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<< Text Pages >> Dilmun - Ancient Village or Settlement in United Arab Emirates

Submitted by AlexHunger on Thursday, 03 August 2006  Page Views: 8915

Multi-periodSite Name: Dilmun Alternative Name: Qal'at al–Bahrain
Country: United Arab Emirates
NOTE: This site is 10.7 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Bahrain  Nearest Village: Bahrain
Latitude: 26.232500N  Longitude: 50.522000E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
no data Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4
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Ancient Village or Settlement in Bahrain

The ancient capital of the kingdom of Dilmun was found in an 300 by 600 metre tel, or artificial mound created by successive layers of human occupation from about 2300 BCE to 1600 CE. The site contains the richest remains inventoried of this civilization, which was hitherto only known from written Sumerian references. Dilmun was an important trading partner for the Sumerians and was one of most important ancient civilizations of the Arabian.

Next to Bahrain Fort near Harbour.

Unesco World Heritage Site
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Dilmun Monuments and Settlement
Dilmun Monuments and Settlement submitted by Creative Commons : Remains of Saar temple, a temple dating to the Dilmun era of Bahrain's history. Creative Commons Image Author: Rapid Travel Chai Site in Bahrain (Vote or comment on this photo)

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Nearby Images from Flickr
20170608_234202
20170608_234155
20170608_234145
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20170608_234235_HDR
20170608_234041

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Key: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 1.9km SSW 202° Al Hajar Barrow Cemetery
 3.0km SW 225° Shakhurah Barrow Cemetery
 3.1km W 260° Jannusan Barrow Cemetery
 3.8km W 259° Barbar Temple Ancient Temple
 6.6km SSW 208° Dilmun Monuments and Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement
 7.6km SW 220° Janabiyah Barrow Cemetery
 9.3km S 187° cultural landscape of Ali Barrow Cemetery
 10.4km S 190° Buri Burial Mounds* Barrow Cemetery
 12.0km S 182° Wadi as-Sail Barrow Cemetery
 12.5km S 191° Karzakkan Barrow Cemetery
 17.6km S 185° Dar Kulayb Barrow Cemetery
 24.0km S 181° Umm-Jidr Barrow Cemetery
 59.7km NW 323° Jawan Chambered Tomb Chambered Tomb
 147.1km SE 135° National Museum of Qatar* Museum
 265.9km SSW 212° Yabrin Burial Mounds* Cairn
 336.1km N 357° Kharg Island Rock Art
 345.2km SE 128° Marawah Neolithic Village* Ancient Village or Settlement
 368.7km NE 44° Yasouj Ancient Village or Settlement
 407.8km NNE 14° Bishapur* Ancient Village or Settlement
 431.1km SSE 159° Al Ahsa Temple Ancient Temple
 445.9km ESE 115° Umm al-Nar Cairn Chambered Cairn
 451.9km ESE 116° Umm al-Nar tomb Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 454.3km NNE 27° Gondashlu Stone Quarry Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry
 463.8km NNE 28° Mianroud Mound Ancient Village or Settlement
 470.4km NNE 29° Tall-e Bakun* Ancient Village or Settlement
View more nearby sites and additional images

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Umm al-Nar Cairn >>

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"Dilmun" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
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Celebrating the Garden of Eden by davidmorgan on Wednesday, 05 January 2011
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[Sorry, this is quite an old article from 2005, but interesting, nonetheless]

Bahrain is for the most part a dusty white landscape out of which rise scores of new unimaginative building developments, surrounded by cerulean seas, and all slowly baked by the sun. It is a small island, just 665km sq, and prior to recent massive building work, its most significant feature was the numerous enigmatic burial mounds: in the 1950s, there were an estimated 100,000.

Built of local compacted stone and coral, the burial mounds rise sandy white out of the ground to heights of about 1.5m, though about twenty 'royal' mounds are major affairs, towering up to 12m high. Owing to the copious mounds, ancient Bahrain was thought to have operated chiefly, if not exclusively, as one huge cemetery for the surrounding Gulf lands.

However, the Danish archaeologist Professor P. V. Glob, decided to investigate whether this was an accurate judgement. He discovered that the island was not just a necropolis, but that it had been heavily populated for millennia. Moreover, he soon became convinced that Bahrain was in fact the ancient land of Dilmun, the likely inspiration for the Bible's story of the Garden of Eden.

The bountiful and blessed land of Dilmun is known from the Mesopotamian texts. They describe it in terms of a great civilisation that lay on the trade route between the civilisations of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley in Pakistan at around 2000 BC.

One of the key sites to support the Dilmun-Bahrain connection is that of the Barbar temple, discovered by Glob in 1954. Excavations by the Danes revealed the remains of three limestone temples, each built atop the previous one over the course of a millennium: the first was built around 2,500 BC, while the second more elaborate version was constructed around 2200 BC, and the third temple was built in the early 2nd millennium.

The temple was built upon a water spring, above which the ancients built the basin of a well surrounded by stone walls and approached by a staircase from the upper structure of the temple. This area is thought to have been a sacred place for ablution or washing for the worshippers. Moreover the location of the temple fits with the beliefs that Enki, one of the gods to whom the temple seems to have been dedicated, lived in a watery subterranean abode. The Mesopotamian god Enki was also the god of wisdom and freshwater, holding magical purifying powers of water.

The temple also appears to have been built in honour of Enki's wife, Ninkhursag. The famous epic of paradise, apparently adopted by the Bible, revolves around Enki and Ninkhursag.

A second important site that adds fuel to the Dilmun-Bahrain connection is that of Qalat al-Bahrain, the island's erstwhile capital. Complete with major harbour and numerous industrial areas, it was occupied for a massive period - between the early 3rd millennium BC until around AD 1400. Within the site, the excavators have uncovered good evidence - including cylinder and stamp seals - for ancient trading connections with Mesopotamia and Pakistan.

In addition, simpler Dilmun settlement sites have also been uncovered on Bahrain, including the 2nd millennium BC village of Sar. Sar seems to have been an extremely well-organised settlement. Thus, almost all of its known houses comprise two to three rooms, all built according to the same repetitive L-shaped plan, and all built of limestone slabs. The settlement is neatly divided by surprisingly wide roads, and towards the centre of the settlement is a temple, with two altars still in situ. While to the east of the town is an intriguing burial complex that covers around 100m by 60m, and packed with graves interwoven in a recurring honeycomb pattern.

However, a major modern highway cuts across the cemetery. This draws attention to the swift rates of development on the island, and the associated destruction of its archaeology. Indeed, local archaeologist

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Re: Dilmun by AlexHunger on Sunday, 11 November 2007
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We don't have an Bahrain Kategory yet.
Sorry
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Re: Dilmun by Anonymous on Sunday, 14 January 2007
This site is in Bahrain, not the UAE!
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