Kuwaiti-Slovak Archaeological Mission (KSAM)

KSAM organizers

Kuwait National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters

Institute of Archaeology, Slovak Academy of Sciences

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Al-Khidr

2004

Al-Khidr 2004

Main goals of 2004 season

To define extent of the site by means of surface survey, soundings and geophysics
Mapping of the site and evaluation of further possibilities to use mapping and GIS
Getting a general idea on archaeological potential of the site (checking for the character of archaeological evidence – solid architecture, cultural layers, scattered artefacts only; potential for palaeoenvironmental research / excavation in opened areas: 22S, 23S, 23W, 24W, 24AA, 25AC, soundings I – XIV)
To collect basic data on stratigraphy and major chronological division of the site
To gather evidence on palaeorelief and natural sedimentation processes on the site
To design a strategy of palaeoenvironmental research and to initiate the research (archaeobotany, archaeozoology; flotation and dry sieving)
To define the most threatened parts of the site and the areas that urgently need to be excavated (salvage excavation)
To develop a system for documentation and registration of archaeological evidence
To provide training for Kuwaiti colleagues
To take samples for scientific analyses

Results of 2004 season

By Peter Barta and Lucia Benediková

During 2004 campaign at Al-Khidr both natural and cultural deposits were investigated. The soundings and some trenches were intended to investigate a sequence of strata bearing the finds and other types of deposits, relief of the virgin soil and relation between the layers. In general, succession of deposits at Al- Khidr is comprised of six major types:

Anthropogenic strata from the Bronze Age (Dilmun culture) and recent times (1970s – 1980s?), respectively
Various loose-sand sediments
Sediment of alternating layers of pure tiny shells and sandy-shelly strata
Hardened calcareous sandy sediment reminiscent of pale grey sandstone
Calcareous sandstone occurring as bedrock (see [1], 414)
Groundwater and water-saturated strata

The deposits are ordered in the sequence starting usually with cultural layer(s) to be underlain by loose sandy strata, sometimes with hardened calcareous material sedimented on sand and sand-and-shell succession and finally followed by the rocky formation or sterile sands going down under the level of the brackish groundwater.

Sequence of the natural sediments at Al-Khidr

From the start on, the relief of the virgin soil at Al-Khadir was understood as a prerequisite for palaeogeomorphological reconstruction and for estimations of the extent to which prehistoric habitation remodelled the environment. With regard to the outcrops of limestone/sandstone on the beach, the attempt to investigate the virgin soil at Al-Khidr was focused on searching for solid sediment reminding of the beach rocky formation or for other kind of sterile deposit underlying the cultural strata. Where the former could not be proven, as indication of the latter was taken the sandy sediment amply saturated with groundwater or the groundwater table itself. As will be shown later, attempt to look for the rocky formation as indication of virgin soil can be at Al-Khadir quite misleading.

Viewing the elevations of what had been at first understood as bedrock in soundings and trenches (from North to South), the natural rocky relief at Al Khadir seemed to be a slope from the South towards the North, which would contradict the present geomorphology. However, the bedrock was clearly attested only in 23S and 24W, where we prove its continuance with the rocky outcrops of the beach. Situation in the trench 25AC was different; what seemed to be the jumbled outcroppings of the bedrock here has not been recorded elsewhere on the site, be it the beach or the test pits.

Groundwater and water-saturated strata

Southwards, in the area east to the cemetery in soundings IV, V and VI no bedrock was found. In soundings II, III, IV, V, VI only wet sand layers were observed. In each of the mentioned test pits groundwater came out.

The absence of rocky formation even at low elevations, the presence of groundwater and the lack of the Bronze Age pottery corroborate with the marshy area still located here (south to Al-Khidr). These facts invite an idea that the land here might have been left uninhabited also during the Bronze Age due to the high groundwater table.

Calcareous hardened sand reminding of soft sandstone

Hardened sandy sediment can be here discussed merely in sketchy manner. Most prominent characteristic of the hardened sand reminding of soft sandstone is its reminiscence of the bedrock. However, this is flatly not the case as shown in trenches II and III, which gave the evidence on sandy deposits below sandstone-like material that might have been, unless uncovered on this larger area, regarded as the bedrock. Of importance is that even under this hard sediment in soundings II and III, sherds occurred.

As put in the previous report on the sequence at Al-Khidr, in soundings I, XI, XII and trench 24W bedrock plateau seemed to have been proven. The elevations of the rocky formation here (I, XI and XII) giving 3.20, 3.30 and 3.35 m a. s. l., respectively, made an impression of a plateau spreading in the East-West direction between the sounding I and the trench 24W with the bedrock (beach) at 3.30 m a. s. l. With regard to the observations in soundings II, III and V, we chose the sounding XI to be dug deeper to check the possibility of presence of any kind of sedimentation below the rocky formation. It turned out that here, and analogously assumed also in soundings I and XII, the rocky formation represented the calcareous sandstone-like deposit, beneath which sequence of sandy layers occurred and that are closed at the bottom by another layer of sandstone-like deposit.

Results and outlook

The cultural strata of Al-Khadir together with first observations of geology of the site enable to produce a preliminary picture of the sequence. It seems that the settlement has been established north to the marshy area, on the land where more types of rocky formation occurred and that the Bronze Age cultural strata alone did not model the present relief of the site. The problem of relations between the calcareous layers occurring at various elevations, their characteristic, sedimentation conditions and other questions from the realm of marine geology, the geologist is needed. In the future plan we should be concerned also about the possibilities of OSL dating of the sandy deposits to understand the formation of the island and to assess the possibility of pre-Bronze Age habitation activity at the island as suggested by Italian scholars [1].

Cultural deposits at Al-Khidr

The soundings yielded (1) layers with the Bronze Age pottery but without articulated architectural remains and (2) layers with the evidence from the modern era.

Cultural layers with the Bronze Age pottery without any articulated architecture

This type of the Bronze Age anthropogenic deposit was detected west and south to the Islamic cemetery in the soundings II and III which were laid out there to check the prominences resembling the rubble-heap of the Bronze Age architectures located within the cemetery precinct. The dating to the Bronze Age was suggested by the pottery scattered on the surface of the mound. In the sounding II, the sequence below the lamellar layers of walking horizon and above the hardened calcareous sand was composed of reddish and greyish colour and contained large amount of shells as well as pottery and small charcoal-like fragments. The pottery occurred even under the layer of hardened sandstone-like material, which, accordingly, appears to be of later origin. These strata did not contain any solid remains of mudbrick or stone architectures and could be viewed as originated in process of decaying of near-by standing architectures (of the mound behind the wall inside of the cemetery) and settlement activity. Certainly would it be of interest, if a trench could be opened also here to investigate the debris formation on the larger area. In the sounding III of interest was from the point of the debated debris layer compactly packed hard pale grey sandy-clayey layer below the lamellar stratum of the walking horizon. It should be considered to what extent this layer could represent a kind of packed mud structure remains. Sherds occurring in this trench seem to be abraded more than those from sounding II, what can be taken as evidence of material transportation, perhaps down the slope from the mound some 50 metres to the northwest.

Cultural layers from the modern era

The main layers of sounding VI were composed of modern debris from 1950s – 1970s. In sounding XIV we encountered the kiln from 19th / 20th century. Sounding X yielded only ruins of Al Khadir-shrine demolished in 20th century.

The trenches 22S, 23S, 23W, 24W, 24AA, 25AC that were open in 2004 yielded two types of the Bronze Age (Dilmun) evidence:

remains of stone architecture and associated rubble heaps,
layers of shells, perhaps a kind of shell midden.

Preliminarily, two explanations of these occurences can be suggested. As for the spatial distribution of the shelly layers and stone architectures, changes of function within the settlement over the time (in such a case the shell midden in 22S and 24AA are of the same origin), or a division of contemporary existing habitation and shell-dumping/-processing areas are to be anticipated (in case the architecture in 22S is chronologically contemporary with the shell “midden” in 24AA).

Islamic remains in trench 25AC

To sum up, apart from the first stratigraphic sequences obtained the most endangered spots of the site were localised.The destruction of the E part of the site has been detected according to the hardly damaged or washed cultural layers in E part of 22S, in 23S, E part of 24W and danger of washing the site away proved (Dec 12th 2004 high tide completely covered the trench 23S).

As it is seen from results of surface survey, excavation and geophysical prospecting two basic horizons of remains at the site are to be assumed (at least in some parts of the site). In 2004 uncovered areas yielded the remains that correspond with geophysical diagrams for the depths 0 – 70 cm. Particularly in 23W interpretational map of the horizon in the depth 70 – 150 cm shows different orientation of measured structures from the orientation already known from upper layer. Therefore we can assume at least one part of al-Khidr area has been used prior to the period the remains of that are visible on surface and have been partly excavated in 2004.

Relations between individual excavated trenches could have not been defined at the end of 2004 season. Distances between 22S – 23W(+ 24W) – 24AA are quite big so the relation between shell-ashy layer and shell “midden” (?) in 24AA and between stone structures in 22S and in 23W (and 24W) could not have been specified.

According to the geophysical maps of apparent resistivities and their interpretative pendants it is clear that the stone structures are running across whole area along the sea shore from N to S, then they ends up at the S edge of the W promontory of the al-Khidr Bay and continue further to SW to recent Islamic cemetery.