Saturday, Mar 07, 2009

Gulf News

Abu Dhabi: As she enters her 94th year Beatrice De Cardi still holds on to the curiosity that led her to dig in the ground, looking for hidden treasures.

The pioneering Briton is believed to be word's oldest archeologist. Although she is not able to excavate any more, she is always seen in conferences and seminars, and even at some excavation sites.

Last week, she was honoured by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development for her early work in the UAE. In 1968, De Cardi and Brian Doe carried out a survey of archaeological sites in Ras Al Khaimah, which laid the foundation of archaeology in the emirate.

De Cardi came to the UAE looking for evidence of possible links between two ancient civilisations - one located on the Arabian side of the gulf and the other on the Iranian side.

"In 1966 I started excavating in southeast Iran and I came across two grey artifacts - one was painted with black designs and the other had decoration," she told Gulf News in an interview.

De Cardi knew that a Danish team had found evidence of the Um Al Nar culture in the UAE and Oman (2600BC-2000BC). She decided to send her own discoveries to the team in Muscat museum and they confirmed that they were similar to the wares they had found.

"I wanted to track down the wares to see where else I could find them in the emirates and the logical place to look was Ras Al Khaimah, because it is not far from the opposite side of the Gulf," she said.

When she was given permission by the ruler to undertake a survey, she did not actually find any grey wares, but she did discover the Shimal site, which was significant.

After a number of years when the German team was excavating the Shimal site, a bulldozer uncovered the Um Al Nar tomb. "When that tomb was excavated, there were my grey wares. It was very satisfactory" she said.

Since 1982, De Cardi has not done much survey work, but each winter she comes back for a couple of months to work with archeologists at Ras Al Khaimah museum. "At the moment I'm making certain that materials from excavations are registered in the museum," she said.

De Cardi is the president of the Society for Arabian Studies. She holds committee meetings and organises lectures and seminars, and publishes the findings, "so life is very busy", she said.

"I enjoy watching other people excavate and visiting sights. That is a bonus for me now," she said.

De Cardi can't identify which moment was the dearest for her in UAE. "It is difficult to say because they are so many" she said. After a second thought she said: "The satisfaction of seeing Julfar being excavated in a part, having first to walk across the site, being astonished to see the amount of pottery and wondering if there ever will be an excavation, and then the satisfaction of taking part in that excavation."

A long and fruitful career

Beatrice de Cardi is a specialist archaeologist in the lower countries of the Arabian Gulf.

She participated in excavations at the great Iron Age fort 'Maiden Castle' in Dorset, southern England. After the Second World War, she became Britain's assistant trade Commissioner in Karachi, Delhi, and Lahore, a position she utilised for conducting archaeological surveys in western Baluchistan for second-millennium sites.

From 1949 to 1973, she served as secretary of the Council for British Archaeology. She launched a number of expeditions in the UAE that yielded the first examples of Ubaid pottery in the Gulf.

She helped found the Committee of Arabian and Gulf Studies.

In 1993, she was awarded the Burton Memorial Medal by the Royal Asiatic Society, and in 1995 she was made an Honorary Fellow at University College London. She also received the Al Qasimi Medal for archaeological services to Ras Al Khaimah in 1989.

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