BAHRAIN FORT (QAL'AT AL BAHRAIN)

Inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2005, the Bahrain Fortress is an exceptional site. It has been occupied by man for 4,000 years. Under the Portuguese fortress erected by the colonists in the 16th century, Danish archaeologists P.V Glob and Geoffrey Bibby discovered a tell, an artificial hill created by the accumulation of human settlements through the ages. In other words, they uncovered the remains of the capital of Dilmun, the fortifications of Tylos, the first traces of Islam in Bahrain and the Portuguese colonization, all gathered on one site, stratified by time and remarkably preserved by the desert sand.

In 1977, the French archaeological mission took up the torch. First Monik Kervan, then Pierre Lombard, directed these excavations which proved to be among the most promising in the region. The deeper the teams dig in the tell of Qal'at Al Bahrain, the more these works take the appearance of an extraordinary journey in time.

The capital of Dilmun. It all begins at the end of the second millennium BC. The Dilmun civilization, which reigned over the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia and the string of islands in the Persian Gulf, established its capital on the island of Bahrain. The choice of the site is not left to chance. Overlooking the beach and a natural channel, it is ideal for establishing a port. The deepest buried remains date back to 2200 BC. At that time, the "City No. 1" as it is called by archaeologists, is actually a small village. Its houses were built with clay walls and plaster floors. A workshop that worked copper was located nearby, proof that this civilization was already trading with Sumer in Mesopotamia, Oman and the Indus Valley.

The village became a city between 2050 and 1750 B.C. This is "City No. 2", which corresponds to the golden age of Dilmun. The site then covers 15 hectares; fortifications surround the capital and monumental constructions prove that a system of social and political organization regulates the life of the inhabitants. The entrance door of the capital was located just in front of the sea, a sign of the importance of maritime activities for this civilization. The statues, pottery, cuneiform inscriptions, anchors and seals found on site suggest intense relations with neighboring civilizations. The civilization of Dilmun collapsed after 1750 B.C. for reasons that archaeologists are still studying.

A city under foreign influence. City no. 3 appears in the 15th century B.C., without archaeologists being able to explain the temporal hiatus with City no. 2. What is certain, however, is the presence of the Kassites, a dynasty that ruled Babylon at the time. Pottery and inscriptions found throughout the Middle East attest to this. The Kassite governors occupied the ancient palace of Dilmun and strengthened the fortifications. In the fourteenth century B.C., a fire ravaged the palace, and the Babylonian administration was moved, probably to Kuwait.

Thereafter, the ruins of the city remain unoccupied, the site having lost its function as a political capital. A "City No. 4" was nevertheless uncovered on the foundations of the old palace. But we do not really know who its occupants were. The most plausible theory remains the king Uperi, an independent ruler, of whom we find traces of correspondence in the archives of king Sargon II in Mesopotamia. The architecture of the houses of the city n°4 recalls the rich Assyrian residences, whose similar layouts are found in Ur or Babylon. The city was then abandoned again.

Bahrain, at the crossroads of the Orient and Greece. In 325 BC, a naval expedition of Alexander the Great landed in Bahrain. The admirals of the Macedonian conqueror named the island Tylos, which came under the control of the Seleucids, one of the Eastern empires founded by Alexander's generals after his death. Between the 2nd century BC and the 2nd century, the Characene kingdom (in present-day Iraq) controlled the archipelago. There is not much left of the splendor of Dilmun, the dwellings found being used only for domestic purposes, and the ramparts, abandoned, serving as their foundations. The city still has a firm grip on trade and the site remains the point of entry for all imported goods, as attested by the many objects and statues found on site. All of them have a Greek style. In the 2nd century, the city is once again abandoned, this time for a very long time, and the name of Tylos falls into the oblivion of the desert.

A military post for the control of the sea and the land. In the seventh century, Bahrain embraces Islam, and its capital is then in the center of the island, near the Al Khamis mosque. Qal'at Al Bahrain, which ruled the Persian Gulf, is surely no more than a fishing village. The trade fades away, especially during the Qarmate Republic. It is only in the 14th century that the old fortress of Tylos reveals new signs of occupation. A fortress was built on the tell. Razed by the Portuguese in 1507, the colonists rebuilt it in 1561, in the European style to contain the Omani enemy. They then abandoned the fortress because of the narrowness of the channel.