,
Fernando Contreras,
Alicia Alonso,
Mansour Karim,
Hassan Zein,
Manal Abdullah Al Masfari
The Al Qusais prehistoric necropolis (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), dated between 1,600 and 800 BCE) is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Arabian Peninsula, given its high number of individual and collective burials, and the unique grave goods recently found. In the vicinity of Al-Qusais, a sedentary population settlement was probably established and could sustain itself through the collection of mollusks, to fishing and hunting, thanks to the location’s natural resources. As of today, Al Qusais lies within a typical dune system environment, almost nine kilometers away from the coast. This research is part of a project developed by Sanisera Archaeology Institute in collaboration with Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, with the aim of reconstructing the past natural environment, in accordance with archaeological evidence discovered and recorded in the Al Qusais necropolis. The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applied to Al-Qusais combined various sources of information with the intention of generating analytical studies, in order to understand the strategic physical location of the necropolis. Reconstructions show that, during prehistoric times, the necropolis was located just 700 meters away from an ecosystem comprising mangroves and shallow coastal waters with intermittent episodes of marine flooding.
| Published in | International Journal of Archaeology (Volume 13, Issue 1) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ija.20251301.13 |
| Page(s) | 21-36 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Palaeoenvironment, Shoreline Evolution, Geoarchaeology, Water Archaeology, Al Qusais, Necropolis, Arabian Gulf Archaeology
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APA Style
Fernández-Sánchez, A., Contreras, F., Alonso, A., Ali, B. A., Karim, M., et al. (2025). The Implementation of a Geographic Information System (GIS) to the Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction of the Prehistoric Al Qusais Necropolis (Dubai, U.A.E.). International Journal of Archaeology, 13(1), 21-36. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ija.20251301.13
ACS Style
Fernández-Sánchez, A.; Contreras, F.; Alonso, A.; Ali, B. A.; Karim, M., et al. The Implementation of a Geographic Information System (GIS) to the Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction of the Prehistoric Al Qusais Necropolis (Dubai, U.A.E.). Int. J. Archaeol. 2025, 13(1), 21-36. doi: 10.11648/j.ija.20251301.13
AMA Style
Fernández-Sánchez A, Contreras F, Alonso A, Ali BA, Karim M, et al. The Implementation of a Geographic Information System (GIS) to the Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction of the Prehistoric Al Qusais Necropolis (Dubai, U.A.E.). Int J Archaeol. 2025;13(1):21-36. doi: 10.11648/j.ija.20251301.13
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ija.20251301.13,
author = {Adrián Fernández-Sánchez and Fernando Contreras and Alicia Alonso and Bader Al Ali and Mansour Karim and Hassan Zein and Manal Abdullah Al Masfari},
title = {The Implementation of a Geographic Information System (GIS) to the Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction of the Prehistoric Al Qusais Necropolis (Dubai, U.A.E.)
},
journal = {International Journal of Archaeology},
volume = {13},
number = {1},
pages = {21-36},
doi = {10.11648/j.ija.20251301.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ija.20251301.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ija.20251301.13},
abstract = {The Al Qusais prehistoric necropolis (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), dated between 1,600 and 800 BCE) is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Arabian Peninsula, given its high number of individual and collective burials, and the unique grave goods recently found. In the vicinity of Al-Qusais, a sedentary population settlement was probably established and could sustain itself through the collection of mollusks, to fishing and hunting, thanks to the location’s natural resources. As of today, Al Qusais lies within a typical dune system environment, almost nine kilometers away from the coast. This research is part of a project developed by Sanisera Archaeology Institute in collaboration with Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, with the aim of reconstructing the past natural environment, in accordance with archaeological evidence discovered and recorded in the Al Qusais necropolis. The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applied to Al-Qusais combined various sources of information with the intention of generating analytical studies, in order to understand the strategic physical location of the necropolis. Reconstructions show that, during prehistoric times, the necropolis was located just 700 meters away from an ecosystem comprising mangroves and shallow coastal waters with intermittent episodes of marine flooding.
},
year = {2025}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - The Implementation of a Geographic Information System (GIS) to the Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction of the Prehistoric Al Qusais Necropolis (Dubai, U.A.E.) AU - Adrián Fernández-Sánchez AU - Fernando Contreras AU - Alicia Alonso AU - Bader Al Ali AU - Mansour Karim AU - Hassan Zein AU - Manal Abdullah Al Masfari Y1 - 2025/03/31 PY - 2025 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ija.20251301.13 DO - 10.11648/j.ija.20251301.13 T2 - International Journal of Archaeology JF - International Journal of Archaeology JO - International Journal of Archaeology SP - 21 EP - 36 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-7595 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ija.20251301.13 AB - The Al Qusais prehistoric necropolis (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), dated between 1,600 and 800 BCE) is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Arabian Peninsula, given its high number of individual and collective burials, and the unique grave goods recently found. In the vicinity of Al-Qusais, a sedentary population settlement was probably established and could sustain itself through the collection of mollusks, to fishing and hunting, thanks to the location’s natural resources. As of today, Al Qusais lies within a typical dune system environment, almost nine kilometers away from the coast. This research is part of a project developed by Sanisera Archaeology Institute in collaboration with Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, with the aim of reconstructing the past natural environment, in accordance with archaeological evidence discovered and recorded in the Al Qusais necropolis. The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applied to Al-Qusais combined various sources of information with the intention of generating analytical studies, in order to understand the strategic physical location of the necropolis. Reconstructions show that, during prehistoric times, the necropolis was located just 700 meters away from an ecosystem comprising mangroves and shallow coastal waters with intermittent episodes of marine flooding. VL - 13 IS - 1 ER -
Sanisera Archaeology Institute, Ciutadella de Menorca, Spain; Geography Department, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Sanisera Archaeology Institute, Ciutadella de Menorca, Spain
Sanisera Archaeology Institute, Ciutadella de Menorca, Spain
Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
