UAE: 4,000-year-old human remains studied to get clues about effects of climate change

UAE: 4,000-year-old human remains studied to get clues about effects of climate change

Archaeologists are analysing remains of people who lived in Ras Al Khaimah during a time of extreme drought

Published: Tue 2 May 2023, 3:23 PM Last updated: Tue 2 May 2023, 3:33 PM

In collaboration with US universities, archaeologists in Ras Al Khaimah are analysing 4,000-year-old human remains to see if a dramatic climate event at that time can help to study how human biology would be affected by a similar event in the future. The human remains are from a severe climate change characterised by drought.

A professor and student team of bio-anthropologists from Quinnipiac University, Connecticut, US, led by Professor Jaime Ullinger, visited archaeologists at Ras Al Khaimah’s Department of Antiquities & Museums to study human skeletons from the 2nd millennium BC. The study is conducted to analyse their potential in bio-archaeological studies. The goal is to research the effects of climate change on human biology between the Umm Al Nar and Wadi Suq periods in Ras Al Khaimah.

In 2017, the university teams worked on human remains to study the diet, health, and behaviour of the Umm Al Nar people and their funeral practices. The human bones studied were found in Ras Al Khaimah’s Shimal - a prominent archaeological site dating