Lesson 1: The

UAE
Landscape and
Jebel Faya
• Learning Objectives-

• Identify the path humans took to move

from Africa to the Arabian Peninsula

• Analyse the life of ancient Jebel Faya and

why we should preserve Jebel Faya as a
cultural heritage site
 Warm up: Brainstorm

Easy

Challenges
•In groups, discuss the answer to these
questions:

•What makes life in the UAE easy?

•What makes life in the UAE challenging?

Think of things like the weather, housing,
getting food, transportation, etc.
THE LAND THAT IS NOW THE U.A.E
The landscape of the U.A.E was
once more greener. More rain fell
on the Arabian Peninsula making
the climate wetter.

Evidence shows that the land

that makes up the Al Hajar
Mountains was under the sea
which rose to the present height
through a process of tectonic
plates shifting over millions of
years.
Let Us
Watch the • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4Oh_D
given link l7Eds&t=86s
 Activity 1
What do you think makes the climate and landscape of an area
change?
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
Were the changes in the climate and landscape in the past natural or
caused by humans?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
___ are humans making changes in the landscape and climate today?
How
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
 The route from Africa
According to scientists' modern humans emerged around 200,000
years ago in Africa and then spread around the world.
Some of the
earliest evidence
for human
movement from
Africa to Middle
East was found
in Palestine.

In caves of Qafzeh and Skhul, scientists discovered human fossils suggesting that
humans came from Africa through the Nile valley and into Palestine between 120,000-
80000 years ago
 Jebel Faya
Recent excavation at Jebel Faya in what is now Sharjah in the U.A.E have produced
evidence that humans also travelled from Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.

Archaeologists found stone tools in Jebel

Faya that are similar to the tools in East
Africa.

These tools included small hand-axes and tools for cutting up food. Scientists determined
that the stone tools were buried between about 130,000 and 95,000 years ago
 Moving on From Jabal Faya
How did humans get to Jabel Faya and what happened to them? Travelling from
Africa to Arabia today means crossing the Red sea.

However around 130,000 years

ago, the Red Sea was much lower
than it is today.

At that time there was more

rainfall in Arabia than there is now
They would have been able to
hunt animals with ease.

We know from discoveries of jebel Faya that this is one of the routes that humans took into
Arabia
 Concept Check-
According to the reading,
what continent did humans
come from?

What two ways did humans

move out from Africa?

What material were the tools

made from?

What was the landscape of

the Jebel Faya like 130,000
years ago?
Why should we preserve a
place like Jebel Faya and not
forget it?
Think and Share!!

• Imagine that you lived in Jebel Faya in the

past. What skills would you have to learn in
order to meet your basic human needs?

• The archaeologists who worked on the

exploration of Jebel Faya believed that the
tools they found were like those found in
parts of Africa. Why do you think this would
suggest that people must have travelled from
Africa to Arabia?