3,300-year-old faience mask found in Bahrain

"A rare 3,300-year-old faience mask has been discovered at the Al-Hillah site in southern Bahrain. It was found in a grave containing the remains of two women and an infant from the Dilmun civilization, and is only the second one of its kind ever found in Bahrain. The mask depicts a female face with a headband, necklace and pendant earrings inlaid with what are likely shell fragments set in bitumen."

"The wide, almond-shaped eyes, their outlines and eyebrows are also inlaid in bitumen. The ears are pierced with three holes in each. They likely originally contained rings. The Dilmun civilization was located in Eastern Arabia on the Persian Gulf, covering present-day Bahrain, Kuwait and parts of Saudi Arabia. Dilmun controlled the Persian Gulf trade routes that connected Mesopotamia to the Indus Valley Civilization, and ancient Sumerian cuneiform tablets refer to Dilmun as an important trade partner."

"Dilmun had a particularly close relationship with Ur. Texts record that Ur's agricultural products would be sent to Dilmun for sale to the southern Arabian Peninsula, Africa and India. Merchants on both sides made rich profits, with Dilmun's ships trading Ur's crops abroad and returning with wood, copper, perfumes and pearls to sell for high prices in Ur's markets. Several faience female heads were found in excavations of the Giparku (priestess' residence) at Ur."

A rare 3,300-year-old faience mask was recovered at the Al-Hillah site in southern Bahrain from a grave with two women and an infant belonging to the Dilmun civilization. The mask portrays a female face with a headband, necklace and pendant earrings inlaid with probable shell fragments set in bitumen; wide almond-shaped eyes, outlines and eyebrows are also inlaid in bitumen. The pierced ears show three holes each that likely once held rings. Dilmun, centered in Eastern Arabia across Bahrain, Kuwait and parts of Saudi Arabia, controlled Persian Gulf trade linking Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley. Similar faience female heads from Ur date to the 14th–12th centuries B.C. and may have been attached to wooden statues or worn as pendants. The Bahrain mask is undergoing research and conservation.

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