Editing United Arab Emirates (section)

=== Antiquity ===
{{Main|Umm Al Nar culture|Wadi Suq culture}}
[[File:Cántaro (26738115330).jpg|thumb|left|upright|2nd century [[Common Era|BCE]] era jar found in [[Mleiha Archaeological Centre|Mleiha Archaeological site]] in Sharjah]]

Stone tools recovered reveal a settlement of people from Africa some 127,000 years ago and a stone tool used for butchering animals discovered on the Arabian coast suggests an even older habitation from 130,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite news|url = http://www.thenational.ae/uae/uae-archaeologist-discovers-the-swiss-army-knife-from-130-000-years-ago|title = UAE archaeologist discovers the Swiss Army knife from 130,000 years ago|last = Pennington|first = Roberta|date = 5 February 2014|work = The National|access-date = 19 February 2017|archive-date = 27 December 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161227134452/http://www.thenational.ae/uae/uae-archaeologist-discovers-the-swiss-army-knife-from-130-000-years-ago|url-status = live}}</ref> In time, lively trading links developed with civilisations in [[Mesopotamia]], Iran, and the [[Indus Valley civilisation|Harappan culture]] of the Indus Valley. This contact persisted and became wider, probably motivated by the trade in copper from the [[Hajar Mountains]], which commenced around 3,000 BCE.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adias-uae.com/ |title=Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey (ADIAS) |publisher=Adias-uae.com |access-date=12 February 2016 |archive-date=2 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302223259/http://www.adias-uae.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Sumerian sources talk of the [[Magan (civilization)|Magan]] civilisation, which has been identified as encompassing the modern UAE and Oman.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Early History of Civilisation|last=Woolley|first=Leonard|publisher=UNESCO|year=1963|page=611}}</ref>

There are six periods of human settlement with distinctive behaviours in the region before Islam, which include the [[Hafit period]] from 3,200 to 2,600 BCE, the [[Umm Al Nar culture]] from 2,600 to 2,000 BCE, and the [[Wadi Suq culture]] from 2,000 to 1,300 BCE. From 1,200 BCE to the advent of Islam in Eastern Arabia, through three distinctive [[Iron Age in the United Arab Emirates|Iron Ages]] and the [[Mleiha]] period, the area was variously occupied by the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenids]] and other forces, and saw the construction of fortified settlements and extensive husbandry thanks to the development of the [[Qanat|''falaj'']] irrigation system.