Evidence for a Kassite temple at Qala'at al‐Bahrain?

Abstract

Four stone blocks decorated with T‐shaped grooves indicate the presence of a Mesopotamian‐style temple in the tell of Qala'at al‐Bahrain on the north coast of the island of Bahrain.

Revisiting the snake burials of the Late Dilmun building complex on Bahrain

“…The snake sacrifices have been attributed to periods IVc–d in the Qalat al‐Bahrain sequence, i.e. the Achaemenid period (10). Unfortunately, from an archaeological point of view, the deposits appear ‘contemporary’, in so far as the ceramics and beads associated with the snakes can all be referred to the same period, even if some comparanda may date slightly before or after the Achaemenid era.…”

“…With respect to Nirah, there is little reason to see why such a seemingly minor deity would have been important in Dilmun, and any association with the snake sacrifices of the Achaemenid period has been dismissed by Højlund and Andersen who wrote, ‘The custom [snake sacrifice] is without precedence in Bahrain or elsewhere and it is doubtful whether the possible reference to a snake deity in one of the Kassite cuneiform tablets...is relevant’ (67). The chronological gap separating the very uncertain reference to Nirah, in the Kassite period, from the snake sacrifices of the Achaemenid era is almost 1000 years long, and Eidem's admittedly very cautious hypothesis is hardly satisfying since it is not accompanied by any evidence which confirms Nirah's significance in contemporary Achaemenid Mesopotamia or which might help explain the archaeological context of the Bahrain snakes.…”

“…Incorporating several walls of the Early Dilmun palace, the Late Dilmun palace is a sprawling, multi‐roomed building complex which, although originally called a palace by its excavators, is now considered instead ‘a number of domestic units, of very different sizes, each consisting of a complex of rooms with a main entrance at one end and a lavatory at the other’, although part of the complex (Sector A) ‘seems to deviate from this basic structure, and presents indications for a public, perhaps sacral function’ (4). The two rooms in which snake sacrifices were recorded belong to two different ‘sectors’ of the complex.…”

“…Within Sector A, comprised of seventeen rooms, room A8, which contained twenty‐nine deposits, is considered the ‘main feature of the sector’. It was characterised by ‘very wide doorways with large threshold stones’; a plaster floor; and two pillar foundations made of rubble faced with plaster (foundation 31) and dressed limestone ashlars (foundation 32) (5). Because of the proximity of a number of the snake sacrifice deposits, P.V.…”

“…Sector B consisted of twelve rooms. Like A8, B12 had a plastered floor, as well as a fireplace pit and a plaster box or bin (8).…”