19 February 2007
Excavations on burial mounds in Kuwait
A team of Kuwaiti archaeologists excavating an archaeological site in Sabiyah discovered shards of pottery and two burial mounds — all dating back to the Bronze Age, says Sultan Duwaish, Senior Archaeologist at the Kuwait Museum and Antiquities Department. This comes after archaeologists late last year discovered a number of burial mounds, a vast majority of them dating back to the Bronze Age.
The mounds found in Kuwait are similar to those which have been found in some of the GCC countries, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. Sultan added that surveying and mapping of some mounds was in progress and that archaeologists expect to taste more success in the coming days. To a question as to whether the archaeological team would be able to excavate all the mounds discovered last year given the fact that only three archaeologists were taking part in excavation work, Sultan observed that "Our team is determined to wrap up excavation on time and everybody is doing their bit to see to it that we meet the desired result."
The sprawling archaeological site — located along the Sabiyah highway — has an uneven rocky surface and is under constant surveillance by members of National Council of Culture and Arts (NCCAL). Archaeologists last year found human skeletal remains in three burial mounds while some of the mounds contained pieces of pottery dating back to Hellenistic period as well as a large number of beads. The skeletal remains were later referred to Kuwait University for research purpose following which they were kept on display at the Kuwait National Museum.
Sultan observed that the two pottery pieces were discovered from burial mounds and are creamish in hue, saying the pottery shards in question do not resemble in any way those that were found by archaeologists last year. Excavation at the site will continue until end of April. "Some of the burial mounds we discovered last year will be re-excavated in the coming days." A group of archaeologists while surveying the archaeological site in the year 2000 found some shards of rocks and what followed was a series of studies and this gave archaeologists an avalanche of information pertaining to the rocks even as they soon tasted success when they discovered the burial mounds.
Source: Arab Times (18 February 2007)
Share this webpage:
|