The Umm an-Nar tomb
13.9 m across, built around 2300 BC.
xiquinhosilva — CC BY 4.0 · Angela Manthorpe — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Alexandermcnabb — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Angela Manthorpe — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Adrian Chavez — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Mleiha Archaeological Centre, the museum of Mleiha National Park in central Sharjah's desert, is built around a Bronze Age tomb. Its displays span over 200,000 years of human life, from Stone Age toolmakers to the pre-Islamic town of Mleiha, and it is a gateway to the Faya Palaeolandscape, on UNESCO's World Heritage List since July 2025. Opened by the Ruler of Sharjah in January 2016, it wraps round an Umm an-Nar tomb of about 2300 BC, 13.9 metres across and the UAE's second largest of its period. Digs since the 1970s revealed a town that thrived from the 3rd century BC, where camels and horses were buried beside their owners. At nearby Jebel Faya, 125,000-year-old stone tools back the theory of an early human route out of Africa through southern Arabia. A short film in Arabic and English opens the visit; the galleries run from Faya's stone tools to Bronze Age jewellery, Greek-style amphorae and a gravestone in Aramaic and the South Arabian script. A gentle slope descends to the tomb, and a roof walkway overlooks it. Paid extras include drives and hikes to Fossil Rock and Camel Rock, guided tours of the ancient fort, graves and Stone Age caves, stargazing, sandboarding, horse riding and glamping. Mleiha lies about 54 km inland from Sharjah Fort as the crow flies, roughly an hour's drive from Sharjah or Dubai. Allow an hour for the museum, half a day with an activity. The Sharjah Mosque, 32 km towards the city as the crow flies, is an easy add-on.
13.9 m across, built around 2300 BC.
Some 125,000 years old.
Marine fossils, a short drive away.
Mleiha National Park, Mleiha, central Sharjah
Sunday to Wednesday from 9:00 to 19:00, and Thursday to Saturday from 9:00 to 21:00, according to Mleiha National Park's official site in 2026, though hours can change, so check before the drive. Tours and evening activities such as stargazing run at their own times and are best booked ahead.
Probably: coin moulds were found at Mleiha, along with a large quantity of bronze slag inside its fort, and some coins bear the name Abi'el, thought to have been a ruler in south-east Arabia in the late 3rd or early 2nd century BC. In February 2021 a pottery jar holding 409 silver coins of the 3rd century BC was unearthed there.