New Archaeological Discoveries Reveal Thousands of Years of Human Life Across the UAE

New archaeological discoveries and research across the UAE are revealing remarkable details about human settlement, ancient communities, trade and everyday life stretching back tens of thousands of years.

From prehistoric rock shelters in Sharjah to Bronze Age tombs in Al Ain, researchers are piecing together a much richer picture of how people survived, adapted and built communities in the landscapes that form the modern-day United Arab Emirates.

Among the most significant recent findings is new evidence from Buhais Rockshelter in Sharjah, where researchers identified repeated phases of human occupation spanning tens of thousands of years.

Humans Returned to Sharjah Again and Again

Research published in Nature Communications examined the Buhais Rockshelter, part of Sharjah’s Faya Palaeolandscape.

The archaeological sequence contains stone-tool assemblages linked to human occupation approximately 125,000, 59,000, 35,000 and 16,000 years ago.

The findings are especially important because archaeological evidence from Arabia between roughly 70,000 and 12,000 years ago has traditionally been relatively scarce.

Researchers said the discoveries demonstrate that people repeatedly returned to southeastern Arabia during periods that were previously considered difficult for human occupation.

Combined with earlier discoveries at nearby Jebel Faya, the evidence indicates repeated human activity in the region stretching from around 210,000 years ago to 16,000 years ago.

Water Played a Crucial Role

Scientists also examined the ancient environment surrounding the site.

Their research found that several periods of occupation at Buhais corresponded with times when water availability increased across the landscape.

This suggests that prehistoric groups were responding to changing environmental conditions and taking advantage of periods when the region became more suitable for hunting, gathering and settlement.

At the same time, earlier research from Jebel Faya has shown that humans were capable of occupying southeastern Arabia under both wetter and drier conditions, suggesting that prehistoric populations may have been considerably more adaptable than once assumed.

4,000-Year-Old Tomb Discovered in Al Ain

Important discoveries are also continuing in Abu Dhabi.

In July 2026, the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi announced the discovery of a cemetery within the Pre-Islamic Qattarah Necropolis in Al Ain.
The cemetery dates to the Wadi Suq and Late Bronze Age, approximately 2000 to 1300 BCE.

The find is helping archaeologists better understand burial traditions, social organisation and the resourcefulness of communities living in the region around 4,000 years ago.

Al Ain’s archaeological landscape forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site and contains evidence representing several major periods of prehistoric settlement in southeastern Arabia.

Sharjah Shells Reveal How Iron Age Communities Lived

Even seemingly ordinary objects are providing extraordinary insights.

Researchers studying 40,668 shells from Muweilah in Sharjah found evidence showing how people living between approximately 1000 and 600 BCE made extensive use of coastal and mangrove resources.

Shellfish provided food, while shells themselves were used for purposes including tools, containers and flooring.

Researchers described coastal environments as functioning almost like “supermarkets” for Iron Age communities, offering a wide variety of readily available natural resources.

The study found that giant mangrove whelks were an important source of protein, while other shell species were collected from beaches and used in different ways.

Ancient UAE Was Connected to International Trade

Archaeology is also revealing the UAE’s deep history as a crossroads for international commerce.

Excavations at Sas Al Nakhl Island in Abu Dhabi, associated with the Bronze Age Umm an-Nar culture, have uncovered evidence of a sophisticated settlement involved in maritime trade around 2800 to 2200 BCE.

Archaeologists have recovered imported pottery linked to Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley, as well as copper objects, fishing equipment, jewellery and thousands of animal bones.

Bitumen found at the site has been traced to Mesopotamian sources. Some fragments appear to have been used to waterproof boats, providing further evidence of ancient seafaring and long-distance commercial links.

The discoveries suggest communities in what is now the UAE were actively participating in regional trade networks thousands of years before the modern era.

Settled Communities Existed 8,500 Years Ago

Another major discovery came from Ghagha Island, west of Abu Dhabi city.

Stone structures discovered there have been dated to at least 8,500 years ago, making them among the earliest known buildings in the UAE and wider region.
The structures consisted of simple circular rooms and were probably homes used by a small community.

Hundreds of artefacts, including finely worked stone arrowheads, were also recovered.

The findings challenged the earlier idea that permanent settlement in the region developed mainly because of long-distance maritime trade. Instead, researchers believe local environmental and economic conditions were already supporting settled communities before those trade networks expanded.

Archaeology Rewrites the Story of the UAE

Together, these discoveries are transforming understanding of the UAE’s ancient past.

They show that the region was not simply an empty desert occasionally crossed by travellers. Instead, its history includes prehistoric hunter-gatherers, early settled communities, fishermen, traders, craftspeople and organised Bronze and Iron Age societies.

The evidence also demonstrates how ancient populations adapted to dramatic environmental changes, used coastal and desert resources efficiently and maintained commercial connections stretching far beyond the Arabian Peninsula.

With archaeological work continuing across Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the UAE’s offshore islands, researchers believe many more chapters of the country’s history remain beneath the ground.

Every new excavation is adding detail to a story that now stretches back hundreds of thousands of years — reinforcing the UAE’s position as an important landscape for understanding human migration, adaptation and civilisation in Arabia.