Qatar Museums, University of Wales Trinity Saint David carry out archaeological excavation in North Qatar area
‘Landscapes of Faith’ project undertakes new archaeological investigations
JOINT excavations by Qatar Museums (QM) and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) have begun at two archaeological sites in the north of Qatar.
The Landscapes of Faith project is working at Ain Muhammad and Mesaika, both dating to the early Islamic period, and occupied during between the 7th and 9th centuries CE. They archaeological sites are close to Qatar’s UNESCO World Heritage Site, Al Zubarah.
Qatar Museums is organising three public open days on December 3 and 10 between 8am and 12pm, when the archaeological team welcomes visitors to two archaeological sites. For registration or questions, contact infoheritage@ qm.org.qa.
Qatar has an unusually high number of sites of the early Islamic period, mostly scattered throughout the deserts of the north, but also found in central and southern Qatar.
Qatar Museums’ Head of Excavation and Site Management Dr Ferhan Sakal said, “There are at least 20 such sites and the number is probably higher as we continue to discover more of them. Murwab is the most well-known among them, but there are many others, some of which are and extremely well preserved.”
Director of the project, Qatar Museums’ Dr Robert Carter, said, “No other country in the region has as many sites of this period in such a concentrated area, and we know very little about how the inhabitants lived. The project is called Landscapes of Faith because before the acceptance of Islam, Qatar was well-known as a centre for Christianity, and the sites we are targeting may show the final process of conversion from one faith to the other. At least one appears to show a mosque, and others may contain churches.”
Director of the UWTSD team Dr Andrew Petersen said, “This is a unique opportunity to investigate daily life and belief in the Arabian Peninsula during the first centuries of Islam. Qatar has the potential to show the lives of the first Muslims in amazing detail.”
Several questions will be tackled by the project, including why Qatar has such a high concentration of such sites, what were the lifestyles and economic activities of the people who occupied them, how were they connected to the outside world and how inhabitants survived in the harsh environment of the Qatari desert?
Excavations will continue until December 17 with the team returning for further work in 2023. The Landscapes of Faith is expected to be a fiveyear project involving several other institutions.