世界最古８０００年前の真珠、アブダビで展示へ　ＵＡＥ

【アブダビＡＦＰ＝時事】考古学者らが世界最古と呼ぶ8000年前の真珠が、アラブ首長国連邦（UAE）の首都アブダビで展示される。当局が20日、発表した。新石器時代から真珠が取引されていたことを証明するものとされている。（写真はアラブ首長国連邦の首都アブダビ沖のマラワ島で発見された真珠。アブダビ文化観光局提供）
　この天然真珠が見つかったのは、アブダビ沖のマラワ島。同国最古の建築物跡の発掘で、部屋の床から発見された。
　アブダビ文化観光局によると、この真珠が発見された層は、放射性炭素年代測定で新石器時代の紀元前５８００年から５６００年にさかのぼる。
　同局のムハンマド・ムバラク局長は「アブダビで世界最古の真珠が発見されたことは、わが国の最近の経済・文化の歴史の多くが、先史時代の幕開けにさかのぼる深いルーツを持っていることを示している」と語った。
　崩壊した新石器時代の石の構造物群から成るマラワ島の発掘現場では陶器、貝や石で作られたビーズ、フリント製の矢じりなども発見された。
　この「アブダビの真珠」は、フランス・パリのルーブル美術館の海外分館であるルーブル・アブダビで、３０日から開催される「１万年の宝物」展で初公開される。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/10/21-10:13）

An 8,000-year-old pearl that archaeologists say is the world's oldest will be displayed in Abu Dhabi, according to authorities who said Sunday it is proof the objects have been traded since Neolithic times.
The natural pearl was found in the floor of a room discovered during excavations at Marawah Island, off the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which revealed the earliest architecture found in the country.
The layers from which the pearl came have been carbon dated to 5800-5600 BC, during the Neolithic period, Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism said.
The discovery of the oldest pearl in the world in Abu Dhabi makes it clear that so much of our recent economic and cultural history has deep roots that stretch back to the dawn of prehistory, said its chairman Mohamed Al-Muabarak.
The excavation of the Marawah site, which is made up of numerous collapsed Neolithic stone structures, has also yielded ceramics, beads made from shell and stone, and flint arrowheads.
The Abu Dhabi Pearl will be shown for the first time in the exhibition 10,000 years of Luxury which is opening on October 30 at the Louvre Abu Dhabi -- the outpost of the famous Paris museum.
Emirati experts believe that the pearls were traded with Mesopotamia -- ancient Iraq -- in exchange for ceramics and other goods. They were also likely worn as jewellery.
The Venetian jewel merchant Gasparo Balbi, who travelled through the region, mentions the islands off the coast of Abu Dhabi as a source of pearls in the 16th century, the culture department said.
The pearl industry once underpinned the economy of the United Arab Emirates, but the trade collapsed in the 1930s with the advent of Japanese cultured pearls, and as conflicts rocked global economies.
Instead, the Gulf nations turned to the oil industry which dominates their economies to this day.