Abu Dhabi: Some stone artifacts from the Old Stone Age, the earliest period of human development, were discovered in the Western Province of Abu Dhabi, it was announced on Tuesday.
The discovery, which was announced by Mohammad Khalaf Al Mazroui, Director-General of Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, included stone artifact made of the Levallois technique, an industry that was known during the Old Stone Age.
The finds were identified by a team from the authority and two visiting scholars.
Dr Walid Yasin, manager of the archaeology division at the authority, picked up the first distinctive artifact from one of the ancient sites in the Western Province of Abu Dhabi.
He said that a number of flint cores and flakes of Levallois technique were collected from the site. Artifacts made of this technique were first discovered in the nineteenth century at the archaeological site of Levallois, near Paris.
Similar artifacts have been found in Europe, Africa and Asia. In the Near East, they are usually associated with Neanderthal man.
The dating of Abu Dhabi artifact is, however, estimated to fall in the Middle Paleolithic (150,000-35,000 years ago), according to Dr Ganim Wahida, a pre-historian from Cambridge University, UK, who specialises in this period.
“The significance of this major discovery lies in the fact that it alters our understanding of the beginning of first human activities in Abu Dhabi which seem to go back to the Old Stone Age, as opposed to the New Stone Age, some 7,500 years ago,'' Yasin added.
Due to the importance of this discovery, the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage is participating in the Seminar for Arabian Studies, to be held at the British Museum between the 19th and 20th of this month where the discovery will be discussed with international scholars.
Several papers dealing with the Paleolithic period of Arabia will be presented at the seminar.
Archaeology digs in the Western Province of Abu Dhabi has recently revealed existence of mammals from the Late Miocene date (6-8 million years ago), together with evidence of an ancient river, which indicate a prevailing wet climate.
