Qal’at al Bahrain
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How it came to be
On the north coast of Bahrain Island rises Qal'at al-Bahrain, a mound 12 metres high built up from layers of settlement. People lived here from about 2300 BC to the 16th century AD, and it was the capital of Dilmun, a civilisation known until then only from Sumerian texts.
It was a trading port, linked with the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia from the 3rd to the 1st millennium BC and later with China and the Mediterranean. A date-syrup press of the 1st millennium BC is among the oldest in the world. The fort on top was built by the Portuguese in the 16th century, and the site takes its name from the Arabic word for fort.
A Danish expedition made the first excavations from 1954 to 1972, and work has continued since. About a quarter of the site has been excavated. It was inscribed in 2005.
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