Ancient Secrets Unearthed at Sharjah’s Buhais Geology Park

Buhais Geology Park offers something you won't find anywhere else in the UAE—an ancient world frozen in stone. 

Located near Al Madam, this park peels back the layers of time, revealing human settlements dating back 200,000 years and a geological history millions of years older. Here, history isn’t something to be told—it's something to be uncovered, step by step, through fossils embedded in rock and graves tucked into a desert mountain. 

This place was once covered by shallow seas about 93 million years ago and marine life thrived in what is now an arid desert. Remnants of that oceanic world are still visible in the park’s fossilized remains. Walking through, you find yourself tracing the edges of an era long gone, where the earth tells the story of its transformation from seabed to desert. No need for embellishments—the fossils are there, quietly marking the passage of millennia. 

The park’s focal point, Jebel Buhais, rises 340 meters above the plain, casting a long shadow over the landscape. But it's what's under the surface that matters most here. This mountain has been a burial site for humans across centuries—from the Stone Age to the Iron Age and beyond. Pottery shards, bronze spearheads, and even glass vessels have been discovered here, some dating back to the 5th millennium BC. The ongoing excavations reveal fragments of lives lived in these sands, long before modern civilization set down roots. These finds aren’t dressed up in dramatic storytelling. Instead, they are simply left to speak for themselves. 

Buhais Geology Park is also a place where architecture meets the landscape without overshadowing it. Awarded the Architecture Masterprize 2020 for Cultural Architecture, the design of the exhibit halls features structures that don’t shout for attention—they sit quietly in the background, allowing the desert to take center stage. You walk through the park, not feeling led by the hand, but free to explore as you wish.

Outside, the paths cut through gravel plains and dunes, with views of the distant Hajar Mountains. It’s a landscape that feels untouched, raw, and full of stories waiting to be uncovered.

Two key archaeological sites within the park take visitors further into the ancient world. These necropolises, used as burial grounds across different historical periods, reveal human stories from long ago, etched into the earth. The discoveries—graves, pottery, even tools—are uncovered gradually, piece by piece, as if the desert is slowly surrendering its secrets. 

Though the park was featured in the UAE’s 'World’s Coolest Winter' campaign, its charm doesn’t lie in flashy marketing. The stories of Buhais unfold slowly, allowing visitors to experience the depth of the park’s significance in their own time. Whether walking the outdoor paths or studying the fossils in the exhibits, the park’s allure comes from its ability to transport you back through millennia, with nothing more than the land itself as the guide.