page_title: Umm Al Nar culture
section_title: Excavations
hierarchical_section_title: Umm Al Nar culture / Excavations
caption_attribution_description: English: This is the round Umm Al Nar type tomb from the Al Sufouh archaeological site in Dubai, UAE
context_page_description: Umm Al Nar is the name given to a Bronze Age culture that existed around 2600-2000 BCE in the area of modern-day United Arab Emirates and Northern Oman. The Arabic name has in the past frequently been transliterated as Umm an-Nar and also Umm al-Nar. The etymology derives from the island of the same name which lies adjacent to Abu Dhabi city and which provided early evidence and finds attributed to the period.
context_section_description: The first archaeological excavations in Abu Dhabi began at Umm Al Nar in 1959, twelve years before the foundation of the United Arab Emirates. Seven tombs from a total of fifty and three areas at the ruins of the ancient settlement were examined by the Danish Archaeological Expedition. During their first visit they identified a few exposed shaped stones fitted together at some of the stone mounds. The following year (February 1959) the first excavations started at one of the mounds on the plateau, now called Tomb I. Two more seasons (1960 and 1961) involved digging more tombs, while the last three seasons (1962/1963, 1964 and 1965) were allocated to examining the settlement.
  The Danish excavations on Umm Al Nar halted in 1965 but were resumed in 1975 by an archaeological team from Iraq. During the Iraqi excavations which lasted one season, five tombs were excavated and a small section of the village was examined. Between 1970 and 1972 an Iraqi restoration team headed by Shah Al Siwani, former member of the Antiquities Director in Baghdad, restored and/or reconstructed the Danish excavated tombs.
  At Al Sufouh Archaeological Site in Dubai, archaeological excavation between 1994 and 1995 revealed an Umm Al Nar type circular tomb dating between 2500 and 2000 B.C. An Umm Al Nar tomb is at the centre of the Mleiha Archaeological Centre in Sharjah.
  Dilmun Burial Mounds in Bahrain also feature Umm Al Nar Culture remains.
  At Tell Abraq, settlements associated with the start of the Umm Al Nar Culture began c. 2500 BCE.
caption: Distinctive Umm Al Nar burial - this grave is at the Al Sufouh Archaeological site in Dubai.
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