Caitlin
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- Dec 11, 2004
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This article was forwarded to me from Pearl-Guide friend and member Robin McL. It reminds me that this Aramco Magazine has had some excellent articles on pearling in the Gulf Region over the last 8 decades.
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201306/the.pearl.emporium.of.al.zubarah.htm
n the northwest coast of Qatar, the bay’s flat cobalt waters give way gradually to sand and small stony hillocks from which Al Zubarah (“Sand Mound”) may have taken its name but not, explains archeologist Alan Walmsley, its historic reputation.
“It’s very clear,” he explains. “Al Zubarah is not only the best-preserved pearling settlement anywhere in the Gulf, but also an outstanding example of urban planning in the Arabian Peninsula.” It is, he adds, significant enough to “help expand our whole view of how the region’s coastal trading settlements functioned.”
In a region where archeologists often deal in millennia, this is an impressive claim for a site that went from sand to riches and back to sand in just a bit more than a century. Profiting from the nearby pearling banks on the bed of the south-central Gulf, Al Zubarah (ahl zoo-bar-ah) became a wealthy trading hub during the mid- to late 1700’s. Its affluent merchant class built what must have been an imposing, walled town that was home to several thousand people. Though it was attacked and largely destroyed in the early 1800’s, its story illuminates the vitality of the Gulf’s preindustrial coastal economies that thrived on “white gold”—pearls.
- See more at: http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/iss...porium.of.al.zubarah.htm#sthash.Db0QH9oq.dpuf
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201306/the.pearl.emporium.of.al.zubarah.htm
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| Drifting sand covers much of the ruins of Al Zubarah, which at its height in the late 18th century housed several thousand people and was surrounded by a defensive wall with 22 watchtowers. |
“It’s very clear,” he explains. “Al Zubarah is not only the best-preserved pearling settlement anywhere in the Gulf, but also an outstanding example of urban planning in the Arabian Peninsula.” It is, he adds, significant enough to “help expand our whole view of how the region’s coastal trading settlements functioned.”
In a region where archeologists often deal in millennia, this is an impressive claim for a site that went from sand to riches and back to sand in just a bit more than a century. Profiting from the nearby pearling banks on the bed of the south-central Gulf, Al Zubarah (ahl zoo-bar-ah) became a wealthy trading hub during the mid- to late 1700’s. Its affluent merchant class built what must have been an imposing, walled town that was home to several thousand people. Though it was attacked and largely destroyed in the early 1800’s, its story illuminates the vitality of the Gulf’s preindustrial coastal economies that thrived on “white gold”—pearls.
- See more at: http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/iss...porium.of.al.zubarah.htm#sthash.Db0QH9oq.dpuf
