Al Ain National Museum

The excavations at Rumailah Between the 16th and the 24th of March 2005 a group of archaeologists from various departments of Antiquities at the countries, members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, gathered at Rumailah in the City of Al Ain. The group started an excavation programme organized by the Ministry of Information and Culture in the United Arab Emirates, in cooperation with the Department of Antiquities and Tourism in Al Ain. The excavations covered two areas. Area 5 covered the extreme southwest end of the site while area 6 covered a small portion of the central part ( for more information about Rumailah see the " Important Discoveries" page of the web site ).

Excavations at Area 5 revealed remains of a large spoil heap covering most of the existing part of the southwest end of the site. Heaps like these are usually formed as a result of lowering the ground level of the farms and the channels of the irrigation system used. Like a number of other Iron Age villages, a falaj may have supplied Rumailah with water (for more details about the falaj search this web site). Excavations at this area did not reach the bed rock therefore we should not exclude the possibility of finding an earlier layer below this heap.

In Area 6 the excavations revealed a building belonging to Period 2 of the Iron Age represented at the site. Archaeologists from the Department of Antiquities and Tourism continued carrying on the excavations, several weeks after the delegates had left and discovered the remains of another building which seems to be extending well below the former building. The walls of the second building rest on the bed rock, a phenomenon not encountered at the site before. Due to the limited area excavated, no finds were discovered from the lower building. A charcoal sample however was collected; it is hoped that the sample would clarify the sequence at Rumailah.