OVERLEAF TOP: Geometric patterns in carved plaster are based on mathematical principles, central to Islamic scholarship Photo: A. Pantos
OVERLEAF BOTTOM: Aerial view of a courtyard building at Zubarah, with interconnecting rooms, a covered veranda and L-shaped entrance from the street to ensure privacy Photo: A. Pantos
BELOW CENTRE: Meticulous archaeological work is restoring Qatar’s legacy as a merchant and trading hub Photo: M. House
BELOW RIGHT: Rooms facing out onto a courtyard in a palace, with a corner tower strengthened to support a small canon; Madbasat (date presses) for the production of date syrup are a common discovery in Zubarah Photo: A. Pantos
names to Zubarah, and it is spoken of in British documents of the period and in a number of manuscripts including Sabaik Al- Asjad and Luma Al-Shihab. Historical sources offer a chronological and political outline but provide next to no understanding of everyday life in Zubarah. Modern archaeology offers a proven alternative with which to approach the past, one where new evidence can be uncovered to reveal the now forgotten cultural norms of a time long gone, and the lives of the town’s former inhabitants fleshed out in captivating detail. There are many interesting and informative questions yet to be answered about Zubarah as it was two and a half centuries ago: levels of urban planning; architectural traditions and the division of space; the mosque and society; the symbolic role of the home; aesthetical appreciation; defence and armaments; resources, trade, and mercantilism; personal adornment and social presentation; food procurement and preparation; and waste disposal. From the lofty to the everyday, archaeological research can build up a full and detailed account of a largely forgotten way of life, thereby granting the people of Qatar, the region, and beyond, a visual and tangible encounter with an important cultural past. Two major initiatives of the Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) will offer the perfect venues for this cultural experience: a new museum for the twenty-first century, the stunning National Museum of Qatar, designed by the celebrated architect Jean Nouvel; and the remarkably pristine
and deeply evocative archaeological site of Zubarah itself, currently under consideration by UNESCO for inscription onto the prestigious World Heritage List. In a bold new project initiated by HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (Chairperson) and HE Sheikh Hassan bin Mohamed bin Ali Al Thani (Vice Chairman), the QMA has partnered with the University of Copenhagen to literally dig deep into Zubarah’s past so as to reveal its numerous cultural treasures, tangible and intangible. One important point stressed in the UNESCO nomination is the site’s unique contribution to understanding the merchant and pearl trading tradition of the Arabian Gulf during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, due to its exceptional level of preservation. Zubarah represents the only complete plan of an Arabian merchant town still extant, preserving under gently undulating mounds of building rubble and wind-blown sand an exceptional arrangement of neighbourhoods, mosques, palaces, markets, and defensive systems, only explored in a preliminary way by archaeology. Between its 2.5 kilometre-long outer circuit wall on the east and the white-sanded beachfront on the bay, a network of streets were laid out in a radiating pattern to connect the beach to the wall, thereby creating building blocks further subdivided by cross-streets to produce an ordered town plan. Slotted into the resultant grid were the various public and private buildings that made up the living town of Zubarah, which in its heyday stretched some ‡
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