Contribution to the geology of Failaka Island, Kuwait: Evidence from sedimentological and petrographic data from the NE part of the island

Abstract

Located north of the Arabian Gulf, the small island of Failaka is historically an important landmark of Kuwait. The importance of the island is likely a result of its strategic position on the trade route between the early civilizations of Mesopotamia and Dilmun. Dozens of sites, dating from the Early Bronze Age to the Late Islamic Period have been discovered on Failaka Island so far (Makharadze et al., 2017: 178). As a result of the Kuwait-Georgian Archaeological Mission in 2011-2019, new archaeological sites of different periods were identified on the island of Failaka. One of the problems of the island of Failaka is the lack of fresh groundwater. The existence of a water table cannot be explained by the impluvium (watershed) due to the small size of the island (Dalongeville, 1990: 34). In 2013-2016, during the Kuwait-Georgian archaeological missions, Late Islamic seasonal settlement structures were found in the north-eastern part of the island (Chkhvimiani, 2019: 181-187). It was established that some of the sites were related to water-gathering systems (group of KG12 sites). In this area, periodic and seasonal rainwater was flowing down the elevated slopes towards the natural depression along N-NW-directed artificial channels. After reaching the lowland, the rainwater was trapped and/or

Guest editors’ foreword

“…This Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy special issue provides a new insight into the history of Failaka and offers the opportunity to begin filling in some gaps, in particular concerning the geomorphology of the island (Arhan et al, 2021;Chagelishvili et al, 2021), the late Islamic period (Chkhvimiani et al, 2021;Almutairi, 2021;Pieńkowska & Truszkowski, 2021), long-distance trade (Mahfouz et al, 2021;Durand, 2021), and on pottery studies (Ashkanani & Kovár, 2021;Durand, 2021;Mierzejewska, 2021;Perrogon & Bonnéric, 2021). In parallel, many questions approached in theses articles still have to be solved.…”