New archaeological discoveries in Qatar show aspects of human life before Christ

In a recent discovery, the Antiquities Department of the Qatar Museums Authority announced the discovery of archaeological remains in the Al-Asila cemetery, one of the oldest historical sites in Qatar, located 12 kilometers east of the city of Umm Bab, dating back to the period between 300 BC and 300 AD Birth.

The initial excavation efforts led by the archeology team revealed the discovery of the remains of a human being buried in large tombs and with great care at the top of a hill, and next to them were found a number of private collections, including a sword, metal tools, gold earrings, the skeleton of a camel and her young in a stone room connected to a human cemetery. It is likely that they made an offering in one of the rituals.

The research team is exerting strenuous efforts in excavating and mapping out sites that are likely to contain archaeological monuments, despite the fact that many of these archaeological sites have been subjected to looting, theft and destruction in the past.

Ceramic items found by researchers at the Yogby site in northwest Qatar, dating back to the seventh and eighth centuries AD (Qatar Museums)

A deeper civilized understanding

The excavation team aspires that this recent archaeological discovery in the Al-Asilah area will open the way to a deeper understanding of ancient civilizations, knowledge and understanding of migration patterns, and the dietary habits of people who lived in it during ancient times, after subjecting those human remains to advanced anthropological and molecular analyzes, including the study of genetic materials. It traces the impact of those civilizations in shaping the heritage of Qatar.

The director of the Antiquities Department at Qatar Museums, Faisal Al-Nuaimi, believes that the excavation work is one of the main tasks of the Antiquities Department in Qatar Museums, and the Qatari lands are full of archaeological sites that bear many evidence of human settlement in the depth of the history of this region, especially the cemeteries.

Al-Nuaimi added to Al-Jazeera Net that the work at the Al-Asilah site is part of a systematic plan that has been going on for years to uncover thousands of cemeteries in various parts of Qatar, with the aim of forming a general perception of the nature of the lives of the inhabitants who settled this area in ancient times, and we expect that the antiquities that we discovered will contribute after its subjugation. For accurate and sophisticated analyzes in enriching, documenting and preserving Qatari heritage, and linking it to the present.

Gold earrings found at an excavation site (Qatar Museums)

The Al-Aseila cemeteries are one of the many burial sites that Qatar Museums seek to explore as part of the National Priorities Program for Scientific Research led by the Sidra Medicine Center and the Qatar Fund for Scientific Research, which is concerned with researching human remains and demographics in Qatar from the Neolithic Age to the Late Iron Age.

After this discovery, it appears that the Asilah site still bears archaeological evidence that has not yet been discovered, and it will provide new information about camel breeding and its uses, and also about the rituals followed in the Arabian Peninsula before Islam, in analogy with a previous archaeological discovery in a similar tomb in the Al Mazroua area in 1961. Which contained the remains of a hybrid camel from Al-Jindal and Al-Katar.

Crowded environment

In March 2019, it was announced that one of the oldest Islamic archaeological sites in Qatar was discovered in Yogby, northwest of the country, after joint scientific efforts between Qatar Museums and University College London in Qatar under the title "Overcrowded Desert".

A picture of the skeletal remains of a camel and its young camel at Al-Asila burial grounds (Qatar Museums)

The site was classified as one of the oldest Islamic sites in the region, dating back to the end of the Sassanid era (538-670 AD), while the architectural monuments that the site is still preserved - according to what researchers believe - go back to the Umayyad period (661-750 AD). .

The importance of the discoveries in the Yogby region lies in the fact that they present a different narration from what academics believe that the settlement of the Gulf region in the early Islamic era is linked to the movement of trade flourishing with the countries bordering the Indian Ocean, which was the boom that occurred after the founding of Baghdad in 762 AD and the city of Seraph around 800 AD .

Among the antiquities that the researchers found at the site were ceramic materials dating back to the seventh and eighth centuries AD, and remains of glass, metals, stone vessels and hunting tools dating back to the earliest days of Islam.

Qatar Museums have not only explored archeology on land, but since 2017, they have supervised a research group consisting of international and local experts specializing in the field of marine studies, to work on a research project that is the first of its kind in the Gulf region, in order to explore the characteristics of the marine environment of the State of Qatar. And its sunken effects.

During the demarcation of an Islamic archaeological site in the Yogby region, northwest of Qatar (Qatar Museums)

The project emerged from the cooperation agreements signed by Qatar Museums with Qatar University, the British University of York and the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Activities, with the aim of researching the effects of submerged in Qatari waters and studying the nature of its marine environment.

The project will last for nearly 5 years, and Qatar Museums aims to explore the depths of the Qatari marine environment as a key to entering ancient worlds that reveal many secrets related to living and behavioral patterns, as well as the religious, social and economic concepts related to the sea in past eras.