The Dilmun Temple at Saar: Bahrain and Its Archaeological Inheritance

The early Dilmun culture flourished on the shores of the Arabian Gulf more than four thousand years ago. Its origins lie in the Arabian Peninsula, but by about 2000 BC it was Bahrain which had become the centre of an important trading nation linking the developed but resource-starved cities of southern Iraq with the vital commodities and raw materials available in Oman and the Indus Valley. This volume is both a general introduction to the Early Dilmun culture of Bahrain, and a detailed account of the temple recently excavated at Ancient Saar by the London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition. The Dilmun people left no written records of their own, and their way of life is revealed by their material remains, the artefacts and architecture discovered through archaeology. Ancient Saar, with its extensive housing areas and associated cemeteries, is the first of their settlements to be excavated in detail. the focus of this volume is the monumental temple which dominated the ancient town, and which will be of importance to all those interested in the history and development of Bahrain and the Middle East, and to specialists working in the influential and expanding field of Gulf archaeology. --- Contents: 1. Early Dilmun and the Saar Settlement; 2. Architectural History of the Temple; 3. Activities inside the Temple: Evidence of Microstratigraphy; 4. Seals and Sealings: Fragments of Art and Administration; 5. Temple Paraphernalia: Tools, Containers and Other Items [Copper Items, Objects of Shell and Ivory, Artefacts of Bitumen; Stone Artefacts, Including Ground-Stone Tools; Chipped Stone Tools; Pottery]; 6. Food Remains; 7. The Temple: An Overview; Bibliography; Appendices [Notes on the Recording System; Context List; Index of Contexts Arranged by Phase; Catalogue of Finds Arranged by Context; Index of Finds Arranged by Phase & Material]

Harriet Crawford, Robert Killick both Institute of Archaeology University College London, Jane Moon McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research University of Cambridge.