Saruq Al Hadid Archaeology Museum

Archaeologists still ask why anyone forged metal in a desert short of fuel and water. The museum sets out the gold, the iron and the snake figures, and leaves the question open.

Saruq Al Hadid Archaeology Museum is an interactive museum within the Al Shindagha complex, devoted to an Iron Age metalworking site in what is now Al Marmoom Desert Conservation Reserve. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum first noticed the dark dunes from a helicopter; excavations have since yielded thousands of objects, though only a fraction of the site has been dug. Themed rooms show copper slag and ingots, iron tools, gold jewellery, shell discs and bronze snake figurines, with films and screens that let visitors reconstruct finds and hear from the archaeologists. Admission is included with the Al Shindagha Museum ticket.