Al Zubarah Archaeological Site, Qatar

During the second half of the 18^th century, members of the Utub tribe left Kuwait and sailed to the shores of Qatar in search of rich pearl beds, which they found just off the coast. They settled at Al Zubarah which soon became one of the region’s six main trading ports. 

At the height of the trade in the 1800s, pearls from the Arabian Gulf region were regarded as the best and the most highly prized pearls in the world. Until the development of the cultured pearl in the early 1900s, pearling was the backbone of the economy of Qatar.

Amongst Al Zubarah’s earliest constructions was the defensive wall of the town. The 2.5 km-long wall with towers dates back to the beginning of the main phase of occupation in around 1760 and suggests a considerable degree of planning. 

Another feature of the town, palatial compounds are a reflection of the social organization that shaped the town’s urban planning. Located in the town’s residential area, they were set behind defensive perimeter walls and strengthened with round or rectangular corner towers.

Running through the heart of the town was a street which was lined with deeply-set rooms that were equipped with madabis (date presses). These architectural structures were used to extract the juice from stacks of dates. The juice was then turned into dibs (syrup).

Murair Fort was built in 1768 to protect the wells which supplied the otherwise arid town with fresh water. It was a large rectangular enclosure which housed domestic buildings, a mosque, cisterns, and large wells with stone build shafts.

Located away from the coast, the Murair Fort was connected to the sea by a vast man-made canal. 1.76 km-long and with an average width of 20 m, written sources suggest that it was built to allow the transportation of goods and fresh water between the fort and the sea.

The iconic Al Zubarah Fort was built as a police post in 1938, to protect the northern coast of Qatar. Measuring 30 x 30m, it consists of a series of rooms built around an open courtyard. By this time, Al Zubarah was eroding back into the desert.

Thousands of artefacts have been recovered from Al Zubarah. The objects are catalogued, conserved and studied, and provide a rich store of information about the past. The most common finds are ceramics, some locally-made, but the majority from further afield.

The artefacts represent all aspects of daily life, from the water pots and coffee cups of an 18th-century household to the weights of 19th-century pearl divers.

This wooden bishtakhta (pearl merchant’s chest) bears testimony to the pearling trade of Al Zubarah. The chest was used for holding collected pearls and measuring equipment, and traces of red cloth suggest that it was lined. It is now on view at the National Museum of Qatar.

Entrances and doorways were often adorned with plaster decorations which featured Islamic geometric patterns. This particular fragment was found during the excavations in one of the palatial compounds.

Engravings of dhows (pearling and trading boats) that have been found on the walls of the houses in Al Zubarah reflect the importance of the boats to those who lived there. Dhows could spend months at sea, with smaller boats bringing them food and fresh water from the mainland.

Tiny artefacts and small remains of ancient plants and animals can be found in middens (rubbish dumps). By floating these layers of kitchen waste in water and then sieving them, archaeologists gain information about what people ate in the past and what their environment was like.

Archaeology is, by nature, a destructive process, and once remains are uncovered and exposed, they are at risk of decay. Correct conservation techniques are vital but the processes involved are complex and require research, great skills, and specialised materials and equipment.