THE kingdom’s rich history has been enthralling Japanese archaeologists for more than 30 years and their excavation missions across the island will continue in hopes of digging up further Bahraini artefacts and save fading Islamic funerary inscriptions.
Members of the Japanese team of experts, including Ayano Yamada, Dr Akinori Uesugi, Dr Kivohide Saito and Dr Masashi ABE, recently presented their findings, along with what they hope to achieve, to an auditorium of history buffs at the Bahrain National Museum.
“We conduct these excavations to better understand the history of Bahrain,” explained Dr Uesugi, from the Institute for the Study of Ancient Civilisations and Cultural Resources, Kanazawa University. “We need to dig because there are pretty few literary sources out there. Our findings offer archaeological evidence that can tell us about the history of Bahrain.”
The presentation commenced following the signing of a new memorandum of understanding between the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (Baca) and the Japanese institutions, in which Baca president Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa and Japanese Ambassador Miyamoto Masayuki, shared how the agreements will enhance the preservation of discoveries in archaeological sites and work on future projects.
Japanese archaeological experts have worked for years to uncover the features of the Dilmun civilisation, centred in Bahrain and regarded as one of the most important in the region.
“The research on the burial mounds in Bahrain started in the late 19th century and accumulated a good amount of data, especially by the Danish team and rescue excavations from the 1970s onwards,” said Dr Uesugi.
He presented his Dilmun Mapping Project in which he shared how the burial mounds clearly exhibit the emergence of a highly-complex society during the Early Dilmun period.
“The Japanese Mission commenced by the late Dr Takeshi Gotoh in 2015 has also been focusing on burial mound sites to reveal new aspects of the mortuary practice and social transformation of the Early Dilmun period.”
The project has documented the entire area of large-scale burial mound sites including Wadi Al Sail, A’ali, Buri, Karzakkan and Saar, using UAV and photogrammetric technology since 2019, to examine the morphology, dimensions and their spatial distribution patterns.
“The data from the project can be used for the protection and conservation of burial mound sites,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ms Yamada, a research fellow from Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN), shared the history of the different projects that were conducted as well as Japan’s pioneering archaeologists.
Baca and TOBUNKEN signed an agreement to conduct archaeological studies and excavations in Wadi Al Sail burial mounds in Riffa for five years.
“Our Wadi Al Sail archaeological project started in 2014, and the first excavation was conducted in 2015,” she said. “We have excavated 38 mounds and tombs so far. We also collected human remains of adults and children, animal bones, pottery, beads and shells containing pigments.”
TOBUNKEN’s new project involves the 3D documentation of Islamic funerary inscriptions in Bahrain, which according to Ms Yamada, ‘are in danger of losing their clarity due to age-related deterioration and recent developments’.
“That’s why a project to record these inscriptions as a 3D digital model has been launched. The first survey is scheduled to take place this month,” she said.
Other ongoing projects include a comprehensive research of Maqaba Burial Mounds in the Tylos period by Dr Saito and 3D measurement-based modelling of Barbar Temples by Dr Kaoru Suemori and Kansai University.
The Bahrain National Museum and Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, Nara Prefecture will facilitate archaeological studies and excavations at the Tylos burial mounds in Maqaba.
“The aim of the Maqaba research is to find Palmyrian traces through our excavation in Bahrain,” said Dr Saito.
“We secured several interesting results in burial practices, dating and stable isotopic analysis.
“I think that it is possible to prove at least the existence of people from the eastern Mediterranean, including Palmyra, through more excavations at the Maqaba burial mounds in Bahrain.”
Ms Yamada also added that they plan to conduct maritime archaeology in the Bahraini sea.
“It just started from this January,” she said. “We have a plan to investigate an underwater archaeological site or shipwreck in the near future.”
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