Archaeological Sites of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn

Archaeological Sites of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn

The protohistoric site of Bat lies near a palm grove in the interior of the Sultanate of Oman. Together with the neighbouring sites, it forms the most complete collection of settlements and necropolises from the 3rd millennium B.C. in the world.

Oman

Al Dhahira region

N23 16 11.496 E56 44 42

Date of Inscription: 1988

Criteria: (iii)(iv)

Ref: 434

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy

Brief Description

The site consists of seventeen buildings in Muharraq City, three offshore oyster beds, part of the seashore and the Qal’at Bu Mahir fortress on the southern tip of Muharraq Island, from where boats used to set off for the oyster beds. The listed buildings include residences of wealthy merchants, shops, storehouses and a mosque. The site is the last remaining complete example of the cultural tradition of pearling and the wealth it generated at a time when the trade dominated the Gulf economy (2nd century to the 1930s, when Japan developed cultured pearls). It also constitutes an outstanding example of traditional utilization of the sea’s resources and human interaction with the environment, which shaped both the economy and the cultural identity of the island’s society.

Bahrain

N26 14 28.608 E50 36 48.636

Date of Inscription: 2012

Criteria: (iii)

Property : 35,087 ha

Buffer zone: 95,876 ha

Ref: 1364rev.

Source: http://whc.unesco.org