3,300-year-old faience mask discovered in Bahrain – History

A rare 3,300-year-old faience mask has been discovered at the Al-Hillah site in southern Bahrain. It was discovered in a tomb containing the remains of two women and an infant from the Dilmun civilization, and is only the second such tomb discovered in Bahrain.

The mask depicts a female face with a headband, necklace, and dangling earrings inlaid with fragments of shells that may have been embedded in asphalt. The large, almond-shaped eyes, contours and brows are also set in the asphalt. Each ear is pierced with three holes. They may initially contain rings.

The Dilmun civilization was located in eastern Arabia on the Persian Gulf, covering parts of present-day Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Dilmun controlled the Persian Gulf trade routes connecting Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley Civilization, and ancient Sumerian cuneiform tablets identified Dilmon as an important trading partner.

Dilmun has a particularly close relationship with Ur. Written records indicate that Ur’s agricultural products were transported to Dilmun and sold to southern Arabia, Africa, and India. Merchants on both sides made huge profits, with Dilmun’s ships trading Ur’s crops abroad and returning with timber, copper, perfume, and pearls to sell at high prices in Ur’s markets.

Several faience female heads were discovered during excavations at the Giparku (priestess’ residence) in Ur. They are of the same age as the tombs found in the Dilmun tomb, that is, between the 14th and 12th centuries. BC, an unusually large and beautifully inlaid example, now in the Iraqi Museum in Baghdad, was found in the tomb of a high priestess of the moon god Nanna, and is believed to be a representation of the priestess rather than the wide-eyed deity representing fantasy prayers. The masks may have originally been attached to wooden statues, but other versions of these faience female figures appear to have been worn as pendants.

The Bahraini mask is currently undergoing research and conservation. This is such a rare find in the country that little research has been done on the faience statues and how they were used in Dilmun.

[Archaeologist Mashael al-Shamsi] Adding that the current excavations focus on soil layers from the Middle Dilmun period, the team will continue to work on comprehensive research to elucidate the details of the finds and their significance for understanding the cultural context of that era.

Other finds include a ring made of sea shells, two sewing needles, a piercing tool and a traditional eyeshadow applicator, all of which were discovered through meticulous soil sifting at the same site.

It is worth noting that the Al-Hillah site, named after the village “Hillat Al-Abd Al-Salih”, is considered one of the key places to understand the stages of development of the ancient Dilmun civilization, considered one of the most important civilizations in the history of the Arabian Gulf.