Cradle of Bedouin culture Abu Dhabi gets first UAE world heritage site listing

Al Ain's World Heritage tombs can now rest in peace

The Al Ain tombs area in Abu Dhabi was  named as a Unesco world heritage site this week.
Extending 13km from north to south, and straddling the borders between UAE and Oman, the prehistoric mountain overlooks two of the important cultural elements that gained Al Ain the coveted international recognition: the lush Al Ain and Buraimi oases and a 4th millennium funerary landscape cluttered with tombs.

These mysterious dome-shaped tombs, known as Hafeet tombs, are the earliest tombs of the Bronze Age in the UAE and defined a period known as "the Hafeet period", which dates from 3200BC to 2700BC.

About 500 of these 5,000-year-old tombs lay scattered at the bottom of Jebel Hafeet mountain. While difficult to reach, even with a 4×4, they remained at the mercy of random visitors. Hopefully the new heritage site listing will ensure their protection.

"With the Unesco stamp on these sites, we can do an even better job of preserving them and saving them from any threats of development," said Mohamed Al Neyadi, director of the department of historical environment at the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage .

The world heritage committee made its announcement on Monday after 10 days of meetings, making Al Ain the first UAE site on the list that includes Egypt's pyramids and India's Taj Mahal.

The designation was the culmination of efforts that began back in 2003, when work on the file began in Al Ain. It was submitted to Unesco in 2008 by Adach in co-operation with the National Council for Tourism and Antiquities of the United Arab Emirates.

Classified as a "cultural site", Al Ain's Jebel Hafeet is joined by the Hili cultural landscape, Bidaa Bint Saud, its six oases and the man-made falaj irrigation system, which transported water from the higher plains to support settlement in more outlying areas.

Al Ain's oases, representing the cradle of Emirati Bedouin culture, sustained the area development as far back as the 2nd millennium BC. Each of its archaeological sites tells a crucial part of the story, the move from nomadic culture to settlements with the development of falaj in 1000 BC to modern day Al Ain.

"Our priority is to protect, and then tourism to these sites comes as a byproduct of the international recognition," said Mr Al Neyadi, who is a member of the Al Neyadi tribe of Al Ain. "To us, we always knew the beauty and value of Al Ain," he said. "It was the summer retreat for families from across the UAE, who would come here while their men were out at sea pearl diving."

The sites were first discovered by the late Sheikh Zayed, in the 1950s, who later alerted a Danish team to their existence, and excavation began on the Hafeet tombs in 1959.

It was also the late president and founder of Abu Dhabi who emphasised the importance of the oases and established Al Ain Museum in 1971 to house the treasures found throughout the area.

The museum houses rare artefacts such as jewellery, pottery and funeral ritual items discovered in the winning sites. Guided tours to the archaeological sites can be arranged at the museum.

Valere Tjolle

Valere is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite 2011 Special Offers HERE