Archaeologists discover graves, coffins, writings in Bahrain

Several archaeological discoveries were made in different parts of Bahrain during the past twelve months.

Archaeologists discover graves, coffins, writings in Bahrain [Credit: DT News]

Gold pieces, graves, coffins and ancient writings, aging back to 2200BC, were found in sites including Wadi Al Sail, Karbabad, Karrana, Abu Saiba’a, Malkiya and Aali.

This was unfolded during a lecture yesterday organised by Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA) at Bahrain National Museum as part of the Kingdom’s archaeological celebrations this year under the project of “Our Year of Archaeology”.

Archaeological Affairs Counselor Dr Pierre Lombard said the discoveries were made by the four archaeology teams from Japan, Denmark, France and BACA currently working in Bahrain.

Dr. Lombard speaking at Bahrain National Museum [Credit: DT News]

“The main discoveries were found in Aali, Qal’at Al Bahrain site (Bahrain Fort), Malkiya and Hillat Abdul Saleh near Karranah village,” Dr. Lombard said.

“They included a Tylos cemetery in Malkiya, built above a potters’ production site from the late Dilmun period, a unique coffin-cemetery in Hillat Abdul Saleh from the same period, first cuneiform text to be found in Bahrain that goes back to the first millennium BC in Qala’t Al Bahrain and an exceptional epigraphic discovery in Aali,” said Dr. Lombard.

Dilmun is an ancient civilisation that lived on the island in the last three millenniums BC, and Tylos is the ancient Greek name of Bahrain.

The archaeologist said that more excavations are being carried out in several sites, promising more discoveries in the near future. He also reviewed some of the recent discoveries made in Bahrain with the audience and answered their questions and queries.  

Author: Muhannad Mansour | Source: DT News : News of Bahrain [March 24, 2017]