1 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

British archaeologists unearth the 1200-year-old man-made island

A team holding excavations and archaeological surveys on the historic Al Sayah Island in Muharraq, Bahrain found that it’s ‘man-made’, and created in the middle of the Sea around a freshwater spring at least 1,200 years ago.

Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, along with a British team led by Professor Robert Carter, started excavation works on the historical island of Al Sayah at the end of January, as part of the “Maria” excavation project.

Director of the Cultural Institution Museums and Antiquities Department Dr. Salman Al-Mahari points out that, contrary to previous beliefs, the island is unnatural. The earlier belief was that the island was the aftereffect of some natural phenomenon.

According to Dr. Al-Mahari, the island is one of the oldest examples of sea filling practices.

Al Sayah İsland
Al Sayah İsland.

Studies also show that Al Sayah played a crucial role in the pearling history of Bahrain, which was also well known for its freshwater springs. These springs were known locally as Kawkab or Chochab.

“Preliminary results of the excavations show that the island was a water supply station dating back to the early Islamic Era. Or perhaps before that!” said Professor Robert Carter, head of the team.

Professor Robert Carter explained the technique used to build the island to the News of Bahrain.

For this, they first created a cistern or a water reservoir around to spring to contain freshwater emerging from the rocky seafloor. “They created a thick circular wall around that to form a small island or fewer than 20 meters wide. then later, it was fortified by creating another curved wall to form an island of about 40 meters wide.”

 According to Dr. Al-Mahari, the island is one of the oldest examples of sea filling practices.
According to Dr. Al-Mahari, the island is one of the oldest examples of sea filling practices.

“Finally, they created straight walls on the south and east sides of the island, which intersected with each other rectangular cabins. They also used large coral blocks to create a platform of the ısland that was more than 60 meters in length from one to the other. The excavation also led to a small building next to the spring with a mechanism for raising water.”

“So that freshwater can be drawn continuously and distributed to boats anchored along the quay. Old piles of pearl oysters mixed with pottery from the seventh to eighth centuries AD cover most parts of the island.”

The research is the first systematic marine and underwater archeology survey in Bahrain.

Bahrain has started to protect the island, which has almost started to disappear, by registering it on the National Heritage List.

Related Articles

In Turkey’s Gedikkaya Cave, a stone figurine was discovered inside a 16,500-year-old votive pit

17 December 2022

17 December 2022

A stone figurine was discovered in a 16500-year-old votive pit belonging to the Epi-paleolithic period, the transition phase from the...

Ceremonial cave site from Postclassic Maya period discovered in Yucatán Peninsula

21 December 2021

21 December 2021

Archaeologists have discovered a ceremonial cave site in Chemuyil on the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, that dates from the Postclassic Maya...

Remarkable discovery of Iron Age and Roman treasures found near a boggy area on Anglesey

29 February 2024

29 February 2024

Metal detectorist Ian Porter unearthed sixteen historical artifacts in a boggy field on Anglesey. Among the items found were Iron...

Unique semi-mummified body tomb discovered in Pompeii

17 August 2021

17 August 2021

A semi-mummified skeleton was discovered in the Porta Sarno necropolis, which is located east of Pompeii’s city center and is...

Archaeologists Discovered “Temple of the Emperors” in the Agora of the Ancient City of Nikopolis, Greece

30 May 2024

30 May 2024

The Greek Ministry of Culture declared that fresh discoveries had been made during archaeological excavations at the ancient Nikopolis Agora...

The world’s largest Byzantine winepresses have been discovered in Israel

11 October 2021

11 October 2021

Archaeologists say they’ve discovered the world’s largest known Byzantine-era winery in the city of Yavne, south of Tel Aviv. The...

Mosaics found in Türkiye’s Sinop belong to dining room of a wealthy family

24 June 2023

24 June 2023

The pebble mosaics unearthed during the excavation of a building complex in the province of Sinop on Turkey’s Black Sea...

Ancient cooking vessel found in northern Minnesota dates back more than 1,600 years

28 February 2022

28 February 2022

Dating of Ceramic sherds found in 2003 at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota revealed the vessel...

In Lake Mendota, Wisconsin archaeologists discover the oldest canoe ever found in the Great Lakes region

23 September 2022

23 September 2022

A group of divers from Madison, Wisconsin’s Lake Mendota emerged on Thursday carrying a remarkable piece of history for the...

Researchers have found in miniature ceramic bottles evidence of the oldest known use of cosmetics in the Balkans

14 July 2021

14 July 2021

In miniature ceramic bottles from excavations ascribed to the Lasinja Culture in the Southeast Prealps and the Vinča Culture in...

“Non-returning” Aboriginal boomerangs were discovered in Cooper Creek dried-up riverbed

22 November 2021

22 November 2021

The drying waters of the Cooper Creek river have revealed extremely rare 4 boomerangs that have been partially buried. The...

A cemetery belonging to 54 children was found during the excavation in the old quarry in Diyarbakır, Türkiye

4 January 2024

4 January 2024

During the archaeological excavation carried out in the area considered to be an old quarry in the Kulp district of...

The unknown importance of Göllü Dağ on the route of the first humans’ Transition from Africa to Europe

4 October 2021

4 October 2021

The researches conducted in Göllü Dağ and its surroundings, located within the borders of Niğde province in Central Anatolia, and...

The Americas’ oldest known bead discovered near Douglas, Wyoming

9 March 2024

9 March 2024

Archaeologists have discovered the oldest known bead in the Americas at the La Prele Mammoth site in Converse County, United...

Jordan Valley Reveals Earliest Cotton Use in the Ancient Near East

18 December 2022

18 December 2022

During excavations at Tel Tsaf, a 7,000-year-old town in the Jordan Valley, Israeli archaeologists discovered the earliest evidence of cotton...