Failaka Island in the Late Islamic Period. Investigations at the fishing village of Kharaib al‐Dasht

Abstract

AbstractThe aim of the paper is to present the architectural remains and spatial organisation of the site of Kharaib al‐Dasht, a Late Islamic fishing village dating from the late seventeenth to the nineteenth century. In the course of six seasons of excavation, which started in 2013, there was uncovered a part of this extensive site, revealing remnants of a fish processing area, residential architecture and a mosque. The findings from Kharaib al‐Dasht serve here as a starting point for a discussion on the character of settlement activity on Failaka in the Late Islamic period, which was a time of dynamic change in the political and economic landscape of the region as evidenced by the available written sources.