Watch: Finding pearls at the Suwaidi Pearl Farm in Ras Al Khaimah

Watch: Finding pearls at the Suwaidi Pearl Farm in Ras Al Khaimah

Cream, white, pink, yellow, black – in all of its colours and sizes, the beauty of a pearl is ethereal. The pearl has been considered a status symbol associated with purity, wealth and power for over 8,000 years of recorded history. In Greek mythology, pearls were considered divine, believed to be teardrops of the goddess of love. Historic records suggest that in Rome, Julius Caesar – known as a connoisseur of pearls – restricted the sale and purchase of these gems by wealth and status. The world’s oldest pearl jewellery was found on the sarcophagus of a Persian princess, believed to have died in 520 BC. The fame of pearls from this region is as old as the history of the gem. For hundreds of years, the finest natural pearls in the world were known to be sourced from the warm waters of the Arabian Gulf. The UAE, in particular, has a special place in pearl history. The world’s oldest natural pearl – the Abu Dhabi Pearl – was discovered at a Neolithic site on Marawah Island, just off the coast of Abu Dhabi. In March, archaeologists found the oldest pearling town in the Gulf on Siniyah Island in Umm