‘ Sharjah Archaeology Authority (SAA) organized an online lecture through Zoom program, presented by Mr. Shaaban Al Emir, professor of restoration and maintenance of antiquities, at the Faculty of Archaeology at Fayoum University in the Arab Republic of Egypt. The lecturer pointed out that these archaeological materials are suffering from factors and forces of damage, causing “physical and chemical changes” of archaeological material. The solution is to carry out thorough inspections according to a scientific vision to develop a treatment, restoration, maintenance and storage plan, or for museum display.The lecturer responded to all questions asked by the nearly 200 participants.

‘Sharjah Archaeology Authority organized a tele-lecture through zoom program entitled “Dibba between history and antiquities”, the historical aspect of which was addressed by researcher Ahmed Mohammed Obaid, where he showed that Dibba with its three setions (Dibba Al Hosn “Sharjah”, Dibba Fujairah and Dibba Al bayah “Oman” were connected as a single city. Traders from India, Sindh, China, and the people of the Orient and Morocco come to visit its market (Souq Al-Arab market in jahiliya), it was of great commercial, political and economic presence, Al- Tabari called it “the great market”. Mr. Issa Yusuf, Director of the Department of antiquities and physical heritage at Sharjah Antiquities Authority, explained that Dibba Al Hosn has a remarkable archaeological history and is one of the ancient Arab markets, a collection of human and animal bones and artifacts from the first century AD were found in this place within a single cemetery.

‘The Sharjah Archaeology Authority (SAA) organized a seminar entitled “The use of salt crystallization inhibitors – sodium ferrocyanide – to remove salts from rocks”, which was presented remotely through the zoom program by Dr. Yazan Abu al Hassan, specialist in archaeological restoration at Sharjah Archaeology Authority (SAA). The lecturer presented the system of using one of the crystallization inhibitors “sodium ferrosanide” that he used in the Jordanian city of Petra, explaining that the mechanism of salt damage represents a strong and widespread threat to cultural heritage, and talked about the impact of a wide range of surrounding environmental conditions, which include complex processes and mechanisms as a result of the dynamic interaction of salts with rocks, and then lead to their damage and collapse. The search for new ways to reduce salt damage to cultural heritage and improve the methods used is an urgent need to protect our cultural heritage, of which the lecturer mentioned the method of using crystallization inhibitors, which represents a practical method to protect the stone from damage and extinction, the lecturer found that the ideal solution to reduce the risk of salts to cultural heritage and protect it from loss and extinction is to introduce a solution of inhibitors in certain concentrations inside stones that contain salts and suffer damage and destruction , which in turn interact with the salts and changes its crystalline form, resulting in it emerging from the inside of the stone and crystallizing on the outside in a fragile, incoherent and easy to remove form without any effect on the stone itself. The lecturer stated that this procedure can be applied to cultural heritage stone, which suffers from the same conditions of damage due to salt.

‘Professor Issa Yousef, Director of the Department of Archaeology and Material Heritage, at the Sharjah Archaeology Authority, delivered a lecture on “Pre-Islamic Coins Discovered in the Kingdom of Mleiha”. The lecturer described the site of the kingdom of Mleiha as one of the important internal sites in the central region where it was an important passage of trade between many capitals and cities of the ancient world, housing a lot of huge buildings, some of them: the palace building and the fort building, inside which “a coin casting mold” was discovered, which is one of the most important coin casting mold in the first century AD. At the site of Mleiha, burials for camels and horses were found, in addition to Greek pottery, including amphora jars and tombstones with inscriptions in the Musnad and Aramaic script. Jars from Qalqilya, Indian pottery and Roman glassware were also found. The lecturer classified the coins found in the Kingdom of Mleiha in terms of denomination: such as the Opole, Drachma and Tetra Drachma, as well as in terms of the source, where Roman coins were discovered such as the Emperor Augustus and Tiberius coins, Nabataean silver coins, Seleucids, and Indian coins, At the end of the lecture ,the lecturer thanked His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council of the Union and Ruler of the emirate of Sharjah, patron of the rich cultural, artistic and archaeological movement throughout the emirate, the United Arab Emirates, the Arab and Islamic world and the rest of the world.”

‘The Sharjah Archaeology Authority (SAA) organized today 15/6/2020 a virtual lecture via Zoom program, entitled: “”The Documentary value of images of Islamic manuscripts in the fields of Architecture, Art and history”” presented by : archaeologist Dr. Hayam Zakaria al-Saeed, in which she mentioned examples of manuscripts that she observed within her field of study, focusing on Islamic architecture, city planning, and engineering designs of war castles. Dr. Sabah Abboud Jassim, director general of Sharjah Antiquities Authority, said: “the dominant trend now is tele-lectures, in which a large number of followers participate, and the current pandemic is charting a technical development of indirect lecture systems presented by professionals in their respective sciences.”

‘ Sharjah Archaeology Authority (SAA), organized a new lecture via “Zoom” system, presented by Dr. Atta Al Manan Ja’far, head of the Department of Applied Physics and Astronomy, Faculty of Science, University of Sharjah, under the title “physical techniques in archaeology”. The lecture sheds light on the techniques available for archaeological history, from radiocarbon to electronic resonance, as well as the analysis techniques represented by X-ray, isotope analysis, and other techniques in the science of analysis, The lecturer said: a real breakthrough in archaeology occurred in the mid-twentieth century when geophysical survey techniques were used in the discovery of several archaeological sites buried underground. The lecturer considered that these techniques are one of the most important means of studying antiquities for the purpose of discovering, preserving, restoring, or rooting them, and the objectives of studying them, and taking note of everything related to this science, the lecturer touched on the value of monuments historically, tourism, cultural, religious, economic, and aesthetic, and he presented a number of archaeological assets and finds which are available in archaeological sites in the emirate of Sharjah. The number of attendees reached 100 including specialists, scholars and observers, and their questions and inquiries varied. They learnt from this lecture precious knowledge on archeology and its outputs.

The Sharjah Archeology Authority organized, within its biweekly lectures; On the Zoom platform, on Monday, September 27, 2021, a lecture was given by Dr. Risa Tokunaga, a visiting professor, participating in the Research Center for Ancient Civilizations and Cultural Resources at Kanazawa University, under the title: “Arab-Islamic Inscriptions in the Wadi al-Kharqa region in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”, in which Dr. The site of Wadi al-Kharqa and the characteristics of the Islamic inscriptions in it, and mentioned its most important characteristics with the introduction of the long lineages, and at the end of the lecture a simplified definition of the ancient inscriptions and rock drawings in and around Wadi al-Kharqa.