False past horizons20 weeks ahead as we hunted over deserts and mountains, salt fl ats and wadis were to take us to the limits of our endurance at times, but to this day I still remember it fondly as one of my greatest adventures. The fi rst few towers that we tackled were either in or near areas that were already settled along the coast. Two very diffi cult fortifi cations to record were the National Museum of RAK and the police station of al- Uraybi: the Museum, because of its sheer size and number of rooms, and the police station because of its obvious security diffi culties. Although they were aware of our arrival, it was very diffi cult to concentrate while 20 heavily- armed policemen stared in bemusement as I attempted, for the umpteenth time, to throw a weighted 30- metre measuring tape over the battlements. However, the real test came as we moved inland to the large expanse of the Shimal Plain where we realised that each small settlement had its own defensive structure. Talking with locals would often lead us to abandoned courtyards containing a single square corner tower. The biggest problem here was the acacia trees that covered the plain and made visibility at ground level almost zero, so we adopted a novel approach to solve the problem. Derek suggested I stand on the passenger seat with the window open, with my head and body sticking out thus Above: A Shihu tribesman points the way. Note the 1940s Lee Enfi eld rifl e Above right: Tower on the Shimal Plain rising above the acacia trees Right: Collapsed tower guarding the eastern entrance to the Wadi Baih Far right inset: The last tower near al- Faslayn

False 21past horizons allowing me to see over the thorny acacia trees. The one weakness to this plan was Derek’s careless steering, which led to my body being pricked, scratched and lacerated by the branches, and although he always swore it was a mistake I was sure I could here the sounds of giggling from inside the car. By the end of this phase we had recorded a wide arc of defended farmsteads that lay on the edge of the gravel plain, and already we were beginning to understand a pattern to the location of these sites and distinctive architectural styles. On one of our daily expeditions Beatrice remarked on our incredible routine on discovering a new tower. Our car would pull to a halt, each of us would silently jump out and pull out our respective equipment. Fiona and I would begin with the ground plan while Derek recorded the exterior. The ladder would be placed against the tower to reach the door which was invariably on the fi rst fl oor. I would then pick a principal elevation which displayed the essence of the building and, using the stone tied to the end of the measuring tape method, would throw it to the top, something I became better at as time went on. Fiona would then shout out measurements as I drew a scaled elevation which I would then complete by eye. By this time Derek was inside the tower and we would join him on completion of the exterior elevations to draw internal plans and signifi cant features. With us hidden from view, Derek would photograph the exterior after which we would descend the ladder, pack our equipment and return to the Nissan Patrol. This could take as little as an hour, and with the minimum of equipment and fuss we completely recorded an entire building. The further from the urban centre we travelled the more dangerous we realised our mission was becoming. While surveying a site called Sheba’s Palace perched on a precarious rocky ridge we heard the occasional pop and whizzing noise. We soon became aware that the source of this noise was gunfi re from an AK- 47, wielded by the son of an irate old lady whose garden we had inadvertently walked through. Retreating to our car we were confronted by a crowd of angry locals and, realising that the situation was getting out of hand, decided to make a hasty escape. This episode prepared us for the odd pot shot that would be fi red in our direction from time to time up in the mountains, which was where we were headed next. There we found dozens of stone- built towers protecting routes and remote villages that clung to the side of dangerously steep slopes. Many of the lookout towers were recorded only after hours of climbing cliffs, crossing chasms spanned by single palm trunks and, on one occasion, driving up a gravel track that was six inches wider than the car with a sheer drop down into the wadi below. However, our single- minded determination drove us on and by the end of the six weeks we had found and recorded 75 defensive structures. All the plans and elevations were written up to publication standard, the records collated, the photographs catalogued, and on our return to the UK we carried out further archival study. The project seemed complete but ten years later, in 2002, Derek phoned to say we had missed a tower. It lay close to our original base camp but by some oversight we had missed it, and I promptly returned to RAK to fi nish the job. And so that’s where the story fi nally ends. In a matter of weeks ( for the most part), and with the most basic of equipment, we had recorded the remarkable buildings that were the Towers of Ras al- Khaimah – and despite the gunfi re, angry locals and hazardous locations, it was a story worth pursuing. ? Learn more: Kennet, D. ( illustrations by D Connolly) 1995. The Towers of Ras al- Khaimah. BAR International Series 601. Ras al- Khaimah National Museum: www. rakmuseum. gov. ae/ ?