An ancient 5,000 year old city hiding underneath a vast desert has been uncovered in an astonishing discovery.
For a long time, this region of the Rub' al-Khali desert, which is located near Saudi Arabia and Dubai was considered to be a lifeless abyss.
So much so that the area was referred to as the Empty Quarter.
However, not all was as it seemed as a secret hidden beneath the sand has since finally been discovered.
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This all started in 2002, when Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is the current ruler of Dubai, noticed strange formations in the dunes while flying over this part of the desert in his helicopter.
This inkling led to a team of researchers investigating further and the site underwent excavations.
This led to the team uncovering Saruq Al-Hadid, which has become an archaeological site that is believed to be part of a 5,000 year old civilization.
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Buried 10 feet below the sand, researchers unearthed artifacts including pottery and animal bones.
A research team from Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi have been using a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to understand what is hiding below the surface of the desert without digging it up.
This radar technology has detected metal structures underground as well as other artifacts.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Diana Francis, who is the Khalifa University’s head of Environmental and Geophysical Sciences (ENGEOS), said: “With the climate, plus the fact that a lot of the country is desert, it was too logistically challenging to survey the desert on the ground.
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“That’s why satellite imagery was crucial. We needed equipment that could look under the sand.”
Findings from the study suggest that there were once settlements and roadways where the desert now sits.
It’s thought that, while the region is dry and sandy now, it was once bustling with a thriving society including lakes.
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The research was published in a journal which read: “The case study of the Saruq Al-Hadid site illustrates the potential of these technologies to enhance archaeological surveys and contribute to heritage conservation efforts.”
Francis added: “These regions remain largely unexplored, yet we know they hold cultural history.”
There is still much to learn about the people who lived in the area 5,000 years ago but the discovery of this site is the first step to gaining a better understanding of what the early civilizations in the Arabian Peninsula were like.