Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi to open camel exhibition in early December

Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi will open its first temporary exhibition, Tracks Through Time: The Camel in Society, Trade and Art, in early December. The opening coincides with the museum's first anniversary. The museum says no other show has covered a span of camel history this long, over 7,000 years. The sources do not give an exact opening date.

The exhibition follows the camel through trade, society and art. It begins with wild animals living in the region millennia ago and ends with racing and beauty contests practised today. Museum director Peter Magee said the show draws on archaeological research into how people and camels came together. It closes with present-day Al Hejin racing and Mazayna beauty pageants.

The central exhibit is a set of archaeological finds from an extinct wild camel species, shown to the public for the first time. Bones from Baynunah in Abu Dhabi are dated to 4500 to 4000BC. Bronze Age remains found at Al Sufouh in Dubai are dated to 2000 to 1300BC. Bones of domesticated camels from Saruq Al Hadid in Dubai are also on show. According to the museum, they count among the oldest evidence anywhere of camels moving from wild to domestic life. The artefacts are lent by the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and by the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi.

Other items include Fujairah rock art about 3,000 years old, a rare 1840s children's book describing camel species and how they were used, and UAE stamps showing the animal. Photographs from archives, film footage and spoken accounts from camel herders sit alongside the objects. Visitors will also hear Taghrooda, a Bedouin poetry form, and Alheda'a, the tradition of calling camels. Unesco recognises both as intangible cultural heritage.

Workshops, guided tours and other activities will run as part of the anniversary programme, together with a shop range inspired by the exhibition.

The museum is in Abu Dhabi, so visitors staying in Dubai would need to travel between emirates. Guided trips to the capital are listed in the Abu Dhabi tours section.

The National reported the announcement. Gulf News added further detail on the exhibits.