Global heritage honour

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee voted yesterday to add Bahrain’s Dilmun Burial Mounds to its World Heritage List, praising the tombs for their “globally unique characteristics”. The burial grounds include “21 archaeological sites in the western part of the island” built between 2050 and 1750 BC, according to the global body.

The decision was made during the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, currently being held in the capital of Azerbaijan. “Six of these sites are burial mound fields consisting of a few dozen to several thousand tumuli,” it said in a statement.

In all there were some 11,774 burial mounds, UNESCO said, while another 15 sites include 17 royal mounds built as two-storeyed towers. The tombs were among a handful of nominations made yesterday.

UNESCO said the burial mounds were evidence of the early Dilmun civilization, “during which Bahrain became a trade hub, whose prosperity enabled the inhabitants to develop an elaborate burial tradition applicable to the entire population”.