Failaka/Dilmun. the Second Millennium Settlements. Danish Archaoological Investigations on Failaka, Kuwait : Volume 4 the Stone Vessels

Excavations on Failaka Island in Kuwait unearthed a vast array of stone vessel fragments spanning from the 3rd to the 2nd millennium BC. The assemblage, featuring rare figurative decoration unlike any other in the region, offers fresh insights into cultural transitions and enigmatic practices of South Mesopotamia’s Dark Age.

Excavations carried out by the Danish Moesgaard Museum on the island of Failaka in Kuwait in 1958-1963 produced a large collection of stone vessel fragments which have ever since puzzled scholars. The settlements excavated on Failaka, Tell F3 and Tell F6, belong to the 2nd millennium BC, but stone vessels of Serie Ancienne and Umm an-Nar styles of the 3rd millennium BC are well represented in the Failaka collection. Besides vessels of Wadi Suq and Late Bronze Age styles there is a significant group of figurative decorated stone vessels in a style completely unknown from anywhere else in the region, which may throw light on the mid 2nd millennium Dark Age in South Mesopotamia. The Failaka stone vessel collection is presented in all its details, and the significance of the many different vessel styles is discussed in the context of recent developments in our understanding of Arabian Gulf archaeology.