Supervised by Sharjah Archaeology Authority, the Spanish archaeological mission continues excavation work at Al-Thuqiba site in the central region of the Emirate of Sharjah to provide more information on the site dating back to the Iron Age, specifically to the first millennium BC, which is an indication of great prosperity witnessed by the region especially in the field of agriculture and water use.
The site of Al-Thuqayba, located in the Al-Madam Plain, at a distance (20 km) south of the city of Al Dhaid, includes an agricultural village from the Iron Age, and a sprawling residential settlement. The village consists of a group of residential houses constructed by mud bricks. The excavations also revealed the presence of a well and a workshop for making clay or mud bricks, through which most of the site’s buildings were constructed.
Issa Youssef, Director of Archaeology and Physical Heritage at Sharjah Archaeology Authority, stressed that the Al-Thuqiba site is one of the important sites in the central region of the Emirate of Sharjah, as it includes the first known workshop for the manufacture of clay bricks, and a series of multiple channels of water of varying complexity that the water from Falaj reaches at a depth of eight meters. This reflects the development of agriculture and the expansion of agricultural villages in this region.
He pointed out that the workshop that was discovered contains many footprints of the workers on the site, male or female or even children, where the prints of a large number of young people were found, adding that the discoveries in this area came as a result of successive excavations, which were started by a mission in 1987, followed by a joint French-Spanish archaeological mission in 1994, then a Spanish expedition from the Autonoma University in Madrid, in partnership with the local mission in Sharjah.
Sharjah Archaeology Authority enhances and promotes the archaeological map and cultural heritage of the Emirate of Sharjah, through research and investigation of archaeological sites, and the historical areas therein, and by carrying out exploration of archaeological areas, and the restoration and maintenance of archaeological finds as a historical, national and human heritage, along with the identification of the effects of the Arab Emirates United in the Arab, regional and international forums.
