AL ZUBARAH ARCHEOSITE

Within the archaeological zone of the town of Al-Zubarah, there are the remains of installations used to produce the date syrup widely consumed in the region. There are parallel channels 10 cm deep, connected by a perpendicular channel near the entrance, which funnels into a reservoir buried in the corner. During the manufacturing process, palm leaves were laid over the channels, creating a flat, flexible base. The dates were then placed in palm-leaf bags stacked up to two meters high. The weight of the bags crushed the dates in the lower bags, and the thick juice flowed down the canals to end up in the buried collecting pot.

Nearby is a typically Arab, well-preserved fort, as built in 1938 by Sheikh Abdullah bin Qassim Al-Thani, ancestor of the current ruling family, on the ruins of an earlier castle. The first floor features iwans, small porticoes overlooking the courtyard through square arcades. In the courtyard itself, a four-pillared canopy covers a 15 m-deep well, which supplied the soldiers with water. The second floor of the fort consists of a wide promenade leading to a number of rooms built into the corner towers. The walls of these rooms, as well as the promenade, feature loopholes. Wooden ladders enabled the men to climb to the roof and keep watch over the surrounding area from a circular vantage point. The walls, whose thickness insulates from the heat and keeps the buildings cool, were built by superimposing blocks of coral rock and limestone, joining them with mortar and finally covering them with gypsum plaster. Often decorated with geometric patterns, this plaster protected the walls from natural elements such as wind and humidity. The roof has four layers. The first is a series of danchal, wooden beams often protected by bitumen. The second is a layer of basgijl, strips of woven bamboo. The third layer is a tight interlacing of mangrove branches and the roof is finished with a layer of compressed mud, which protects the buildings from the sweltering sun during the hot season. One of the most interesting features of this technique is the construction of frames using danchal wood assembled with rope, to increase the adhesion of mud mortar and plaster.

Background. The "City of Al-Zubarah and its Cultural Landscape" estate is an outstanding example of socio-economic transformation and shows that Qatar was a major player in the Gulf, trading with China, West Africa, Iraq, Persia and the West. In addition, the ancient city of Al-Zubarah shows how an Arab civilization interacted with urban settlements. The forma urbis bears witness to a remarkable capacity for urban planning based on the checkerboard pattern favoured by the Greek architect Hippodamos of Miletus, in which streets intersect at right angles, as in Le Havre, Bogota, New York and Sapporo, all cities laid out according to the Hippodamean formula. (Editor's note: no one here will remind you that the Ionian master also drew up a draft constitution providing for civil rights for the lower classes).