The Development of Fishing in the UAE: a Zooarchaeological Perspective

Paper presented at the First International Conference on Emirates Archaeology - 15-18 April 2000, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

A conference organised by the Zayed Center for Heritage and History, in Abu Dhabi, with the co-sponsorship of the Ministry of Information and Culture of the United Arab Emirates.


Mark J. Beech

Department of Archaeology, University of York, The King's Manor, York YO1 7EP, U.K. ( E-mail: mjb117@york.ac.uk )

ABSTRACT

The study of fish bones from archaeological excavations can provide important information concerning the diet of the early inhabitants of the United Arab Emirates. It also allows us to examine which types of marine environments were exploited by coastal populations through time. This contribution will present some of the key points to emerge from  from my recently completed doctoral thesis concerned with the development of fishing within the Arabian Gulf. Using examples from a number of archaeological fish bone assemblages which I have studied from the United Arab Emirates, I will outline the major trends visible between the Late Stone age and Late Pre-Islamic Periods (ca. 5500 BC - 650 AD). 
 


[ Page last updated by Dr Mark Beech - 20 April 2000 ]


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