UNESCO Adds Al Faya to the World Heritage List 2025
Paris, 11 July 2025 – Al Faya UNESCO World Heritage UAE 2025 marks a historic milestone for the United Arab Emirates, as UNESCO officially inscribed the Al Faya site in Sharjah on its prestigious World Heritage List. This recognition underscores the site’s exceptional cultural and scientific value, documenting over 200,000 years of continuous human presence in desert environments..
This inclusion represents international recognition of the exceptional scientific and cultural value of Al Faya, which preserves one of the oldest and most continuous records of human existence in desert environments, dating back over 200,000 years, making it a living testimony to humanity’s resilience and ability to adapt in the harshest natural settings.
This remarkable achievement is the result of decades of field research led by the Sharjah Archaeology Authority, in collaboration with international missions, which uncovered 18 successive geological layers documenting various stages of human activity. These findings reinforce Sharjah and the UAE’s position as a cradle of early human history.
This listing marks an important step that reflects the UAE’s commitment to preserving human heritage and raising global awareness of the cultural landscape of the desert as an integral part of the human evolutionary narrative.
On behalf of the UAE and the Emirate of Sharjah, Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, official ambassador for Al Faya’s international nomination file, expressed her gratitude to the Chair and Members of the World Heritage Committee for this historic recognition. She emphasized that the story of Al Faya forms an essential part of our shared human story.
She added: “The inscription of Al Faya reinforces Sharjah’s role as a cradle of early human history and highlights the Arabian Peninsula’s pivotal role in humanity’s journey out of Africa. The stone tools found at Al Faya—some over 200,000 years old—are powerful evidence of our ancestors’ ingenuity and the deep cultural roots of our region.”
She concluded: “We are firmly committed to protecting this site and honoring the legacy of those who came before us so it may continue to inspire future generations around the world.”
In this context, Emirates Scholar Center for Research and Studies extends its heartfelt congratulations to the UAE for this significant and historic achievement. The inclusion of Al Faya represents global recognition of the site’s unique cultural and scientific value as an exceptional human landscape documenting early human presence in desert environments. It also reinforces the UAE’s leading role in preserving human heritage and reflects Sharjah’s message of safeguarding cultural and intellectual identity while offering a global model for the sustainable preservation of cultural legacy.
