What's new? - 2004

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4 January 2004

Visit the ADIAS Press page and read the press release entitled 7000 year-old houses discovered on Marawah island - part 1 - part 2 (Source: WAM).
[ you can also download picture 1 - picture 2 - picture 3 - picture 4 ]

5 January 2004

Visit the ADIAS Press page and read the stories entitled

Stone houses dating back 7,000 years discovered (Source: Gulf News)
7000-year-old houses found in UAE - page 1 and main story (Source: Gulf Today)
7,000-year-old housing units found in Marawah Island (Source: Khaleej Times)

The same story also featured prominently in the arab press in the United Arab Emirates..... read the articles in arabic featured in
Akhbar al-Arab - Al Bayan - Al Ittihad - Al Khaleej - Al Wahda

6 January 2004

ADIAS gets onto two Irish websites. Visit: Stone Age homes found in the Gulf (Source: Ireland On-line) and Stone Age homes found in the Gulf (Source: Irish Examiner).

Added story to the ADIAS Press page "Remains of Late Stone Age houses found on Emirates island" written by Rawya Rageh, Associated Press Writer for Associated Press Newswires, Dubai.

7 January 2004

News about the Neolithic settlement on Marawah spreads to Scotland. Read Boffins' 7000-year-old find (Source: Glasgow Evening Times Online) and Stone Age settlement found on Gulf island (Source: The Scotsman).

11 January 2004

Added a link to the news story "Ancient Dwellings Discovered in United Arab Emirates" (Windows Media Audio file 56k) on the ADIAS Press page. This featured on Audio News (Week of 5 - 11 January 2004) from The Archaeology Channel / Archaeologica.

18 January 2004

Added two stories to the ADIAS Press page NDC, ADIAS join forces to carry out survey of fossil sites (Source: Khaleej Times) and NDC, ADIAS join forces to carry out survey of fossil sites (Source: Uaeinteract.com).

11-13 February 2004

ADIAS Senior Resident Archaeologist, Dr Mark Beech, and ADIAS associate, Dr Heiko Kallweit, were invited to Doha, Kuwait. On 11th February Dr Mark Beech gave a lecture entitled "Recent work by the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey" to the Qatar Natural History Group. His visit was kindly sponsored by Khalid Al Rabban, Rayyan Mineral Water Co., Qatar. On the 12 February Mark and Heiko met with Mohammed Said Al Bloshi, Head of the Antiquities Section of the Museums and Antiquities Department, as well as with Dr Munir Taha and other colleagues from the Department. Faisal Al-Nuaimi from the Department then kindly escorted the ADIAS team on a day trip around archaeological sites located in the northern half of Qatar, including Al Wusail and Al Khor on the east coast, Jassasiyah on the north coast, and Zekrit, Ras Abaruq and the Dukhan area on the west coast. He was an excellent and knowledgeable guide, and provided a useful introduction to the landscape and archaeology of Qatar. Clare and David Gillespie kindly hosted the visit and provided accommodation during the team's stay, also arranging a trip to the Ras Abaruq peninsula to examine some of the Neolithic/Ubaid sites first discovered by Beatrice de Cardi's team in the early 1970's. Mark and Heiko also held meetings whilst in Doha with Dr Benno Boer, programme specialist for UNESCO's Environmental and Marine Science activities in the region.

16 February 2004

ADIAS was very saddened to hear of the recent death of one of its research collaborators, Peter Whybrow.
Discoverer of Abu Dhabi's fossils dies (Source: Emirates News Agency - WAM)

17 February 2004

Added a link to the news story "Discoverer of Abu Dhabi's fossils dies" (Source: Khaleej Times) on the ADIAS Press page.

Added a special tribute page to Peter Whybrow on our website.

18 February 2004

Added the obituaries which appeared in the United Arab Emirates Arab Press onto the Peter Whybrow tribute page (click on each of the newspaper titles to download a jpeg scan of the article - in arabic): Al Bayan - Al Fajr - Al Ittihad - Al Khaleej - Al Wahda

Added a link on the Peter Whybrow tribute page to the obituary written by Clare Gillespie entitled Peter Whybrow, the discoverer of Arabian fossils which appeared in the Gulf Times in Qatar. Download it as a separate jpeg file by clicking here.

20 February 2004

Added the obituary "Briton who made a mark in fossil studies dies" which appeared in Gulf News onto the Peter Whybrow tribute page.

2 February 2004

Added a link to the news story "Abu Dhabi to hold exhibition of fossil finds" which appeared in Gulf News.

1 March 2004

Added a link to the news story "Ancient records speak volumes about Julfar's rich history" which appeared in Gulf News.

13 March 2004

Added the new ADIAS March 2004 newsletter to the website.

14 March 2004

The Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey (ADIAS), in collaboration with the Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency (ERWDA), organised a half day workshop on The Abu Dhabi Sabkha. A slide, overhead and video presentation was made by Professor Graham Evans and Dr. Tony Kirkham. The meeting was attended by staff from ADIAS, the Environmental Protection Division (EPD), Marine Environment Research Center (MERC), and Terrestrial Environment Research Center (TERC) from ERWDA.

15 March 2004

Added new article to ADIAS publications list entitled "Houses dating to 5000 BC discovered in UAE" which appeared in the News section of Current World Archaeology magazine, no.3 (issued January 2004).

Added new link to a press story entitled "Giant elephants in the UAE" which appeared in the Gulf Times - Features Supplement - Qatar. This was an article about the recent talk given by Dr Mark Beech to the Qatar Natural History Group in Doha, providing an update on current ADIAS projects.

26 March 2004

Added new page with details of the current archaeological excavations at site MR11 of a 7000 year old settlement on Marawah Island. This includes a series of photographs of the excavation and of some of the finds.

5 April 2004

Added a new publication to the ADIAS publications page. This is the publication of my Phd thesis in the BAR International Series.

Beech, M.J. 2004. Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey Monograph 1 - In the land of the Ichthyophagi: Modelling fish exploitation in the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman from the 5th millennium BC to the Late Islamic period. British Archaeological Reports International Series S1217. ISBN 1841715778. xxi + 293 pages; 126 figures, maps, plans, drawings, photographs; 232 tables; 8 Appendices of data, remains and sites.
[ to obtain more details click here - to purchase a copy of this book click here ].

7-8 April 2004

ADIAS staff participated in the Zayed Centre for Heritage and History 2nd Annual Symposium on Recent Archaeological Work in the Emirates which was held at the Mercure Hotel Grand Jebel Hafeet in Al Ain. Papers were presented on the recent work at Kharimat Khor Al Manahil by Dr Heiko Kallweit, Dr Mark Beech and Dr Walid Yasin Al-Tikriti, as well as concerning the recent ADIAS excavations on Marawah island by Dr Mark Beech, Richard Cuttler, Derek Moscrop, Dr Heiko Kallweit and John Martin. For details of the symposium programme click here.

8 April 2004

Added new links on the ADIAS press page to the following stories which appeared in the UAE press:
Archaeology conference in Al Ain opens (Source: Uaeinteract.com)
Re-discovering UAE's pre-historic splendour (Source: Gulf News)
Article in arabic about the 2nd Al Ain Archaeology Symposium (Source: Al Ittihad)

9 April 2004

Added new link to a press story entitled Archaeological digs 'boost knowledge' which appeared in the Khaleej Times.

19-22 April 2004

ADIAS Senior Resident Archaeologist, Dr Mark Beech, and ADIAS associate, Dr Heiko Kallweit, were invited to give lectures on the 20-21 April to the Department of Antiquity and Museums in Kuwait. This department is part of the Kuwait National Museum and the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters. They presented lectures on the recent work carried out by ADIAS on Miocene fossils, neolithic desert settlements, and a newly discovered neolithic settlement on Marawah island.

20 April 2004

Added links to two press stories which appeared in newspapers in the Kuwaiti arab press about the lectures given there by ADIAS staff, Dr Mark Beech and Dr Heiko Kallweit: Al Qabas and Al Rahi Al Am.

22 April 2004

Added a new link to a press story entitled Got a Gomphotherium which appeared on page 1 and page 6 of the Arab Times in Kuwait.

23 April 2004

Added a new link to a press story entitled Seminar set on Oman heritage which appeared in Gulf Today.

23-28 April 2004

ADIAS Senior Resident Archaeologist, Dr Mark Beech, participated in the International Conference, "Magan, an Early Arabian Civilization and the first Maritime Trade between India and the Near East", held from 24-25 April in Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman. Following the conference there was a two-day excursion (26-27 April) to the main prehistoric sites explored by the Joint Hadd Project along the southeast corner of the Arabian Peninsula, between the towns of Quryat and Suwaih.

26 April 2004

Added a new link to a press story entitled Symposium delegates to visit archaeological sites which appeared in the Oman Daily Observer.

30 April 2004

Added a new link to a press story entitled Tracking the Ancient Elephant, which appeared in the April/May 2004 issue of the University of Bradford News and Views magazine. Will Higgs, formerly from the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, now based at the University of Bradford, is collaborating with Dr Mark Beech on a study of Late Miocene footprint sites in the western region of Abu Dhabi.

23 May 2004

Added new links on the ADIAS website to the following press stories:

Remains of ancient tuskers on display (Source: Gulf News)
Six-million-year-old fossils to go on show - [ scanned version with picture ] (Source: Gulf Today)
6 to 8 million years old fossils to go on display - [ scanned version with picture ] (Source: Khaleej Times)

6 June 2004

Read the ADIAS May 2004 newsletter on the ADIAS website.

15 June 2004

Dr Mark Beech (ADIAS Senior Resident Archaeologist) gave a lecture to the Emirates Natural History Group about the recent archaeological work on Marawah island. This took place at 8 p.m. on Tuesday 15 June 2004 at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi.

30 June 2004

Added new links on the ADIAS website to the following press stories:

Excavations unearth oldest inhabitant of Abu Dhabi [download jpeg version] (Source: Gulf News)

Marawah excavations find Abu Dhabi's oldest inhabitant [download jpeg version] (Source: Gulf Today)

Remains of oldest inhabitant of Abu Dhabi found [download jpeg version] (Source: Khaleej Times)

Marawah excavations find Abu Dhabi's oldest inhabitant (Source: Uaeinteract.com)

A look into the past (Source: Uaeinteract.com)

22-24 July 2004

Dr Mark Beech will be involved in the presentation of two papers at the Seminar for Arabian Studies conference being held at the British Museum in London. These papers will be presented on Friday 23 July in the session entitled "Prehistory in the Gulf & Southeast Arabia", chaired by Dr Rob Carter. Click on the paper titles below to read an abstract of the papers to be presented:

9:25a.m. - Dr Heiko Kallweit (Freiburg, Germany), Dr Mark Beech (ADIAS, Abu Dhabi, UAE) & Dr Walid Al-Tikriti (Department of Antiquities & Tourism, Al Ain), Kharimat Khor al-Manahil: new neolithic sites in the south-eastern desert of the United Arab Emirates.

9.50a.m. - Dr Mark Beech (ADIAS, Abu Dhabi, UAE), R. Cuttler and D. Moscrop (University of Birmingham, UK), Dr Heiko Kallweit (Freiburg, Germany) & John Martin (Carlisle, UK), New evidence for the Neolithic settlement of Marawah island (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates).

1 November 2004

Read the ADIAS November 2004 newsletter on the ADIAS website.

7 November 2004

Added new publications:

Beech, M., H. Kallweit and P. Hellyer. 2004. New archaeological investigations at Abu Dhabi Airport, United Arab Emirates. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 34: 1-15.
[ to download this article in Acrobat .pdf format click here (2.94 MB) ] .

Beech, M. and M. Anwar. 2004. The excavation of fossil locality 642. Chapter 9, in: R.W. Dennell, Early Hominin Landscapes in Northern Pakistan: Investigations in the Pabbi Hills. British Archaeological Reports (International series) S1265. pp.328-352. ISBN 1841713716.
[ to download this article in Acrobat .pdf format click here (1.19 MB) ] .

Anwar, M. and Beech, M. 2004. The excavation of site 362. Chapter 9, in: R.W. Dennell, Early Hominin Landscapes in Northern Pakistan: Investigations in the Pabbi Hills. British Archaeological Reports (International series) S1265. pp.314-327. ISBN 1841713716.
[ to download this article in Acrobat .pdf format click here (564 Kb) ] .

Beech, M. 2004. Book review of "Stone Age Sites and their Natural Environment - The Capital Area of Northern Oman Part III by Hans-Peter Uerpmann and Margarethe Uerpmann, with a contribution by Stefan Scholer, 2003. Beihefte zum Tubinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients - Reihe A (Naturwissenschaften) Nr. 31/3. Dr Ludwig Reichert, Wiesbaden, Germany" in Tribulus (Journal of the Emirates Natural History Group) 14.1: 25-26.
[ to download this article in Acrobat .pdf format click here (238 Kb) ] .

18 November 2004

Added new link to the press story, Discovery of 7500 year old skeleton on Marawah island, which appeared in Asharq Al-Awsat, a pan-Arab newspaper based in London.

19 December 2004

Dr Mark Beech, ADIAS Senior Resident Archaeologist, gave a lecture to the Scuba Diving Community in Abu Dhabi. The lecture, co-organised by Kathleen Russell and Hazim Chalabi, was held in the ADMA-OPCO 1st floor auditorium from 8 - 9.30 p.m. Dr Beech presented a lecture entitled "Thoughts on Underwater Archaeology". To view the handout information sheets on Underwater Archaeology - click here.

20 December 2004

ADIAS held a press conference together with the Forensic Science Laboratory at Abu Dhabi Police Headquarters in Abu Dhabi from 10-11.30 a.m. The following press release was issued: The following press release was issued:

Forensic Science Laboratory of Abu Dhabi Police identifies the gender (Source: WAM, Emirates Press Agency)

Seated from left to right at the end of the table: Dr Saeid M.E.Shawgi (Head of Forensic Pathology Unit, General Directorate of Abu Dhabi Police), Dr Mark Beech (Senior Resident Archaeologist, Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey, ADIAS), Lt. Col. Ahmad Hassan Al-Awadhi (Director of the Forensic Science Laboratory, General Directorate of Abu Dhabi Police), Peter Hellyer (Executive Director, Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey, ADIAS)

21 December 2004

Added links to local UAE arab press coverage about the announcement of the discovery of the UAE's oldest skeleton.

UAE's oldest skeleton found - in arabic (Source: Al Bayan)

Scientist's recover DNA from skeleton - in arabic (Source: Al Ittihad)

(Source: Al Khaleej)

(Source: Al Watan)

Links to local UAE english language press:

Gender of oldest man identified - also download jpeg version (Source: Gulf Today)

Scientists recover DNA from skeleton - also download jpeg version (Source: Khaleej Times)

UAE's oldest skeleton found - also download jpeg version (Source: Gulf News)

Forensic Science Laboratory of Abu Dhabi Police identifies the gender (Source: UAEinteract.com)

Also, added links to International Press coverage about the same story:

Remains of 7,500-year-old man found in UAE (Source: ABC Online, Australia)
7500-year-old body unearthed (Source: Advertiser, Australia)
7500-year-old body unearthed (Source: The Australian, Australia)
7500-year-old body unearthed (Source: Brisbane Courier Mail, Australia)
Remains of 7,500-yr old man found in UAE (Source: The Daily Star, Bangladesh)
Archaeologists find 'first man in UAE' (Source: CNN, GA, USA)
Archaeologists find 'first man in UAE' (Source: CNN International, GA, USA)
7500-year-old body unearthed (Source: Daily Telegraph, Australia)
Remains of 7,500-Year-Old Man Found in UAE (Source: Free Internet Press, NY)
UAE archaeologists find 7,500-yr-old skeleton (Source: Hindustan Times, India)
Remains of 7,500-Year-Old Man Found in UAE (Source: India Daily, India)
7500-year-old body unearthed (Source: Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia)
7500-year-old body unearthed (Source: The Mercury, Australia)
7500-year-old body unearthed (Source: NEWS.com.au, Australia)
Remains of 7,500-year-old man 'found in UAE' (Source: New Zealand Herald, New Zealand)
UAE uncovers 7500-year-old man's skeleton (Source: People's Daily Online, China)
Remains of 7,500-Year-Old Man Found in UAE (Source: Reuters, UK)
Remains of 7,500-Year-Old Man Found in UAE (Source: Reuters, NY)
7,500-year-old skeleton found (Source: The Scotsman, UK)
7500-year-old body unearthed (Source: South Australia Advertiser, Australia)
7,500-Year-Old Human Remains Found (Source: Xtra News, New Zealand)
Remains of 7,500-Year-Old Man Found in UAE (Source: Yahoo News)

[ Page last updated by Dr Mark Beech - 7 Sept 2010 ]

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