Abu Dhabi // A British archaeologist has been honoured for his pioneering work uncovering some of the emirate's first settlements dating back 7,500 years.
Dr Mark Beech, cultural landscapes manager in the historic environment department at the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (Adach), has been on hand to discover an elephant tusk in Al Gharbia and a church and monastery on Sir Bani Yas Island. He also helped discover the first evidence of date consumption.
This week Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, presented him with the Sheikh Mubarak bin Mohammed Award for his achievements.
The award, named after Sheikh Nahyan's father, was presented on behalf of the Emirates Natural History Group, of which Sheikh Nahyan is patron.
Dr Beech has been in the UAE since 1994 and first worked for the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey before it was merged into Adach.
His first project centred on excavations of a church and monastery on Sir Bani Yas Island.
In 2004 he worked on Marawah Island, off the Abu Dhabi coast, as part of a team that studied the earliest settlements in Abu Dhabi emirate. DNA testing was used to date a skeleton to 7,500 years ago.
"We found one of the earliest necropolises and inside this we found the remains of the earliest known inhabitants of Abu Dhabi," said Dr Beech.
On Delma Island his group found the first known houses in the UAE and used radiocarbon dating to discover that stones from dates people had eaten were from more than 7,000 years ago.
As well as being an archaeologist, Dr Beech is a palaeontologist and in November 2002 found a 2.54-metre long elephant tusk in Al Gharbia, while carrying out survey work. The fossil was between six million and eight million years old.
He said the Arab world was "very, very interesting" archaeologically because of its position as a cultural crossroads with interactions with ancient civilisations in other parts of the world, including Mesopotamia.
"Most archaeology has only been done in the last 50 years and especially in the last 20 years," said Dr Beech, an honorary visiting fellow at the University of York.
Much of his work for Adach centres on maintaining a database of fossil sites and archaeological sites and helping developers modify plans to ensure important sites are protected. He also teaches the archaeology of the UAE at Zayed University.
He was presented the award at Sheikh Nahyan's palace in the capital.
"I've been a member of Emirates Natural History Group since I first came to the Emirates and it's an important group that carries out important scientific work on natural history," Dr Beech said.
Also presented with an award by Sheikh Nahyan was Ali al Suweidi, president of the Emirates Marine Environmental Group.
He was given the Bish Brown Award, named after John "Bish" Brown, founder of the Emirates Natural History Group, for protecting the country's marine heritage.
"We have many projects to protect marine life," Mr al Suweidi said. "We're also doing an education project for most of the kids of the emirate."
After receiving his award, Mr al Suweidi presented Sheikh Nahyan with several posters about marine life, including one on dugongs, the large marine mammals, and another that featured elasmobranchs, a subclass of fish that includes sharks and rays.
Keith Taylor, the Emirates Natural History Group deputy chairman, described Mr al Suweidi as "a dedicated educator" who had "given his time endlessly" to promote marine environmental causes.
"The Bish Brown Award remembers our founder and his endless enthusiasm," Mr Taylor added.
dbardsley@thenational.ae
The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
Mountain%20Boy
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Zainab%20Shaheen%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Naser%20Al%20Messabi%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The biog
Date of birth: 27 May, 1995
Place of birth: Dubai, UAE
Status: Single
School: Al Ittihad private school in Al Mamzar
University: University of Sharjah
Degree: Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Hobby: I enjoy travelling a lot, not just for fun, but I like to cross things off my bucket list and the map and do something there like a 'green project'.
School counsellors on mental well-being
Schools counsellors in Abu Dhabi have put a number of provisions in place to help support pupils returning to the classroom next week.
Many children will resume in-person lessons for the first time in 10 months and parents previously raised concerns about the long-term effects of distance learning.
Schools leaders and counsellors said extra support will be offered to anyone that needs it. Additionally, heads of years will be on hand to offer advice or coping mechanisms to ease any concerns.
“Anxiety this time round has really spiralled, more so than from the first lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic,” said Priya Mitchell, counsellor at The British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi.
“Some have got used to being at home don’t want to go back, while others are desperate to get back.
“We have seen an increase in depressive symptoms, especially with older pupils, and self-harm is starting younger.
“It is worrying and has taught us how important it is that we prioritise mental well-being.”
Ms Mitchell said she was liaising more with heads of year so they can support and offer advice to pupils if the demand is there.
The school will also carry out mental well-being checks so they can pick up on any behavioural patterns and put interventions in place to help pupils.
At Raha International School, the well-being team has provided parents with assessment surveys to see how they can support students at home to transition back to school.
“They have created a Well-being Resource Bank that parents have access to on information on various domains of mental health for students and families,” a team member said.
“Our pastoral team have been working with students to help ease the transition and reduce anxiety that [pupils] may experience after some have been nearly a year off campus.
"Special secondary tutorial classes have also focused on preparing students for their return; going over new guidelines, expectations and daily schedules.”
