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The two monasteries disappeared into history over time, as scholars believe that Christians slowly converted to Islam as the belief became more common in the region.
Today, Christians remain a minority across the Middle East, despite Pope Francis arriving in nearby Bahrain on Thursday to promote interfaith dialogue with Muslim leaders.
For Timothy Ball, associate professor of archaeology at the University of the United Arab Emirates, who helped investigate the newly discovered monastery, the UAE today is a “melting pot of nations.”
“The fact that something similar happened here 1,000 years ago is remarkable, and it’s a story worth telling,” he said.
The monastery is located on the island of Sinha, which protects the Khor al-Beida marshes in Umm al-Quwain, the emirate about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Dubai, on the coast of the Persian Gulf. The island has a series of sandbars like crooked fingers. On the one hand, in the northeastern part of the island, archaeologists discovered the monastery.
Carbon dating dates for samples found on the monastery base ranged between 534 and 656. Islam’s prophet Muhammad was born around 570 and died in 632 after conquering Mecca in present-day Saudi Arabia.
Viewed from above, the plan of the monastery on the Isle of Sinia shows early Christians praying in a single-aisle chapel in the monastery. The room inside appears to have a baptismal pool, as well as an oven for baking bread or crepes for the Eucharist ceremony. A nave may also have an altar and a communion wine device.
Next to the monastery is a second building with four rooms, probably surrounding a courtyard – possibly the home of an abbot or even a bishop of the early church.
Historians say early churches and monasteries stretched along the Persian Gulf to what is today the coast of Oman and all the way to India. Archaeologists have found other similar churches and monasteries in Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
In the early 1990s, archaeologists discovered the UAE’s first Christian monastery on Sir Baniyas Island, which is now home to a nature reserve and luxury hotel off the coast of Abu Dhabi near the Saudi border. It also dates back to the same period as the new discovery in Umm al-Quwain.
However, Bauer said evidence of early life in the Khor al-Beida marshes at Umm al-Quwain dates back to the Neolithic period — suggesting the area is at least 10,000 years old.
Today, the area around the Everglades is known for low-cost liquor stores at the Emirate’s Barracuda Beach Resort. In recent months, Authorities dismantle a bulky Soviet-era cargo plane Linked to the Russian gunman dubbed the “Death Merchant” as the company is building a bridge to the island of Sinya for a $675 million real estate development.
The development spurred the archaeological work that uncovered the monastery, Ball said. The site and others will be fenced off and protected, he said.
“It’s a very interesting discovery because in some ways it’s hidden history — it’s not something that’s widely known,” Ball said.
Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
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