In pictures: The buried village of Al Madam offers a glimpse of UAE's past

Built in the 1970s to house semi-nomadic Bedouin, the village of Al Ghuraifa was abandoned two decades later as the country transformed itself into a global hub of commerce and tourism, home to the futuristic cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

In recent years, the ghost village near the town of Al Madam in the Sharjah emirate has become something of a tourist attraction.

The village, which comprises two rows of homes and a mosque, “can teach us a lot of the modern history of the UAE,” said Ahmad Sukkar, an assistant professor at the University of Sharjah who is part of a team researching the site.

It was built as part of a public housing project after the 1971 formation of the UAE. The village housed around 100 members of the Al Ketbi tribe, Sukkar said - one of several Bedouin tribes that until then had led a semi-nomadic existence.

The modern cement houses, built to ease the transition to settled life, featured local flourishes. The interior walls were brightly colored, and some were adorned with mosaics. The homes also featured spaces where village elders could host local councils, known as “majlis” in Arabic.

One house had wallpaper depicting a lush green landscape, a stark contrast to the monotonous sandscape outside.

The village had limited access to electricity and water, and was buffeted by sandstorms. Families would have also had to contend with a long commute across the desert to reach government jobs and schools in Dubai.

Nowadays the desert is slowly reclaiming the village. Drifts of sand have blown into the homes, and in some rooms, they obscure walls and nearly reach the ceiling. Only the mosque remains as it was, thanks to regular sweeping by maintenance workers from nearby Al Madam.