Qatar Museums (QM) Archaeology Department Director, Faisal Al Naimi, said QM’s new and continuous archaeological finds aim to learn about Qatar’s old geography and help in understanding Qatar’s history.
Speaking to Qatar News Agency, Al Naimi said Qatar Museums exploration efforts will continue after the summer using specialised scientific teams from inside and outside Qatar in order to explore well-known archaeological sites in the country. Qatar Museums is currently preparing for new seasons so as to agree on scientific research points, he added, noting that there is contact with competent scientific entities to arrange to launch new research projects.
Al Naimi said that one of the most important sites for exploration is Umm Al Ma’ Al Yaghbi, which is close to Murwab area and dates back to the Abbasid period. The area is not coastal and has some 200 housing units, constructed in groups, a palatial residence, workshops and two mosques. Excavations have also revealed a group of tombs scattered around the groups of houses. Excavations are being carried out in these areas, as well as further excavations in the historic area of Fuwayrat, located in the northeast of Qatar, he added.
Al Naimi said the Archaeology Department pays special attention to underwater antiquities, which are excavated under Qatari waters in order to learn about the history of the Qatar peninsula, the human’s relation with water and the nature of water.
He said that 18,000 years ago the peninsula did not exist. As a result of global warming, he noted, the water level rose and the gulf was formed, with the map of Qatar emerging as a result.
According to specialised studies, the water level has risen again throughout history, creating fossilised beaches of Qatar, which provides an idea of the old climate, land’s nature and the formation of Qatar’s map. Al Naimi said not all excavation results have been fully announced as some of the pieces discovered are in European laboratories to thoroughly determine their history.
With regards to corresponding the continuous excavations in Qatar with the urban development taking place and the role of the archaeology department, Al Naimi said this is currently taking place. He referred to Hamad Port as an example as it extends over a 15 km long area close to Umm Al Houl historical site which was maintained despite the major economic project. Another example he used is Jazirat Bin Ghannam which was especially highlighted by the Danish excavation mission followed by the French, then the British in cooperation with QM team in 2000.
Excavations have revealed a midden (shell heap) containing the remains of around 2.9 million individual crushed shells of sea snail. Before a project is initiated QM is contacted to study the means of maintaining historical sites in order to implement the project, he added.
Source: The Peninsula Qatar
On the efforts of QM in introducing the discovered archaeological sites, the QM Qatar Museums (QM) Archaeology Department Director, Faisal Al Naimi, said QM’s new and continuous archaeological finds aim to learn about Qatar’s old geography and help in understanding Qatar’s history.Archeology Department director said QM has plans for sites and permanent activities to identify archaeological sites, especially Zubarah site, which is registered on UNESCO World Heritage List, where educational activities are held during the winter season.
He added that activities for the past year have included specialized educational workshops in Qatar on how to produce the purple dye of sea snails, where the industry of purple dye is known in Ben Ghannam island dating back to more than 3,500 years. He said that it is located on the east coast of Qatar in a protected location in Khor Al-Shaqiq, noting that the workshops have been very popular because they have a direct relationship to Qatari history. He stressed that QM Qatar Museums (QM) Archaeology Department Director, Faisal Al Naimi, said QM’s new and continuous archaeological finds aim to learn about Qatar’s old geography and help in understanding Qatar’s history.seeks not only to preserve monuments but also to educate about the Qatari history.
Concerning the discovery of a new archaeological site recently with rock inscriptions and the significance of this, Al Naimi added that the discoveries of rock carvings are often backed by the coastline from Al Wakrah to the far north of Qatar through Frayha and the western regions, but the most recently discovered site is located south of the region in Umm Bab, and this site, which was discovered in cooperation with the local community, was discovered by the citizen Ali Matar Al Dosari, who is from the people of this area and the inscriptions drew his attention, and he knew that there was a relationship between the sites that were announced before and this site, and the site was located directly on 15 hectares.
It is characterized by a type of inscriptions that takes the shape of a “rose”, which is a central circle surrounded by many other circles between six or nine circles, he said, pointing out that this type of inscriptions is not found in the Gulf region but only in Qatar. It is believed that these inscriptions symbolize one of the ancient folk games that children used to practice and that this discovery will contribute to changing the current map of the rock inscriptions in the state completely, he added.
On the scientific connotations of these inscriptions, Al Naimi explained that several articles have been published in international forums and Qatar has received a large share of research and exploration through scientific missions, and most of them saw it as symbols of popular games, and with the last discovery there were specific inscriptions and to date no age has been identified to belong to these inscriptions, and it is still in the process of being studied, but the analysis of the rock inscriptions was done through the layer on which it was built within the inscription in the area of Al Jassasiya, and which was discovered previously and contains more than 900 engravings, which are estimated to be about 350 years old in Qatar. Al Naimi added that the stone carvings in Qatar are divided into five types of human or animal forms, or boats, toys, symbols and incomprehensible carvings, stressing the importance of these inscriptions to have an archaeological map with inscriptions and geographical location in the peninsula of Qatar and documented correctly because the stones in Qatar are calcareous and not solid, making it easy to engrave. On the role of the Qatar Museums archeology Department in the preservation and documentation of the sites, he said that documentation in a systematic scientific way to ensure that we know if the inscription has changed which is a necessity for inscription, by drawing the inscription in the stone and specifying the geographical framework of the site, giving therefore a proper documentation.
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Source: The Peninsula Qatar
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