Wealth in digging up the past in Qatar

In digging up its past, Qatar confirms its status as a wealthy country. While today’s affluence is built on the country’s vast oil and gas reserves, the Qatar of yesteryear had pearls and international trading to thank for its success.

This all comes to light at the Al Zubarah archaelogical site.

Situated on the north western coast of the peninsula, this UNESCO world heritage site is home to a significant chapter of global history in the Middle East.

Al Zubarah is the stuff of Boy’s Own fiction.

It’s a story of ever-changing rulers and merchants, tribes and invaders all seeking fame and fortune at this strategic coastal spot on one of the world’s most important maritime trading routes.

Al Zubarah is in fact the largest remaining intact pearling, fishing, and trading centres in the world.

And it’s free for all to see, just 100km, or an hour’s drive, from the capital of Doha.

A visit to Al Zubarah also offers a welcome reprieve from the hustle and glitz of the city.

Whether, like us, you drive yourself there or go with a registered guide, the visit allows you to slow your pace, take in desert and sea vistas and literally step back in time. 

(See map and other useful information at the end of this blog post).

Al Zubarah fort

You will know you have almost reached your destination when you see the solid Al Zubarah fort on the horizon.

Do not be fooled into thinking this edifice is part of the archaeological site. The fort was built in 1938, long after the city of Al Zubarah was established.

As an aside, and to be fair, anything that’s 50 years and older, is considered old here. By way of example, Downtown Doha – the present mini-Manhattan skyline that we know as Qatar – didn’t exist 50 years ago.

Up until the 1980s, the fort served as a military and police outpost.

The fort was restored in 2013 and today serves as a ticket office and museum hosting key information about its surroundings, especially Al Zubarah. 

Hot off the press comes the news that a museum dedicated to the archaelogical site, the fort and its surrounds, is soon to be built at nearby Ain Mohammed, another important site that is also being excavated.

There’s information on pearl diving, prehistory facts and a couple of videos about its famous neighbouring site.  

This part of the visit will not take more than an hour as you read the background, watch the video and tour the ramparts.

It is also the site from which the air-conditioned bus with its Qatar Museum guides depart for the archaeological site about 2km away.

A thriving past

The once-thriving coastal enclave of Al Zubarah, in Northwest Qatar, offers us a significant slice of life back in the 18^th and 19^th century. It was part of the many small independent states that flourished outside the control of the Ottoman, European and Persian empires.

It also reveals that Qatar has almost always been a wealthy country, with only a brief hiatus between the pearling and petrol eras. By default, its location and resources means it has always enjoyed a heady history …

Now it’s time to use your imagination.

Step back in time. Think traders, merchants, pearl divers, fishermen and ruling tribes in a walled, wealthy settlement.

Picture large stone houses, protected walkways, a city wall and a canal for reaching the nearby fort with its fresh water supply.

Imagine the sounds emanating from the mosque, the busy, thriving market or the quieter more refined, confines of the palaces.

In a way, Al Zubarah is the historic equivalent of today’s affluent Doha.

The first settlers in Qatar

Nomadic bedouin and fishermen subsisted on the Qatar coastline prior to the establishment of Al Zubarah and other villages.

(Oh, and there were Christians in Qatar from the 1st to the 7th century in this part of the world, too. But this is a story for another day.)  

As this story goes, it was settlers from modern-day Kuwait who dropped proverbial anchor in neighbouring Qatar in search of rich pearl beds from the mid-1700s.

They hit jackpot at Al Zubarah with its shallow coastal waters, fresh water supply and access to plentiful pearl beds.

And here they stayed, along with other tribesmen and tradesmen whose surnames are still prominent throughout the Arabic world today.

(In fact, the story of Al Zubarah, like all history, depends on who is doing the telling!)

The population grew rapidly to between 7000 and 9000, consisting of wealthy merchants, local tribesmen and immigrants from around the Gulf and beyond.  

By 1776, Al Zubarah was one of the biggest settlements in the area because of its pearls and successful trading. Goods from as far away as China and Japan in the east and Britain in the west were traded here.

Evidence of this has been discovered throughout the ongoing excavations.

The town’s success did not go unnoticed.

According to our guide, there were feuds between different tribal groups, but more especially between the major trading powers in the area.

Piracy and raids on pearling ships and Al Zubarah became the norm.

End of an era in Qatar

In 1811, troops loyal to the Sultan of Muscat in Oman bombarded Al Zubarah, burning everything to the ground.

Why?

Put simply. Jealousy makes you nasty.

The tax-free city of Al Zubarah meant traders swiftly began moving their business from Muscat and elsewhere to take advantage of better prices.

As a result, the city lay abandoned until about 1820. Thereafter fishermen and pearl divers decided to return to resume their lucrative business.

Scant information gleaned from East India Company and British documentation shows that the returnees built simple stone houses, huts and tents on top of the destroyed city.

About 1 500 pearl divers were recorded as living here until 1878 when a local tribe led by Sheik Al Bida destroyed the centre for a second time.

The town lay forgotten for decades.

Excavation of Al Zubarah

While Danish archaeologists identified and highlighted the significance of Al Zubarah in the 1950s, archaeological work on the site only began in the 1980s.

Key aspects of the village were pinpointed thanks to sonar photography and other research undertaken by local and foreign archaelogists. Later in the early 2000s, the winding paths around the shore were unearthed. 

Efforts intensified again from about 2009.

As of 2024, only about 12 percent of the site has been excavated.

Sonar photography offers a broad overview of the site, which at face value resembles a wasteland. 

Indeed, the area was treated as such as motorists unwittingly drove across the area to find picnic spots at the water’s edge until about eight years ago.

Our guide distinctly remembered enjoying picnics with his parents as a small boy on one of the round city wall watch towers. The entire area has since been cordoned off.

Preservation efforts

Qatar’s efforts to preserve Al Zubarah forms part of the country’s overriding strategy to preserve Qatari art, culture and heritage.

There are far older sites, but as mentioned, this is the largest intact site of its type. The other trading posts like those in neighbouring Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have been buried below new developments.

Working on an archaeological site on the coast comes with its own challenges – not least the natural elements.

Original efforts to protect the reconstructed buildings, starting with the palace, backfired. Water got in under the protective mortar causing additional harm.

The archaeologists now have to painstakingly remove the cement toppings.

UNESCO guidelines

There are 900 accredited UNESCO cultural and natural sites around the globe. Each comes with guidelines to ensure they are documented and protected.

This means no permanent structures can be built on the site.

To honour this, the site is home to a temporary walkway that allows visitors to view different aspects of the site without impacting on it.

Planning a visit

Here are some pointers for your visit:

• Tickets are available from the fort. There is no cost.
• A bus leaves every 40 minutes or so to the archaeological site from the fort. There is a team of guides who share the story of Al Zubarah and are happy to answer your every question.
• Visiting hours change during summer from 2pm to 6pm only.  It is much better to go in winter when the weather is better.
• Wear a hat, sunscreen, comfortable shoes and carry water (there are no refreshments on sale at the fort).
• There are public toilets at the fort.
• The drive to the site is about an hour’s drive from Doha.
• Using public transport to reach Al Zubarah is not advisable because the buses run infrequently.

Please also consider visiting the nearby desert art installation – “Shadows travelling on the Seas of the Day” – which are massive steel and mirror structures.