The guide that met with us is fascinated with Ancient Bahrain and civilizations and their culture but also the environment and the changes that have occurred. She explained to us that Bahrain used to look like this picture below... it was lush and fertile and there were deer like creatures who used to live on this island that seems now to be so uninhabitable in so many ways. She talked about the fact that it was warm and fertile being the reason that this region of the earth is the birth place of humanity and that back then Europe was a frozen tundra that no one could live on. As time has gone on and things have changed (hi there Global Warming), environments changed and humans adapted and moved on to other places that were becoming more habitable. It was fascinating to think about how it was all those thousands of years ago and how it is now.
After that we moved on to life in Bahrain and trade and what it all might have looked like. The big reason we were there was to talk about the Dilmun Seals that have been found. Traders used to have their own seals or stamps that they could stamp on something saying they owned it or were selling it. It was kind of like a signature of sorts and an early way of recording ownership or trades. These seals were generally kept threaded around their necks or even on rings and they've found all sorts of them that were used in Bahrain in Ancient times. Located where it is, Bahrain would have been right smack dab in the middle of the trade routes for all those ancient civilizations- Ur, Sumer, etc. They needed a way to identify their goods or keep track of what they were buying and selling.
Some of the seals that they've found!
Seals and tools used to make the seals
We walked around the museum and saw so much that we'd read about in our history books.
There was also a display of some of the ancient graves they've found. We've talked about Ancient Egypt and mummies and this was really interesting to see that the grave sites of the Dilmun people (ie the Ancient Bahraini's) had a lot in common with the Egyptians... they were buried with things to take with them to the after life. Some with animals as offerings, some with jewelry, some with servants. To be able to see some similarities was really intriguing and quite fascinating!
And then my sweet, wonderful, curious child comes up to me and says, "Mom. I can't find any penises. I guess all these skeletons are girls." And I choked on my tongue as I tried to figure out why on earth this kid was looking for dicks on the museum skeletons. But alas, there is no reason other her curiosity and penchant for inappropriate things...haha! She did cue an impromptu anatomy lesson and the museum helped a mama out and had a display and explanation about male and female pelvic bones. She was happy with that explanation and bounced off to find something else weird to look for.
Listening to some information about the burial sites and having a pouch... as one does...
The Bahrain Pearl Dive Sculpture
The kids all ran around this floor map of Bahrain and found where their houses were located!
After we left I asked Stella what she thought and she said "It was AWESOME! We actually got to see some real stuff from our books!" And that was incredible and exactly what I hope for when we do things like this on our homeschool journey.
