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381:. It is one of six such monasteries so far identified on the coastal Persian Gulf and has been dated between 534 and 656 CE. The Siniyah monastic complex included a kitchen, storerooms, a water cistern and an oven, thought to have been used to bake communion wafers. A large house forms part of the complex and has been dubbed a 'Bishop's Palace'. Finds at the site include an altar and a nearby cistern thought to have been used for baptisms. Large glass chalices found at the site are thought to have been used to celebrate the Eucharist.
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Siniyah encloses the Khor Al Beida marshland and mangrove swamp off the coast of Umm Al Quwain. Archaeologists located the remains of the oldest known pearl fishing town in the
Persian Gulf on the island, identifying a major settlement of some 12 hectares, comprising a number of houses built of rock
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The government of Umm Al Quwain has announced a Dh2.47 billion development project which will add major infrastructure, including leisure, hotel and residential properties to the island, which is currently uninhabited. The project includes the construction of a two-way three-land bridge between the
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Dated to the late C6th or early C7th CE both using radio carbon and comparative dating techniques on pottery sherds, and therefore predating the rise of Islam, the town was likely
Christian. It maintained extensive global trading links, with finds of ceramics, in particular, yielding an unusually
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Finds at the site have included loose pearls and pearl diver's weights, used to speed divers' swim from the surface down to the pearl beds, as well as an extensive pearl shell midden thought to contain millions of shells.
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Parallels have been drawn between the monks of the region and their practices and those of C6th monastic communities of Iona in
Scotland. Over time, the Christian community waned at Siniyah as the influence of
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The nature of the houses, some larger and more complex than numerous smaller homes, suggests social stratification and finds point to year-round settlement and a linkage to the nearby
Christian monastery.
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Social stratification at
Siniyah is demonstrated by a number of large 'merchant's houses' together with a higher concentration of smaller, simpler houses. The town is close to a monastic complex.
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earlier noted Mallah as having an abandoned fort and the village of
Siniyah with an old mosque. Lorimer claims the population abandoned Siniyah due to a lack of water resources.
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Following several distinct periods of human occupation, Siniyah was eventually abandoned in the 1820s as a result of
British bombardment of the settlement as part of the
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mainland and the island, which is an environmentally as well as archaeologically important site, being home to one of the largest remaining colonies of
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Siniyah has been identified through recent archaeological and archival work as the potential centre of the lost ancient town and region of
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Monastery and Bishop's Palace. The island's name means 'flashing lights', thought to be a reference to the harsh sunlight of the area.
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have also yielded a number of finds that point to extensive regional and global trading links over the past 5,000 years.
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and lime mortar. The site is thought to be one of the largest such settlements of its time, comparable to the city of
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The monastery at
Siniyah is the second such found in the UAE, following the discovery of a monastery on
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316:'s 1955 survey of the land borders of the Emirates notes a ruined village on Siniyah Island, named
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Part of the large C6th-C7th pearl fishing and trading town found on
Siniyah Island.
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before destroying fortifications and the larger boats of the towns of
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239:) is a natural island situated off the coast of the Emirate of
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572:"Their world was the oyster: Oldest pearl town found in UAE"
429:"Christian monastery possibly pre-dating Islam found in UAE"
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high proportion of Indian ware. The nearby settlements at
633:"Ancient Christian monastery discovered in Umm Al Quwain"
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Gazetteer of the
Persian Gulf, 'Omān, and Central Arabia
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or Tawwam, with the name Tu'am ultimately derived from
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482:. British Government, Bombay. p. 669.
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503:2023-03-21
464:2024-06-22
439:2023-03-20
410:References
363:Tell Abraq
328:Pearl town
143:25°36′53″N
547:cite book
539:774728046
375:Abu Dhabi
369:Monastery
146:55°38′4″E
119:Geography
661:Sky News
304:Abu Hail
124:Location
576:AP NEWS
433:AP NEWS
318:Mallah,
300:Sharjah
280:British
243:in the
204:Emirate
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359:Ed Dur
343:Julfar
320:while
306:, and
233:Arabic
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37:Arabic
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387:Islam
308:Dubai
296:Fasht
292:Ajman
260:Tu'am
553:link
535:OCLC
525:ISBN
361:and
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
