page_title: Iron Age in the United Arab Emirates
section_title: Iron Age I
hierarchical_section_title: Iron Age in the United Arab Emirates / Iron Age I
caption_attribution_description: English: Iron Age Petroglypph from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
context_page_description: The territory currently known as the United Arab Emirates was home to three distinct Iron Age periods. Iron Age I spanned 1,200–1,000 BCE, Iron Age II from 1,000–600 BCE, and Iron Age III from 600–300 BCE. This period of human development in the region was followed by the Mleiha or Late Pre-Islamic era, from 300 BCE onwards through to the Islamic era which commenced with the culmination of the 7th century Ridda Wars.
  To some degree the term 'Iron Age' is misapplied, as little evidence exists for any indigenous iron-work outside the finds at Muwailah, themselves thought to be imports, and even the extensive evidence of smelting throughout the Iron Age found at Saruq Al Hadid is dominated by copper and tin production.
  Finds from the important site of Tell Abraq have been crucial in the division of the three Iron Age periods in the UAE.
context_section_description: The Iron Age I period in the UAE immediately followed the Wadi Suq period, which ran from 2,000-1,300 BCE. The Wadi Suq people not only domesticated camels, but there is evidence they also planted crops of wheat, barley and dates. A gradual shift away from coastal to inland settlements took place through the period. The majority of finds dated to the Iron Age I period are centered around Shimal, Tell Abraq and Al Hamriyah on the West coast and Kalba to the East. Despite growing inland development, the Iron Age I diet still contained a large amount of fish and shellfish. Gazelle, oryx and domesticated animals (sheep, goats and cattle) also formed part of the Iron Age I diet, supplemented by the emerging widespread cultivation of wheat and barley.
  Iron Age I ceramics reflect a continuity from the Wadi Suq period and are coarse, often large in scale. Another link to the Wadi Suq period was revealed when analysis of a bivalve shell dated to the Iron Age I period showed it had contained atacamite, a copper-based pigment used as eye make-up. Similar shells were found in a Wadi Suq burial in Sha'am, in Northern Ras Al Khaimah.
caption: Iron Age Petroglyph from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
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