The dating of the Coastal Fortress at Qala'at al‐Bahrain: Sasanian or Islamic?

Abstract

The dating of the Coastal Fortress at Qala'at al‐Bahrain to the Islamic period has been maintained by the Danish excavators since the building was uncovered in 1955–57. The French excavators have argued for a considerably earlier date, in the Sasanian period. The problem with this dating is firstly, the lack of Sasanian finds on the alleged early floor of the fortress and secondly, the status of this floor which is known only from very small trenches and more likely belongs to a Late Parthian architectural phase predating the fortress.

The decline of eastern Arabia in the Sasanian period

“…The two Sasanian-period dating elements are the small carinated bowls and the carinated lips of flasks, both of which are alkaline glazed wares. Most of the comparative material that Kervran mentions for the small carinated bowls are with Hellenistic or Parthian material, the only Sasanian-period parallels that she cites are unspecified from her Level IXa1 assemblages from Qala'at al-Bahrain (200), the supposedly Sasanian-period dating of which has now been convincingly shown to be incorrect by Højlund who argues that this assemblage cannot in fact be dated later than the first/second century AD, as has been mentioned above (201). These glazed carinated bowls are a problematic form: similar shapes exist in the Hellenistic/Parthian period (202) but alsomore significantly in the present context -they are the most common glazed form in all the known eighth-century assemblages from the Gulf such as Hulaylah Area D, al-Qusur and Kush Period III (203).…”

“…The date of the coastal fortress on Qala'at al-Bahrain is one of the enduring problems in the archaeology of this period in eastern Arabia. There has been considerable discussion on the date of this structure (177). Based on the form of the fortress's towers Lombard and Kervran and also Potts suggest that the construction and first phase of occupation should be placed in the second/third century AD at the earliest, with a second phase of use in about the thirteenth century as suggested by pottery found within the fort (178).…”

“…Højlund has reviewed this in some detail and argues very convincingly that the so-called Sasanian assemblage published by Kervran should in fact be dated to the first/second century AD. He also points out that Kervran has failed to take the published material from the Danish excavations into consideration when coming to her conclusions regarding the dating of the pottery (180). There are further problems with Kervran's dating, such as the complete absence of a number of types and wares that are now known to be typical of Sasanian-period contexts in Bahrain and the Gulf.…”

“…The fact is that Sasanian-period material has been documented from various areas of the mound, though it is still largely unpublished, but it appears to be much less abundant than Hellenistic/Parthian, which probably does reflect a decline in the size of the settlement (288). As has been noted above, it is possible that the so-called ''pre-Islamic fortress'' at the site was constructed right at the beginning of the Sasanian period, but it is also possible that this structure should be dated to the twelfth/thirteenth century (289).…”

The settlement patterns of north‐eastern and south‐eastern Arabia in late antiquity

“…The debate on the date of the coastal fortress has recently restarted (Højlund 2006). If it dates to the pre‐Islamic period, it represents a late fortified residence, associated with the Qal’at site (Kervran, Hiebert & Rougeulle 2005).…”