Stone Age homes found in the Gulf

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of Stone Age houses going back 7,000 years on an island off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

The foundations of three dwellings were found on Marawah island, 60 miles) west of the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi.

The site also yielded a flint spearhead about three inches long, a flint arrowhead and a grinding stick, said Mark Beech, the senior resident archaeologist of the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey.

Beech said the team suspected there were more house remains to be found.

“These structures are amazing in terms of historic importance. They are the best and most complete structures found in the whole (Gulf) region,” Beech said. Less well-preserved remains of houses have been found in Kuwait and Qatar.

Samples examined at Glasgow University showed the houses date to 6,5000-7,000 years ago, which is about 2,000 years before the earliest Pharaoh in Egypt.

The houses belong to what is called the Arabian Neolithic Era, which corresponds to the Late Stone Age. They have walls that are half a meter thick and built of local stone. They are rectangular and oval in shape, Beech said.