A new study has cast further light on the rich archaeological history of Sharjah, with the use of ancient tools highlighting how humankind adapted to its surroundings.
It has shown early humans once lived in Sharjah’s Jebel Faya region tens of thousands of years ago.
Archaeologists unearthed sophisticated stone tools now believed to be 80,000-years-old, the study says, that were crafted by skilled inhabitants designed for hunting, butchery, processing plants and crafting more implements.
The study suggests how they lived and thrived in the ancient desert site challenging previously held ideas they just passed through.
The area itself has shown evidence of human presence from 210,000 years ago.
It comes just weeks before Unesco, the UN’s cultural arm, is to decide on awarding world heritage status to the area in central Sharjah that is termed the “Faya palaeolandscape”. It refers to limestone escarpment Jebel Faya and the surrounding area.
The study was published in February in the peer-reviewed Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences journal and reported on by state news agency Wam on Wednesday.
It is the fruit of excavations conducted between 2012 and 2017. The tools were assessed, studied and dated, with the results only now published.
Digging into the past
The project was the result of an international collaboration led by the Sharjah Archaeology Authority in partnership with the University of Tuebingen and University of Freiburg in Germany and Oxford Brookes University in the UK.
And funded by the German Research Foundation and the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences.
Experts believe the evidence at Jebel Faya ties human presence to the closing chapter of a climatic phase known as marine isotope stage 5a.
“Think of MIS 5a as a climatic pendulum,” said Dr Knut Bretzke, lead researcher and head of the German Archaeological Mission in Sharjah.
“Temperatures and rainfall patterns swung wildly. Monsoons from the Indian Ocean brought brief windows of rainfall that turned Arabia’s barren deserts into green patches of lakes and grasslands.”
It is thought humans seized on these moments to live there longer. The study also shows what sets the inhabitants of Jebel Faya apart is not just that they used the stone tools but how they made them.
While other sites across the north of the region have yielded triangular or ovoid tools, Faya is different. They made elongated blades and flakes using a method called “bidirectional reduction” – a calculated technique involving strikes to both ends of a stone core.
“It’s like a chef filleting a fish – each strike intentional, each angle calculated,” says Dr Bretzke. “The goal was to maximise material efficiency, preserving the raw stone for future use. It reflects deep environmental knowledge and an extraordinary level of cognitive skill.”
The results were multipurpose tools.
Using luminescence dating, researchers were also able to determine the age of sediment layers, suggesting that early humans either continuously occupied or repeatedly returned to this site across different climate phases.
“The discoveries at Jebel Faya show that resilience, adaptability and innovation are among the most defining traits of humanity,” said Eisa Yousif, director of the SAA and one of the study’s contributors.
“These tools reflect a profound relationship between people and their land. As we advance our efforts to nominate the Faya Palaeolandscape for Unesco recognition, we are reminded of how our shared past continues to shape who we are – and who we may become.”
Unesco’s World Heritage committee is expected to make a decision at its 47th session to be held from July 7 to 16 in Paris.
The UAE has currently one site on the heritage list. The cultural sites of Al Ain were collectively added in 2011.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
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Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City / Italy)
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Hannah Hampton (England / Aston Villa and Chelsea)
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Luis Enrique (Paris Saint-Germain)
Women’s Coach of the Year
Sarina Wiegman (England)
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Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
