Page 168 - The Tigris Expedition

To Dilmun, the Land of Noah
He added that the nearest source for copper would be Oman.
And ivory could only have come from India or Africa. Ine
carnelian bead, and also a very special type of polished flint weight
found among the ruins, must definitely have come from the now
extinct Indus valley civilisation. The five flint weights found pro­
vided a surprising disclosure. It showed that the Bahrainians of the
Dilmun period adhered to the weight system of the Indus valley
people rather than to that of the Sumerians.
As we spoke a fine dusting of sand blew in over the town wall
from the dunes along the shore. This was how the ancient port had
become a buried city. But this ancient port was on the north coast,
and it dawned upon me that the wind had changed. At long last it
blew from Iraq.
Bibby adjusted his turban and laughed. ‘You have had bad luck,’
he said. ‘This is the way the winter wind always blows. From the
north. How much time do you think you would have needed to
come here with this wind?’
‘Three-and-a-half to four days,’ I said. ‘We were towed at the
speed we sailed to Failaka. But we sailed at right angles to the wind.
Probably we could have come faster if we had come straight to
Bahrain with the wind at our back.’
‘That makes sense. One Sumerian record speaks of Dilmun as
thirty double-hours away. They reckoned distance in time of
travel.’
‘They would most certainly have done better than novices like
us,’ I admitted. ‘Failaka must to them have been almost a home port
and in a race from there to here a professional Sumerian crew would
undoubtedly have beaten us by a few hours. We might have needed
thirty-five double-hours with a good north wind.’
‘The bottom shape of your ship with two bundles and a shallow
draft is interesting,’ commented Bibby, and took all of us up on the
wall to see the shallow tide flats that reached right up to the sand
dune in front of the maritime gate. At high tide the water must have
flowed right up to the wall of the city.
‘I can see how a flat-bottomed reed-ship could come all the way
in at high tide,’ he continued. ‘With its twin body it could settle on
the limestone bottom without capsizing even when the water went
out. While beached at the gate it would be perfect for loading and
unloading cargo.’
We had noted that the limestone bed all around Bahrain, an not
least off this port, would only permit a manoeuvre just like the one
Bibby described: sailing in at high tide and beaching as t c ti e
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