Dilmun Temple At Saar

Harriet Crawford, Robert Killick, Jane Moon

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317848233
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

The London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition began excavations at Saar in 1990. The research has focused on the excavation of a Dilmun settlement dating to the Early Dilmun period, around 2000 BC. The discovery and excavation of this settlement and its associated temple represent important additions to the archaeological heritage of Bahrain, and complement earlier discoveries at Barbar, Diraz, and Umm As-Sejjur. This book contains a full account of the excavation and finds from the Dilmun Temple at Saar. It discusses in detail the design and construction of the temple and provides invaluable new information about daily life, social customs and religious beliefs of the period.

Chapter 1.
Early Dilmun and the Saar Settlement

The Early History of Dilmun

The Early Dilmun culture flourished in the Arabian Gulf more than four thousand years ago, from the middle of the third millennium to about 1700 BC. Its origins lie in the Arabian Peninsula, but during its most important and prosperous period, from about 2000 BC - the time of the Saar temple, it was Bahrain which became the centre of an innovative and independent trading nation. As such, it played a crucial role in the international commerce linking southern Iraq (ancient Mesopotamia) with the Oman Peninsula and the Indus Valley, the home of the Harappan culture [1].

The Dilmun people themselves have not left us any written records, but there are many references to the country in the cuneiform documents of Mesopotamia. In fact, the name Dilmun appears in some of the oldest written documents in the world, dating to about 3200 BC (Nissen 1985). The term may originally have applied to the whole area south of Mesopotamia, but gradually became more specific as the region became better known. By the end of the third millennium it came to mean the area now covered by the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and the island of Bahrain, and then Failaka too. By the beginning of the second millennium, Bahrain had become the political and economic focus of the area.

Dilmun’s overseas connections

Contacts between Mesopotamia and the Gulf began even earlier than this, and date back to the ’Ubaid period of the late fifth and early fourth millennia BC. The first sailors would have some difficulty in recognizing the region today [90]. Minor climatic fluctuations occurred, but there is no agreement yet about the details. The region has, however, been getting dryer since about AD 1300 (Larsen 1983, 170). Coastlines have definitely fluctuated, but the situation is complex, with many apparently very local variations (Potts 1990a, 19–21). Small ’Ubaid habitation sites such as al-Markh, where much fish and shell-fish was obviously consumed, are today well inland, which is evidence for the sea being higher around Bahrain during the fourth millennium (Roaf 1974). It no doubt contained even more edible creatures than its now over-exploited waters can support. Wind patterns, on the other hand, were probably much the same, so that the ancient sailors would have followed routes similar to those taken by sailing boats in modern times.

Dilmun lay across one of the major trade routes of the time, linking the Indus valley (ancient Meluhha, in modern Pakistan) and Oman (ancient Magan), each rich in raw materials, with the highly-developed but resource-starved Mesopotamia. Especially vital was the supply of Omani copper for tools and weapons. Bahrain was particularly strategically placed between the head of the Gulf and the straits of Hormuz, and offered safe anchorage and plentiful fresh water to the sailors and traders who transported the vital supplies of copper and hard woods from the Indus Valley and Oman up to Mesopotamia. More exotic luxury goods such as ivory, semi-precious stones and strange birds were also traded along the same route (Ratnagar 1981). Textiles and foodstuffs, both archaeologically invisible, are thought to have travelled from Mesopotamia in the other direction (Crawford 1973), and many of these goods were bought and sold in the markets of Dilmun, bringing with them great prosperity for its people.

As well as being a major international stop-over and market place for merchants involved in these transactions, much as Bahrain is today, Dilmun also seemed to have a merchant navy of its own. In addition to carrying goods for other people, it exported a limited range of its own garden produce. Documents from Mesopotamia mention onions (or garlic) and dates (Potts 1990a, 183). Records of about 2600 BC refer to the ships of Dilmun bringing timber to build new temples in the southern Mesopotamian city of Lagash (Sollberger and Kupper 1971, 46). In the 24th century ships from Dilmun were known to have moored at the quays of Agade, capital city of the Akkadian Empire (Englund 1983, 87). Other texts of various periods refer to the superior size of Dilmun dates (Kramer 1963), which were much sought after. Written evidence referring to trade during the early second millennium - the period during which the Saar temple was built and used - is not extensive. However, we are lucky in having the business records of one merchant called Ea-Nasir who was based in the southern Mesopotamian city of Ur and who traded with Dilmun on behalf of a local syndicate. His main business was in copper, and his business methods seem to have left much to be desired (Potts 1988, 121–2).

In these circumstances it is unsurprising that the archaeology and material culture of Dilmun shows evidence for contacts with all its major trading partners. These contacts enrich the local culture, but never over-whelm it. Both Mesopotamian barrel weights and Indus cube weights have been found in Early Dilmun contexts in Bahrain (Højlund and Andersen 1994, 395–397) [91]. The earliest seals from Bahrain show evidence for close links with the Indus Valley. Like the Indus ones they are stamp seals, though they are round not square, and in some cases Indus Valley writing occurs on them. The humped bull which is a central motif on the Harappan seal is also very popular on the early ‘Persian Gulf’ seals, as they are called. A little later, the Indus Valley influence seems to have become of less importance and motifs from Mesopotamia, like the god in a horned hat, begin to appear. The shape of the seal changes: it becomes larger and flatter. The back is also decorated with a characteristic design of three incised lines and four dotted circles [92]. These changes in fashion reflect changing patterns of trade, and seem to indicate that ties with the Indus Valley became of less importance during the first quarter of the second millennium, while those with Mesopotamia became closer. This change is also reflected in the Mesopotamian texts of the early second millennium, which deal exclusively with trade between Dilmun and Mesopotamia, with no mention of Magan or of the Indus. The period between about 2000 BC and 1700 BC marks the height of Dilmun’s importance as an independent political and economic power.

Dilmun was an urban civilization, with major centres. The earliest of these identified to date is the settlement of Tarut in the Eastern Province. Also dating back to the third millennium is the greatest Dilmun city, Qala’at al-Bahrain, which was enlarged and walled around 2000 BC, and remained the most important place on Bahrain into Islamic times. Settlement on the island of Failaka, off Kuwait, did not start until the early second millennium (Højlund 1987, 157).

A unifying feature of Dilmun urban centres is the well-built stone architecture which has no parallels in either Mesopotamia or the Indus valley, for in both these areas mudbrick was the main building material. Tarut remains unexcavated, but preliminary survey showed massive blocks of worked masonry (Bibby 1970, 388). At Qala’at al-Bahrain there is a massive stone town wall complete with gateways. The skill in masonry which is demonstrated here and at some of the other important sites on Bahrain may have been learned from the builders of the fine masonry tombs typical of the Oman peninsula during the slightly earlier Umm an-Nar period (2500 BC). For example, at the Barbar temple, the main religious complex on Bahrain, the method of jointing some of the stones is matched at the Umm an-Nar tombs at Hili in Abu Dhabi (Doe 1986) [93]. On the other hand, the plans of the temples on Bahrain have no parallels outside the island, and show a wide variety of forms.

Religion

That the people of Dilmun believed in an afterlife is apparent from the large number of tombs found on Bahrain, but details about their religion are lacking as yet. It has been suggested that water played an important part in the mythology of Ancient Dilmun (Bibby 1986, 194), but only at the Barbar temple has a well actually been found inside a temple enclave. The variety of temple plans suggests that a number of different gods and goddesses were worshipped, each with their own ritual and own style of temple. One of them may have been a water god, perhaps even the Mesopotamian god Ea, or a local counterpart. Various myths and stories refer to this deity’s special relationship with Dilmun (al Nashef 1986). The only Dilmun god we know by name is Inzak, described as god of Dilmun (ibid, 341) but nothing is known about his attributes. He was not just a local figure, because a temple was also dedicated to him in the city of Susa, capital of Elam (south-western Iran). The name of another deity, Meshkilak, perhaps the wife of Inzak, also appears in the cuneiform record.

Other scraps of information about the religion of Dilmun can be gleaned from the stamp seals characteristic

[1] The Gulf and its neighbours
This map, with east at the top, highlights the advantageous geographical position of Bahrain which enabled it to control trade up and down the coast between Oman and southern Iraq.

of the Dilmun culture. They sometimes show offerings being made to altars and divine symbols [94]. A seal found at Saar appears to show a dramatic murder scene from Dilmun mythology, though sadly we cannot attribute it to any particular god. One of the Mesopotamian creation myths describes Dilmun as a fertile and beautiful place where many plants were created as the result of various complicated and incestuous unions between the great Sumerian god Enki and his daughters. These hints mark the limit of our knowledge of the religion of Dilmun, though the skill lavished on the temples and their prominence among the buildings in the settlements they served indicates how important they were to the inhabitants.

Graves, politics and society

The great mound-fields of Bahrain were among the first of the island’s antiquities to attract attention from travellers with an archaeological bent (Potts 1990a, 209). As late as 1947, however, their date and significance were poorly understood, and Geoffrey Bibby was probably not the only visitor to be told they were Portuguese (1970, 25). Once the most significant feature of the Bahrain landscape, the mound-fields have all but disappeared, though the few small groups which remain continue to exercise fascination over visitors to the island. Indeed, from photographs taken when one could still become quite lost in these seemingly endless ‘forests’ of tumuli, it is easy to sympathize with the early researchers who imagined that they must represent the graves of foreigners brought to Bahrain for burial: there seemed to be more than an island the size of Bahrain could have provided corpses to fill (Potts 1990a, 214–215). Estimates of actual numbers vary, but a figure which has gained recent acceptance is that of 172,000 mounds, of which perhaps 78% are single adult interments (Larsen 1983, 45; Potts 1990a, 215). Other types are discussed below. Some recent research has suggested that a population of no more than 18,000 souls could easily require so many tombs over a five hundred year period (Frohlich 1983, 60 and Table 6; Larsen 1983, 45–47). As research into Early Dilmun artefacts progresses, it becomes increasingly obvious that, with occasional exceptions, there is nothing ‘foreign’ about the material found in these graves. On the contrary, they represent a single material culture.

Nearly all Early Dilmun graves on Bahrain have been robbed in antiquity, so complete groups of grave-goods are almost unknown. Whatever the structure of the tomb, the body was usually laid on its side, with its knees bent. Typical finds are simple jewellery, occasional seals, pottery, metal artefacts and bitumen-covered baskets. Preservation of skeletal material is generally poor, but surviving teeth point unmistakably towards a very high incidence of dental caries, no doubt exacerbated by the consumption of Dilmun’s famous dates (Højgaard 1986, 66).

While social differentiation on the basis of grave-goods cannot be affirmed from the current state of research, differences in size of tomb are apparent. There were one or two particularly high mounds among those of the Saar mound-field, and at A’ali, in the centre of the island, there still survives a large group of monumental mounds, up to 12 min height [95]. Some have been excavated (Frifelt 1986), and although they have inevitably been robbed, these graves must once have been magnificent. They have two-storey chambers with a floor and ceiling of huge slabs of stone, and the contents were probably rich too: pieces of decorated ivory, perhaps from furniture or containers, painted pottery, and a gold bead of quadruple spirals were among the scraps recovered [96]. The A’ali tombs obviously represent an elite group of some description (Reade and Burleigh 1978).

The presence of monumental buildings in the form of both tombs and temples indicates a considerable level of prosperity, and also the ability on someone’s part to organize large and expensive public projects. There is at least a case for supposing that the early second millennium saw the formation of a state in Dilmun. Apart from monumental tombs, there is a single reference to a king, in a letter written at Mari, a city in Syria. It concerns a present of fine oil for the king (‘Lugal’) of Dilmun (Groneberg 1992). The settlement at Qala’at al-Bahrain seems to have acquired the status of a capital about this time: it grew to about 15 ha, and a wall was built around it. Pottery-making ceased to reflect the influence of Mesopotamia to any great extent, and developed indigenous styles (Højlund 1992).

The demise of Early Dilmun

Early Dilmun’s independence was not to last, however. The major political changes in Mesopotamia and Syria which characterize the period around 1700 BC also had profound effects on the trade routes down the Arabian Gulf. South Mesopotamia was systematically devastated in acts of political retaliation by the kings of Babylon. This devastation included the destruction of the main port of Ur, through which goods had entered the Mesopotamian market from the south. The same kings of Babylon also extended their power northwards into Syria to include the important trading city of Mari, which controlled much of the traffic up and down the middle Euphrates to the Anatolian highlands. The highland area is rich in the same raw materials, copper and timber, that had previously been supplied via the Gulf. The new political conditions made it feasible to bring such heavy goods down-river to Babylonia direct from their sources in central and eastern Anatolia. The last extant reference to Dilmun copper also mentions for the first time copper from the country of ‘Alashiya’, modern Cyprus (Potts 1990a, 226). The market for Dilmun copper was drying up, and there seem to have been problems in the Harappan cities too. Many Dilmun settlements were abandoned. Qala’at al-Bahrain continued to be occupied, but by the mid-second millennium BC it had lost its independence, and had a governor appointed by the king of Babylon (Potts 1990a, 310).

Dilmun Settlement on Bahrain

Aquifers of stored Pleistocene rainwater are present near the ground surface in Bahrain, and this water is available in certain locations, mainly near the north coast, from natural springs or from wells. Settlement has therefore always concentrated in the northern part of the island.

The major excavated Early Dilmun settlement sites on Bahrain are Qala’at al-Bahrain, Barbar, Diraz and Saar [97]. There is also an unexcavated settlement just south of Saar and another inside the confines of the Al-Areen wildlife park near Zallaq, on the west coast. Surveys (such as Larsen 1983) indicate others, but it is hard to be sure whether sherd scatters really indicate settlement, as reworking of land for agriculture and building has res...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contributors
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Early Dilmun and the Saar Settlement
• 2. The Architectural History of the Temple
• 3. Activities Inside the Temple: The Evidence of Microstratigraphy
• 4. Seals and Sealings: Fragments of Art and Administration
• 5. Temple Paraphernalia: Tools, Containers and Other Items
• 6. Food Remains
• 7. The Temple: An Overview
• Bibliography
• Appendices