Sharjah Archaeology Museum
The Sharjah Archaeology Museum is the first museum in Sharjah, the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. The museum showcases artifacts that were found in Sharjah and that belong to pre-Islamic eras.
History
The museum was established on October 5, 1997, by Sheikh Sultan Bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, member of the Federal Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates.The museum is located in the Halwan suburb, close to the Cultural Square in Sharjah. It is considered the first museum in the UAE that specializes in archaeology on a national level. These discoveries were the results of the archaeologists’ efforts whose missions to Sharjah started from 1973 until contemporary times. They also resulted from the efforts of the local expedition which started in 1993, under the supervision of Professor Sabah Jassim. The department of archaeology falls under the Sharjah Department of Culture. The expedition accomplished a number of important excavations in Sharjah on its own and in partnership with other foreign expeditions.
The museum is home to over one-thousand archaeological pieces, dating from pre-Islamic times, particularly from the Paleolithic Age over 120 thousand years ago until the seventh-century A.D.
These pieces include utensils, pottery, tools, stone and metallic artifacts, as well as ornaments, jewelry, coins, small animal and human statues, in addition to models of skeletons, burials, and houses that were discovered in various places in Sharjah.
The Sharjah Museums Authority
The Sharjah Museums Authority was founded and established in 2006 by an order from His Highness, the ruler of Sharjah. He combined all the museums in the Sharjah, including the Sharjah Archaeology Museum. Since then, the Authority has been responsible for supervising the current and future museums and bridging the ways between them.Museums halls
The museum includes six halls, four of which are chronological main halls, and two of which are secondary halls. Visitors may start their tour of the museum from one of the secondary halls, which is the Archaeology Hall.The Archaeology Hall
This hall includes an enlarged aerial photograph of the northern Emirates in the shape of a map, showcasing Sharjah's location overlooking the Arabian Gulf from the west and the Arabian Sea from the East, making it an intermediary between the other emirates, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Ras Al-Khaimah, Fujairah, and Umm Al-Quwain. Sharjah varies in terrain, from its coastal plains soaked in sea water to its sandy deserts in the center, and its medium-height mountains in the East. Its mountains are its most generous region in groundwater and heavy rains. In the past, that was what made it habitable, in addition to the facilitation of cultivation of its gravel plains, and that's how Sharjah's terrains planned out the life of past Sharjah residents, making them hunters, farmers, shepherds, moving from the mountains to deserts in accordance with the weather conditions. Additionally, they also often resorted to fishing and shell-collecting on the western and eastern coasts. Later on, they were able to plant fertile grounds, which contributed to the settlement of a number of people. The open coasts enabled the first inhabitants to communicate and trade with other countries and civilizations, and discovering pottery shards, near Al-Himriya Beach, in northern Sharjah, belonging to utensils from the flourishing Ubaid Period in Southern Iraq, dating back to seven-thousand years ago. These links were deepened, by sea and land as the first Sharjah residents reached to Yemen, Bahrain, The Levant, Persian Coasts, The Sindh, and as far as Greece. The map showcases the most significant archaeological places in Sharjah, such as Muweileh, Al-Himriya, Tell Abraq, on the western coast, and Jebel Buhais, Maleha, Al-Faya Mountain, in the center, and Kalba, Dibba Al-Hisn, and Khorfakkan, on the eastern coast, all dating back to different periods, the oldest of which is 85 thousands years old. On the side facing the hall is a model of an archaeological site, where children aged between seven and fourteen can reincarnate the roles of archaeologists and mine the sand using mining tools, trying to find lost archaeological artifacts under the supervision of specialized educationalists guides who help them lift, photograph, and number what they've found before assigning an ID card to it, draw its dimensions, and describe it thoroughly, allowing them to appreciate the efforts of archaeologists. The museum has four main halls, including:1- The Stone Age Hall (5000 B.C. - 3000 B.C.)
In this hall, visitors are introduced to life in Sharjah during the Stone Age. They are given an overview of how the residents fluctuated between hunting and fishing, and shepherding and farming. The hall's display cabinets showcase a rare collection of archaeological findings from Sharjah, and it includes flint tools and personal exquisite ornaments, made out of ones, stones, and even pearls. Moreover, the hall displays the most ancient pearl necklace found in the UAE, and it was discovered in Jebel Buhais, and it is over seven-thousand years old. The hall also exhibits colored pottery shards belonging to the Ubaid Civilization, which flourished in Southern Iraq during that period, proving ancient links between Sharjah and other civilizations since thousands of years ago.2- The Bronze Age Hall (3000 B.C. - 1300 B.C.)
Despite Sharjah's weather becoming drier during this period, a new improvement was made when stone was replaced with metal for making tools needed for daily life. Copper was abundant in the mountains of the region, enabling residents to mine and manufacture it. Tin was added to copper, creating the new mix known as Bronze. During this age, creating pottery was popularized and the links between Sharjah and other civilizations were deepened, including the Tell Abraq settlement on the Arabian Gulf coast. Also, findings proved that the residents were communicating with The Sindh, Mesopotamia, and Delmon civilizations as many pottery utensils, seals, and unique ivory combs buried in those sites and imported from different parts from the world. Similar to their ancestors in the Stone Age, the residents of Sharjah during the Bronze Age continued to shepherd and hunt. They also planted their grounds with wheat and barley for the first time, which made them improve and modernize their irrigation methods to keep up with their increasingly dry weather. They also started building mud houses and using palm fronds for the rooftops; thus, palm trees became an important resource for dates, building-materials, and making ropes and baskets.3- The Iron Age Hall (1300 B.C. - 300 B.C.)
Despite the relatively small numbers of iron findings in the region during this period, it was still named “The Iron Age.” The iron's lack of use could be attributed to its lack of raw materials locally in comparison to the abundance of copper. However, two main variables led to drastic economic and social changes. Firstly, digging irrigation channels to reach farms and population communities, and these channels were commonly known as “Al-Falaj.” This noticeably flourished farming and expanded reaping wheat and barley, and planting palm trees, which led to the formation of a number of small agricultural villages. Secondly, the domestication of camels which appears to have happened towards the end of 2000 B.C. south of the Arabian Peninsula, after which raising camels spread across its regions, including the area which is the UAE today. This period marks the beginning of the friendship between the Arab and his camel, as well as the beginning of making trade routes which are to connect the different parts of the Arabian Peninsula, as well as connect it to its external ocean in the north. This paved the way for a period of trade boom springing from Yemen through incense caravans and gum. This period is when Muweileh becomes the star of the country, for this village with adjacent houses made out of adobe, located 15 km away from Sharjah's coast on the Arabian Gulf, weaved a network with Yemen, Iran, and Mespotamia, whose nature is not known until now, although proof that it happened was found in its soil, including the first trace of writing found in the United Arab Emirates until now, which was written in the Sabaean Musnad script that originated in Yemen.4- The Arabian Peninsula Grand Hall (300 B.C. - 611 A.D.)
In the beginning of the third-century B.C., The Arabian Peninsula reinforced its role as a mediator in the trade network between the Indian Ocean countries and the Mediterranean Sea countries. Allowing Arabs control the backbone of the trade between these countries, which is incense. Yemenites used to import incense from Asia onto their ports before carrying it to the different kingdoms of Yemen, enabling them to make fortunes before exporting it again with its local product of gum, which was just as valuable as incense, to Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome.Located 60 km east of the city of Sharjah, Maleha was the trade center in southeastern the Arabian Peninsula, for in it were discovered evidence of expansive connections between Maleha and Yemen, in addition to various other trade centers within and without the Arabian Peninsula. In fact, evidence reveals that there was communication between Maleha's residents and Greece and Egypt. It is possible that Maleha was a resting place for caravans before continuing their route across the Gulf's coasts to export its goods from South Asia and Yemen to Persia, etc. Evidence also shows that Maleha acted as a market for surrounding regions; in fact, it had authority and power in the region, allowing it to make its own currency, which was copied from the drachma of Alexander the Great. Maleha was greatly populated during the period of 300 B.C. and 300 A.D. Its residents buried the nobles in special graves before building funerary towers over them. They buried with them their most prized possessions, including pottery, imported glass and pottery utensils, and ornaments. Moreover, some even had their cattle, like horses and camels, buried with them, showcasing their faith in the afterlife, which they believed was a continuation of their first life.