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impressive for its size as its beigraben arc unimpressive? There is not a hint in the tombs of the
existence of what the written texts suggest: a flourishing trade entrepot transhipping gold,
copper, copper utensils, lapis lazuli, ivory objects, inlaid tables, pearls (“fish-eyes”), and
beads of semi-precious stones to Mesopotamia (for a comprehensive listing see Pcttinalo
1972), A materialist analysis of the tombs on Bahrain would scarcely support the view that
“Dilmun emerges as the trading power par excellence in the Gulf, securing direct lines of
supply from Mcluhha and Makkan and effectively eliminating them as threats to her
monopoly over the sea trade with Sumer” (Potts 1978 : 46).

Given the fact that most of the tumuli on Bahrain have been looted it still appears that
mortuary ceremonialism did not include the placing of great wealth in the tombs. The
construction of the tombs do however represent a very considerable labour investment. It is
equally difficult to comprehend why almost a quarter of the tombs lack human burials. The
distribution of tumuli mounds extends to the Arabian peninsula in the vicinity of Dhahran and
the al-Hasa Oasis. Potts (1983:16) has recently reiterated the view initially expressed by
Cornwall (1944:117-19) : that the region of al-Hasa “was well within the cultural boundary of
late third/early second millennium Dilmun” (Potts: 1983:16). Cornwall also observed, and
commented upon, what Ibrahim’s (1983) published Tables of excavated tombs further attest:
the fact that many tombs were constructed that “contained not a single human bone — or
anything else” (Cornwall 1944:122). These vacant vacant tombs may have been commemora­
tive tombs, to serve as a home for the spirit of one who died in more distant lands. Alternative­
ly, as repeatedly commented upon by Kramer (1963:147-49; 277ff.) and Jacobsen
(1976:112ff; 1970:108) Dilmun was intimately related to Sumer, particularly at the religious
and spiritual levels and it is not inconceivable that commemorative and/or actual burials of
Sumerians were interred on Dilmun which the Sumerians regarded as a “ Paradise” or “ Abode
of the Blessed” where mankind is given “life like a god” and “breath eternal” (Lamberg-
Karlovsky 1982, see also Kramer 1963).

Lastly, it must be said that within archaeology the belief remains that patterns in death
reflect patterns in the life of a society. Current interpretations of burial data, at whatever scale,
are invariably concerned with explanation in termsof social behaviors. In the manner of vulgar
materialism cemetery organization is equated to social organization (Alekshin 1983). This
approach, however, if applied to the tumulus mounds of Bahrain would fail to distinguish the
class structure and the concomitant complexities within the political and economic organiza­
tion which simply must have characterized this extensive commercial entrepot. The almost
egalitarian nature of tomb “wealth” belies the complex social stratification which must have
existed; while the differential labor invested in small vs. large tombs tells us little of the role
played by the entombed. A materialist approach to these burials, whether approached by
archaeological demography or a study of wealth and resource distribution in the tombs, fails
entirely to comprehend the cognitive element of meaning in terms of concepts, symbolic
principles and ideologies. It is clear that the mortuary ceremonialims of both Dilmun and
Magan (Oman-Abu Dhabi) emphasized the construction of large sepulcher stone chambers
for the deceased. The large tombs that characterize these two cultures stand in physical
contrast to the mortuary practices of the rest of the prehistoric Near and Middle East. In both
the size and number of tombs nothing in the Near East compares to the sepulchers of Dilmun
and Magan. Interpretations of their meaning must include an investigation of their attitudes to
death and the way in which these belief systems were integrated within their social environ­
ment. A promising point of departure in comprehending the symbolic principles and
ideologies toward death (and Dilmun) are contained in Sumerian literature; which, in spite of
the relative absence of archaeological remains in the tombs, at least suggest thepossibility that
Dilmun was a place for burial where immortality could be obtained (Lamberg-Karlovsky
1982).

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