Western Asia
17
Al Ain Cultural Site: Hafeet, Siri,
Bida Bint-Saud and Oasis
Cultural Sites of Al Ain (Hafit, Hili, Bidaa Bint Saud and Oases Areas)
The site consists of a series of heritage sites that hold a large number of prehistoric cultural remains, providing a powerful testimony to the fact that humans have been actively settling in desert areas since the Neolithic Age. Prominent remains include circular stone burial mounds (circa 2500 BC), wells, and a large number of adobe buildings such as residences, towers, palaces, and administrative buildings. In particular, the sophisticated irrigation system of Aflaj in Hili is one of the oldest examples of this irrigation system, which originated in the Iron Age. The heritage of the Al Ain cultural site is an important testimony to the region's transition from hunter-gatherer to settled culture.
Uae, Al Ain Cultural Site
The circular stone tombs of circa 2500 BC in the Siri Archaeological Park provide a powerful testimony to the fact that humans have been actively settling in desert areas since the Neolithic Age.
Located at the crossroads of ancient land traffic in Oman, the Arabian Peninsula, the Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia, the Al Ain Cultural Site is a testament to the ancient human settlement in the desert areas with its rich composition and regional background: it has been occupied since the Neolithic Age, especially from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. Originally meaning "spring water", the ancient Emirati people first made a living from hunting, and later developed to use local spring water to engage in farming. Archaeologists have found precious fossils of ancient organisms, prehistoric desert camps, and ancient and developed water irrigation systems in these areas of Al Ain, which shows that the ability of people to survive in the desert environment at that time was extremely important, whether in geology, archaeology, history or paleontology. A series of studies have shown that the Al Ain Oasis is the cradle of Bedouin culture.
The famous petroglyphs on the circular stone tombs in the Siri Archaeological Park depict two people and two antelopes.
A very important archaeological site in the site is Siri Park, at the center of which is a circular tomb from the end of the 3rd century BC, and in the room built of four symmetrical megaliths there are two famous petroglyphs from 5,000 years ago, one of which is of two people and two antelopes, and the other is of two cheetahs catching antelopes.
The Afraja irrigation system flows through the palm-fracked Al Ain Oasis, a sophisticated irrigation system derived from the ancient Iron Age.
All in all, the cultural elements of the Al Ain cultural site are very diverse, including on the one hand the remains of circular stone tombs and houses from the Hafit and Siri periods, wells and part of the underground Afraja irrigation system, and on the other hand, oasis and earth brick wall structures designed to defend and provide economic and stable life, these architectural and hydraulic expertise has allowed early agriculture to last for 5,000 years and develop to this day.
The elements of Al Ain's cultural heritage are very diverse, a fortress with mud brick walls designed to defend and provide economic and stable life.
This article is excerpted from the 2017 "Memory of Civilization on the Belt and Road" Collector's Edition of Civilization
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