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The sixteen century gap, which separates these two periods of occupation calls for some
explanation: two hypotheses can be proposed to explain this vast interval.

'irst: the citadel was abandoned after the Hellenistic period, for no trace of either Sasanid
xramie, nor of early Islamic ceramic has been found in the immediate area. Nevertheless it
•«ould be astonishing if, after such an extraordinarily long period of neglect, the building was in
i good enough state of repair to have been restored in the 13th century.

•econd: the fortress underwent either continuous or intermittent occupation for more than a
housand years, but all trace of this occupation was wiped out by the major occupation during
he 13th century. This phenomenon is quite well known to archaeologists and I can cite
mother instance : the Achcmcnid palace at Susa (Shush) in Iran, where one finds no trace of
be original occupation, only the ceramics of the Parthian epoch when the palace was re-used.

Logic would lead one to favour the second hypothesis. And indeed it would be surprising if a
ortified position of such careful construction, located at a place which both before and after
he hellenistic epoch was considered exceptional, was not utilised during the thousand year
nterval between its construction and its final occupation. Several times the narrative sources,
without mentioning the fortress, relate events which are certainly connected with its existence,
n the period when the island, along with the mainland part of Bahrain, was under the rule of
he Qarmats, Uwal, the main island served several times as a place of refuge or retrenchment:
hree times during the 10th and 11th centuries, supporters or members of the Qarmathian
lynasty were banished or fled to Awal. At the time of the troubles which marked the end of
3armat domination, Uwal was once again the scene of events which it would be difficult to
magine taking place except in relation to a fortress: I refer to the rebellion which Abu’l Buhlul
*- Muhammed b. Yusul al-Zajjaj fermented against the Qarmats living on the island. These he
lestroyed, and expelled their governor, but himself fell victim to the attacks of Zakariyya b.
t’ahya b. al- Ayyash, conqueror of the Qarmats on the mainland.6

It was the Uyunides, with the help of a Seljuk army, who reaped the benefit of these victories
'••er the Qarmats. But their rule, which lasted more than 160 years, was also marked by
iolence, in particular the troubles instigated by the descendants of ’Ali and Dabbar al-Uyuni,
ho had been denied power in favour of their eldest brother al-Fadl.

At some unknown date in the 12th Century, Bahrain became a possession of the emirs of
?ais. Then at the beginning of the 13th Century, it passed to the Salgharid atabegs of Fars,
'ithout losing its local dynasties, the Uyunids and later the Usfurids.

Possibly it was under the Uyunids that the hellenistic fort was restored : it is known that the
lird sovereign of the dynasty, Abu Sinan Muhammed ibn al-Fadl, decided to live on Uwal. It
as he who ordered the rebuilding of the Friday Mosque (the Suq al-Khamis).7 This could
:flect this ruler’s interest in architecture.

On the other hand the fort could also have been restored, a little more than a century later,
> the orders of the powerful governor of Fars, the Salgharid Abu Bakr, when he integrated
ahrain into his possessions. In and around the fortress has been found a considerable number
f coins bearing the name of this ruler and his descendants who maintained their sovereignty
*er Bahrain until the lastyears of the 13th Century, when they were replaced by the al-Tibi,
ic merchant princes of al-Qais.8

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