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Advertisers Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait B.S.C.
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The Dilmun Civilization (3200 - 1600 B.C.)
In Bahrain, a visitor is always surprised by the thousands of graves and burial mounds that extend over 18 miles in successive swells of knolls along the roads here. The tombs lie peacefully between the districts of many new towns. And, in an odd juxtaposition of past and present, oil pipelines -- which are always built above ground level in Bahrain -- edge their way alongside the burial mounds.
Although throughout the centuries robbers have stripped the tombs, archaeologists have still been able to find arms, carnelian jewels from the Valley of the Undus, bronze and copper objects. Their contents were the same as the cooper used in Magan in the Sultanate of Oman during the third millennium B.C. Seals from Dilmun were also found, which were imprinted with tales of the merchants' everyday life of the time.
These discoveries confirmed that trading existed as early as the end of the fourth millennium (3200 B.C.) between Mesopotamia, Dilmun (Bahrain), Magan (Oman), Melukhah and Harapah, the capital cities of the Valley of the Indus, Mesopotamia and the Valley of the Indus - each country had already reached a high level of civilization at that time.
Thousands of years ago sailors brought pearls, tortoise shells, coral, palm fronds and coconuts here before sailing off to Magan or the Indus Valley.
When the caliphs of Baghdad founded Basra at the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the Bahraini merchants put out to sea once again and sailed to China, whose routes had been opened by the Omani navigators in the 8th century. Again, Bahrain was used as a port of call, and a large number of Chinese celadons and porcelain have been found here. In the wall of Qal-at Al-Bahrain, archaeologists found a wide variety of Indian, Chinese and Arabian coins with Kufic inscriptions.
Some archeologists believe that Bahrain minted its own money from the 10th to the 13th centuries.
On one ancient tablet dated 3100 B.C., Dilmun is described as an "Elysium" where the inhabitants were eternally young and suffered no illnesses, "where the raven did not croak and wolves and lion did not devour their prey."
The name Dilmun is associated with that of Enki, the god of wisdom and water, and the Gilgamesh, King of Uruk in Mesopotamia, whose saga recounts a wonderful mythological tale - a combination of 'A Thousand and One Nights' and images from the Bible.
Archaeologists from the United States, Great Britain and Denmark have been able to put together pieces of this saga, and have concluded that 'The Saga of Gilgamesh,' written long before the Iliad and the Odyssey, is the first-ever written piece of preserved literature.
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Table of Contents The Al Khalifa Dynasty - Ruling Bahrain Since 1783 |
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Bahrain is one of the world's largest necropolises with an estimated 170,000 graves, most of which date back to the third and second millenniums B.C. Some people believe that the ancient Egyptians buried their dead here, but archaeologists have discovered vases and jars from Mesopotamia and the Valley of the Indus in the royal tombs of A'ali and in Sar.
And, in a tradition that is still carried on today, boats that set off from the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates have always stopped here to get fresh supplies in sweet water and vegetables. Cuneiform texts reveal that Dilmun was located a two-days sailing distance from Mesopotamia.
Many archaeologists and geographers, who have closely cross-checked all the findings on Bahrain, not only believe that Bahrain was the center of a flourishing civilization, but that the Dilmun empire may have even extended as far as Arabia and Iran.