Page 316 - Life & Land Use on the Bahrain Islands (Curtis E Larsen)

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for Bahrain. Concave bases, for example, have been found on glazed bowls
throughout the Islamic sequence (Levels A through G).Ring bases, on the other
hand, are confined to Levels A through C, within a Late Islamic range.

Julfar Wares

Bibby described a characteristic vessel from the uppermost levels in his soundings
along the "one hundred meter section." This was described as a broad-based vase
with two handles, one of which is perforated to form a spout. It is painted with
dark red horizontal and vertical lines over a cream or pinkish colored slip (Bibby
1971:86). De Cardi (1971) has described this same vessel from Julfar near Ras al-
Khaima, where it occurs with Bahia ware, an imitation of brown and black glazed
Martaban ceramics of the Ming period. Both are given a sixteenth- to seventeenth-
century date by De Cardi. The same red-painted vessels are found in Level A at
the qala'at providing more support for dating for this level.

Plain Ware

Another Late Islamic ceramic form recognized by Bibby (1969, 1971) is present in
the upper levels at the qala'at. Bibby illustrates a whole vessel (Bibby 1971:87,
no. 7) and describes it as a one meter high storage vessel with an inturned rim.
Two variations of this form are illustrated here as Figure 69a and b. The former
example shows an inlet rim groove for use with a lid. Examples of this storage
vessel are found in Levels A through C. These are constructed of a sand-tempered,
light brown clay with large, angular, white grits. Bowl 70k is also composed of this
same clay. Body sherds for these vessels are commonly found on the surface of
Late Islamic sites.
Figures 69 and 70 present a collection of plain wares from the Late

Islamic levels at the qalaTat. In general, they show a close relationship with
Whitcomb!s Late Islamic I assemblage (Whitcomb 1978, Plate VI, no. 11). Other
parallels with his Late Islamic I assemblage are shown by Figure 70g, h-j, and n.
The former is a common jar on Bahrain. It has been loosely associated with the