The archaeology of Bahrain was introduced to FRAG by Michael Olney. Bahrain is a small island 32 miles long by 11 miles wide but it has been at the centre of world trade and civilisation for millennia.
![archaeology of bahrain - map](https://peterborougharchaeology.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Archaeology-of-Bahrain-Dilmun-Map.jpg)
In ancient times the island was an oasis of fertility within a mainly desolate region. This could have given rise to a legend that Bahrain might even have been the biblical Garden of Eden.
Most of Bahrain is low-lying and barren desert but a fertile strip of land in the north has many freshwater springs. There, Qal’at al-Bahrain is an exceptional example of unbroken occupation over a period of almost 4500 years.
![Qal'at al-Bahrain](https://peterborougharchaeology.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Dilmun-Cities-at-Qalaat-al-Bahrain.jpg)
Within Bahrain’s interior there are 175-350,000 burial mounds. The earliest date to 2700 BC at Medinet Hamad, an extension of the A’ali cemetery.
![A’ali ‘Royal’ Mounds](https://peterborougharchaeology.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Aali-‘Royal-Mounds-400x270.jpg)
![Archaeology of Bahrain - Saar](https://peterborougharchaeology.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Archaeology-of-Bahrain-Saar.jpg)
The Sumerians, and the later Babylonians and Assyrians wrote down stories of creation and a paradise land called Dilmun. Elements of these stories seem to have become incorporated into old testament stories like the Garden of Eden and The Flood.
![Archaeology of Bahrain - The Sumerian creation story of Enki and Ninhirsag](https://peterborougharchaeology.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/sumerian-paradise.jpg)
Archaeological evidence from Mesopotamia, the Arabian Gulf, and the Indus Valley point to Dilmun as a major trading centre on the eastern Saudi Arabian coast. Michael suggests that, just possibly, paradise has been found on Bahrain!
He has kindly made his presentation available to publish online:
(7MB download).