Page 121 - DILMUN 16_Neat

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Al-bahrain, on the study of the last hase of ١he Dilmun eriod hic,h ٠ ٢٥٤u‫ﺍ‬8! •
coers the end of the 2nd and the first half of ١he 1st millennium BC (‫"ﺕ‬١٠ateD‫ﺭ‬m١u‫ﺯﺭ‬,- -
This eriod of the history of Bahrain remains until ٦o ery little underslood, and :‫ﻭ‬

» l 1‫ﺔﺧ‬

study as obiously droed to the adanlage of earlier local hases, a riori mo:e
sectacular (Lombard 1989).

One can elain in arious ays the reasons for this relatie disinterset. One o

the most obious is thai, contrary to the eriod hich right to the beginning of d

2nd nmillennium sa the clima of the regional ciilisation, the image rofferde b

Bahrain in the cuneiform sources contemorary to etaD‫ﺍ‬ilmun is that of a a‫ﺍ‬r‫ﺃ‬

largely controlled by Mesootamian oer, hether it be that of the assitse frorn

the 14th century onards, of Assyrian oer fron the time of Sargon , u to ah t

of the neo-Babylonian heirs of the 6th century BC (Lombard 198 : 4 Oatse 19‫ﺞﻛ‬:

429-42 Potts 199: -). Without refuting the realiyt of this heay, adancing

Mesootamian hand on the lands and culture of Dilmun, e hae many itmse had

occasion to denounce the somehat reducing asect of this historical ision ihhc

ithout any doubt, has long contributed to the obliteration not only of the origiral

elements of Late Dilmun culture, but also of a large art of the dynamic mainatidenr

ith other contemorary cultural centers (Elam, Oman eninsula, Syro-Leanitne

orld, to name but a fe) (cr. Lombard 1986).

et this local rLon Age has roduced, from the first ecaaitons at Oal'at al­

Barhain, imosing arcihtectural remains, een though these ere cleared only in art

and a coherent lna of

‫ﻳﻴﻘﻪ‬ the hole as not
aailable, before eh
Danish Eediiton de

‫ﻙ‬:.‫ﺱ‬ arted during the
19's (Figure 2).

n fact, tihs uncomleet

ecaaiton quilcy eb

came ital as the inr

srtument of the re

search hich ١e

roosed to he Bahrai­

in authorities. Fronr

january 1989, the

Freneh Mission has un­

dertaen to comleet

the clearing of siht

great architecutral conm­

le of iMddle and

Late Dilmun hasse,

Fig‫ﻫ‬re 2' Danish ecnntions in the "Paiace of ‫ﻻ‬e"ri aren (1988)

28