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29-498: The burial mounds date to the Dilmun era (3200 BC-330 BC). In February 1889 some of the mounds were investigated by the British explorer J. Theodore Bent and his wife Mabel . The site was then excavated by many foreign archaeological teams throughout the 20th century. An important group of artifacts was excavated by the British archaeologist Ernest Mackay and can now be found in

58-416: A Kassite king named Agum, believed to be Agum III . Since 1987 Danish and Bahrain archaeologists have excavated at the site. The Danish expedition revealed that it was also a notable Hellenistic site. Qal`at al-Bahrain is a typical tell – an artificial mound created by many successive layers of human occupation. The strata spreads over a 180,000 sq ft (16,723 m ) area, which encompasses

87-406: A life expectancy of approximately 40 years. Babies were generally buried at and outside the ring-wall. The average number of children per family was 1.6 persons. Attempts to protect the burial mounds have run into opposition by religious fundamentalists who consider them unIslamic and have called for them to be concreted over for housing. During a parliamentary debate on 17 July 2005, the leader of

116-581: Is the largest in the Persian Gulf region and was built close to the port and by reclamation of seashore land. The archaeological findings, which are unearthed in the fort, reveal much about the history of the country. The area is thought to have been occupied for about 5000 years and contains a valuable insight into the Copper and Bronze Ages of Bahrain. The first Bahrain Fort was built around three thousand years ago, on

145-516: The Bahrain Fort or Portuguese Fort , is an archaeological site located in Bahrain . Archaeological excavations carried out since 1954 have unearthed antiquities from an artificial mound of 12 m (39 ft) height containing seven stratified layers, created by various occupants from 2300 BC up to the 18th century, including Kassites , Greeks , Portuguese and Persians . It was once the capital of

174-484: The British Museum , London. It includes an unusual statuette of a nude woman with a curvaceous body dating from between 2000 and 1500 BC. The discovery of a "new and rare type of burial mound encircled by an outer ring wall" has led archaeologists to believe that specific mounds were made for the social elite , indicating that early Dilmun culture had a class system. According to J. G. Lorimer 's 1908 Gazetteer of

203-453: The Dilmun civilization and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. The fort and the tell Qal'at al-Bahrain is built on, are located on the Bahrain island, on the northern seashore. On a clear day it is also seen from Saar . It stands like a "sentinel" near Manama , the capital of Bahrain; it is 6 km (4 mi) away from Manama on the fertile north coast. The tell

232-511: The Salafist al Asalah party, Sheikh Adel Mouwda , said "Housing for the living is better than the graves for the dead. We must have pride in our Islamic roots and not some ancient civilisation from another place and time, which has only given us a jar here and a bone there." Qal%27at al-Bahrain The Qal'at al-Bahrain ( Arabic : قلعة البحرين ; Portuguese : Forte de Barém ), also known as

261-492: The central governorate called for the demolition of 62 ancient burial mounds to make way for the construction of a nearby junction . In 2009, the construction of a museum dedicated to the history of the mounds and of A'ali was announced. Dilmun Burial Mounds The Dilmun Burial Mounds ( Arabic : مدافن دلمون , romanized :  Madāfin Dilmūn ) are a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising necropolis areas on

290-457: The main island of Bahrain dating back to the Dilmun and the Umm al-Nar culture . Bahrain has been known since ancient times as an island with a very large number of burials, the (originally) quite a number of square kilometres of mounds were said to be one of the largest cemeteries in the ancient world. The cemeteries are concentrated in the north of the island, on the hard stony areas slightly above

319-524: The British explorer J. Theodore Bent and his wife Mabel Bent . According to the diary of Mrs Bent they found “… bits of ivory, charcoal, ostrich eggshell…”. These finds are now in the British Museum, London. Theodore Bent published his results in two articles, but a more extended account appeared in the Bents' book Southern Arabia (1900). A Danish group in the 1950s was excavating at Qal'at al-Bahrain ,

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348-457: The Dilmun period. Proceeding from here towards the north, along the street leads, to a large gate that probably was the entry to the palace grounds. The modest houses built in the same size and type of construction were laid along a network of roads. The place prospered till 1800 BC after when it was deserted. Eventually the town became covered with drift sand from the sea. Metal artifacts found in

377-661: The Northern city wall. The ruins of the Copper Age consists of two sections of the fortification wall surrounding streets and houses, and a colossal building on the edge of the moat of the Portuguese fort in the centre. Barbar pottery has been unearthed around the walls of the central building, dating back to the same age as the Barbar Temples , although some of the other pottery and range of unearthed artefacts indicated that they predated

406-560: The Persian Gulf , A'ali was a considerable village situated 6 miles southwest of the Manama fort. The town consisted of 200 houses populated by the Baharna , who were primarily pottery-makers and date palm cultivators. There were an estimated 8,250 date palms in the village and livestock included 35 donkeys & 10 cattle. Lorimer also mentions that the village was the site of the largest tumuli on

435-425: The arable farming soils – the south of the island is mainly sandy and desert-like. Recent studies have shown that the estimated/approximately 350,000 ancient grave mounds could have been solely produced by the local population over a number of thousands of years . The graves are not all of the same era, or of exactly the same styles, and can vary considerably in size in different areas of the moundfield. Research, under

464-537: The auspices of the Bahrain National Museum (with the Bahrain Historical and Archaeological Society taking a keen interest), is still continuing, to establish a firm timeline for all these variations and continuations, as well as considering the implications for the society or societies that produced them. Between Sunday the 10th and Tuesday the 19th of February 1889, some of the mounds were excavated by

493-456: The capital city of the Bronze Age , when they opened some tumuli and discovered items dating to around 4100–3700 BP of the same culture. Many others began to excavate more of the graves, providing a view of the construction and content on these graves. Each of the tumuli is composed of a central stone chamber that is enclosed by a low ring-wall and covered by earth and gravel. The size of

522-477: The gates erected at four levels; the latest gate had two polished stone (made of fine-grained material) pivots which fixed a double-leafed gate. The western wall was seen well-preserved for a length of 9 m (30 ft). The streets were laid in north–south direction and were 12 m (39 ft) wide. There was a palace in the centre of the tel at a commanding location consisting of several warehouses which were inferred as indicative of economic activity during

551-561: The housing complexes. The fortifications seen in the excavated tel area were found around the township and were erected in cardinal directions. The fort walls are seen now only in the northern, western and southern slopes of the tel, and the eastern side is yet to be excavated. The fortifications covered an area of 15 ha (37 acres), and the walls were built with varying thickness by using stone masonry , and had gates which allowed transport and passing through, such as of donkey caravans. The fortifications were frequently raised, as noted from

580-627: The island A'ali is located in the middle of Bahrain Island (al-awal island), south of Isa Town and north of Riffa . Its name ( Arabic : عالي) translates to “high” in English and refers to the town’s high elevation from sea level. It lays approximately 15 km (9.3 miles) southwest of the capital Manama . The mounds have been a source of controversy in Bahraini politics ; in July 2008, the municipal council chairman of

609-448: The mounds varies, but the majority of them measure 15 by 30 ft (4.5 by 9 m) in diameter and are 3–6 ft (1–2 m) high. The smaller mounds usually contain only one chamber. The chambers are usually rectangular with one or two alcoves at the northeast end. Occasionally there are additional pairs of alcoves along the middle of the larger chambers. Although the chambers usually contained one burial each, some contain several people and

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638-444: The northeastern peak of Bahrain Island. The present fort dates from the sixth century AD. The capital of the Dilmun civilization, Dilmun was, according to the Epic of Gilgamesh , the "land of immortality", the ancestral place of Sumerians and a meeting point of gods. The site, 17.5 hectares in area, has been termed as Bahrain's "most important site in antiquity". The first excavation at

667-407: The secondary chambers often contain none. The deceased were generally laid with their heads in the alcove end of the chamber and lying on their right sides. The bodies were accompanied by few items. There were a few pieces of pottery and occasionally shell or stone stamp seals, baskets sealed with asphalt, ivory objects, stone jars, and copper weapons. The skeletons are representative of both sexes with

696-529: The site was carried out by a Danish archaeological expedition led by Geoffrey Bibby between 1954 and 1972 on behalf of the Prehistoric Museum of Moesgaard. A few, undated but Kassite era, cuneiform tablets were found. Beginning in the 1970s, a French expedition from the National Centre for Scientific Research worked the site. About 50 tablets were uncovered. Three of them were dated to the reign of

725-502: The tell were limited to copper pieces, fishing tools and a socketed spearhead; a workshop of 525 m (1,722 ft) size was also identified where copper casting two piece moulds and wax moulds were found. Small and large crucibles used for melting of metal were recovered in substantial quantities indicative of large scale manufacture by professional artisans. The copper ware was then traded in surrounding countries such as Oman and Mesopotamia . Dilmun stamp seals were also recovered from

754-451: The tell. This testifies to a continuous human presence from about 2300 BC to the 16th century AD. About 25% of the site has been excavated revealing structures of different types: residential, public, commercial, religious and military. They testify to the importance of the site as a trading port over the centuries. On the top of the 12-metre-high (39 ft) mound, there is the impressive Qal`at al-Burtughal ( Portuguese fort ), which gave

783-503: The temples, dating back to 3000 BC or later. Relics of copper and ivory provide an insight into ancient trade links. Many vessels have been unearthed on the site, and Danish excavations of the Palace of Uperi area revealed "snake bowls", sarcophagi, seals and a mirror, among other things. The excavations of the tel have revealed a small settlement, the only one of that period in eastern Arabia, on its northern side. It has been inferred that

812-466: The village was settled by people who developed agriculture near the oasis, planted palm trees, tended cattle, sheep and goats and also ventured into fishing in the Arabian Sea. The small houses they built were made of rough stone with clay or mortar as binding material. The plastered floors in the houses were said to have been spacious. Excavations also hinted that the village had streets which separated

841-450: The whole site its name, qal`a , meaning "fort". As the site was the capital of the Dilmun civilisation, it contains the richest remains of this civilization, which was hitherto only known from written Sumerian references. The site contains many areas and walls, including Saar necropolis, Al-Hajjar necropolis, Kassite Palace, Madimat Hermand necropolis, Madimat Isa necropolis, Al-Maqsha Necropolis, Palace of Uperi, Shakhura necropolis, and

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