Page 105 - DILMUN 16_Neat

6 square metre Dinosaur Hall and eight other exhibition halls each aroximately

2 by 2 metres (another square metres of exhibition area). There eight halls

include three halls of archaeology: Graes, Dilmun, and Tylos and lslam to halls of

oular heritage: Customs and Traditions and Traditional Trades and Crafst

Documents and Manuscrits Natural History, and an Art Gallery. The Museum

exhibits roide a ariely of modern, isually exciting and educational exhibits to

romote greater understanding of Bahrain's ancient and recent ast. The folloing

aer describes the significant toics resented and artifacls exhibited in the arious

halls.

Hall of Graes

Archaeology in Bahrain has been and continues to be a toic of great interest. The

Hall of Graes is esecially imortant as Bahrain has become renoned as the site of

more than 1, burial mounds, maing it the most concentrated burial area in the

orld. The Hall of Graes resents seen reconstructed burial mounds or graes

hich sho differences in construction methods, burial goods (ersonal effects buried

ith the dead), and burial ositions. This ariety reresents arious itme eriods and

/ or culutral differences in burial ractices. The reconstructed settings sho an Early

Tye lo leel roc mound a large Late Tye burial mound shoing rimary and

secondary burials honey-comb burials Middle Dilmun mass graes jar burials and

clay cofifns and Tylos eriod gysum-lined burial chambers.

hTe exihbits of human seletal material roide insight into the ancient
oulaitons of Barhain, the food they are, their stature, their illnesses, and life san.
hTe grae goods or gifts buried in the graes togehter ith informaiton about sex
and age of the seletons roide some information regarding the social strucutre of
the itme. Microscoic analysis of human bone material has roided a measn of
determining age at death and sutdies reeal that many eole enjoyed a long life
during the tihrd and second imllenia B.C. Scientists generally agree htat greatre
aerage height in the oulaiton is an indicator of lo disease rates, good nutrition,
and hterefore a healtiher enirornment. A sutdy of femoral material rfom aErly
iDlmun buiral mounds at Sar and Karnaan has shon that the aerage height of
hte raEly Dimlun oulation as 1 m. for men and 162 cm. for omen.

Other exihbit cases fearute a arieyt of ell resered grae goods hich reeal
some insight into social customs. For exmale, decorated ostrich egg shells used a
drining sesels hae been found olny in graes of disting‫ﻫ‬ished indiiduals (basde
uon other grae goods). Traces of olh and malacihte hae been found in shells,
suggesting htey ere ossibly used for cosmetics. ncense burners found near stone
cahmbers erahs ere usde for last ritse as indiiduals ere bruied iht htem.
Many items suggset rtader or merchant occuaitosn. Sindles and sindle horls and
fabric asmlse indicate hte imoratnce of cotton for clothing.

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