Dilmun: Difference between revisions

Based on contextual evidence, it was located in the [[Persian Gulf]], on a [[trade route]] between [[Mesopotamia]] and the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]], close to the sea and to [[artesian aquifer|artesian springs]].<ref name="hoj">{{cite journal|author=Jesper Eidema, Flemming Højlund |date=1993 |title=Trade or diplomacy? Assyria and Dilmun in the eighteenth century BC|journal=World Archaeology |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=441–448 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1993.9980218}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=2BevKadehakC |page=8 }} |title=Dilmun and Its Gulf Neighbors|work=Harriet E. W. Crawford|year=1998|page=9}}</ref> A number of scholars have suggested that Dilmun originally designated the eastern province of modern [[Saudi Arabia]], notably linked with the major Dilmunite settlements of Umm an-Nussi and Umm ar-Ramadh in the interior and [[Tarout Island|Tarout]] on the coast.<ref>Roads of Arabia p.180</ref> Dilmun encompassed [[Bahrain]],<ref>{{cite web|url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=fhMTRcUm9WsC |page=7 }} |title=The Invention of Cuneiform: Writing in Sumer|work=[[Jean-Jacques Glassner]]|year=1990|page=7}}</ref> [[Kuwait]],<ref name=ak>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/g-wzw-SeJic Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20140601050803/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-wzw-SeJic&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-wzw-SeJic&t=171|title=Kuwait's archaeological sites reflect human history & civilizations (2:50 – 3:02)|work=Ministry of Interior News}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=umm>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41223078|last1=Calvet|first1=Yves|title=Failaka and the Northern Part of Dilmun|year=1989|volume=19|journal=Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies|pages=5–11|jstor=41223078}}</ref><ref name="archa">{{cite web|work=Cardiff University|title=The Archaeology of Kuwait|url=http://orca.cf.ac.uk/41961/7/Almutari%20PhD.pdf|pages=5–427}}</ref> and the eastern portion regions of [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref>{{cite web|url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=EwBuAAAAMAAJ |page=32 }} |title=Prehistory and Protohistory of the Arabian Peninsula: Bahrain|work=M. A. Nayeem|year=1990|page=32}}</ref> This area is certainly what is meant by references to "Dilmun" among the lands conquered by King [[Sargon II]] and his descendants.

In 1987, Theresa Howard-Carter proposed that Dilmun of this era might be a still unidentified tell near the Arvand Rud (Shatt al-Arab in Arabic) between modern-day Quanah and Basra in modern-day Iraq.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Theresa |last=Howard-Carter |title=Dilmun: At Sea or Not at Sea? A Review Article |journal=Journal of Cuneiform Studies |volume=39 |issue=1 |year=1987 |pages=54–117 |jstor=1359986 |doi=10.2307/1359986 |s2cid=163963264 }}</ref> In favor of Howard-Carter's proposal, it has been noted that this area does lie to the east of Sumer ("where the sun rises"), and the riverbank where Dilmun's maidens would have been accosted aligns with the [[Shat al-Arab]] which is in the midst of marshes. The "mouth of the rivers" where Dilmun was said to lie is for her the union of the Tigris and Euphrates at Qurnah. A number of scholars have suggested that Dilmun originally designated the eastern province of modern [[Saudi Arabia]], notably linked with the major Dilmunite settlements of Umm an-Nussi and Umm ar-Ramadh in the interior and [[Tarout Island|Tarout]] on the coast.<ref>Roads of Arabia p.180</ref>

As of 20212022, archaeologists have failed to find a site in existence during the time from 3300 BC (Uruk IV) to 556 BC (Neo-Babylonian Era), when Dilmun appears in texts. According to Hojlund, no settlements exist in the Gulf littoral dating to 3300–2000 BC.