page_title: Bidaa Bint Saud
hierarchical_section_title: Bidaa Bint Saud
caption_attribution_description: English: A panoramic view of the Eastern slopes of Bidaa Bint Saud, showing collapsed Hafit period beehive tombs. The Iron Age buildings are the top of the tell.
context_page_description: Bidaa Bint Saud is an archaeological site in Al-Ain Region, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, notable for its Hafit Period tombs, Iron Age irrigation systems and rare remains of an Iron Age building thought to have been a distribution centre for water from two falajes. It is a listed UN World Heritage site. Finds from the site are displayed at Al Ain National Museum.
  The dating of pottery from the falaj irrigation systems found at the site demonstrates a south-eastern Arabian origin for this distinctive system of irrigation, previously thought by many scholars to have been Persian in origin. The dating of aflaj in Bidaa bint Saud, Al Ain and Buraimi, both of which are in the historical region of Tawam, has been placed several centuries prior to the Achaemenid Empire, which had previously been credited with the innovation.
  The site, located some 15 kilometres north of Al Ain, is thought to have been a stopping place on a long-established caravan route from settlements at Al Ain to the Northern Emirates. The rocky outcrop of Garn bin Saud looms some 40 m above the site and is dotted with burial remains.
context_section_description: Bidaa Bint Saud (Arabic: بِـدَع بِـنْـت سـعـوْد‎, romanized: Bidaʿ Bint Saud) is an archaeological site in Al-Ain Region, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, notable for its Hafit Period tombs, Iron Age irrigation systems and rare remains of an Iron Age building thought to have been a distribution centre for water from two falajes. It is a listed UN World Heritage site. Finds from the site are displayed at Al Ain National Museum.
  The dating of pottery from the falaj irrigation systems found at the site demonstrates a south-eastern Arabian origin for this distinctive system of irrigation, previously thought by many scholars to have been Persian in origin. The dating of aflaj in Bidaa bint Saud, Al Ain and Buraimi, both of which are in the historical region of Tawam, has been placed several centuries prior to the Achaemenid Empire, which had previously been credited with the innovation.
  The site, located some 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) north of Al Ain, is thought to have been a stopping place on a long-established caravan route from settlements at Al Ain to the Northern Emirates. The rocky outcrop of Garn bin Saud looms some 40 m (130 ft) above the site and is dotted with burial remains.
caption: A panoramic view of the Eastern slopes of Bidaa Bint Saud, showing Hafit period beehive tombs. The Iron Age building is at the top of the tell.
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