r. pedersen - a survey for ahipwrecks, submerged settlements and seafaring technology in bahrain -...

SHIPWRECKS AROUND THE WORLD: REVELATIONS OF THE PAST156A survey for shipwrecks, submergedsettlements and seafaring technologyin BahrainRalph K Pedersen, Institute of Nautical Archaeology, USA

In 1993, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) began a 10 week survey in the

waters of the Persian Gulf at Bahrain (Pedersen, 1993). The project examined various

areas off the northern coast of Bahrain for evidence of shipwrecks and other underwater

sites using the traditional archaeological diving methodologies of search and survey. As

part of the project, local fishermen and pearl divers were interviewed for their knowledge

of sailing conditions and lore. Additionally, sport divers of the local British expatriate

community associated with the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) were interviewed.

One shipwreck was found, potentially promising archaeological sites located, intriguing

rumours and stories concerning the sea were revealed, and other possibilities for future

archaeological research came to light in this ancient land where seafaring has been integral

to life for thousands of years. Bahrain sits off the western coast of the Persian Gulf, about

halfway along its length1

. The island of Bahrain is small, measuring just 16 km across,

and from a broad northern coast it stretches south 48 km to end in a low sandy point. The

highest point on the island is 134 m high. Bahrain actually consists of thirty three islands,

most of which are uninhabited, sandy bars barely protruding above the water. The island

group is dominated by three large islands: Bahrain proper, Sitra, and Muharraq (Fig. 1).

It is these islands that have been the subject of settlement and civilization for millennia.

Bahrain Island is unusual for the gulf, particularly its desiccated western coasts. Here,

fresh water occurs in abundance, flowing from subterranean springs both on land and

under the sea. The underground freshwater supply actually accounts for the name of the

island, which means ‘two seas’, the salty one above and the sweet one below the island.

The presence of sweet water has made parts of the island a lush garden, producing dates

and other produce that has attracted seafarers down through the ages in their quest for

trade and need for replenishment. Drinkable water was the fuel of ancient sailing vessels

- without it the crew could survive only a few days before perishing. Thus, Bahrain with

its dependable and copious water, conveniently located halfway between Mesopotamia

and the Strait of Hormuz with the open sea beyond, organically grew into a maritime

centre and a kingdom in its own right. The rich pearling grounds around the island only

added to its wealth and importance. It is this commerce and activity that gives Bahrain its

importance for nautical archaeological research.

Early evidence of seafaring

In 1953, a Danish expedition under the leadership of Geoffrey Bibby and P. V. Glob

conducted the first major post-World War II archaeological investigations in Bahrain

8

A SURVEY FOR SHIPWRECKS, SUBMERGED SETTLEMENTS AND SEAFARING ... 157

(Glob, 1954: 92-105). The project would eventually research the Portuguese fortress, the

Barbar Temple, as well as other sites on the island, discovering evidence of numerous

periods including the ancient Dilmun civilization known previously from Mesopotamian

texts dating as early as the third millennium BC (Potts, 1990: 83-89). The Danish

expeditions uncovered houses and temples, and various artefacts ranging from ordinary

ceramics to ornate bronze sculptures (Glob, 1956; and Mortensen, 1956). They also

uncovered seals, which not only included those from Dilmun but also ones from

Mesopotamia and the Harappan civilization based along the Indus River and in Gujarat in

north-western India (Bibby, 1966: 92; and Glob, 1954: 103). The excavations by Bibby

and Glob laid the foundation for future archaeological research in Bahrain and the wider

Persian Gulf. Our knowledge of ancient seafaring in the gulf lies in the archaeological

data - including artistic and textual evidence - from Bahrain, Mesopotamia and elsewhere

Fig. 1 Map of Bahrain and the surrounding maritime environs, before the

extensive land reclamation projects of the early 21st century. (R. Pedersen)

SHIPWRECKS AROUND THE WORLD: REVELATIONS OF THE PAST158

(Agius, 2008: 39). Various texts from Mesopotamia mention Dilmun as a place of bountiful

water and a virtual paradise on earth. It is here that Utnaphistim, the Babylonian Noah,

was settled by the gods after the Great Flood as a reward for building the ark and saving

mankind (Glob, 1954: 102; Kovacs, 1989; and Pedersen, 2005). His ark was built in the

traditional method of the Indian Ocean world, that is, by stitching the wooden hull members

together with cordage (Pedersen, 2004a; 2005). This account in the Standard Version of

the Epic of Gilgamesh is our only description of boat building from ancient Mesopotamian

sources. Most likely, the ships of Dilmun, and other lands along the route reaching India

were constructed with this method, which continued through the period of Medieval Arab

seafaring into the twentieth century. It can still be found today in India in Karnataka,

Kerala, and elsewhere (McGrail et al., 2003: 120, 167; Pedersen, 2004b; and Vosmer,

1997). The boat builders of the Indian Ocean world were conservative in their technology,

passing down to the succeeding generations not only boat designs, but the boats themselves.

Among the Arabs of the Persian Gulf, where boats could last a century and design changes

were slow, there is ‘reason to believe that similar boats have sailed the same waters for

over a thousand years’ (Le Baron Bowen Jr., 1949a: 22; Swamy, 1999: 125; and Pedersen,

2003: 17). The ships of the ancient Persian Gulf transported a wide range of goods to and

from Mesopotamia and onward to the Indus Valley and the points between. Wood from

India, along with copper from Oman, and numerous other goods from Mesopotamia and

elsewhere were all transported on ships (Agius, 2008: 39-44; Glob, 1954: 104; Pedersen,

1993; Potts, 1990: 90-92). Bahrain, with its water supply and optimal position along the

gulf, thrived from the sea traffic that came its way, serving as a middleman as well as

producing in abundance the much coveted pearl (Agius, 2008: 71; Glob, 1954: 103).

Generally, where there are boats, there are those lost under the sea, and traces of them or

their cargoes should remain. Thus, Bahrain is an ideal place to search for ancient

shipwrecks.

The Survey: Underwater and elsewhere

INA’s 1993 survey concentrated investigations off the north coast and north-western corner

of Bahrain Island (Fig. 2). A planned investigation of a submerged jetty consisting of

black pebbles located off the western side of the island was not possible due to the

structure’s proximity to a secure compound. Investigation of the island’s eastern coast

was also not possible. To chart our way and record locations of archaeological interest,

we used GPS, the Global Positioning System, which in 1993 was only beginning to be

used in archaeology. Ordinarily, one would have used traditional navigational methods,

such as using compass and a sextant to find latitude and longitude. With the GPS, the

press of a button gave us the same data, saving hours of training in the use of a sextant and

eliminating human error. In the Arabian Gulf, a featureless sea with low lying coastal

areas, longitude and latitude coordinates of wrecks and other sites are the best way to


relocate them once found. The GPS gave us the ability to easily fix coordinates, enabling

us to return to any exact position, and we used the instrument extensively to record our

diving areas and find spots of ceramics under the sea. The northern coast of the island

was a centre of sea traffic from earliest times. Ships approaching Bahrain from the north

would either pass by this coast on their way to settlements and cities on Bahrain such as

Saar - now landlocked, but once a harbour settlement (Killick and Moon, 2005) or they

would head into harbourage and anchorage near the Barbar Temple, the area of the

Portuguese fortress, or sail down the west coast to points yet unknown. During the

Hellenistic period at least, when Bahrain was known as ‘Tylos’, ships made use of a

natural channel running through the reef off the Portuguese fortress at Qala’at al Bahrain.

Wider afield, the northern Bahraini seas were the site of a battle in the 16th century

between warships of the Ottomans and the Portuguese as both powers vied for control of

the gulf lands and shipping lanes. A number of ships were supposedly destroyed in this

battle, and archaeological research in the fields of warship construction and maritime

related endeavours could be well served by the discovery of the remains of the conflict.

There is, however, little evidence for the location of the battle, and the area was too large

to search thoroughly via diving. No evidence of the Ottoman-Portuguese conflict was

seen. Technological surveying, with the use of equipment such as side-scan sonar or sub-

bottom profilers could reveal wrecks related to the battle, but this gear was not available

Fig. 2 The northern section of Bahrain featuring the sites discussed in the text. (R. Pedersen)


to the survey. Explorations along Bahrain’s north coast revealed places on the seafloor

containing scattered and broken ceramics. These occurred in clusters around reefs and

other shallows indicating that they were material jettisoned from boats at anchor. This is

a common practice when one drops a ceramic piece on a boat, one throws it overboard. In

anchorages and harbourages, this detritus tends to pile up. All the cast-off pottery witnessed

by the survey consisted of heavy walled, gray, crudely made utilitarian vessels of late

date.

In the Vicinity of Budaiya

On the north-western corner of Bahrain Island is the village of Budaiya. This village

contains a number of fishing boats from which local inhabitants make a living. Such

places are steeped in nautical history and lore, and investigations in the area proved

fruitful for our research. From diving, and talking with local people, we found a shipwreck,

a possible submerged settlement site, an area of the sea floor containing a concentration

of ceramics, and information concerning underwater features and exploration. Seaward

from Budaiya, there is an area of the seafloor that appears to contain walls. Local fishermen

believe these are the remains of houses under the sea. The clarity of the water readily

revealed what seemed to be man-made walls in about 2 m of sea. The walls, some at right

angles to others, were too deep to be fish traps, and such stone-built traps would be

atypical for Bahrain as traps there are made of a fencing of poles. If this was a submerged

settlement, the only times the sea would have been low enough to permit occupation

would have been circa 1800 BC and 400 BC (Sanlaville and Paskoff, 1986). This area

requires further investigation to determine its nature. Farther out from Budaiya is a channel

of deeper water with a rocky bottom surrounded by reef. The channel is a natural feature

that leads from the open sea to the village and continues south along the island’s western

edge. This access to deep water explains the presence of the village it is reliant on the sea

for its livelihood and the channel presents a geographical advantage. At the northern end

of the channel its entrance is marked by a cairn of rocks so that ships may find the

approaches to Budaiya. The cairn and the surrounding area have been explored by British

sport divers who spotted stone anchors and ceramics in the vicinity. On at least one

occasion, it was reported, electronic instruments recorded a curious underwater feature

on the west side of the channel. The cairn and the immediate area were not investigated

by the survey due to limitations of time.

Southward down the channel is an area called Is Haileh, meaning ‘white sand’, or ‘clean

sand’. This area has a number of undersea springs whose sweet water is brought to the

surface via hollowed out palm trunks. Boats of all types come here to replenish their

drinking supply. One of the fishermen from Budaiya found some ceramics at Is Haileh,

including a ceramic teapot (Fig. 3 and 4). The site, in the sea west of Budaiya, is a coral

head, one of many in the area, only about 1.5 m deep at low tide. The fisherman was able


Fig. 3 The fishermen at Is Haileh. The shallow water is typical of the area and

makes for good anchorage as well as for placing fish traps. (R. Pedersen)

Fig. 4 The teapot recovered from the sea by the fisherman. (R. Pedersen)

to show to the survey the area where he found several sherds of ceramic vessels. He

claimed there were many more sherds and intact pots below. Whether the ceramics represent

a wreck or jettisoned material could not be determined, but the use of the area as a

watering spot argues for the latter possibility. The teapot from Is Haileh was dated to the

14th century, and all the sherds were of the Islamic period. During a follow up examination

of Is Haileh, the survey teamed with personnel from ‘TechDive’, a local diving company

that provided invaluable support to the survey. Our goal was to make a drift dive - which


relies on the sea current to carry divers along in the Budaiya channel. This channel had a

maximum depth of approximately 10 m. Diving consisted of two divers drifting south to

north in a current of about 5 knots while holding a rope tethered to the surface support

vessel. Despite the swift current and limited visibility of no more than 4 m, the team by

chance crossed directly over a ceramic jug. Stopping to examine the jug - which was quite

difficult given the current - a quick look determined no other artefacts could be seen

within the immediate area. The ceramic vessel was raised to the surface for diagnostic

purposes. Unfortunately the sediment inside the vessel was quickly lost upon reaching the

surface, so no archaeobotanical analysis could be conducted on the silt within. The vessel

itself (Fig. 5) was heavily encrusted on one side (2 cm) and less so on the other (2 to 3

mm). As the heavier encrustation was underneath the vessel as found, it apparently rolled

there from another place, that is, it had first settled to the sea floor somewhere nearby but

was later disturbed by nature or man. Further exploration of the area was not possible due

the safety conditions related to the strong current.

Fig. 5 The triphora found by the author in the sea off Budaiya. (R. Pedersen)


The ceramic jug was ovoid but slightly asymmetrical, with a pointed toe. The neck and

handles of the jug were missing, but upon cleaning, the attachment points for three handles

became visible on the shoulder. This was then not an amphora, a two handled vessel, but

a ‘triphora’. The neck was broken off nearly completely. The toe was chipped and worn.

There was no evidence of paint or a slip; however there was a decorative band in the

fabric. This is a pair of parallel lines1.9 cm apart. Each was 1.9 mm wide and incised to

a depth of 1 mm. The container measured 36 cm in length, 20.4 cm at its maximum

diameter, and had a volume of 4.6 litres. The nearly non-existent stump of the neck had

an outer diameter of 6.4 cm and inner of 4.5 cm. The handle-attachment points on the

shoulder were each 3.5 cm in diameter and located approximately 2.5 cm from the edge

of the neck opening. The fabric was coarse with large inclusions, light in colour, and

approximately 9 mm thick. The triphora appears to be from a shipwreck known to the

British expatriate divers as the ‘Amphora wreck’. This wreck lies in the same area where

the triphora was located, and at least two similar vessels were reported to have been found

there. Both of these were transported to Britain as souvenirs some decades ago. Sport

divers reportedly also raised the neck and shoulder of another ceramic form, but the

description given was not clear. The divers reported that the wreck was scattered but that

more of these ceramic vessels can be found in the channel off Budaiya. No one recalled

having seen any other artefact types in the area of the wreck, but they admitted they never

examined the site closely. The date of the triphora, and therefore the shipwreck, is

problematic as the ceramic form is largely unrecognized except in a general form - three-

handled vessels appear to be common in the late Islamic era of the region. The local

villagers, however, have a legend about a wrecking near the cairn at the northern end of

the channel off Budaiya. The villagers claim a ship wrecked there ‘several generations’

ago. The British divers assumed this means about 100 years ago. The connection of this

tale, the triphora, and the wreck found by the British sport divers is unproven, but the

evidence points to the conclusion that our find, the British finds, and the wrecking story

are indeed related.

Information from a Pearl Diver

Interviews with an old pearl diver yielded three areas of interest: An area known as the

‘Frying Pan’, another equated with mysterious disappearances of ships, and a zone

containing underwater walls. The area called the ‘Frying Pan’ (Arabic name unknown) is

located between islands of Muharraq and Sitra at the southern end of Khor Khaliyah (Fig.

2). The constriction between the islands causes conflicting currents during the change of

tide causing the sea to ‘bubble like a frying pan’. Many ships have been lost there, according

to the pearl diver, and sailors pass through the strait cautiously. Ships sailing to and from

the ancient Dilmun capital, now located under Manama, would have passed through the

strait between the islands and may have faced similar dangers as those encountered by


modern vessels. A channel, however, has been dredged through this area to a depth of 9.8

m, and this, combined with heavy sea traffic, would be a problem for any archaeological

investigation there. The margins of the area have not been completely dredged, however,

so there may be remains of ships in the unaffected zones. The pearl diver told of the

existence of submerged walls near the island of Qassar al Qulay’ah, found to the west of

the frying pan. The survey saw neither these - as the water was not entered - nor any overt

evidence of occupation on the island. Aside from modern refuse and some nondescript

ceramic sherds, the island appeared devoid of human activity. However, the island would

have been the logical place for a lighthouse, or even a sentry post to guard the southern

entrance to the bay. Further investigation may reveal such use of Qassar al Qulay’ah as

well as the existence and nature of the walls. Another area mentioned by the pearl diver

was called, at least in translation, the ‘Bermuda Triangle of the Gulf’. In this place in the

open sea, two strong currents meet and, as a result many ships are lost. When sailors pass

through this area, they sacrifice to the sea either a goat or a chicken as appeasement to the

‘Djinni’ for safe passage. The pearl diver stated this place is to the northeast of Bahrain,

has no bottom, and mountains can be seen from there. This leads to the conclusion that

the ‘triangle’ is far out in the gulf, within sight of Iran.

The Bandar ad Dar Interviews

Interviewing fishermen and divers has long been a method of gathering information for

archaeological research, and the men in Bahrain who make their living from the sea

proved to be valuable sources of data. On Sitra Island, Bandar ad Dar is a fishing port

whose harbour is filled with traditional wooden working boats (Fig. 6). Interviews with

Fig. 6 The fishing harbour on Sitra Island with its traditional wooden boats. (R. Pedersen)


the fishermen at Bandar ad Dar yielded four areas of potential archaeological interest.

When queried if they knew of any pottery in the sea and whether they knew of any

shipwrecks, several fishermen responded they had found pottery but, as they saw no value

in it, they always threw it back. They could not pin-point locations. However, all agreed

there were pottery and many wrecks to be found along Fasht al-Azm, a large reef reaching

east from Bahrain toward Qatar. In addition, the fishermen named three other areas

considered dangerous for ships and known to contain wrecks of recent dates. These are

Halul (an island located between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates), Gaidat Bulyal,

and Fasht al-Dibal (a reef between Bahrain and Qatar).

Shipwrecks

The survey was told of two shipwrecks found in the vicinity of Manama in the 20th

century. Like many shipwrecks around the world these were found during construction

and little was noted of them at the time. The first of these was found during the building

of the coast guard station at the old Abu Mahir fort on Muharraq Island (Fig. 7). At one

Fig. 7 A map of Muharraq as the shoreline existed in the early 1990s. (R. Pedersen)


point, possibly in the 16th or 17th centuries, the fort was sacked and burned, as apparently

was a ship lying at anchor. The ship remains, found in the water adjacent to the fort,

showed signs of fire. The keel and several other timbers were noted by the discoverers, as

were five cannons. The cannons were removed, and are now displayed at the reconstructed

facade of the fort and at the entrance to the Bahrain National Museum. The wreck itself

was left in place and now lies under the concrete wharf along the waterfront of the fort.

Attributes of the wreck were not recorded. Other wrecks of the same period and battle

may lie in the small, shallow bay between Abu Mahir Fort and Arad Fort, but this has not

been investigated. A number of ceramics have been reportedly found in the bay, but these

may be simply the detritus of ordinary harbour activity and not indicative of wrecks. The

second shipwreck is located under a buoy just off the Dhow harbour on Manama’s northern

shore. The wreck of unknown date was discovered some decades ago during the dredging

of a channel. Older residents remember large ship timbers being hauled off the sea bottom,

which were neither recorded nor preserved. Whether any parts of this shipwreck remain

underwater is unclear, but as the site is marked by a buoy, some of it may still be extant.

The Flats near the Portuguese Fortress

On the central northern coast of Bahrain lie the ruins of the Portuguese fortress known as

Qala’at al-Bahrain. This site has been occupied since antiquity, as excavations have revealed

strata dating to the Dilmun Period (late third/early second millennium BC), the Hellenistic

period (late first millennium BC), the period of Portuguese occupation, and through the

late Islamic era. The Portuguese, in their expansion into the Indian Ocean beginning in

the late 1490s, established forts in Bahrain and elsewhere in the gulf, and battled Ottoman

Turks for control of the Persian Gulf. The fortresses were ultimately abandoned as

Portuguese power in the region faded. The seafront at the Portuguese fortress is a tidal

flat of mud and reef extending north approximately one km. At high tide, water covers

it to a depth of about one meter. At low tide, the flats are exposed. The mud may be a

meter, or more, deep in some places. Running through the flats is a channel. Although it

is silting up, the channel once gave the fortress and city access to the sea. The Danish

expedition of Glob and Bibby noted a slipway for servicing or launching ships at the

landward end of the channel. The channel was explored by the survey as far as was

permissible due to conditions of reef growth and siltation. During Hellenistic Tylos, there

was a Pharos, or lighthouse, at the opening of the channel on the western corner. This

area of the Pharos was examined for evidence of this construction. Examination of the top

of the reef, as well as the surrounding environs for cut stone blocks yielded no trace of the

lighthouse, nor any objects that could be associated with it. Either the materials were

long ago scavenged, or the ruins lie under sand in the channel or overgrown by the reef.

Similarly, no evidence of ships or shipping was seen in the channel. High degrees of

siltation were occurring at the time due to a land filling project to the east of the channel,


which greatly obscured features. Throughout the northern zone, silt was observed lying

over various reefs, killing them, and in the channel linking the Hellenistic settlement with

the sea a great amount of sand was building up. Indeed, over the subsequent years after

the survey, much of the northern coast of Bahrain and the island of Muharraq have been

greatly modified by massive land reclamation projects obliterating the ancient seabed.

The Hellenistic settlement, as well as the earlier phases of the site, certainly would have

used a number of ships and boats in the servicing of their city. The flats lying north of the

city may contain watercraft abandoned after they outlived their usefulness as it is common

practice among maritime people to simply abandon worn out boats in harbours, on beaches,

and flats. Evidence of such abandonment of hulls could be seen during the survey. A

modern fibreglass-on-wood-frame boat was left a few hundred meters north of the fort

where it was slowly disintegrating and sinking into the mud. There is the potential of

finding ancient vessels similarly abandoned on the flats, although modern reclamation,

dredging, and construction threaten this area.

Traditional Boat Yards: Repositories of Technology

As mentioned, boats of traditional shape and technology sailed the Persian Gulf from

ancient times into the modern period. Much ancient technology has fallen into disuse in

the face of the simpler European nailing techniques, that is, using iron nails to fasten

planks onto a framework. Indeed wooden boats of any form are in danger of obsolescence

and extinction due to the spread of inexpensive, more durable fibreglass hulls. The

traditional boatyards of Bahrain and Muharraq Islands, however, still contain invaluable

information on methods of wooden boat building in the Persian Gulf. Thus, boat yards

were visited by the survey to observe the construction of wooden watercraft. Evidently,

with the demise of the age-old sewing technique in Bahrain, two boat construction methods

have taken its place. The first, as noted by R. Le Baron Bowen Jr. in the mid-twentieth

century, is a typical frame-first construction in which no plans are used and frames are set

up on the keel based on the builder’s eye for proportion:

...Every other rib runs through the keel; alternate ribs start on each side of the keel.

The planks are put on in more or less logical order, but no attempt is made to fit or spile

them. When they have finished running the planks, there are a lot of little spaces,

maybe one inch by six inches that are filled in with little patches. All planks and patches

are nailed on with large-headed hand-wrought iron nails clinched over on the inside of

the ribs; stains of these nails streak down the outside of the hull (Le Baron Bowen Jr.,

1949b: 109, 111).

The boats are rubbed above the waterline with fish oil ‘appalling in its pungency’, while

below the waterline a ‘mixture of lime and tallow in a thick paste’ is smeared on (Le

Baron Bowen Jr., 1949b: 109, 111). The second technique is one that was witnessed by the

INA survey in 1993. It is a method that uses a system of external moulds to first partly


create the shell, or outer skin, of the boat, and then adds the internal framework. First the

keel was laid level, followed by the erection of the stem and post and their attachment to

either end of the keel. Next, moulds were set up. These were nailed to the keel at intervals

seemingly judged by eye (Fig. 8). While many of the moulds were short, single component

members, a pair of master moulds comprising several components were erected, one

forward of amidships and one aft (Fig. 9). The master moulds outlined the shape of the

vessel up through the sheer line of the hull. These combined with the shorter moulding

members to create an external framework and shape for the planks to follow. The next

step was the installation of the garboards - the strakes closest to the keel - which were

fastened to the keel with iron nails. The garboards laid the foundation for the rest of the

planking to follow. Then, the planks comprising the second strake were fitted to the

garboards edge to edge. The planks were pulled and bent onto the hull shape created by

the moulds, clamped in place, and nailed to the moulds. Planks were added to the hull in

a similar manner until the turn of the bilge, that is, where the bottom of the boat turns into

the sides. Once the turn of the bilge was reached, floors were inserted. These timbers

reached from side to side and ran across the keel. They were secured from the outside

with the few nails needed to hold them in place until the shell and the framing was

completed. The external moulds on the hull’s bottom were left in place throughout the

Fig. 8 Boat construction using external moulds to shape the hull. Here short moulds are seen nailed

to the keel of the vessel yielding a predetermined form for the planking to follow. (R. Pedersen)


process. More moulds of varying length were added as needed, nailed to the outer face of

the planking as strakes were completed. These additional moulds formed the shape of the

sides as they would reach toward the sheer line of the hull. Additional planking was then

added and fastened to the moulds, creating the sides of the boat. Futtocks (the upper parts

of the internal frames) were inserted, adding to the internal framework as the sides reached

completion. In this way, the shell and internal framework were completed simultaneously,

following the shape created by the master and secondary moulds. The boat was thus not a

true shell-first construction, and not a true frame-first construction, but a hybrid bridging

the two techniques. Framing followed shell, shell followed framing, and both followed the

predetermined shape created by the system of moulds.

With the shell finished, holes were drilled through the planking and frames. Large iron

spikes were driven through the holes, their ends protruding from the frames inside. The

spike ends were then double-clenched, that is, bent over twice, in a herringbone pattern.

After the planking and frames were firmly fastened together, the external moulds were

removed from the hull for use on the next vessel to be built. This reuse creates a conservative

hull shape among vessels from the same yard, as there is little variation between boats

built with the same moulds. The main variance would occur due to the placement of the

moulds along the keel line. Whether there was any measuring system governing their

Fig. 9 The short moulds and one of the master moulds. The combination of the two gives the vessel

its shape as the planking is nailed to the mould up to the sheerline of the vessel. (R. Pedersen)


linear placement is not known, as already mentioned. Given the experience of the

shipbuilders, however, varying mould placement due to a lack of standard measurement

procedures would have produced only minimal differences in boat shape. How old this

method of boat construction is has not been discovered. Ethnographical records of boat

construction in the Persian Gulf are scant, and historical records about the topic are

nearly non-existent. It is possible, if not probable, that this method evolved as the stitching

of planking fell out of fashion and nailing melded with aspects of ancient shipbuilding

techniques. For the finishing touch, after the superstructure and internal utilitarian features

were constructed, the outside of the hull below the waterline was smeared with a mixture

of lime and fat that acted as a sealant and as well as an anti-fouling coating. This layer is

properly called a ‘paying’. The upper works were preserved and waterproofed with oil.

This is an ancient technique, related by numerous medieval travellers to the region, by Le

Baron Bowen as related above, and recorded in the Epic of Gilgamesh (Pedersen, 2004a:

236).

Islands in the Desert

The Danish expeditions to Bahrain led by Bibby and Glob ventured into the southern

reaches of Bahrain island and discovered a hillock at Ras al-Jazayir that was covered with

a midden of oyster shells. This midden was associated with Dilmun-period ceramics,

charcoal, fish bones and assorted mollusk shells (Nielsen, 1958: 159-160). The hillock,

and others like it, was, the Danes found out, an island during ancient times, becoming

landlocked due to changes over the centuries in the relative sea level of one to two meters

(Nielsen, 1958: 158; Sanlaville and Paskoff, 1986b: 15-24). Clearly, this former island

had been a place where ancient seafarers in small boats had put ashore to shuck the

oysters they had gathered to claim the gem within (Nielsen, 1958: 158-160). Pearling has

long been one of the professions of Bahrain, only to cease with the petroleum age. The

mound discovered by the Danes confirmed the industry’s long presence in Bahrain (Nielsen,

1958: 160). The shell midden, located some 4 to 5 km. off the main island’s coast in the

Dilmun period, now lies 1 km. from the sea, and contained flints, small stone columns,

and pottery from the third millennium BC (Glob, 1957: 125-127). Teaming up with

Robert Killick and Jane Moon, then the leaders of the London-Bahrain Archaeological

expedition excavating the Dilmun city at Saar (Killick and Moon, 2005), we decided to

find and examine anew the former island found by the Danish expedition in 1957. Killick

suggested we try to locate two places: the shell midden excavated by the Danes (Glob,

1957: 157; Potts, 1990: 208); and an Ubaid site, a low mound nearly 1.5 km from the sea

but believed to have once been an island (Roaf, 1974: 499). Over 6,000 years ago, the

Neolithic people of the Ubaid culture spread south from Mesopotamia to the southern

reaches of the gulf (Oates, 1986: 80) and Ubaidians could only have reached Bahrain by

boat. The site was said to be ‘barely distinguishable from the surrounding sandy desert


except for the numerous chips of flint and shell on the surface which cover an area of at

least 100m in diameter’ (Roaf, 1974: 499). Its hallmarks include various fish bones,

forms of pottery, goat and dugong bones, and a number of tools (Roaf, 1974: 501). It was

excavated by the British in the 1970s and dates to about 4,000 BC (Larsen, 1986: d42;

Roaf, 1974), making it not only one of the oldest identified sites on the island but probably

the oldest maritime related site in Bahrain.

Both sites are located in sabkha, the sandy flats once part of the sea on Bahrain’s southwest

coast. To locate the two sites, we would use the GPS that we had been using on the sea.

For this, we needed the longitude and latitude coordinates of each place, information

which was not published or at least not immediately available to us. However, a simple

map from a book showed the general longitude and latitude positions we needed. The

sites were marked by dots, which are in scale about 500 m in diameter. We were able to

estimate coordinates for both sites, but we did not know how precisely the sites were

marked on the map. Thus, our figures contained a potential half km error at minimum.

Furthermore, the GPS signal in the gulf at the time had a degraded accuracy to no less

than 150 m. Thus, even if our calculations from the map were exact, the GPS could still

place us well off the mark. It was worth pursuing, however. A few years earlier, a team of

archaeologists and explorers used GPS to find their way through the desert of Oman in

their search for the fabled lost city of Ubar. Flying by helicopter and guided by GPS, the

search team was able to locate ancient caravan tracks that had been spotted with radar

from the space shuttle Challenger. These tracks proved to be part of the old network that

linked the cities of southern Arabia and led the expedition to the lost city (Blom et al.,

1997). We hoped for similar success with our GPS. Thus, with our derived coordinates,

we headed into the desert. As we sped south, the GPS screen displayed the distance

between us and the longitude/latitude coordinates we had derived for the site, and the

unit’s direction finder kept our course straight through the featureless sands. Guided by

the signal from outer space, we turned off the road onto desert pathways somewhere near

the Ubaid site. We then proceeded by foot over gently rolling dunes, only to find our way

blocked by a chain-link fence enclosing a camel herd. Somewhere beyond the perimeter

lay the Ubaid site. This objective was out of bounds and we turned our sights to the

Dilmun-period site with its midden of oyster shells. Returning to the road we travelled

southward through the sabkha toward our second target until the GPS indicated that we

had arrived at the position calculated from the map. We were again on the sabkha, this

time only meters away from a camel-racing track stretching into the desert. There was no

mound, only the white fencing around the track and the flat, shell-littered sand of the

ancient seabed. We feared the midden had been destroyed to make way for camel races.

Scanning our surroundings with binoculars we could see to the east several low dunes

containing no piles of shell, which still glitter in the sun even after millennia of exposure.

More distant features blurred in the hot air rising from the sand. Southward, beyond the


far turn of the racetrack, we spotted a hillock rising prominently and promisingly over the

desert. We headed there. Upon reaching the hillock we saw it was a natural sand mound

with piles of oyster shells on top (Fig. 10). Searching around the compacted shells, in

some places over a meter deep, we found numerous pottery sherds of the Dilmun period.

Standing atop the pile of oyster shells, we could see the waters of the gulf a km to the

west. Its western section had been bulldozed away, but the outline of the surviving section

of the mound was visible against the flat of the sabkha. Clearly, this was an ancient island

that had been used by oystermen. The gently rising strand on the island’s east face, where

the ancient mariners must have beached their boats, lay between the piles of shells and the

ancient seabed. Somewhere on this island ancient pearl divers had made camp to shuck

oysters and harvest pearls.

We had found a midden of the correct age, but we could not tell whether it was the same

one that the Danish team had found and excavated. The remaining section of our midden

was small - the one the Danes studied was 5.5 m high and covered an area 200 by 100 m

(Nielsen, 1958: 157). Although there was a degree of error in our estimate of the

coordinates, the midden we stood on was close to the position we had derived. It is

Fig. 10 The midden the survey located in Bahrain’s desert. Oyster shells

litter the former island and still glitter in the sun after millennia. (R. Pedersen)


possible that the bulk of the Danes’ midden was destroyed by the construction of the

camel race track. The western section of the mound and midden we found had been

completely cut down to ground level by construction machinery, so perhaps we discovered

only the remains of the larger feature (Fig. 11). Yet, to the south lay several other hillocks.

Fig. 11 The western, surviving edge of the island and midden

after being cut through by earth-moving machinery. (R. Pedersen)


Was one of those the actual midden we sought? Or were these other mounds seen by the

Danes but not investigated, which they felt were similar former island sites (Nielsen,

1958: 160)? We could not tell. The day was ending and we turned back north to home and

base. The ancient island in the sabkha and its possible accompanying neighbours await

further research.

Results and Conclusions

Bahrain with its long history of seafaring is a promising area for research into the nautical

archaeology of the Persian Gulf. It is impossible to estimate the number of ships that have

sailed the island’s waters over the millennia, but where ships sail, they also sink.

Undoubtedly, more than the few shipwrecks found by or reported to our survey exist in

these waters. Further research is required to trace down the rumours, verify stories, and

find the actual shipwrecks that must exist in the Persian Gulf. Although the seas around

Bahrain are shallow - always a negative factor for shipwreck preservation - the existence

of the Triphora wreck argues that wrecked ships can and do survive in Bahraini waters. A

comprehensive underwater survey utilizing modern remote-sensing techniques such as

multi-beam sonar would be invaluable to creating the data needed to find shipwrecks,

further our understanding of the sea and land morphology of the islands, and add

significantly to our knowledge of some of the world’s oldest maritime trading routes.

Acknowledgements

This project was generously funded by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology and made

possible by the kind assistance of the Bahrain Ministry of Information, the Bahrain National

Museum, BAPCO, Kevin Patience, Robert Killick, Jane Moon, James Coggeshall, and

the many interested and enthusiastic individuals in Bahrain. I particularly thank Abdulaziz

Soweileh, superintendent of archaeology for his friendship and aid.

Endnotes

1

The gulf is also known as the ‘Arabian Gulf’ but here the traditional Classical terminology is used.

References

Agius, D. A., 2008. Classic Ships of Islam. Brill, Leiden.

Bibby, G., 1966. Arabian Gulf Archaeology. Kuml, 90-95.

Blom, R., Crippen, R., Elachi, C., and Clapp, N., 1997. Space Technology and the Discovery of the

Lost City of Ubar. Proceedings of the Aerospace Conference, IEEE Xplore Digital Library, Vol. 1:

19-28.

Glob, P. V., 1957. Snake Sacrifices in Bahrain’s Ancient Capital. Kuml, 125-127.

Glob, P. V., 1956. A Neo-Babylonian Burial from Bahrain’s Prehistoric Capital. Kuml, 172-174.

Glob, P. V., 1954. Bahrain - Island of the Hundred Thousand Burial-Mounds. Kuml, 100-105.


Killick, R., and Moon, J., (Eds.), 2005. The Early Dilmun Settlement at Saar. Archaeology International,

Ludlow.

Kovacs, M., 1989. The Epic of Gilgamesh. Stanford University Press, Stanford.

Larsen, C. E., 1986. Variation in Holocene Land Use Patterns on the Bahrain Islands: Construction of

a Land Use Model. In Haya Ali Khalifa and Michael Rice (Eds.), Bahrain Through the Ages: The

Archaeology, KPI Limited, London: 25-46.

Le Baron Bowen Jr., R., 1949a. Arab Dhows of Eastern Arabia. Private Printing.

Le Baron Bowen Jr., R., 1949b. Arab Dhows of Eastern Arabia. American Neptune, Vol. 9: 87- 132.

McGrail, S., Blue, L., Kentley, E., and Palmer, C., 2003. Boats of South Asia. Routledge Curzon,

London.

Mortensen, P., 1956. The Temple Oval at Barbar. Kuml, 195-198.

Nielsen, V., 1958. Famed for its Many Pearls. Kuml, 157-161.

Oates, J., 1986. The Gulf in Prehistory. In Haya Ali Khalifa and Michael Rice (Eds.), Bahrain Through

the Ages: The Archaeology, KPI Limited, London: 79-86.

Pedersen, R. K., 2005. Was Noah’s Ark a Sewn Boat? Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 31 (3): 18-56.

Pedersen, R. K., 2004a. Traditional Arabian Watercraft and the Ark of the Gilgamesh Epic: interpretations

and realizations. In Michael MacDonald (Ed.), Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies,

Archaeopress, Oxford: 231-238.

Pedersen, R. K., 2004b. The Shipwreck in a Coconut Grove: The Kadakkarapally Boat. The INA

Quarterly, Vol. 31 (2): 3-9.

Pedersen, R. K., 2003. The Boat-building Sequence in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Sewn Boat

Relation. Texas A&M University, Texas.

Pedersen, R. K., 1993. The Ships of Eden: Nautical Archaeology in Bahrain. INA Quarterly, Vol. 20

(2): 13-18.

Potts, D. T., 1990. The Arabian Gulf in Antiquity. Volume 1. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Roaf, M., (1974). Excavations at Al Markh, Bahrain: A fish midden of the fourth millennium BC.

Paleorient, Vol. 2 (2): 499-501.

Sanlaville, P., and Paskoff, R., 1986. Shoreline Changes in Bahrain since the Beginning of Human

Occupation. In Haya Ali Khalifa and Michael Rice (Eds.), Bahrain Through the Ages: The Archaeology,

KPI Limited, London: 15-24.

Swamy, L. N., 1999. Traditional Boats of Karnataka and their Building Practices. In K. S. Behera

(Ed.), Maritime Heritage of India, Aryan Books International, New Delhi: 116-142.

Vosmer, T., 1997. Indigenous fishing craft of Oman. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology,

Vol. 26 (3): 217-235.

Ralph K Pedersen is the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst Gastdozent for

Nautical Archaeology at Philipps-Universität Marburg. Previously, he served as Distinguished

Visiting Professor in Anthropology and Knapp Chair in Liberal Arts at the University of San

Diego and the Whittlesey Chair Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of History

and Archaeology at the American University of Beirut. Dr. Pedersen has excavated a

1500 year old shipwreck at Black Assarca Island, Eritrea; surveyed shipwrecks off New

York’s Long Island, and served as an Associate Director of India’s Kadakkarapally Boat

Project. He has also conducted extensive research in Lebanon. He has been a Research

Associate with the Institute of Nautical Archaeology since 1992. Dr. Pedersen holds a

doctorate from the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University.

Email: [email protected]

First published in 2015

r. pedersen - a survey for ahipwrecks, submerged settlements and seafaring technology in bahrain -...

Science

island of bahrain

bahrain island

bahrain pedersen

bahrain ralph

bahrain proper

northern coast of bahrain

island group

archaeological investigations