Pre-Islamic The three centuries between the end of the Hellenistic period and the beginning of Islam witnessed a new era when the Sasanian influence became much stronger. The coastal areas of the UAE and Oman came under this influence. The Yemen fell under a direct rule by the Sasanians. Small collections of pottery from the Sasanian Period were discovered at some offshore islands as well as on sites located along the coast. The lower layers of Kush, a recently excavated site in Ras Al Khaima, yielded traces of this period. A pre- Islamic monastery was also discovered recently on the Island of Sir Bani Yas. Despite these discoveries evidence of the pre-Islamic era in the UAE is still fragmentary. Unlike the Hellenistic era, convincing evidence for the presence of the Sasanian period in the inland oases is still lacking. One of the main difficulties in identifying the Sasanian sites is the similarity between pre-Islamic and early Islamic pottery assemblages. As a result archaeologists sometimes missidentify the pottery of the two periods.