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Nestled in the heart of Sharjah, Faya Palaeolandscape emerges from the vast, rugged desert as a hidden treasure, awaiting the world’s attention. Its expansive landscape, marked by undulating dunes, rocky outcrops, and ancient fossilised remnants, serves as a natural canvas, revealing the passage of time etched into one of Earth’s most challenging environments. In a groundbreaking moment for both the UAE and the wider Arab world, Faya was officially recognised as the only site from the Arab region inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2025.
The recognition, granted under the prestigious ‘Cultural Landscape’ category, highlights Faya’s unique contribution to understanding the profound human history that has shaped the Arabian Peninsula. This monumental achievement comes under the dedicated stewardship of Her Highness Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, the Ambassador for the Faya World Heritage Property, who has championed the site’s global significance.
As the first desert Palaeolithic site to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, Faya fills a critical gap in the study of human history. Dating back over 210,000 years, Faya offers a continuous stratigraphic record that reveals layers of human settlement, survival, and adaptation in this changing landscape. The site’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) is demonstrated by its extensive archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records, which document the intricate relationship between early humans and their environment.
From advanced stone tools to preserved environmental evidence, these findings provide an unparalleled glimpse into the lives of early humans who thrived amid dramatic climatic shifts, offering new perspectives on early human migration and habitation. Faya’s inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site underscores its pivotal role in reshaping our understanding of human history, migration routes, and the resilience of early populations in one of the world’s harshest climates.
Early human activity
In 2011, a joint German-Emirati team led by Professor Hans-Peter Uerpmann uncovered stone tools at the Faya 1 site that date back to approximately 125,000 years ago. The tools, which include handaxes, blades, and points, represent a remarkable level of technical sophistication, leading the researchers to propose that they may have been made by Homo sapiens. If this is the case, the discovery could reshape the broader narrative of human dispersal out of Africa, offering strong evidence for the Southern Migration Route through Arabia, alongside the traditionally accepted northern route through Sinai.
The tools unearthed at Faya also offer compelling evidence of early human technological sophistication. Among the many stone tools found are examples that appear to display similarities to examples known from East Africa.
This discovery of refined stone tool technology, combined with the signs of early human migration, points to a highly adaptable and resourceful human species that navigated both technological and environmental challenges. The use of such tools at Faya shows how early humans applied sophisticated skills to survive in a harsh and ever-changing landscape.
Faya’s unique position in early migration patterns, its comprehensive and well-dated stone tool record, and its role as a long-term settlement make it an indispensable site for the study of human evolution.
Excavations at Faya are far from complete, and ongoing research promises to further illuminate our understanding of early human history. The Sharjah Archaeological Authority (SAA), working alongside international teams, has uncovered 18 distinct archaeological layers over the past 30 years. These layers reveal the progression of human activity at the site, providing a rare and continuous record of early human life.
As new discoveries emerge, Faya’s role in advancing our knowledge of human evolution and migration continues to grow. The ongoing research at Faya will deepen our understanding of prehistoric social structures, cultural developments, and the adaptation strategies employed by early human populations.