Digging Back in Time in the UAE

About an hour’s drive east of Dubai’s gleaming towers and artificial islands , a quieter, more natural landscape takes shape. At the far northern edge of the Rub’ al Khali , a saffron-colored sand sea laps against the Al-Hajar Mountains . A series of pale ridges rises finlike from the desert plain, with the largest—Jabal al Fāyah—standing 412 meters (1,352 feet) above sea level. …