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Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism, TCA Abu Dhabi, is to host a lecture as part of Al Ain National Museum’s Coffee Morning series in Al Ain Municipality Theater on 27th September, led by Dr. Mark Beech, Head of the Department of Coastal Heritage and Palaeontology at Al Ain National Museum.

Titled ‘Why Studying the Past is Important’, Dr. Beech will take the audience on a journey to Abu Dhabi some 65 million years ago, back to a time when dinosaurs were already extinct and the land that is now the UAE was under the sea.

The talk will discuss how the Emirati landscape was formed over millennia, and will highlight the Al Dhafra Region, where geological deposits tell the story of life in the Arabian Peninsula during the late Miocene period, some 6 to 8 million years ago. In an area where the Arabian Peninsula once flourished with greenery and wildlife, the Department of Coastal Heritage and Palaeontology has discovered specimens of fossilised animals and plants that once inhabited the areas next to the now-dry river that once ran through the UAE.

Early inhabitants of the UAE area migrated from all over the world to live in this ideal climate created by the river. The lecture will also explore how remnants of ancient culture and society have been passed down through the ancestral residents of the UAE as Dr. Beech present the results of recent archaeological excavations on Marawah Island.

Dr. Beech is Head of Coastal Heritage and Palaeontology, in the Historic Environment Department at Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism. As one of the nation’s leading archaeologists, he has led many excavations and archaeological digs in Abu Dhabi.

Al Ain National Museum’s new Coffee Morning lecture series will discuss a variety of cultural topics with the public.

‘Why Studying the Past is Important’ will be held at the Al Ain Municipality Theater at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, September 27th. It is free to attend and open to the public.