Mleiha Archaeological Centre

About this place

Mleiha Archaeological Centre interprets a landscape with Bronze Age tombs and an important late pre-Islamic settlement that traded across Arabia and beyond. Coins, inscriptions, forts, workshops and burials reveal political and economic life in the centuries around the beginning of the Common Era. A visitor can use the collections to connect individual objects with larger changes in Emirati life: oasis farming, pearling, dhow trade, household work, education, government and the transition after oil. Read dates and provenances closely and compare reconstructions with original artefacts, photographs and oral testimony. This makes the museum useful historical evidence rather than a display of attractive antiques. Exhibitions and opening arrangements can change, so check the official venue information before planning a journey.