Saruq Al-Hadid is set in a spectacular desert landscape in southern Dubai, on the northern edge of the great Rub al-Khali desert.
It was discovered, by chance, in 2002 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai. While in a helicopter flying over the area, His Highness noticed unusual dune formations and realised that they should be investigated.
Since then, archaeologists have been working to excavate the site and understand what happened there. They have found evidence of over five thousand years of activity and now believe that the site reached a peak in the Iron Age, around three thousand years ago. Saruq Al-Hadid has already changed our understanding of the Iron Age in the Arabian Peninsula, but there is much more research to be done and many mysteries remain.
