Jebel Faya

Jebel Faya (Arabic: جَبَل ٱلْفَايَة, romanized: Jabal Al-Fāyah; FAY-NE1) is an archaeological site and limestone hill or escarpment near Al Madam in the Emirate of Sharjah, the UAE, located about 50 km (31 miles) east of the city of Sharjah, and between the shoreline of the Gulf and Al Hajar Mountains. It contains tool assemblages from the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age reflecting human occupation of the region between 210,000 and 2,300 years ago. Because its deep deposits contain an assemblage that has been dated to 125,000 years ago, the site was thought to contain the world's most ancient settlement yet discovered of anatomically modern humans outside of Africa at the time of its publication in 2011. Finds of a yet earlier date (185,000 years) have since been found at Misliya cave in the Levant.

The tools found at Faya are distinctive and have links in their form and type to tools of a similar age found in Sudan, giving us confidence in the idea of a virile southern trajectory rather than a leakage east of the people embarking on the Levantine path to Europe. This idea has been strengthened by work from other sites. From Faya they would have crossed to Iran and spread north and east.

The finds from excavations at Faya and surrounding digs are displayed at the Mleiha Archaeological Centre.