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PALEORIENT, vol 8/2 1982

Date incubators n‫ ﺓ‬Bahrain and
Oman :

The problem of the emergence
of date processing techniques

A. Rougeulle

Abstract Recent discoveries in Bahrain and in Ouan ofmcdieval ''stean-roonS??
or ''incubators?? ased for the preparation of date honey raises the problems of the
ewistence in proto-historic and historic times in Mesopotamia and gypt of this kind
of structure or of similar ones, In these regions palm-date by-producst are

entioned in the texts since the beginning of the 3rd milleniun.

The recent ecavations carired out by the French Archaeological Mission on medieval sites
in Bahrain and Oman' have led to the discovery of rather unusual structures connected with
the production of ''date honey'. [dentical installations still operate in these regions at the
prcsent time: these are closed rooms with no opening other than the door, usually facing
south and therefore subject to the effects of the sun. The ground in the rooms are hidden by
a sloping channelled platform at the lower end of which is a sunken receptacle. The whole
structure acts as an incubator and the dates heaped on the platform decompose in the heat
exuding a juice known as date honey.

The continued existence of such a simple and effective technique from the 13th century
to the present day, the acknowledged importance of the date-palm in the economy of local
populations since the beginning of the 4th millenium and numerous references to date honey
in the earliest texts, suggest that this technique originated long before the Middle Ages.
Because archaeological and ethnographical texts and publications have hitherto remained
silent on date processing techniques, the importance of drawing the attention of specialists.
and in particular those interested in early periods, to the existence of such structures has now
become apparent.

The Mission was led by Monique ervran, responsible for research a٤ CNRS, to whom we are
most grateful for entrusting this study to us and for her assistance in producing it.

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