Bøger af Flemming Højlund

Udgravninger i 1958-1963 af to byhøje på øen Failaka i Kuwait, Tell F3 og Tell F6, afdækkede et lille Dilmunsamfund fra det 2. årtusind f.Kr. Resultaterne af disse udgravninger er præsenteret i fem monografier omhandlende stempel-og cylindersegl (Kjærum 1983), keramik (Højlund 1987), arkitektur (Kjærum & Højlund 2013), dekorerede stenkar (Hilton 2014) og perler (Andersson 2022). Den nuværende monografi, den sjette og sidste, fremlægger de resterende genstande fra disse udgravninger, dvs. kobbervåben, -redskaber og -smykker, smeltedigler, støbeforme og barrer, metalanalyser (Weeks et al.), kileindskrifter (Marchesi), miniatureskulpturer (Pittman & Mulder), og genstande af sten (Hilton), keramik, glas (Andersson), ben, elfenben, muslingeskal, guld, gips, perler, sølv, jern og bitumen (Strehle). I konklusionen gives et overblik over udviklingen af bronzealderbebyggelsen på Failaka.

Six years of excavations in Tell F3 have uncovered several occupation phases belonging to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, Failaka period 3B (c. 1600 BC). Though the material culture of Dilmun was heavily influenced by South Mesopotamia, this was a period where Dilmun regained its former importance after the economic and political collapse around 1700 BC, perhaps leading up to a final conquest by the Sealand Dynasty.The end stages of the development of Dilmun stamp seals are documented, e.g. the first find of a Style III Dilmun seal in a safe period 3B context. The renaissance in stamp seal Style III is paralleled in stone vessels decorated in the Failaka Figurative Style.Flemming Højlund: Former Head of Oriental Department at Moesgaard Museum, Denmark; directed excavations in Bahrain, Qatar and lately on Failaka Island in Kuwait (2008-2017); published numerous articles and monographs on Arabian Gulf archaeology; and organized exhibitions on the history and culture of the Gulf at Moesgaard Museum, at the Bahrain National Museum and in Abu Dhabi.Anna Hilton: Educated at the Carsten Niebuhr Institute of University of Copenhagen and excavated extensively in the Near East, lately (2014-2019) as Field Director on Failaka. Published a monograph on the stone vessels found during the Danish excavations 1958-1963 at Tell F3 and F6 on Failaka, Kuwait.

In the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC, the Arabian Gulf was an important waterway linking the large cities and states of Mesopotamia and Iran with Southeast Arabia and the Indus Valley. Trade along the Lower Sea, as the Gulf was named, demanded supporting stations, and civilizations grew and declined with the fortunes of this trade. In the 1950s, Danish investigations along the southern shores of the Gulf discovered remains of two of these ancient civilazations, Dilmun and Makkan (Bibby 1969). Survey and excavation in Kuwait beginning in 1958 revealed that the upper Gulf was an important part of Dilmun in the early 2nd millennium. Both before, during and after the flourishing of the Dilmun civilization the island of Failaka located off the Kuwait mainland formed an important role in several Near Eastern trade networks with Mesopotamia as the dominant partner.

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