Page 72 - DILMUN 14

MORARS : A PROBLEM O

ARCHAEOLOGY AND ARCHIECURAL‫ﺶ‬
CONSERVAION IN BAHRAIN

By

Gionata Rii

INRODUCION
he importance of mortar in traditional building cannot be overemphasized. he

making of mortar has always played a central role on building sites, involving
several operations, countless recipes and a considerable amount of work'.

In dealing with historieal buildings, a basic understanding of materials which
have survived, together with some knowledge of those available today is essential
in preparing sensible specifications. lndeed, the practice of conservation would also
call for a good insight into ancient techniques, which is unfortunately most difficult
to obtain where traditional crafts have been swept away by the rapid development
of modern technology.

It is my purpose, therefore, to give a brief account on the mortars used in
Bahrain during the past and to give a record of the mixes recently chosen for
restoration of historic buildinsg in order to allow future evaluation of their
performances.

Accordingly, the article is divided into four sections:
1. Interpretation of the analyses carried out on mortar samples of different

periods.
2. Materials available in Bahrain for restoration work.
3. Experiments to determinate suitable mortars for conservation works at

Bahrain fort.
4. Other mixes used in Bahrain for consevration purposes.

MORAR ANALYSIS ٩
Scientific analysis can provide several data on the identity and proportion of

constituents of an old mortar. here are, however, severe limitations which should
be taken into account in the inteprretation of the laboratoyr breakdown. For

51