London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition excavations at Saar: 1993 season

During 1993, the London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition conducted a fourth season of excavations at the early second millennium settlement of Saar, Bahrain. A lower level of the temple was cleared, and a range of buildings to its north-west discovered. A new street was found opposite the temple entrance, and several of the buildings along the main street were further investigated. Further environmental research included a new programme of micromorphology and the start of research into the fish remains.     

The decline of Magan and the rise of Dilmun: Umm an-Nar ceramics from the burial mounds of Bahrain, c.2250–2000 BC

This article outlines some general aspects of the Magan and Dilmun trade and goes on to examine the Umm an-Nar pottery discovered in the tombs of the Early Dilmun burial mounds of Bahrain. These ceramics are of particular interest because they indirectly testify to Dilmun's contact with Magan in the late third millennium. In this article, thirty vessels of seven morphological types are singled out. By comparison with the material published from the Oman peninsula the Bahrain collection is tentatively dated to c. 2250–2000 BC. The location of the Umm an-Nar pottery within the distribution of burial mounds reveals that its import was strongly associated with the scattered mounds of Early Type. It is demonstrated that the frequency of Umm an-Nar pottery declined just as the ten compact cemeteries emerged c. 2050 BC. The observed patterns are seen as a response to the decline of Magan and the rise of Dilmun.     

The stone quarry on Jiddah Island,Bahrain

The surface of the small island of Jiddah lying north‐west of Bahrain is covered in traces of stone quarrying, but although the island probably supplied the limestone ashlars for the second‐millennium BC Dilmun temples at Barbar, the sixteenth‐century AD Bahrain Fort and other eminent buildings, no study has ever been made of the ancient quarry. Information from a geological report and a few photographs may, it is hoped, inspire new research.     

The decline of Magan and the rise of Dilmun: Umm an-Nar ceramics from the burial mounds of Bahrain, c.2250–2000 BC

This article outlines some general aspects of the Magan and Dilmun trade and goes on to examine the Umm an-Nar pottery discovered in the tombs of the Early Dilmun burial mounds of Bahrain. These ceramics are of particular interest because they indirectly testify to Dilmun's contact with Magan in the late third millennium. In this article, thirty vessels of seven morphological types are singled out. By comparison with the material published from the Oman peninsula the Bahrain collection is tentatively dated to c. 2250–2000 BC. The location of the Umm an-Nar pottery within the distribution of burial mounds reveals that its import was strongly associated with the scattered mounds of Early Type. It is demonstrated that the frequency of Umm an-Nar pottery declined just as the ten compact cemeteries emerged c. 2050 BC. The observed patterns are seen as a response to the decline of Magan and the rise of Dilmun.     

London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition: 1994 and 1995 excavations at Saar, Bahrain

The long-term aim of the project is to excavate the entire central area of the Dilmun settlement. During the 1994 and 1995 seasons a further twelve buildings were excavated, most of them located along the main arteries of the settlement. A resistivity survey, followed by selective excavation, determined the size and extent of the site. A well excavated on the eastern flank provided valuable information about the level of Bahrain's aquifers in the Early Dilmun period.     

Al-Khidr site on Failaka Island in the Bronze Age: Pottery perspective

The objective of this article is to evaluate the results of the excavation at the site of Al-Khidr on Failaka Island that was probably a port or a fishermen’s settlement in the past. A very large number of stone architectural remains and artifacts have been discovered there. Al-Khidr is a typical Dilmun culture site and the settlement was probably contemporary with the known sites F3 and F6 located on the south-west coast of the island. Based on the pottery that has been processed, we preliminarily dated the site to a period between the beginning of the second millenium and approximately 1500 BC, although older settlement may have occurred, beginning at the end of the third millennium.     

London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition: 1991–2 excavations at Saar

Preliminary results are presented of the third season of excavations at Saar, Bahrain, by the London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition. Research at this second millennium BC site continued in the temple, as well as in parts of the upper town. Bedrock was reached at a depth of approximately 5.45 metres in the sondage below the temple. Several new buildings were found and work was completed in houses discovered in previous seasons. The article goes on to discuss the numerous seals and seal impressions found this season.     

A Dilmun temple in Bilad al‐Qadim,Bahrain: A preliminary indication?

Excavations and surveys completed in the putative former Early Islamic capital, Bilad al-Qadim in Bahrain, uncovered a variety of structural remains of seemingly pre-Islamic date. These, an altar, ashlars and column drums recorded at the disused spring of Abu Zaydan, are conceivably from a Dilmun period structure, perhaps a temple. This idea is briefly explored and the relevant material described.     

Mesopotamian ceramics from the burial mounds of Bahrain,c.2250–1750 BC

Among the ceramic vessels recovered from the burial mounds of Bahrain, a small percentage represents Mesopotamian imports or local emulations of such. In this paper two overall horizons are distinguished in these Mesopotamian ceramics. These are significant because both coincide with major stages in Mesopotamia’s interaction with the populations of the ‘Lower Sea’. The first import horizon is comprised of a vessel type found exclusively in the scattered mounds of Early Type which pre‐date the rise of the Dilmun ‘state’ proper. The distribution of these vessels outside their areas of production demonstrates how they circulated widely in a network elsewhere considered to reflect the orbit of Mesopotamia’s late third‐millennium ‘Magan trade’. Here it is consequently concluded that this particular type represents an important fossile directeur of the ‘Magan trade’ and pre‐Dilmun florescence. The vessels that make up the subsequent horizon of Mesopotamian imports are found exclusively in the compact mound cemeteries and thus coincide with the heyday of Dilmun. On these grounds it is argued that the two horizons are the product of, respectively, the Ur III network of ‘Magan trade’ and the contracted Isin‐Larsa network of ‘Dilmun trade’.     

An overview of bitumen trade in the Near East from the Neolithic (c.8000 BC) to the early Islamic period

The aim of the paper is to summarise the present state of knowledge concerning bitumen trade in the Near East from the Palaeolithic (70,000 BP) to the Early Islamic period. During the Palaeolithic and Early Neolithic period, bitumen utilisation was mostly concentrated in settlements close to oil seeps. From the Ubaid 3 period, bitumen from the Mosul area became more important and was traded as far as the southern Persian Gulf. The Uruk period is a turning point for Mesopotamian history as settlements evolved into city‐states. These cities had a great need for raw materials, and this marks the beginning of large‐scale exploitation of Hit bitumen. This bitumen was traded at settlements along the Euphrates, where a large trade network was established. Hit bitumen entered the Persian Gulf at the turn of the second millennium (Dilmun period). Bitumen from Iraq (Mosul and Hit) became predominantly used in most settlements along the southern coast of the Gulf. During this period Iranian bitumen was also exported and this supply tended to increase, especially during the Partho‐Sasanian period. Dead Sea bitumen had its own exchange network, which was concentrated across present‐day Israel and Egypt where it was extensively used for mummification.     

The Dilmun Bioarchaeology Project: a first look at the Peter B. Cornwall Collection at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology

This article presents an overview of the Peter B. Cornwall collection in the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. Cornwall conducted an archaeological survey and excavation project in eastern Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in 1940 and 1941. At least twenty‐four burial features were excavated in Bahrain from five different tumuli fields, and surface survey and artefact collection took place on at least sixteen sites in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. The skeletal evidence, objects and faunal remains were subsequently accessioned by the Hearst Museum. The authors recently formed the Dilmun Bioarchaeology Project to investigate this collection. This article provides background information on Cornwall’s expedition and an overview of the collection. Additionally, skeletal evidence and associated objects from two tumuli in Bahrain, D1 and G20, are presented to illustrate the collection’s potential contribution. Although the tumuli’s precise locations cannot be determined, associated objects help assign relative dates to these interments at the beginning of the second millennium BCE, the Early Dilmun Period.     

The Dilmun temple on Failaka,Kuwait

The Kuwaiti‐Danish 2009 excavations on Failaka produced new evidence for the dating of the Dilmun temple in Tell F6. The affinities of this temple to the Barbar temples in Bahrain are emphasised, whereas the hypothesis of a Syrian‐inspired temple tower is questioned.     

A geochemical study of bituminous mixtures from Failaka and Umm an-Namel (Kuwait), from the Early Dilmun to the Early Islamic period

This paper is the last in a series presenting geochemical analyses of fragments of bituminous mixtures excavated from archaeological sites in Kuwait. The first was devoted to bituminous boat remains from the Ubaid‐related Neolithic site of H3, As‐Sabiyah, while the second dealt with bituminous amalgams from the Partho‐Sasanian site of ^cAkkaz, a former island now joined to the south side of Kuwait Bay. This, the third, refers to bitumen‐bearing samples from two other islands, Failaka and Umm an‐Namel, and covers a time span including the Early Dilmun period, the Kassite period and the Hellenistic to Early Islamic periods. The composition of the bituminous amalgams was studied in detail. The proportions of soluble and insoluble organic matter as well as vegetal organic matter were evaluated. Mineralogical composition by X‐Ray diffraction and thin‐section analysis was used to estimate the mineral input in the bituminous mixtures. It can be confirmed that the recipes used in the preparation of these bituminous amalgams comply with those traditionally used in antiquity, as seen at many sites in Mesopotamia and the Gulf. Analysis of the soluble organic matter, and especially its ‘‘saturates’’ fraction, provided sterane and terpane distributions and the measurement of diagnostic molecular ratios. These data, complemented by the isotopic composition of asphaltenes, allowed the identification of the sources of the bitumen, by calibration with numerous references from Iran and northern Iraq (oil seeps, bitumen from archaeological sites). It was established that the bitumen from Failaka and Umm an‐Namel was mainly imported from central Iraq (Hit‐Abu Jir) and northern Iraq (around Mosul). One sample of oil‐stained sand, dating to the Early Dilmun period, originated from Burgan and thus documents small‐scale imports from inland Kuwait. These results, and those of previous analyses, agree with the geopolitical context of the Early Dilmun, Kassite and Hellenistic periods, and the maritime trade routes that linked Mesopotamia to the settlements of the Gulf and beyond. The paper concludes with an overview of recent bitumen provenance analyses, and discerns chronological patterns in the distribution of Iraqi and Iranian bitumen in the Gulf and Indian Ocean, from the Neolithic to the Islamic periods.     

Descent of Iron Age Farmers in Southern Africa During the Last 2000 Years

Ethnographies from southern Africa indicate that patrilineal descent dominates Bantu-language speakers. With great differences in material culture suggesting sociopolitical and economical changes between the earliest farmers that settled in the region in the first millennium AD and those described from ethnographies, it is very likely that descent patterns did not remain static over the course of nearly 2000 years. With major sociopolitical and economical changes, it is not surprising to suggest that other forms of descent also existed amongst farmers of southern Africa in the past. Although it remains ambiguous to establish descent patterns from archaeological remains in the absence of human burials, in this paper I investigate herding practices and the nature of farming as ways to infer descent. The results indicate that at least matrilineal descent was common in southern Africa before the arrival of ancestral Nguni and Sotho-Tswana speakers in the region during the Late Iron Age in the second millennium AD. Other forms of descent were likely present alongside matrilineal descent during the Early and Middle Iron Ages, when widespread evidence for patrilineal descent is absent.     

London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition: 1990 excavations at Saar

Preliminary results are presented of the first season's excavations at Saar, Bahrain, by the London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition. Saar is a single-period settlement dating to the early part of the second millennium BC. A short introduction to the history of excavation at Saar is followed by an account of the 1990 excavations in the temple area and in three areas of town housing. The main pottery types are discussed and some general conclusions then drawn about the settlement.     

Recent Excavation and Recording at the New Neolithic Rock Art Site of Vallée Aux Noirs,Buthiers (Seine‐et‐Marne,France)

Following the exceptional discovery of Neolithic engravings on a boulder at Vallée aux Noirs in the Fontainebleau forest, south of Paris, an excavation trench was opened in order to access the buried part of the decorated rock panel and explore the stratigraphic context of the artwork. A palaeosol was found two metres below the modern ground level, underneath multiple layers of sterile sandy soil forming a very compact sequence from which only one archaeological artefact was recovered – an Iron Age fibula (c.200–300 BC). Dating of the palaeosol was attempted through two different methods: AMS dates from charcoal suggest a significant span from the Early Bronze Age to the Iron Age, while two more consistent OSL dates point to formation of the palaeosol during the Late Neolithic (3500–3000 cal BC). The entire engraved rock surface (16 m²), including its buried part, was fully recorded. Four main semiotic groups were identified: a typical fifth‐millennium crook‐hafted axe with a ring, two boats with steering oars, and a central, very tall human figure dominating the composition from its 3.5‐metre height.     

House time: Neolithic settlement development at Racot during the 5th millennium CAL B.C. in the Polish lowlands

The settlement of Racot 18 in the western Polish lowlands is used as a case study in the investigation of continued development and expansion following initial Neolithic beginnings, and in the formal chronological modeling, in a Bayesian framework, of settlement development. The site belongs to the Late Lengyel Culture of the later 5th millennium cal b.c., and represents the intake of new land following earlier initial colonization. The formally estimated chronology for the settlement suggests individual house biographies spanned from as little as a generation to over a century; distinctive substantial buildings from late in the sequence may have lasted longest. Racot 18 is compared to its formally modeled context of the later 5th millennium cal b.c.     

Early Dilmun and its rulers: new evidence of the burial mounds of the elite and the development of social complexity,c. 2200–1750 BC

This paper deals with the social organisation of early Dilmun in Bahrain based on evidence from the burial mound record. Complete aerial photography survey and mapping have documented the extensive mound fields of Bahrain in their entirety and revealed a new and rare type of burial mound encircled by an outer ring wall. From the spatial distribution and appearance of these ‘ring mounds’ it is argued that they cover the time span 2200–1750 BC. It is further argued that the ring mounds reflect the entombment of a prominent segment of early Dilmun society and thus testify to the presence of a social elite as early as the late third millennium BC. The paper offers evidence supporting the view that fundamental changes in the size of the ring wall and the encircled mound occurred over time, culminating in the colossal ‘royal’ mounds near Aali village. The increase in size of the special mounds and the exclusive appearance of the type in the Aali cemetery after the emergence of ten concentrated cemeteries around 2050 BC are correlated with the already available evidence of increasing social complexity in Dilmun. Three clusters of ring mounds in Aali are argued to reflect the appearance of one or more ruling lineages that were ultimately to found the colony on Failaka, Kuwait, and rule not only Bahrain but also the adjacent coast of Saudi Arabia.