New archaeological discoveries point to the likely presence of an Omani bishop’s palace close to a recently found Christian monastery in the UAE’s Siniyah Island, off the coast of the emirate of Umm Al-Quwain. Tim Power, an archaeology professor at UAE University, said that a number of walls and rooms discovered on Siniyah Island last year piqued the interest of archaeologists and historians working on the project.
“It seems that we really have an interesting building that might be interpreted as an abbot’s house or perhaps even a bishop’s palace,” he continued. The professor of archaeology noted that parallel structures had been discovered in the Arabian Gulf over time, aiding historians and archaeologists in drawing comparisons.
Power noted that a structure believed to be a bishop’s palace that resembled the building seen on Siniyah Island was recently discovered in Bahrain. Between the fifth and seventh centuries, a bishop of Oman is mentioned in historical records, particularly the acts of synods of the Nestorian church, according to Power.
This year, the emphasis has moved to uncovering a distinct area of the island, with intensive work being done on communities and other buildings close to the monastery. The island has been discovered to have both Christian and Muslim settlements, which are thought to have coexisted for a while. They also provided insight into the period right before the Arab conquest, during the transition from late antiquity to early Islam.
The society is thought to have lived on the island between the seventh and eighth centuries, according to radiocarbon dating of the pottery found there. Esposti stated that comparable techniques will be utilised to establish the age of the freshly discovered objects in order to further reduce the range of the anticipated time period.
Experts and materials from all over the world are used during the excavation process, which employs a more multidisciplinary approach, to support archaeologists on location. Additionally, TAD UAQ is hosting New York University of Abu Dhabi students for the first time to participate in the excavation process. An excavation was conducted in the settlements with the assistance of Hoor Al-Mazrouei, an Emirati biology student at NYUAD. She discovered a pot that may have been used for cooking.
Between January 4 and January 20, NYUAD students and archaeologists from TAD UAQ including Ammar Al-Banna participated in the procedure. Al-Banna asserted that the first step is to unearth all results before moving forward and predicted that the island will soon welcome visitors.
By finding them, he said, “we hope to understand why they are here and what the relationship is between all the structures and the places nearby.” Naturally, some of the discoveries will be researched, while others will be shown. Before the start of the Ramadan fast in March, excavation work on the island will be completed. The monastery on Siniyah Island is the second to be found in the United Arab Emirates; the first was located on Sir Bani Yas Island in Abu Dhabi in the 1990s.