THE excavation of the Royal Burial Mounds in A’Ali is set to continue next month, with further insights expected from the unearthing of ‘Mound Q’, never previously explored by any known archaeologists.
As the latest royal burial mound to be excavated in the area, Mound Q was initially chosen because it appeared to be undisturbed, revealed Dr Steffen Laursen, head of the Danish archaeological mission, during a lecture hosted by the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (Baca).
Dr Laursen
This theory was disproven when a second royal burial tomb was discovered on top of one of the original four in the area, making it a unique historical site, where two different kinds of prehistoric mound architecture can be observed.
“The Royal Burial Mounds represent some of the most elaborate monuments in eastern Arabia,” noted Dr Laursen.
“Archaeologists have deeply studied the first inscription of King Rimum, which was found in 1879.
“Our discovery of King Yagli-el in the last decade was monumental because we were able to translate an inscription which established him as the son of King Rimum.
“This has proven to be crucial in establishing a chronology for the A’Ali dynasty of kings.
“Furthermore, according to Professor Gianni Marchesi of Italian Bologna University, the name of the Dilmunite king identifies him as an Amorite.
“This is an exceedingly important finding because it establishes a connection between the royal dynasty buried at A’ali and the great contemporary kingdoms of Mesopotamia: Babylon, Mari, Aleppo, Assur, Ebla and others that were all ruled by Amorite kings.”
The team’s research has shown that the mound was initially built as part of the founding quartet of royal tombs. At this time, dromos passageways were the norm for such tombs.
(In architecture, dromos is an entrance passage or avenue leading to a building.)
Later on, however, the architecture evolved and vertical access shafts became the norm. At a later date, Mound Q, whose lower chamber hasn’t been explored yet, was breached. The upper chamber was partially or completely emptied and then a new tomb was built with a vertical access shaft.
“We estimate that this happened around 1600BC because of the pottery discovered here, which is from a later period than normally seen at the royal mounds,” Dr Laursen added.
“After the upper chamber was cleared out, a new royal burial must have been done at the site. It is likely the second king buried here, who was probably a predecessor of King Rimum, died an untimely death and there hadn’t been enough time to construct a proper burial tomb.”
A neighbouring mound, Mound O, is theorised as being that of King Rimum’s father, while another, Mound X, is likely Rimum’s grandson and the last of the A’Ali dynasty of kings.
Both royal burial events appear to have happened between 1900BC and 1700BC.
Unlike ordinary burial mounds, royal mounds had to be constructed well ahead of a king’s burial, often during their lifetimes. Carbon dating the materials used in the construction of these royal burial mounds provides a precise timeline, while identifying the kings who lie within helps establish a chronology.
Photographs
Mound Q was first seen in photographs taken during French jeweller Jacques Cartier’s visit to Bahrain in 1911, where it appears to be undisturbed. Historians now theorise that tomb raiders had deliberately rebuilt it to appear so.
Thus far, 16 mounds have been excavated. Unique H-shaped mounds are confirmed to be those of elite members of society at the time, while kings, especially later in the dynasty, added appendix rooms and complex architectural structures to their tombs.
“One particularly unnerving finding is that of wooden doors with bolts only on the inside, which means someone had to be inside the tomb to close it, as it was sealed from the outside,” Dr Laursen added.
He also noted that evidence of ancient queens has not been found and seems to have been deliberately wiped out at some point in history.
“Someone has taken the time and put in the effort at some point in history to destroy all the upper chambers in the royal tombs, where he had hoped to find the remains of the queens,” Dr Laursen added.
“We may learn more as we translate the inscriptions we have found.”
naman@gulfweekly.com
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