Page 276 - Life & Land Use on the Bahrain Islands (Curtis E Larsen)

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hundred meter trench” that stretched northward from the north wall of City n, to
the beach. Comparative ceramic analyses prepared independently by Bibby and
Toto Koopman'defined three archeological components (Bibby 1957, 1971:85-92).
The uppermost component was late and medieval Islamic pottery dated by imported
Ming dynasty blue and white porcelain and by Ming and Sung dynasty celadons. The
second component showed a variety of gray-white, crackled-glaze bowls and
burnished red wares. The most common vessel was a shallow bowl (figs. 45h-j).
Although other pottery styles were present and are discussed by Bibby, the most
important temporal indicators were imported, black-varnished, Attic pottery
datable to the fourth century B.C. These occurred approximately midway in the
second component and were sufficient to provide a preliminary date for this
artifact assemblage. Thus, the second component became known as the Hellenistic
occupation. The third and lowest component contained wave worn Kassite pottery
similar to Figures 54b, c, and d. Mixed with these sherds were red-ridged ware
sherds from the Barbar n phase. While this presentation provided an initial basis
for recognizing the relative stratigraphic relationship of post Barbar pottery, it
left many questions unanswered. The section could not be considered to represent
a continuous occupation. Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian pottery forms were
missing, as were the distinctive Early Islamic forms described from Samarra (Sarre
1925). Materials from the early first-millennium B.C. as well as the late first-
millennium A.D. were apparently missing. In addition, few easily datable artifacts
were present to define critically the Hellenistic component, and thus it may
represent a much broader time range than merely the Seleucid period. This
stratified pottery had only a relative value for the close identification of surface
collections from other parts of the island.
This was remedied by analysis of an unpublished sounding from QalaTat al-
Bahrain. Poul Kjaerum and Peder Mortensen pointed out a stratified collection
from a sounding made directly through the floor of the Portuguese fort that caps
the city mound. Both Kjaerum and Mortensen indicated that this collection