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3rd century BC to 7th century AD
There is further evidence of human activity in Qatar during the Graeco-Roman period in the form of a fish-processing complex, again at Ras Abaruk.
A stone building consisting of two rooms and a third open to the sea is located on an old shore-line on the north-west of the small peninsula. Nearby is a mound of fish-bones, and several hearths.
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Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al-Thani Museum Qatar National Museum |
Some large smooth pebbles, possibly used as hammers, originate outside Qatar, suggesting that the site probably represents a temporary station where fishermen from elsewhere landed to dry and preserve their catch.
Around 140 BC, the rise to power of the Parthians, a Persian people, had begun to interrupt Graeco-Roman trade between Europe and India via the Arabian Gulf, and the Red Sea became again the main link between Rome and the East. But in 225 AD the Parthians were overthrown and the second great Persian empire, that of the Sassanid dynasty, was established. They established their capital in Mesopotamia at Ctesiphon and reversed the practices of their predecessors, controlling the trade of both the Gulf and the Indian Ocean and forcing the decline of the Red Sea as a rival commercial route. By 570 AD they succeeded in extending their control as far as the Yemen. Both sea and land trade routes were arteries, not only of trade, but of cultural influence.
The Sassanids traded a vast range of commodities and it is possible that Qatar contributed two luxury items: purple dye and pearls, to Sassanid trade.
A number of areas in Qatar provide archaeological evidence of the involvement of local people with the outside world during this period. At Mezruah, north-west of Doha, an oval burial cairn contained two skeletons, one with an arrowhead embedded in a bone of the forearm. A fine iron sword and some iron arrowheads lay in the grave, which also contained an almost intact Sassanian glass.
An intriguing feature was the hamstringing of camels around the grave: early literature refers to the sacrifice of camels around the grave of a hero, and also of horses. Near Umm-el-Ma' on the north-west coast a small settlement contained fragments of glassware and pottery including 'Sassanian-Islamic' glazed ware, and a fragment of red, polished ware dating to the 2nd to 3rd centuries AD. Such finds are evidence of a standard of living well beyond subsistence level.
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