An ancient Christian monastery that may have predated the rise of Islam has been discovered on an island off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The National, a Dubai-based news site, reported that the 1,400-year-old monastery was hidden for more than a millennium beneath a sand dune and archaeologists discovered the remains of a church, a dining hall, cisterns and cells for the monks where they spent time in solitude.

“It is an extremely rare discovery,” Professor Tim Power, an archaeologist at the UAE University who took part in the dig, told The National. “It is an important reminder of a lost chapter of Arab history.”

Power explained that the monks probably weren’t driven from the site by the forces of the Caliphate. Rather, “the place was slowly abandoned.” Christians and Muslims generally coexisted for around 300 years after the rise of Islam, he continued, adding that “there was no sign of devastation or violence or burning” at the monastery.

The monastery is the second of such early Christian sites discovered in the UAE.

Archaeologists working on Sir Bani Yas Island off Abu Dhabi in 1990 discovered a Christian monastery dating from a similar period. Six ancient monasteries in total have been discovered along the shores of the Arabian Gulf.

Christians remain a minority across the wider Middle East, though Pope Francis arrived in nearby Bahrain on Thursday to promote interfaith dialogue with Muslim leaders.

The monastery on Siniyah Island’s floor plan suggests early Christian worshippers prayed within a single-aisle church at the monastery. Rooms within appear to hold a baptismal font, as well as an oven for baking bread or wafers for communion rites.

The UAE’s Culture Ministry has sponsored the dig in part, which continues at the site. Just hundreds of meters (yards) away from the church, a collection of buildings that archaeologists believe belongs to a pre-Islamic village sit.

ALSO READ 1,500-Year-Old Inscription Leading To Apostle Peter’s Home Uncovered