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Ancient Glazed Jar Found in Al Ain Digging

ABU DHABI - A glazed pottery vessel dating back around 2,000 years has been found in the vicinity of the Shaikha Salama
mosque in central Al
Ain, the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), said
on Wednesday.

Following the discovery of the vessel, a team from ADACH examined the area with remote-sensing equipment and was able to determine that a part of an old falaj (underground water channel) was present in the area. Pottery fragments from the Umm Al Nar Period was recovered from the soil layers above the falaj while fragments of pottery from the late Islamic period were found in the falaj itself.

The glazed jar dates back to the late pre-Islamic period, which lasted from around 300BC until the beginning of the Islamic era.

Similar vessels, made on the Greek island of Rhodes during the second and third century BC, have been found at the archaeological site of Mleiha, in Sharjah, providing evidence of trading relations between the emirates and Greece during the Hellenistic civilisation, which flourished after the death of the Greek emperor Alexander the Great.

Another major site from this period is at Ad Dour, in Umm Al Quwain, but little archaeological evidence of this period has previously been identified in Al Ain, the ADACH said.

During studies of the Shaikha Salama mosque site undertaken in 2006, two old falajs were identified as passing through the area – the Falaj Jahili, which dried up, and an unnamed falaj, deeper and presumably older, which had been blocked by the foundations of buildings. -