Location of Sir Bani Yas (Source: ADIAS)
Introduction
1992 Survey
Excavations 1993-1996
Links
Press
Publications
Introduction
The island of Sir Bani Yas is located 170kms west of Abu Dhabi,
the capital of the United Arab Emirates. It lies 9kms offshore from
Jebel Dhanna. The island is 17.5kms from north to south and 9kms from
east to west. The bare mountains in the central area rise to a height
of 148 m.
Location of archaeological sites on Sir Bani Yas (Source: ADIAS)
1992 Survey
A team from the Abu Dhabi Islands Archeological Survey (ADIAS) conducted
an initial survey of the island between the 25th to 30th March 1992
(King 1998). This identified a total of 36 sites,
| SITE
CODE |
DESCRIPTION |
WEBSITE
LINK |
| SBY1 |
Late
Pre-Islamic period pottery scatter on ridge above al-Khawr, east
part of island. |
|
| SBY2 |
Late
Pre-Islamic period structure and pottery scatter, east part of island. |
|
| SBY3 |
Late
Pre-Islamic period courtyard house, east part of island. Next to
llama pen. |
|
| SBY4 |
Late
Pre-Islamic period courtyard house, east part of island. NE of llama
pen. |
|
| SBY5 |
Late
Pre-Islamic period ?courtyard house, east part of island. |
|
| SBY6 |
Late
Pre-Islamic period courtyard house, east part of island. |
|
| SBY7 |
Late
Pre-Islamic period courtyard house, east part of island. |
|
| SBY8 |
Late
Pre-Islamic period low mound, east part of island. |
|
| SBY9 |
Late
Pre-Islamic period occupation mound. Excavations conducted here
between 1994-6 uncovered a Nestorian monastery and church dating
to the sixth-seventh centuries AD. Stucco decoration recovered from
the excavations included fragments of Nestorian crosses and vine-and-scroll
patterns. |
View
fragments
of decorated plaster via
the external website,
the Virtual Museum on the http://www.uaeinteract.com/ website, produced by Trident Press. |
| SBY10 |
Late
Islamic period mosque within plantation enclosure in the Butabr
area, north coast of island. |
|
| SBY11 |
Late
Islamic period cemetery with at least 45 graves, north coast of
island. |
|
| SBY12 |
Rectangular
cistern, built pre-1938, located in the old, well-established palm-grove
at al-Nakhayl. |
|
| SBY13 |
Late
Islamic period cemetery with 17 graves at northern end of island. |
|
| SBY14 |
Late
Islamic period settlement at northern end of island. |
|
| SBY15 |
Circular
stone cairn ca. 2m in diameter of unknown date. |
|
| SBY16 |
Circle
of stones of unknown date, east part of island. |
|
| SBY17 |
This
site code was cancelled. |
|
| SBY18 |
Late
Islamic period campsites with depressions and cairns, northern end
of island. |
|
| SBY19 |
Later
Islamic period campsite at northern end of island. |
|
| SBY20 |
?Pre-Islamic
period cairn at northern end of island. |
|
| SBY21 |
Late
Islamic period settlement. Part of the abandoned village of al-Zahir,
located at the northern end of the island. |
|
| SBY22 |
Late
Islamic period well and house remains. Part of the abandoned village
of al-Zahir, located at the northern end of the island. |
|
| SBY23 |
Late
Islamic period structure, butchery and campsites, including pottery
scatters, located at the northern end of the island. |
|
| SBY24 |
Late
Stone age lithics scatters and cairns, located at the northern end
of the island. |
|
| SBY25 |
Shallow
depression of unknown date, located at the northern end of the island. |
|
| SBY26 |
Group
of at least seven Late Islamic period graves, located at the northern
end of the island. |
|
| SBY27 |
?Pre-Islamic
period cairn, located at the northern end of the island. |
|
| SBY28 |
?Pre-Islamic
period cairn, located on the western side of the island. |
|
| SBY29 |
?Pre-Islamic
period cairn, located on the western side of the island. |
|
| SBY30 |
Islamic
period campsite and two or three graves located on NW side of the
island. |
|
| SBY31 |
?Pre-Islamic
period cairn, located on the eastern side of the island, overlooking
the llama pens at Khawr al-Janubi. |
|
| SBY32 |
Late
Islamic period campsite and fishing/pearling beach, located on western
coast of the island. |
|
| SBY33 |
Late
Islamic period campsite with pearl oyster midden and occasional
dugong bones, located on western coast of the island. |
|
| SBY34 |
Late
Islamic period cemetery, with four burials, located on western coast
of the island. |
|
| SBY35 |
Late
Islamic period tower. Only scattered remains of masonry survived.
Located on NE side of the island. |
|
| SBY36 |
Salt
mine of unknown date located in the Wad'l-Milh, on the western side
of the central hills. Six mine shafts were visible including deep
shafts. |
|
Excavations 1993-1996
Prince Charles talking to Dr Geoffrey King in 1993 at Sir Bani Yas site
SBY3 (Photograph by ADIAS)
View
of the church at Sir Bani Yas site SBY9 in 1996 (Photograph by Dr Mark
Beech)
One of the plaster panels from the Nestorian monastery
at site SBY9 on Sir Bani Yas (Photograph by Dr Mark Beech)
View
of the kitchen at Sir Bani Yas site SBY7 in 1996 (Photograph by Dr Mark
Beech)
Visit a Gallery
of pictures from Sir Bani Yas.
View fragments
of decorated plaster from a pre-Islamic church on Abu Dhabi's island
of Sir Bani Yas (via
the external website, the Virtual Museum on the http://www.uaeinteract.com/ website, produced by Trident Press).
Links
Formation
of Bani Yas (Source: Uaeinteract.com)
Nestorians
(Source: Uaeinteract.com)
Radiocarbon
dates from Sir Bani Yas (Source: ADIAS website)
Sir Bani Yas (Source: Arabian
Wildlife)
Sir
Bani Yas (Source: Uaeinteract.com)
Press
18 November 1996 -
Sir Bani Yas Monastery a major find, say leading scholars (Source:
www.uaeinteract.com)
21 May 1998 -
New book on archaeology of three Abu Dhabi islands (Source:
www.uaeinteract.com)
16 March 1999 -
Book on Abu Dhabi archaeology unveiled today (Source:
www.uaeinteract.com)
12 May 2002 - New
results from Sir Bani Yas study (Source: ADIAS press release)
Publications
Aston, E.R. 1985. A
Brief Geology of Sir Bani Yas. Bulletin of the Emirates Natural
History Group 27: 2-4.
Elders, J. 2001. The lost churches of the Arabian Gulf: recent discoveries
on the islands of Sir Bani Yas and Marawah, Abu Dhabi Emirate, United
Arab Emirates. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 31: 47-58.
[ to download this article in Acrobat .pdf format click here (1.36 MB) ] .
Elders,
J. 2003. The Nestorians in the Gulf: Just Passing Through? In: D.T.
Potts, H. Naboodah and P. Hellyer (eds.), Proceedings of the First International
Conference on the Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi,
15-18 April 2001). Trident Press, London. pp. 229-236.
Hellyer, P. 1993d. New discoveries on Dalma
and Sir Bani Yas. Tribulus (Journal of the Emirates Natural History
Group) 3.2: 16.
[ to download this article in Acrobat .pdf
format click here (126 Kb) ] .
Hellyer, P. 2001b. Nestorian Christianity
in Pre-Islamic UAE and Southeastern Arabia. Journal of Social Affairs
18 (No.72): 79-99.
[ to download this article in Acrobat
.pdf format click here (2.5 MB) ] .
King, G.R.D. 1997a. A Nestorian
monastic settlement on the island of Sir Bani Yas, Abu Dhabi: a preliminary
report. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 60(2):
221-235.
[
to download this article in Acrobat .pdf format click here
(2.3 MB) ] .
King, G.R.D. 1997b. The History
of the U.A.E.: The Eve of Islam and the Islamic Period. In: E. Ghareeb
and I. Al-Abed (eds.), Perspectives on the United Arab Emirates. Trident
Press: London. pp.74-94.
[ N.B. this chapter
is now superceded by King 2001 - to download this article in Acrobat
.pdf format click here ]
.
King, G.R.D. 1998. Abu Dhabi
Islands Archaeological Survey: Season I - An Archaeological Survey of
Sir Bani Yas, Dalma and Marawah: Season One. Trident Press: London.
[ To purchase this book (ISBN 1-900724-14-6) visit Trident
Press ]
King, G.R.D. 2001. The coming of Islam
and the Islamic period in the UAE. In: I. Al-Abed and P. Hellyer (eds.),
The United Arab Emirates: A new perspective. Trident Press, UK. pp.70-97.
[ To purchase this book (ISBN 1-900724-47-2)
visit Trident Press - to download
this chapter in Acrobat .pdf format, courtesy of the Ministry of Information
and Culture website, click here ]
King, G.R.D., D. Dunlop, J. Elders,
S. Garfi, A.Stephenson, and C. Tonghini. 1995. A report
on the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey (1993-1994). Proceedings
of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 25: 63-74.
[
to download this article in Acrobat .pdf format click here (838 Kb) ] .
King, G.R.D. and P. Hellyer. 1994. A Pre-Islamic
Christian site on Sir Bani Yas. Tribulus (Journal of the Emirates Natural
History Group) 4.2: 5–7.
[ to download this article in Acrobat .pdf format click here (343 Kb) ] .
Krivánek, R. 1997.
Geophysical survey on archaeological sites on Sir Bani Yas island, Abú
Dhabi (UAE) - Geofyzikální pruzkum na archeologických
lokalitách na ostrove Sir Bani Yas (Spojené Arabské
Emiráty). Památky archeologické 88 (1): 142-150.
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