ID :
47049
Mon, 02/23/2009 - 12:35
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/47049
The shortlink copeid
Celebrating the UAE's archaeological heritage
Abu Dhabi, Feb 23, 2009 (WAM) - To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first archaeological excavations in the UAE on the island of Umm al-Nar in 1959, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development is organising a major international conference on Emirates archaeology, it was announced yesterday.
Called "Fifty Years after Umm al-Nar: The Second International Conference on the Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates", the event is being held under the patronage of the Minister of Presidential Affairs HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and will take place in Abu Dhabi between Sunday 1st March and Wednesday 4th March.
The 10th Annual Conference of the Historical and Archaeological Society of the Gulf Co-operation Council, GCC, states will be held concurrently.
Addressing a press conference, Bilal Al Budoor, Executive Director of Culture and Arts at the Ministry, said that the Ministry was keen to ensure that this occasion will be celebrated in cooperation with the relevant authorities in each of the Emirates. Exhibitions in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah will also be held to mark the event. More than 170 scholars will attend and 23 research papers will be presented A total of 31 papers will be presented at the archaeological conference by many of the leading academics both from the Emirates and from overseas who have been involved in excavations in the UAE. Nearly 200 scholars will attend the two events.
The conference programme commences with a special presentation of previously-unseen photographs and films of the earliest excavations at Umm al-Nar and at Hili, Al Ain, undertaken by a team from Moesgard Museum in Denmark.
The programme covers both the history of excavations in the Emirates and the results of recent research, stretching from the earliest days of human occupation, in the Palaeolithic period, over 150,000 years ago, up to the Late Islamic period in the 18th and 19th Centuries AD. A brief overview will also be given of the history of exploration for fossils from the Late Miocene period, 6-8 million years ago.
Academics attending the conference from overseas come from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Italy, India and Japan, with locally-based archaeologists from throughout the UAE also taking part.
"This event gives us the opportunity to celebrate the first half-century of archaeological research in the Emirates and also to work to promote a greater recognition of the UAE's national heritage amongst the country's citizens and other residents," Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development Abdul Rahman Al Owais said in a statement.
"Fifty years ago, when the Danish team led by P.V.Glob and Geoffrey Bibby first began work at Umm al-Nar, little was known about our past. They started by identifying a Bronze Age civilisation from over 4,000 years ago that was previously completely unknown. Since then, they and other archaeologists from around the world as well as from the Emirates have shown, year after year, that the UAE has a heritage of international importance, playing a crucial role in the prehistory and history of the Indian Ocean," the Minister said.
"We owe much to the dedicated work of those, both UAE citizens and others, who have devoted years of their lives to revealing our history and heritage to us," he added. "Before they started their work, that heritage was little known, but their discoveries have filled in the blanks on the historical map." Al Owais concluded: "From the very earliest days of Emirates archaeology, when the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan took a personal interest in the excavations at Umm al-Nar and invited the Danish team to come and investigate other sites in the Al Ain area, studies of our fascinating past have been supported by and encouraged by Their Highnesses the Rulers of the Emirates. As Sheikh Zayed himself noted a people that does not know its past cannot understand the present or face the challenges of the future.' This conference is designed to stimulate a greater knowledge of that past and to equip us for the future." The conference organiser, Peter Hellyer, archaeological expert at the National Media Council, said that the conference would provide an opportunity for more of the UAE's residents, both citizens and expatriates, to learn about the country's past.
"There is a false impression that the UAE has no real history," he said. "The papers being presented at this conference show that, in fact, the country has played a major role in the history of human settlement and maritime trade in the region, and in the whole of the Indian Ocean, for thousands of years."
Called "Fifty Years after Umm al-Nar: The Second International Conference on the Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates", the event is being held under the patronage of the Minister of Presidential Affairs HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and will take place in Abu Dhabi between Sunday 1st March and Wednesday 4th March.
The 10th Annual Conference of the Historical and Archaeological Society of the Gulf Co-operation Council, GCC, states will be held concurrently.
Addressing a press conference, Bilal Al Budoor, Executive Director of Culture and Arts at the Ministry, said that the Ministry was keen to ensure that this occasion will be celebrated in cooperation with the relevant authorities in each of the Emirates. Exhibitions in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah will also be held to mark the event. More than 170 scholars will attend and 23 research papers will be presented A total of 31 papers will be presented at the archaeological conference by many of the leading academics both from the Emirates and from overseas who have been involved in excavations in the UAE. Nearly 200 scholars will attend the two events.
The conference programme commences with a special presentation of previously-unseen photographs and films of the earliest excavations at Umm al-Nar and at Hili, Al Ain, undertaken by a team from Moesgard Museum in Denmark.
The programme covers both the history of excavations in the Emirates and the results of recent research, stretching from the earliest days of human occupation, in the Palaeolithic period, over 150,000 years ago, up to the Late Islamic period in the 18th and 19th Centuries AD. A brief overview will also be given of the history of exploration for fossils from the Late Miocene period, 6-8 million years ago.
Academics attending the conference from overseas come from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Italy, India and Japan, with locally-based archaeologists from throughout the UAE also taking part.
"This event gives us the opportunity to celebrate the first half-century of archaeological research in the Emirates and also to work to promote a greater recognition of the UAE's national heritage amongst the country's citizens and other residents," Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development Abdul Rahman Al Owais said in a statement.
"Fifty years ago, when the Danish team led by P.V.Glob and Geoffrey Bibby first began work at Umm al-Nar, little was known about our past. They started by identifying a Bronze Age civilisation from over 4,000 years ago that was previously completely unknown. Since then, they and other archaeologists from around the world as well as from the Emirates have shown, year after year, that the UAE has a heritage of international importance, playing a crucial role in the prehistory and history of the Indian Ocean," the Minister said.
"We owe much to the dedicated work of those, both UAE citizens and others, who have devoted years of their lives to revealing our history and heritage to us," he added. "Before they started their work, that heritage was little known, but their discoveries have filled in the blanks on the historical map." Al Owais concluded: "From the very earliest days of Emirates archaeology, when the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan took a personal interest in the excavations at Umm al-Nar and invited the Danish team to come and investigate other sites in the Al Ain area, studies of our fascinating past have been supported by and encouraged by Their Highnesses the Rulers of the Emirates. As Sheikh Zayed himself noted a people that does not know its past cannot understand the present or face the challenges of the future.' This conference is designed to stimulate a greater knowledge of that past and to equip us for the future." The conference organiser, Peter Hellyer, archaeological expert at the National Media Council, said that the conference would provide an opportunity for more of the UAE's residents, both citizens and expatriates, to learn about the country's past.
"There is a false impression that the UAE has no real history," he said. "The papers being presented at this conference show that, in fact, the country has played a major role in the history of human settlement and maritime trade in the region, and in the whole of the Indian Ocean, for thousands of years."
