Zubara Fort

Ash Shamal municipality, Qatar

Geografical location of Al Zubarah

Zubarah (also Al Zubarah or Az Zubarah) (Arabic: الزبارة‎) is a ruined and deserted town located on the north western coast of the Qatar peninsula in the Madinat ash Shamal municipality, about 105 km from the Qatari capital of Doha.

Al Zubarah was once a thriving pearl fishing and trading port positioned midway between the Straits of Hormuz and the western end of the Persian Gulf. It is one of the largest and best preserved examples of an 18th-19th century merchant town in the Gulf. The entire layout and urban fabric of a settlement dating to this formative period in the region has been preserved as no other similar place in the Gulf. Al Zubarah provides an important insight into urban life, spatial organization, and the social and economic history of the Gulf before the discovery of oil and gas in the 20th century.^[1]

Covering an area of circa 400 hectares (60 hectares inside the outer town wall), Al Zubarah is Qatar’s largest archaeological site. The site comprises the fortified town with a later inner and an earlier outer wall, a harbour, a sea canal, two screening walls, the fort of Murair, and the more recent Zubarah fort.^[2]

History[link]

Bani Utbah Tribe[link]

There remains some uncertainty over the earliest mention of Al Zubarah in written documents. Most sources assert that people of the Utub tribe from Kuwait settled at Al Zubarah in the second half of the eighteenth century building a large town characterized by a safe harbour, thereby creating one of the principal emporiums and pearl trading centres of the Persian Gulf in the later 18th Century.^{[3] [4][5][6][7]}

Qal'at Murair[link]

The Murair fort or Qal`at Murair 1.65 km east of the town of Zubarah, was built shortly after the settlement of Al Zubarah. It served to defend Al Zubarah and especially protected the town’s primary fresh water source: groundwater reached by shallow wells. Within the fortification walls were a mosque, domestic buildings and at least one large well. Around the fort, several enclosures attest to the presence of fields, plantations or holding pens for animals, suggesting that this was also an agricultural settlement.^[8]

The Early town - Late 18th century[link]

The main phase of occupation at Al Zubarah spanned from c. 1760 to 1811 CE. This phase came to an end when forces loyal to the Sultan of Muscat attacked and burnt Al Zubarah to the ground.^[9]

A large wall encircled the late-18th-century town of Zubarah and its bay in a 2.5 km arc from shore to shore. The wall was defended by 22 semi-circular towers placed at regular intervals. Access to the town was limited to a few defended gateways from the landside, or via its harbour.^[10] There was no sea wall, but a stout fort defended the main landing area on the sandy beach.

Al Zubarah was at this time a well-planned town, with many of the streets running at right angles to one another and some neighbourhoods built according to a strict grid pattern. This layout suggests that the town was laid out and built as part of one major event, although seemingly constructed in closely dated stages.^[11]

An estimate of the population at the height of the town has been calculated to a maximum number of between 6000 and 9000 people.^[12]

Domestic architecture[link]

At the Nizwa Fort in Oman they have reconstructed the use of a date-press

Domestic architecture at Al Zubarah consisted mainly of courtyard houses, a traditional form of Arab architecture which can be found throughout the Middle East.^[13] A series of small rooms were organized around a large central courtyard, where the majority of daily activity took place. Usually a portico opened out onto the courtyard on the south side, which offered shelter from the fierce summer sun. The houses of Al Zubarah were constructed from soft local stone, protected by a thick gypsum plaster coating. Features such as doorways and niches were decorated with geometric stucco designs. Access to the house units from the street was by a doorway and a bent corridor, which avoided unauthorized viewing into the living area of the household.

A large number of date-presses (madbassat) are found in houses throughout the town. They are small rooms with ridged plastered floors sloping to one corner where a jar would have been placed. Dates were packed in sacks and placed on the floor with weights on top to squeeze out the date juice - a sweet sticky syrup (dibs). The jar would collect the syrup. And the syrup could now be eaten on its own or used in cooking.

Palatial compound[link]

The most impressive and largest of the building complexes measures 110 m x 100 m in size. This structure follows the same form as the domestic architecture seen elsewhere in Al Zubarah, but on a much grander scale. Nine interconnected compounds, each comprising a courtyard surrounded by a range of rooms, made up the interior of this structure. Plaster stucco decoration was used to embellish internal entrances and rooms. The discovery of internal staircases indicates that the compounds were multi-storeyed. The nine compounds of the complex were enclosed by a high circuit wall with circular towers at the four corners, each of which were capable of supporting a small cannon.^[14]

The size and visual dominance of the palatial compound suggests that it was occupied by a family of wealthy and powerful sheikhs who were community leaders in the social and economic life of the town.^[15]

Temporary dwellings[link]

Traces of what seems to be tent placements and/or palm-leaf and palm-matt huts found near the beach may be associated with transient members of al-Zubaran society. It is likely that these more temporary dwellings housed the people who were the primary producers of Zubarah’s wealth: the pearl fishers and mariners who harvested the pearl banks each season.^[16]

The souq[link]

A complex array of small storage rooms have been identified as part of the souq (market) of Al Zubarah. Additionally, the wide variety of trade objects that have been found in the rooms also points towards this interpretation of the area.

The souq would have been the centre of the town and of its economy.

Screening walls[link]

A short time after the foundation of Al Zubarah, two screening walls were constructed from the outer town wall toward Qal`at Murair. These two walls, oriented east-west, include round towers placed at regular intervals, which strengthened their defensive capabilities.

The screening walls likely served to secure the transportation of water from the wells inside Qal`at Murair to Al Zubarah. In the harsh, hot summers of the Gulf, water was a most valuable commodity. The walls also channelled general traffic to and from the town over open salt flats.^[17]

Pearling[link]

Pearl in oyster

Al Zubarah was primarily an emporium and pearling settlement that took advantage of its location near pearl beds, having a large natural harbour and a central position on the Gulf routes. Its economy depended on the pearl diving season, which took place during the long summer months. Pearling would draw Bedouin from the interior of Qatar as well as the people from all over the Gulf to dive, trade and protect the town from attack while the town’s men were at sea.

Boats from Al Zubarah would sail out to the pearl beds found all along the southern shore of the Gulf, from Bahrain to the United Arab Emirates. The trips lasted several weeks at a time. Men would work in pairs to harvest molluscs potentially hiding pearls inside them. One man went diving for about a minute and the other remained on the ship to pull the diver back to safety with his harvest.^{[18] [19]}

The archaeological evidence for pearling on site comes primarily from the tools used by the divers such as pearl boxes^[20], the diving weights, and small measuring weights used during trading.

Global trade[link]

Until the introduction of the cultured pearl, and before the exploitation of oil and gas, the trade in pearls constituted the Gulf’s most important industry, employing up to a third of the male population in the region. Al Zubarah being one of the important pearling and trading towns, it has contributed to the geopolitical, social, and cultural trajectories of recent Gulf history, which shape the region today.

Ceramics, coins, and the remains of foodstuffs from the excavations attest to Al Zubarah’s far reaching trade and economic links in the late 18th century, with material deriving from eastern Asia, Iran, Turkey, Africa, Europe, and the Gulf. Diving weights and other material culture show how closely the connection between the daily life in the town and the pearl fishing and trading were. The discovery of coffee cups and tobacco pipes in the excavations reveal the growing importance of these commodities all over the Gulf during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The etching of a merchant’s dhow, the traditional wooden boat of Arabia, found incised into the plaster in a room of a courtyard building, shows how close people associated their daily life with long-distance maritime trade and commerce.^{[21] [22]}

The Late town – 19th century[link]

Line drawing of a dhow

The attack on Al Zubarah in 1811 was followed by a short period of abandonment but eventually the town was resettled again in the late 1820s. Al Zubarah was still a pearl fishing community but on a lot smaller scale than previously.^[23]

The new town barely covered 20% of its predecessor. A new town wall was constructed much closer to the shore than the earlier town wall. It seems that this phase of Al Zubarah was not as organized in the layout of the streets and its buildings. Houses were still built in the traditional courtyard form, but in a smaller scale and more irregular in their shape. Also there is no longer evidence of decorated plaster known from earlier buildings.^[24]

From c. 1810 onwards Britain became more influential in the Persian Gulf area, stationing political agents in various ports and cities to protect their trading routes.^[25] The British were ready to use their military force in this agenda. And this was the case in the late 19th century when the British Royal Navy attacked Al Zubarah’s fleet of dhows^[26], which contributed to Al Zubarah’s final decline.

20th and 21st century[link]

In the late 1930s to 1940s the Political Advisor in Bahrain, Charles Dalrymple Belgrave, reported that just a few Bedouin of the Nua‘imi tribe lived, on and off, in the ruined town, the ownership of which was disputed between the sheikhs of Bahrain and Qatar. The town is gradually abandoned.^[27] Qal’at Murair remained occupied until the construction of the Al Zubarah fort in 1938 by the ruler of Qatar, Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani.

Following independence in 1971, Bahrain continued to dispute Qatari sovereignty over Al Zubarah until 'Zubarah question' was settled in Qatar's favour with a ruling by the International Court of Justice in 2001.^[28] For more, see Foreign relations of Qatar.

Zubarah Fort[link]

Zubara Fort

Al Zubarah is well known for the fortress of 1938. The fort follows a traditional concept with a square ground plan with sloping walls and corner towers. Three of the towers are round while the fourth, the south east tower, is rectangular; each is topped with curved-pointed crenellations. The fort’s design recalls earlier features common in Arab and Gulf fortification architecture, but varies by being constructed on concrete foundations.^[29] It marks the transition from solely stone-built structures to cement-based one, albeit in a traditional design.

Originally the fort was built as a base for the Qatari military and police to protect Qatar’s north-west coast as part of a series of forts along Qatar’s coastline.^[30] It was restored in 1987 with the removal of a number of much later auxiliary buildings erected to house the Qatari forces. After opening, the fort quickly became a major heritage attraction and, for a while, a local museum. Due to the unsuitable conditions in the fort for displaying and storing finds, the objects were relocated to Doha in 2010. As of 2011, The Qatar Museum Authority is conducting an on-going project of monitoring and restoration to ensure the upkeep of the fort. Work is expected to continue into 2013. During this time parts of the fort may be closed to visitor access.

It is different from the Murair fort that was built outside the town of Zubarah.

Tourism[link]

Al Zubarah was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage tentative list in 2008.^[31] Since 2009, the site has been the subject of research and development as a protected heritage site. This calls for visitors to show consideration for the on-going work. For protection most of the site is situated inside a fenced area and visitors have to pass a guard to enter the heritage town of Zubarah.

There are plans to construct a visitor’s centre near the fort. Until then, visitor facilities are sparse. At the parking lot next to the Zubarah fort an information stand provides an overview and introduction to the site, fort and town. New rest rooms are located nearby. Currently there are no refreshments available in the vicinity.

Archaeology and conservation[link]

The Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) and its predecessor carried out two excavation projects in Zubarah, the first during the early 1980s^[32], and the latter in 2002-2003.The excavations in the 1980s were the more comprehensive of the two.

In 2009 the QMA, jointly with the University of Copenhagen, launched the Qatar Islamic Archaeology and Heritage Project (QIAH), a ten-year research, conservation and heritage initiative, to investigate the archaeological site, preserve its fragile remains and work toward the presentation of the site to the public. The project is an initiative by the Qatar Museums Authority’s Chairperson H.E. Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa AlThani and Vice-Chairperson H.E. Sheikh Hassan bin Mohammad Al Thani.^[33]

The QIAH project has carried out a complete topographic survey of the site of Al Zubarah, adjacent Murair, and the fort that combined form the archaeological zone. Archaeological excavations have been undertaken at Al Zubarah and Qal`at Murair, supported by landscape studies in the hinterland. Numerous sites belonging to different chronological periods have been identified and recorded, and exploratory excavations have been conducted at a number of important localities, especially Freiha and Fuwairit.^[34]

At Al Zubarah, a team from the University of Hamburg has recorded the architectural remains in great detail with a 3D scanner. To preserve the architectural remains, a restoration program has been launched using special, saline resistant mortar and plasters to maximise the visitor experience, while abiding by UNESCO heritage guidelines. The aim of the conservation work is to preserve the authenticity of the site, as well as to preserve areas that can be enjoyed by visitors to the site through, among other means, interactive displays on mobile devices.^[35]

Bahrain - Qatar Friendship Bridge[link]

The planned Qatar–Bahrain Friendship Bridge, slated to be the longest fixed link in the world, will connect the northwest coast of Qatar near Zubarah with Bahrain south of Manama. Its location several kilometres south of Al Zubarah is planned so as to have negligible impact on the heritage site.

See also[link]

• Qatar Museums Authority
• History of Kuwait: The Anazia and Bani Utub (Early Migration and Settlement)
• Bani Utbah
• Murair
• 1783 Bani Utbah Liberation of Bahrain
• History of Qatar
• History of Bahrain
• Ahmed Al-Fateh

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Abu Hakima, A.M. (1965). History of Eastern Arabia 1750–1800. The Rise and Development of Bahrain and Kuwait. Khayats. 

• Abu-Lughod, J.L. (1987). "The Islamic City — Historic Myth, Islamic Essence, and Contemporary Relevance". International Journal of Middle East Studies 19/2: 155–176. 

• Al Khalifa, A.b.K.; Hussain, A.A. (1993). "The Utoob in the eighteenth century". In Al Khalifa, A.b.K.; Rice, M.. Bahrain through the ages: the history. London: Kegan Paul. pp. 301–334. 

• Bibby, G. (1969). Looking for Dilmun. New York: Knopf.. 

• Bille, M., ed. (2009). End of the Season Report 2009, Vol. 1. Archaeological Excavations & Survey at az-Zubarah, Qatar. University of Copenhagen/Qatar Museums Authority. 

• Bowen, R. Le B. (1951). "The Pearl Fisheries of the Persian Gulf". The Middle East Journal 5/2: 161–180. 

• Breeze, P.; Cuttler, R.; Collins, P. (2011). "Archaeological landscape characterization in Qatar through satellite and aerial photographic analysis, 2009 to 2010". Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 41. 

• Brucks, G.B. (1865). "Navigation of the Gulf of Persia". In Thomas, R.H.. Arabian Gulf Intelligence. Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government. Concerning Arabia, Kuwait, Muscat and Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and the Islands of the Gulf. Cambridge: The Oleander Press. pp. 531–580. 

• Carter, R. (2005). "The History and Prehistory of Pearling in the Persian Gulf". Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient 48/2: 139–209. 

• Fuccaro, N. (2009). "Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf: Manama since 1800". Cambridge Middle East Studies (Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press) 30. 

• Grey, Anthony (2011). "Late Trade Wares on Arabian Shores: 18thc to 20th century imported fine ware ceramics from excavated sites on the southern Persian (Arabian) Gulf coast". Post-medieval Archaeology 45/2: 350-373. http://independent.academia.edu/AnthonyGrey/Papers/932979/Late_Trade_Wares_on_Arabian_Shores_18thc_to_20th_century_imported_fine_ware_ceramics_from_excavated_sites_on_the_southern_Persian_Arabian_Gulf_coast. 

• Lorimer, J.G. (1915). Gazeteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia. i. Historical. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent Government Printing. 

• Moulden, H.; Cuttler, R.; Kelleher, S. (2011). "Conserving and Contextualising National Cultural Heritage: The 3D digitisation of the Fort at Al Zubarah and Petroglyphs at Jebel Jassasiya, Qatar". Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 41. 

• Onley, James (2004). "The Politics of Protection in the Gulf: The Arab Rulers and the British Resident in the Nineteenth Century". New Arabian Studies (Exeter University Press) 6: 30–92. 

• Rahman, H. (2005). The Emergence of Qatar: the turbulent years 1627–1916. London: Thames & Hudson. 

• Rees, G.; Walmsley, A. G.; Richter, T. (2011). "Investigations in the Zubarah Hinterland at Murayr and Furayhah, North-West Qatar". Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 41: 309-316. 

• Richter, T., ed. (2010). Qatar Islamic Archaeology and Heritage Project. End of Season Report. Stage 2, Season 1, 2009-2010. University of Copenhagen/Qatar Museums Authority. 

• Richter, T.; Wordsworth, P. D.; Walmsley, A. G. (2011). "Pearlfishers, townsfolk, Bedouin and Shaykhs: economic and social relations in Islamic Al-Zubarah". Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 41: 1-16. 

• Walmsley, A.; Barnes, H.; Macumber, P. (2010). "Al-Zubarah and its hinterland, north Qatar: excavations and survey, spring 2009". Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 40: 55–68. 

• Warden, F. (1865). "Uttoobee Arabs (Bahrein)". In Thomas, R.H.. Arabian Gulf Intelligence. Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government. Concerning Arabia, Kuwait, Muscat and Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and the Islands of the Gulf. Cambridge: The Oleander Press. pp. 362–425. 

External links[link]

• Official website of Al Zubarah Archaeological Site
• Photos of Zubarah Fort
• Excavations at Zubara
• University of Copenhagen, Qatar Islamic Archaeology and Heritage Project
• UNESCO's tentative list
• Al-Zubarah Pearl of the Past. A documentary from 2011
• 360 degrees panoramic virtual tour of the Al Zubarah fort
• Culture and Heritage under Qatar Museums Authority: Al Zubarah fort
• James, Bonnie (March 24, 2012), "Zubarah’s heritage list hopes get a lift", Gulf Times, http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=494770&version=1&template_id=57&parent_id=56, retrieved March 30, 2012 
• "Students gain insight into Al Zubarah’s historic role", Gulf Times, February 25, 2012, http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=488882&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16, retrieved March 30, 2012 
• James, Bonnie (January 21, 2012), "New tools to unearth Zubarah secrets", Gulf Times, http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=482058&version=1&template_id=57&parent_id=56, retrieved March 30, 2012 
• "Hi-tech survey at Al Zubarah site", Gulf Times, January 21, 2012, http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=482022&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16, retrieved March 30, 2012 
• "Excavation at historic site uncovers date presses used to produce syrup", Gulf Times, February 25, 2011, http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=418433&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16, retrieved March 30, 2012 
• James, Bonnie (February 11, 2011), "Remains of palatial compound", Gulf Times, http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=415484&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16, retrieved March 30, 2012 
• Mogensen, Anna (March 12, 2010), "Danish-led Excavation in Qatar", FOCUS Denmark (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark), http://www.netpublikationer.dk/um/10138/html/chapter02.htm, retrieved March 30, 2012 
• Walmsley, Alan (December 8, 2011). "The legacy of Zubarah". QULTURA MAGAZINE (Vega Media and Katara) 1: 58-65. http://issuu.com/merciafuoco/docs/qultura_1_dic_2011. Retrieved March 30, 2012. 

Coordinates: 25°58′37.08″N 51°02′43.63″E / 25.9769667°N 51.0454528°E / 25.9769667; 51.0454528