Finds at both Tell Abraq and Ed-Dur show habitation in the area throughout the Bronze Age, from the Hafit period, through the Umm Al Nar period and the later Wadi Suq and Iron I, II and III ages. Finds also link Ed-Dur with the inland settlement of Mleiha, especially distinctive burials of animals with their heads turned back on their bodies. Significant trading links with both the Western Sumerian culture and the Eastern Indus Valley culture are displayed at these sites, with the semi-nomadic Magan people smelting bronze mined in the Hajar Mountains and then shipping the smelted ore. Macedonian coinage unearthed at Ed-Dur dates back to Alexander the Great, while hundreds of coins have been found bearing the name of Abi'el. In March 2019, 15 tombs, bronze statues, settlement remains, jewellery and pottery, dating back to the 1st century CE, were unearthed here. It is thought Ed-Dur is the site of "Omana", mentioned by both Pliny and Strabo as an important town in the Lower Persian Gulf. During the Bronze Age, agriculture flourished, with dates being the prominent crop. Wheat, millet and other grains were also cultivated wherever there was enough water for irrigation. It is now widely believed that the climate during the period was more temperate than now. Umm Al Quwain was the site of a fort built in 1768 by the founder of the modern Al Mualla dynasty, Sheikh Rashid bin Majid of the Al Ali tribe. On 8 January 1820, Sheikh Abdullah bin Rashid signed the General Maritime Treaty with the United Kingdom, thus accepting a British protectorate in order to keep the Ottoman Turks out. Like Ajman, Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah, its position on the route to India made it important enough to be recognized as a salute state with a three gun salute. By 1908, J. G. Lorimer's famous survey of the Trucial Coast, the "Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia", had Umm Al Quwain listed as a town of some 5,000 inhabitants and identified as the major boat-building centre on the coast, producing some 20 boats a year compared to 10 in Dubai and 5 in Sharjah. On 2 December 1971, Sheikh Ahmad bin Rashid joined its neighbors Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman and Fujairah in forming the United Arab Emirates, with Ras Al-Khaimah joining later in early 1972.