Sir Bani Yas
A little over a quarter of a century ago, Peter Hellyer, the then Executive Director of the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey, found himself faced with a rather sensitive task
For three years, Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey (ADIAS) teams had been working on Abu Dhabi’s Western island of Sir Bani Yas, the private property of the late President, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
We had started work there in 1992, at the specific request of Sheikh Zayed, and for several years he had funded our studies. He had also displayed a deep interest in what we were finding, meeting with the ADIAS team and asking to be kept briefed on our discoveries.
Neolithic graves; remains of an old village; campsites that provided evidence that, several hundred years ago, local fishermen were using little celadon cups imported from as far away as China – all this attracted his attention. The most important site, though, was something more substantial, a collection of buildings with associated pottery dating back to the earliest years of the Islamic period, in the early 7th Century AD.
The ADIAS team recognised that these buildings were something special. They were well-constructed, with fine plaster, and the people who inhabited them were obviously linked into the trade routes that ran up and down the Arabian Gulf, as shown by discoveries of finely-made pottery and glass. In the early excavations of the site, on the eastern side of Sir Bani Yas, we were puzzled. We couldn’t understand its purpose. Who had built it? What kind of people were they? Why had they chosen to settle here?
And then, one day in early 1994, we got the answer.
Turning over a lump of plaster on the edge of the excavation trench, the site director,
Dr. Joseph Elders, now the Head of Archaeology for the Church of England, discovered a finely-made cross. The main building, it became apparent, was a Christian church, part of a monastic settlement that was the first physical evidence of early Christianity to be found anywhere in southeastern Arabia.
We knew, of course, from documentary records that there had been Christians in the region before the revelation of Islam and that they had continued to live here for decades, perhaps centuries, afterwards. Finding a monastery, though, was a stunning discovery, one that helped to rewrite the history of the Emirates.
As ADIAS Executive Director, it was my task to inform the UAE authorities, in particular Sheikh Zayed, about our discovery. How, I wondered, would the devoutly Muslim president of a devoutly Muslim country react to the discovery of an ancient Christian monastery on his own private island?
Sheikh Zayed had, of course, always been an advocate of cultural and religious tolerance. He had encouraged the building of churches in Abu Dhabi and had welcomed visiting church officials.
I was confident that he would be pleased by the discovery. A senior member of the ruling family, with whom I discussed our find, agreed with me.
And so I contacted the office of our Patron, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, now Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince, and asked that he should pass on the information to Sheikh Zayed. A message came swiftly back. Sheikh Zayed was delighted. “Tell them thank you and carry on.”
So we did, continuing our excavations for several years, helping to uncover this lost part of the heritage of the Emirates. In Sheikh Zayed’s view, we were told, “this is part of our history. We are proud of it.”
Now carefully preserved under the protection of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, the church and its adjacent monastic buildings are amongst a range of attractions for visitors to Sir Bani Yas. Around 1,400 years old, they offer evidence not only of an ancient past, but of a spirit of religious co-existence and tolerance that continues to characterise the United Arab Emirates today.