Page 269 - Life & Land Use on the Bahrain Islands (Curtis E Larsen)

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The Barbar Temple
No pottery study of the Barbar period can be complete without mention of the type
locality of the distinctive Barbar vessels. Tliis, of course, is the prominent temple
near the village of Barbar. Excavation was begun quite early in the Danish
Expedition’s long stay on Bahrain. Glob discussed the basic findings in early issues
of Kuml (Glob 1954a, 1955) while shorter reports were made by Bibby (1957, 1969).
Mortensen, was fully engaged with the excavation. His reports (Mortensen 1956,
1970a) cover the main points of the work and present a tentative case for dating
the temple complex. A detailed analysis is also in progress.
TTie Barbar Temple was built in three distinct phases, Temples I, II, and
IIL Each is marked by subsequent levelling. With the exception of Temple IE, each
period of levelling was followed by subsequent expansion of the temple platform
and the addition of other related structures. Temple III was apparently destroyed
with no intention of future use. Glob (1954a) suggested that the temple was
intentionally buried beneath a 3-meter mound of sand and gravel. The only
indication of later use of the site was during the Early Islamic period (ninth through
tenth centuries A.D.) when a temple well was cleaned and reused (Karen Frifelt,
personal communication).
Mortensen (1970) was fortunate to obtain two calibrated dates for
Temple HI materials. These are 2050 + 100 B.C. and 2080 + 100 B.C. Both suggest
the Isin-Larsa date proposed here for the Barbar n ceramic assemblage. Temples I
and n have presented some difficulty. Glob (1954c, 1955) has noted that similar
pottery is found in each of the three temple levels. This is the red ridged ware of
Barbar n. Like During Caspers, he noted some similarity between it and grave
ware from Ur (Woolley 1934:388 Plate 257 nos. 105-6). Red ridged ware may be
difficult to use outside of the Dilmun area, however. Strikingly similar ridged ware
for example occurs in Cemetery H at Mohenjo-Daro (Vats 1975) in an as yet
insecure third millennium context. Also worth mentioning is the red ridged ware of
Rang Mahal (Rydh 1959) which is associated with the Indus River drainage, but
dated by coins to the first millennium A.D.