Lost Ancient City Famed for Pearls May Have Been Found

Researchers believe these ancient residential buildings may represent part of the lost city of Tu'am in the United Arab Emirates. The city is thought to have reached its zenith in the sixth century.

A lost ancient city famed for its pearls may have finally been identified by archaeologists.

A team of researchers working on Siniyah Island off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has uncovered a collection of ancient residential buildings that they believe once formed part of the city of Tu'am, the Umm al-Quwain Department of Tourism and Archaeology said.

The settlement is documented in historical sources, but it has never been definitively identified. Previously, researchers suspected that Tu'am was located in other regions of the UAE, but the latest findings on Siniyah Island indicate otherwise.

Michele Degli Esposti, head of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Umm al-Quwain and a researcher with the Polish Academy of Sciences, told local newspaper The National that the latest findings will "resound all around the region."

"It's really exciting," he said. "This is also a site that is really, really, really promising."

Tu'am dates back to at least the fourth century and is thought to have reached its zenith in the sixth. The city was so renowned in this period that it was referenced in ancient sources.

Scholars believe the city was once the capital of a territory on the coast of what is now the UAE. It was described as a famous pearl fishing center known for the quality of its product.

But the city is thought to have fallen into decline, largely thanks to regional tensions, as well as a bubonic plague epidemic that devastated the Near East, the Mediterranean region and other parts of Europe in the sixth century.

The city eventually faded from memory. But the recent discovery of the tightly packed ancient residential units on Siniyah Island may be evidence of the lost settlement.

In recent years, archaeologists uncovered a pearling village and Christian monastery in the same area of the island. But with this latest discovery, it is clear that this area is home to something much larger.

"Our archaeological work has discovered the largest settlement by far ever found on the Gulf coast of the Emirates," Tim Power of United Arab Emirates University told The National.

"And it's exactly the right period for the city described in the early Islamic geographical sources," he said. "It's clearly a really important place. No one has ever found it."

The settlement on Siniyah Island appears to have attracted Christian monks, who established a monastery sometime between the end of the sixth century and the beginning of the seventh. Tu'am was thought to be a Christian settlement for around 200 years before Islam spread to the region.

Experts say they have not yet found definitive evidence that the latest findings represent the lost city of Tu'am. But to date no other major settlements from this period have been identified along the coast, supporting the argument that Tu'am has been located.

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