Failaka geography 
The Dilmun temple on Failaka, Kuwait Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy Volume 23, Issue 2, pages 165–173, November 2012
Stamp seal with figures and animals. Steatite. Early Dilmun, ca. 2000-1800 BCE. Dia. 2.9 cm. Gulf region, Bahrain, Karrana, Bahrain National Museum, Manama
Stamp seal with a boat scene. Steatite. L. 2 cm. Gulf regio, Failaka, F6 758. Early Dilmun, ca. 2000-1800 BCE. Ntional Council for Culture, Arts and Letters, Kuwait National Museum, 1129 ADY. The subject is a nude male figure standing in the middle of a flat-bottomed boat, facing right. The man's arms are bent at the elbow, perpendicular to his torso. Beside him are two jars stand on the deck of the boat, each containing a long pole to which is attached a hatched square that perhaps represents a banner. Six square stamp seals from Failaka have been published...It is unlikely that the hatched squares represent sails, since the ples to which they are attached emerge from vases. The two diagonal lines on the body of the boat may represent the reed bundles from which these craft were buit. See Kjaerum 1983, seal nos. 192, 234, 254, 266, 335, 367. Source: Source: Joan Aruz et al., 2003, Art of the First cities: the third millennium BCE from the Mediterranean to the Indus, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art (Pages 320, 322).
Failaka (also transcribed as Failakah or Faylakah, and locally known by the names Feileche, Feiliche or Feliche), in antiquity known as Ikaros was mentioned by the Geographer Strabo in ca. 25 AD and later by Arrian. It is the second biggest offshore island of Kuwait situated at the entrance to Kuwait Bay ca. 16 – 17 km far from Ras Al-Ardh in Salmiya and ca. 12 km from Ras As-Sabbiya. It blocks access to the Bay opposite the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates (Shatt Al-Arab). Failaka has attracted the attention of researchers since 1957 when Danish archaeologists first had the opportunity to study material from the island received from a member of the British political representation to Kuwait. According to the results of up-to-date archaeological research, the ancient history of Failaka goes back to the beginning of the second millennium BC – to the Bronze Age when the Dilmun cultural phenomenon occupied the western shoreline and islands of the Arabian Gulf.
The Dilmun monuments are the most significant antiquities of the history of Failaka and Kuwait. Major Bronze Age sites on Failaka are located on its south-west (Tell Sa’ad/F3; F6; G3), north-west (Al-Khidr) and north-east (Al-Awazim) coasts, one perhaps even being located in the south-east (Al-Sed Al-Aaliy/Matitah) part of the island [6,14]. During the Bronze Age the temple of the god Inzak, tutelary god of Dilmun, existed on Failaka as it is mentioned in the cuneiform and Proto-Aramaic inscriptions on vessel fragments, Dilmun stamp seals and slabs from excavations [5]. In F6, the French excavations revealed buildings interpreted as a tower temple and palace [8].
After the most flourishing Early Dilmun period (first third of the second millennium BC), Failaka remained settled until the mid second millennium, during the so-called Kassite period [13].
There is no significant evidence for the habitation of Failaka during later periods; from the Iron Age only a single jar-burial is known [7].
Another peak in the history of Failaka was the Hellenistic period when the travellers of Alexander the Great reached the island [3,9]. The Seleucids built a fort at the south-western edge of the island (Tell Sa’id/F5) and occupied also its surroundings for buildings of different purposes (F4; B6), using the ruins and suitable location of the Bronze Age Dilmun settlement. Within F5 a temple was unearthed and an important commemorative monument was found – a stone slab with an inscription mentioning Ikaros, the first historically documented name of Failaka that was given to the island by command of Alexander himself [4,9,11]. Another Hellenistic site (Tell Al-Khazneh) is situated around 0.5 km north-north-east of the archaeological sites at Tell Sa’ad wa Sa’id. This site is known as the discovery spot of the so-called Soteles stone – classical Greek dedication slab with an inscription in Greek of an Athenian Soteles and his companions to the Greek gods [2,15]. With the collapse of the Seleucid power, the Hellenistic sites at F5, F4, B6 and Tell Al-Khazneh were probably abandoned, even though F5 and B6 could have been resettled even in the post-Seleucid era during the 1st century BC [10,12,16]. From the following historical epochs, the Late Pre-Islamic Period is important for Failaka. During the 5th/6th – 7th/8th cent. AD [1] a large village existed in the middle of the island, in the location known as Al-Qusur. An agriculturally suitable area of ca. 5 km2 was settled during that time. Al-Qusur was first described and excavated by the Italian mission in 1976 [14], in 1989 the French mission discovered and excavated a church in the centre of the village [1]. This formed the focal part of a Nestorian Christian community which lived on the island. In 2006, KSAM resumed activities here and began detailed mapping and survey of the southern and south-western parts of the settlement. The inhabitants of Al-Qusur lived in farmsteads, each with a habitation and activity area. Around 140 such units have been recognized within the whole village.
The situation in the Gulf probably changed after the Early Islamic Period and from the strategic point of view it became more convenient to establish settlements not within the interior of the island but on the shoreline as it is shown by the location of the Middle and Late Islamic Period site of Al-Quraniya. Such a strategy is retained until the modern era when the northern, western and southern shorelines of the island remained or became settled in the locations Al-Quraniya, Al-Zor, Kharaib Al-Dasht, Umm Al-Dakhan, Al-Subahiya and elsewhere [14].
Referencies
[1] Bernard, V. - Callot, O. - Salles, J.-F. 1999: Al-Qusur church at Failaka, State of Kuwait, 1989. Original report translated to Arabic by Khaloud Al-Salem.
[2] Bibby, G. 1969: Looking for Dilmun. New York, 200
[3] Bibby, G. 1969: Looking for Dilmun. New York, 248 sqq.
[4] Bibby, G. 1969: Looking for Dilmun. New York, 248, 251
[5] Bibby, G. 1969: Looking for Dilmun. New York, 254, 332
[6] Callot, O. - Calvet, Y. 1999: Preliminary report on the topographical mission at Failaka, Kuwait (February 26 - March 25 1999). Unpublished report, NCCAL.
[7] Calvet, Y. - Pic, M. 1986: Un nouveau batiment de l'age du bronze sur le tell F6. In: Calvet, Y. - Salles, J.-F. (sous la dir.): Failaka. Fouilles Françaises 1984 - 1985. Lyon - Paris, 13-87.
[8] Calvet, Y. - Pic, M. 1990: Un temple-tour de l'age du bronze a Failaka. In: Calvet, Y. - Gachet, J. (sous la dir.): Failaka. Fouilles Françaises 1986 - 1988. Lyon - Paris, 103-122.
[9] Calvet, Y. 1984: Ikaros: Testimonia. In: Salles, J.-F. (sous la dir.): Failaka. Fouilles Françaises 1983. Lyon - Paris, 21-29.
[10] Caubet, A. - Salles, J.-F. 1984: Le sanctuaire hellénistique (B6). In: Salles, J.-F. (sous la dir.): Failaka. Fouilles Françaises 1983. Lyon - Paris, 73-156.
[11] Gachet, J. - Salles, J.-F. 1986: Chantier F5: Rapport préliminaire, 1985. In: Calvet, Y. - Salles, J.-F. (sous la dir.): Failaka. Fouilles Françaises 1984 - 1985. Lyon - Paris, 297-333.
[12] Gachet, J. 1990: Un habitat du IIe siecle av. J.-C. dans la fortresse de Failaka. In: Calvet, Y. - Gachet, J. (sous la dir.): Failaka. Fouilles Françaises 1986 - 1988. Lyon - Paris, 167-208.
[13] Højlund, F. 1987 : Failaka/Dilmun. The Second Millenium Settlements. Volume 2. The Bronze Age Pottery. Aaarhus - Kuwait.
[14] Patitucci, S. - Uggeri, G. 1984: Failakah. Insediamenti Islamici. Ricerche e scavi nel Kuwait. Rome.
[15] Salles, J.-F. 1986: Les Fouilles de Tell Khazneh. In: Calvet, Y. - Salles, J.-F. (sous la dir.): Failaka. Fouilles Françaises 1984 - 1985. Lyon - Paris, 107.
[16] Salles, J.-F. 1990: Questioning the BI-ware. In: Calvet, Y. - Gachet, J. (sous la dir.): Failaka. Fouilles Françaises 1986 - 1988. Lyon - Paris, 303-334.
Research
Peter Barta and Lucia Benediková
The main focus of the Kuwaiti-Slovak Archaeological Mission (KSAM) activity is the Bronze Age site of Al-Khidr on the Failaka island. In the early 2nd millennium BC Failaka belonged to the Dilmun culture spread throughout the west coast of Arabian Gulf (east Saudi Arabia up to Kuwait and the adjacent islands). With its centre on the Island of Bahrain (The City of Qala’at al-Bahrain), Dilmun is thought to have played a significant role in the sea trade between the south Mesopotamian city states, the Arabian Peninsula and civilization of the Indus valley (Mohenjo-Daro) from the late 3rd until the first half of the 2nd millennium BC.
Al-Khidr is an inconspicuous, low settlement mound in the northwest of Failaka that has been known to yield the red-ridged Dilmun pottery for at least past 50 years ([1], p. 195-212). The mound stretches along the west shore of the shallow Al-Khidr bay, which offers still waters in almost northernmost outpost of the island swept by Shamal, the principal wind of Failaka. This natural harbour is in several works suggested to have served as a port in the past (e.g. [2]) and as such is known also among the elders of the island.
The investigations of the Dilmun settlement at Al-Khidr have been carried out since 2004. Beyond excavation, the project encompasses mapping, geophysics, environmental archaeology (archaeobotany, archaeozoology, physical anthropology), GIS and digital archaeology, conservation and restoration.
The main research tasks are:
to find out the extent, development and spatial organization of the settlement,
to establish the chronology of the settlement,
to collect evidence concerning the palaeoenvironment and resources of the settlement,
to elucidate the role of the site (a port?) within the Early Dilmun world on Failaka and beyond (within the Gulf region),
to trace distinctive features of the settlement and its inhabitants,
to establish a plan for the conservation and restoration of uncovered finds and in situ remains.
The Kuwaiti-Slovak Archaeological Mission has also been active in surveying Failaka and in processing the obtained data for future presentation of archaeological and environmentally sites of interest. These activities were triggered by the planned governmental development project that will definitely change the character of the island and threaten known and unknown archaeological sites.
Selected archaeological sites on Failaka (Al-Quraniya, Al-Qusur, Al-Zor, F6, and Al-Awazim) were mapped and surveyed with the help of a GPS and total station. Topographic plans were prepared, the sites were photographed and surface finds were collected and catalogised. Geophysical prospection was carried out at these sites and they were also partially investigated from the point of view of environmental studies (building up of reference collections of plant macro- and micro-remains as well as animal bones) and ethnoarchaeology.
References
[1] Bibby, G. 1969: Looking for Dilmun. Alfred Knopf, New York.
[2] Patitucci, S. – Uggeri, G. 1984: Failakah. Insediamenti Islamici. Ricerche e scavi nel Kuwait. Rome.
http://www.kuwaitarchaeology.org/research.html
Failaka (also Failakah, Faylakah, locally Feileche / Feiliche / Feliche), in antiquity known as Ikaros mentioned by Geographer Strabo in ca. 25 AD and later by Arrian, is situated at the entrance to Kuwait Bay ca. 16 – 17 km far from Ras Al-Ardh in Salmiya and ca. 12 km from Ras As-Sabbiya; and blocks access to the Bay opposite the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates (Shatt Al-Arab)...
The Kuwaiti-Slovak Archaeological Mission to Failaka (KSAM) was established following an original idea of Mr Shehab A. H. Shehab, Department of Museums and Antiquities Director, National Council for Culture, Arts & Letters (NCCAL), State of Kuwait. His visit to the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) Institute of Archaeology in May 2004 resulted in the agreement for a five year scientific programme signed between the National Council for Culture, Arts & Letters, State of Kuwait, and the Institute of Archaeology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovak Republic, in September 2004 in Nitra. The KSAM project could have not materialized and would not have taken its present shape if not for the constant and generous support of the NCCAL presided by Secretary General Mr Bader S. A. Al-Rifai, and the kindest, expeditious and effective role of Mr Shehab A. H. Shehab. Regarding the prolific and smooth cooperation with NCCAL, the help of the Secretary General Assistant for Antiquities and Museums and Engineering Affairs Sector, Mr Ali Al-Youha, must be pointed out. Without him the documentation and preliminary conservation of the site as it is being realized would hardly be possible.
KSAM has been designed as a joint Kuwaiti-Slovak multidisciplinary research project fostering international cooperation and ties between young-generation researchers. The KSAM project was developed and has been elaborated and steered by Ms Lucia Benediková and Mr Peter Barta.
As for the Slovak side, the mission has been working under the auspices of the SAS Institute of Archaeology. Thanks to Mr Karol Pieta, SAS Institute of Archaeology scientific secretary and Slovak team director, the mission has been able to take advantage of the presence of specialists in environmental archaeology and geo-disciplines that strongly cross-fertilize archaeological research. Apart from senior archaeologists and academicians, the fieldwork has very much benefited from the presence of graduates and undergraduates in archaeology and neighbouring disciplines coming from Kuwait (National Council for Culture, Arts & Letters, State of Kuwait), Slovakia (Institute of Archaeology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Nitra, and from the Department of Archaeology, Constantine the Philosopher University, Nitra) and Turkey (Prehistoric Section, Istanbul University). For analyses of particular material groups that require a special approach KSAM cooperates with Kuwaiti (KISR and KOC), German, Czech, Belgian, British, Polish and Turkish laboratories and specialists. In their laboratories steatites, bitumens, metals, mortars, obsidians, archaeobotanical and archaeozoological material have been analysed and investigated.
Four excavation seasons have taken place on Al-Khidr – in 2004, 2006, 2007 and by mid April 2008 the last field work season came to ist end. From 2009 onwards the material studies are scheduled that shall be concluded by a publication of the results.
Thanks to the really warm and cordial welcome of the mission by the National Council for Culture, Arts & Letters our stay in Kuwait became and remains extraordinarily pleasant and unforgettable.
Source: http://www.kuwaitarchaeology.org/index.html
At Failaka, stone fragments -- so-called Altar Plates from 2nd millennium BCE -- were discovered pointing to some donations to god Inzak:
Abstract :
During Danish excavations 1958-1963 of Tells F3, F5 and F6 on the island of Failaka in Kuwait a large number of decorated stone vessels were found. In the course of registering this material in 2008 five fragments of a hitherto unknown type of plate were identified, one of which had a cuneiform inscription possibly mentioning the big temple. During the 2009-2011 Kuwaiti-Danish excavations in Tell F6 six further fragments of the same type of plate were found, two of them also inscribed with cuneiform letters, one mentioning the god Inzak. A perusal of the collections in the Kuwait National Museum produced fragments of two further examples of the same type of plate from previous French excavations in Tell F6 and from Slovak excavations at the site of Al-Khidr, also on Failaka. In 2012 a small collection of stone vessel fragments from Tells F3 and F6 housed at Moesgaard Museum was examined, and three fragments of this type of plate were identified. A total of 16 fragments probably stemming from twelve different plates have now been recorded.
Title: Altar Plates from Second Millennium BC Failaka, Kuwait
Author(s): HØJLUND, F. , HILTON, A.
Journal: Bibliotheca Orientalis
Volume: 69 Issue: 5-6 Date: 2012
Pages: 411-420
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/158690726/H%EF%BF%BDJLUND-F--HILTON-A-Altar-Plates-from-Second-Millennium-BC-Failaka-Kuwait-(2012)
H�JLUND, F. , HILTON, A., Altar Plates from Second Millennium BC Failaka, Kuwait (2012)
Stamp seal from Al-Khidr.
Designs of stamp seals from Al-Khidr are composed of characteristic Early Dilmun stamp seal motifs. This stamp seal depicts human and half-human-half-animal horned figures, monkeys, serpents and birds on either side of a central motif of a standard and a podium at the bottom (drawing of stamp seal impression). 
On the obverse of Dilmun seals from Al-Khidr are depicted human or divine figures, half human-half animal creatures, animal figures (such as gazelles, bulls, scorpions, and snakes), celestial bodies (star or sun and moon), sometimes drinking scenes and also other activities (playing musical instruments). Composition of these motifs varies from formal (with ordering the figures and symbols to clear scenes) to chaotic. 
Seals with rotating designs usually bear pure plant, animal or geometric motifs. 
Composition of two horned animals, sitting human playing a four-string musical instrument, a star and a moon. 
Until now only one single seaal has been discovered (in 2004) which comes from a non-Dilmun cultural environment. It is a cylinder seal with a cuneiform inscription that refers to "Ab-gina, sailor from a huge ship, the son of Ur-Abba" (F. Rahman). This seal provides further evidence of the existing contacts between Dilmun and ancient Mesopotamia at the end of the 3rd- beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE. 
A minor fragment of a globularly shaped metal sheet may represent a fragment of a vessel. 
Blades are technologically more demanding than awls and fish-hooks. A few complete pieces and some major fragments seem to represent knives and perhaps razors. 
Metal awls are made from thin copper rods of circular or rectangular section. Most of them have both ends pointed. A handful of pieces have simple handles from bird and mammal bones. These awls may have been used for various purposes. Large amounts of shells at the site may indicate that the awls could have served to open and take out the flesh from the shells of bivalves and gastropods. 
Two tanged arrowheads have been found. 
From among other utensils, needles with eyes and a pair of tweezers have been uncovered. 
Collection of copper fish-hooks. 
Besides vessels, steatite was used for the production of stamp seals and small personal ornaments (pendants). Sherds of broken vessels were further used also as tools (e.g. polishers). 
Typical globular bowl with incised decoration (dotted-circles). 
Small carnelian bead (pointing to link with Gujarat as the possible source of carnelian). 
Net sinker (left) and limestone lid (above). The local limestone was also used for the production of working slabs, grinders and grindstones (below). 
Pearls were recovered from heavy residue fractions of the soil samples processed by water flotation. They almost exclusively occur in contexts dominated by mother-of-pearl shells. 
Stamp seal cut from shell nacre layers (above). Pendant made from a strombus shell (left). Semi-product made from an oyster shell (right).Source. http://www.kuwaitarchaeology.org/gallery/al-khidr-finds-2.html Kuwaiti-Slovak Archaeological Mission
| Publications |
Papers in scientific journals
Papers presented on scientific conferences
Other publications
Other presentations
|
Click to display or downloadhttp://www.kuwaitarchaeology.org/publications.html
| Finds from Al-Khidr |
Definition: Failaka is the name of an island in the Persian Gulf, belonging to the modern country of Kuwait. The island holds important occupations associated with the Bronze Age Dilmun culture of the 3rd-2nd millennium BC, as well as a large Hellenistic settlement and sanctuary during the 3rd-1st centuries BC. Failaka is believed to be the place described as the Garden of Eden in the BabylonianGilgamesh epic. Failaka was founded in the third millennium BC by Dilmun, an important trading society based on the Persian Gulf as a sea lane connection between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valleycivilizations of Pakistan and India. Eventually, Failaka's proximity to the modern-day country of Iraq, and the concentration of Dilmun on Bahrain, led to Failaka's control by Mesopotamia. Features of FailakaWhen first excavated, Failaka had several tells--great earthen mounds resulting from hundreds or thousands of years of building and rebuilding in the same place without the benefit of bulldozers. Two tells dated to the first half of the second millennium BC were found to contain a small town (Tell F3) approximately 10 square kilometers in size, and a small palace (Tell F6), both dated to the Bronze Age Dilmun occupation. An additional tell (F5) contained a Hellenistic fortification with temples and dwelling houses. Excavated between 1958 and 1963, these tells contained about 450 seals, carved stone objects used in commercial trade, 430 of which date to the Dilmun period. Cylinder SealsOf the seals recovered at Failaka, over 60 arecylinder seals. Two mark the earliest occupations of the tells as post-Akkadian (F6) and Ur-III (F3). Most of the other cylinder seals are Mitanni seals of brown and greenish faience; and Kassite and pseudo Kassite seals in deep blue glass, steatite, and ivory from Elam period Isin-II. The remainder of the seals are stamp seals, dominated by the type known to have been made and used by the Dilmun culture. A typical Dilmun type seal is circular, with a bossed reverse pattern consisting of one or usually 3-4 parallel lines with two circles on the side. All are made of steatite, and most are covered with a white glaze. About 300 of the seals found on Failaka are of the Dilmun type. Dilmun type stamp seals are part of the evidence supporting the creation of a substantial trade colony on Failaka beginning around 1950 BC. The number of Mesopotamian cylinder seals increases through time in the archaeological deposits, an indication that the island came under increasingly strong Mesopotamian influence during the Old Babylonian and Kassite periods, and perhaps during the First Dynasty of the Sealand. Potts (2010) suggests that at the time, Failaka was a dependency of the Kassite kingdom. Hellenistic/Seleucid Fort at FailakaTell F5 at Failaka represents the remains of a classical Greek period fortress, founded during the 4th century BC or the first decade of the 3rd century BC (based on the recovery of Alexandrian coins). This occupation began during the reign of the Persian Seleucid king Seleucus I (although some evidence points to an earlier settlement in this near location). The earliest fort at the site (Stage I), was a square structure, each wall about 60 meters (~200 ft) long with square watch towers in each corner. The main gate was in the southern wall, reinforced by a massive tower; a smaller gate was in the northern. The interior of the fort included two small temples, one constructed in the Ionic style and the other perhaps Doric. Stage II of the fort included residential houses within the walls. Stages III and IV are dated to the end of the 3rd century BC, during the reighn of Antiochus III. The fortress was widened ca. 200 BC, by the building of a new defensive wall to the north, and a remodeling of the inteiror residential settlement. During Stage V, the fort's population decreased sharply until its abandonment in the 1st century BC. Recent InvestigationsFive seasons on Failaka were conducted by the Danish Archaeological Expedition between 1958 and 1963. Most recently, investigations by the Kuwaiti-Slovak Archaeological Mission on Failaka have been focused at the Bronze Age site of Al-Khidr, a Dilmun culture occupation that is located along the western shore of an important harbor on Failaka. SourcesThis glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to Dilmun, and the Dictionary of Archaeology. Callot O, Gachet J, and Salles J-F. 1986. Somes notes about Hellenistic Failaka. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 17:37-51. Howard-Carter T. 1981. The tangible evidence for the earliest Dilmun. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 33(3/4):210-223. Kjaerum P. 1980. Seals of "Dilmun-type" from Failaka, Kuwait. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 10:45-53. Laursen ST. 2008. Early Dilmun and its rulers: new evidence of the burial mounds of the elite and the development of social complexity, c. 2200–1750 BC. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy19(2):156-167. Potts DT. 2010. Cylinder seals and their use in the Arabian Peninsula. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 21(1):20-40. Thapar R. 1975. A possible identification of Meluhha, Dilmun, and Makan. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 18(1):1-42. http://archaeology.about.com/od/fterms/g/failaka.htm |