لخّصلي

The article presents a report on archaeological excavations conducted in 2019 at Failaka Island, Ras al-Khidr, by the Department of Antiquities and Museums.This sequence of stages reveals the strategic position of Ras al-Khidr in the economic and maritime networks of Failaka, providing new insights into the organization of industry along the coast, the recycling of sites over a long period, and the redistribution of settlement functions in the northwestern Arabian Gulf.These excavations had previously been designated as belonging to the second millennium BCE, but had not undergone any systematic study.The results of excavations at kh4 site highlight the need to revise the chronology of the site, an issue that this article seeks to address.

The article presents a report on archaeological excavations conducted in 2019 at Failaka Island, Ras al-Khidr, by the Department of Antiquities and Museums. These excavations had previously been designated as belonging to the second millennium BCE, but had not undergone any systematic study. The excavation in a region already explored by earlier missions was of a newly discovered rectangular tannur with two chambers (SSU1), which dated to the Early Islamic period, the first to be recorded in the northwestern part of the island, and a circular tannur (SSU3) and a distinctive storage base (SSU2), presumably used to store heated bitumen. Using GIS mapping, sequential aerial photogrammetry, and a 5 × 5 m excavation grid, the team mapped stratigraphic order and material culture, suggesting industrial activity related to maritime trade and ship repair in 7th and 8th centuries CE. Stratigraphic analysis further revealed that the site comprises several occupational periods, including Bronze Age activity, Early Islamic industrial use, reuse as a Late Islamic cemetery, and a brief period of domestic activity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This sequence of stages reveals the strategic position of Ras al-Khidr in the economic and maritime networks of Failaka, providing new insights into the organization of industry along the coast, the recycling of sites over a long period, and the redistribution of settlement functions in the northwestern Arabian Gulf.
The results of excavations at kh4 site highlight the need to revise the chronology of the site, an issue that this article seeks to address.