions need to adopt new technologies
- Big decline in robberies in Dubai
- Ministry to shut down typing centres
- Car stickers to identify new drivers on road
- So what will it take to float Gulf News' boat?
- Arab world's future is with solar energy
- Desalination faces 'severe' challenges
Community Reports
-
Faded parking lines pose a problem
Motorists could be fined for parking incorrectly even though they can hardly see the boundaries in the designated areas
-
School buses block residential parking
Commercial vehicles taking up free parking facilities in Al Wuheida, inconveniencing residents in surrounding villas
-
Community report: Doing their bit for poor children
A group of students takes concrete action to raise funds for Dubai Cares
-
Surprising truth of 'abandoned cars'
An Abu Dhabi resident believes that some mechanics are using parking spaces as rent-free workshops
