The subject of this year’s prestigious Beatrice de Cardi lectures, held at the Society of Antiquaries of London, was the archaeological discoveries over the past 22 years in Bahrain.
In 2001, professor Timothy Insoll, with the support of the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Bahrain, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, established the Anglo-Bahraini Early Islamic Bahrain Project to understand how Islam travelled across the country that, as an island nation, was a stepping stone between the Arabian peninsula and Persia and East Asia.
“The state of archaeology in Bahrain has always been very good, but the Islamic period was neglected,” says Insoll, the Al-Qasimi professor of African and Islamic Archaeology at the University of Exeter, who delivered the lecture.
“I think it was in part to do with the fact that people think [Islam] is what we are now – so why is it important archaeologically?”
Islam was also not a preferred subject of study for most European or American teams, who tended to excavate periods they perceived more of a connection to such as early Christianity or Greco-Roman sites – whether in Bahrain or other locations across the Islamic world, such as Afghanistan.
Insoll and his teams worked to fill in these missing gaps to try to understand what happened from around 7th to 11th centuries when the inhabitants of Bahrain converted to Islam, largely from Christianity.
In 2001, they began work on the site of Bilad Al Qadeem, the island's capital during the Abbasid period, in the 9th-10th centuries, and an Islamic settlement occupied until the 15th century. Excavations at the palace there divulged information about what kinds of food the inhabitants then ate, how they kept and stored water and even the environment.
The presence of mollusks showed that ground was wetter and danker than the current desert. That might have brought with it its own complications – such as the spread of parasites, which Insoll and his team theorise came along trade routes. The large mangrove trees that were used to support the palace at Bilad Al Qadeem, as for other houses of the time, were imported from Madagascar and East Africa, and the diseases might have come with these beams on the ship.
Small park
In 2017 Bahrain opened a small museum at the Al Khamis mosque to display the archaeology Insoll and his colleagues found, including the extraordinary funerary monuments with their finely carved calligraphy attesting to the men and women buried there.
In Hamad Town, in the north-east of the island, the Exeter team will soon open a small park with 200-year-old irrigation channels, integrating archaeology for the first time into the recreational grounds.
Insoll also identified a number of changes over the past two decades of working in the Gulf – most notably, an expansion of who has been involved in the field.
Previously “it was all foreigners, parachuting [into the Gulf] and doing their monthly fieldwork, and then publishing in journals like these,” he says, gesturing at the leather-bound volumes in the Society of Antiquaries’ library. “Archaeology wasn't engaging with the local population or building capacity among local students. And this has been a change throughout the Gulf – and now in Saudi with Vision 2030.”
Insoll’s team now includes Salman Almahari of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities – the first Bahraini to achieve a PhD in archaeology.
They also discovered another site showing the fertile crossover of religions in Bahrain, such as Samaheej, a Nestorian Christian dwelling from the 7th century. Found on the isle of Muharraq, just off the coast of the country, signs in the site heavily suggest Christian habitation, such as the outline of a fish etched into one of the walls and ceramics bearing the sign of the cross.
Local Bahrainis helped the archeologists identify some of the food sources, such as the fish that were very similar to those of the present day.
“The notion of partnership is extremely important, and that's pushing archaeology to the next level,” says Insoll. “We are now integrating the local voice – people saying I remember this site 50 years ago, this is what was here then. Why don’t you go and excavate here, or I understand this type of structure or material – like the madbasa, a room that was used for fermenting dates.
“The world is changing, and archaeology should reflect that. And archaeology is a lot richer for it.”
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Gran Gala del Calcio 2019 winners
Best Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Best Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta)
Best Referee: Gianluca Rocchi
Best Goal: Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria vs Napoli)
Best Team: Atalanta
Best XI: Samir Handanovic (Inter); Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Joao Cancelo (Juventus*); Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), Josip Ilicic (Atalanta), Nicolo Barella (Cagliari*); Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Duvan Zapata (Atalanta)
Serie B Best Young Player: Sandro Tonali (Brescia)
Best Women’s Goal: Thaisa (Milan vs Juventus)
Best Women’s Player: Manuela Giugliano (Milan)
Best Women’s XI: Laura Giuliani (Milan); Alia Guagni (Fiorentina), Sara Gama (Juventus), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus), Elisa Bartoli (Roma); Aurora Galli (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus); Valentina Giacinti (Milan), Ilaria Mauro (Fiorentina), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus)
Results
2pm: Al Sahel Contracting Company – Maiden (PA) Dh50,000 (Dirt) 1,200m; Winner: AF Mutakafel, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
2.30pm: Dubai Real Estate Centre – Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: El Baareq, Antonio Fresu, Rashed Bouresly
3pm: Shadwell – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,950m; Winner: Lost Eden, Andrea Atzeni, Doug Watson
3.30pm: Keeneland – Handicap (TB) Dh84,000 (D) 1,000m; Winner: Alkaraama, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi
4pm: Keeneland – Handicap (TB) Dh76,000 (D) 1,800m; Winner: Lady Snazz, Saif Al Balushi, Bhupat Seemar
4.30pm: Hive – Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Down On Da Bayou, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
5pm: Dubai Real Estate Centre – (TB) Handicap Dh64,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Lahmoom, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
I Care A Lot
Directed by: J Blakeson
Starring: Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage
3/5 stars
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20IPAD%20PRO%20(12.9%22%2C%202022)
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Tips for taking the metro
- set out well ahead of time
- make sure you have at least Dh15 on you Nol card, as there could be big queues for top-up machines
- enter the right cabin. The train may be too busy to move between carriages once you're on
- don't carry too much luggage and tuck it under a seat to make room for fellow passengers
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%3Cp%3E1.%20Protracted%20but%20less%20intense%20war%20(60%25%20likelihood)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E2.%20Negotiated%20end%20to%20the%20conflict%20(30%25)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E3.%20Russia%20seizes%20more%20territory%20(20%25)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E4.%20Ukraine%20pushes%20Russia%20back%20(10%25)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3EForecast%20by%20Economist%20Intelligence%20Unit%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Tenet
Director: Christopher Nolan
Stars: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh
Rating: 5/5
What is the definition of an SME?
SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.
A “medium-sized company” can either have staff of 51 to 200 employees or 101 to 250 employees, and a turnover less than or equal to Dh200m or Dh250m, again depending on whether the business is in the trading, manufacturing or services sectors.