ABU DHABI - A symposium and workshop entitled “Neogene Terrestrial Mammalian Biostratigraphy and Chronology in Asia” was held in Beijing from 8-14 June, 2009. Fossil experts from all over the world attended this important scientific meeting. This was a special conference dedicated to the latest research on mammalian fossil remains found throughout Asia. The conference also included a visit to the Hezheng Paleozoological Museum in Gansu Province.
Fossils of extinct tropical animals have been found in Al Gharbia since the 1940s. A joint expedition during the 1980s and 1990s between Yale University and The Natural History Museum (London), in collaboration with the Historic Environment Department in Abu Dhabi for cultural and heritage, determined these fossils to be between 8 and 6 million years old, from a time known as the Late Miocene.
The Al Gharbia fossils provide evidence of an ancient river that used to run through the region supporting a wide range of extinct animals, including four-tusked elephants, sabre-toothed cats, small hippopotamus, and a giant ostrich. Since 2006 a field team headed by Yale University and the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage has collected and studied hundreds of new fossils from Al Gharbia.
Dr. Faysal Bibi (Yale University) and Dr. Mark Beech (Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage) attended the Beijing conference and presented a paper entitled “A Late Miocene Fauna from the United Arab Emirates”.
An important result of the conference was the demonstration of interesting links between particular fossil animals across Asia. The Abu Dhabi fossils were presented as an excellent example of the linkages between fossil animals from southern Asia and Africa during the Late Miocene.
The results of the Beijing conference are to be published in a scientific book by Columbia University Press.
The Yale-ADACH team returns to continue fieldwork in Al Gharbia in December 2009. The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage is actively working on the management and protection of the Al Gharbia fossil sites.
Iran cuts ties with British Museum over Persian treasure