A'ali عالي | |
|---|---|
Town | |
 The Pottery Roundabout, located in A’ali | |
  A'ali Location withinBahrain | |
| Coordinates:26°09′07″N50°31′32″E / 26.15194°N 50.52556°E /26.15194; 50.52556 | |
| Country | Bahrain |
| Governorate | Northern Governorate |
| Government | |
| • Governor | Ali bin Abdul Hussain Al Asfoor |
| Area | |
• Total | 11.2 km2 (4.3 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• Estimate (2012) | 100,533[1] |
| • Density | 4,589/km2 (11,953/sq mi) |
| Time zone | Arabia Standard Time (UTC+3) |
| Website | Official website |
A'ali (Arabic:عالي) is a major town in northernBahrain. It is a part of theNorthern Governorate, although from 2001 to 2014 it lay within theCentral Governorate. A'ali is famous for itsancient burial mounds,[2] especially several very large burial mounds in the city centre.[3] A'ali is also famous for its traditional handcraftedpottery, which can be seen and bought from different potters and boutiques in the whole town.[4]
Theburial mounds date to theDilmun era (3200 BC-330 BC). In February 1889 some of the mounds were investigated by the British explorerJ. Theodore Bent and his wifeMabel.[5] The site was then excavated by many foreign archaeological teams throughout the 20th century.[6] An important group of artifacts was excavated by the British archaeologistErnest Mackay and can now be found in theBritish Museum, London.[7] It includes an unusual statuette of a nude woman with a curvaceous body dating from between 2000 and 1500 BC.[8] The discovery of a "new and rare type of burial mound encircled by an outer ring wall" has ledarchaeologists to believe that specific mounds were made for thesocial elite, indicating that early Dilmun culture had a class system.[9]
According toJ. G. Lorimer's 1908Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, A'ali was a considerable village situated 6 miles southwest of theManama fort. The town consisted of 200 houses populated by theBaharna, who were primarily pottery-makers and date palm cultivators. There were an estimated 8,250 date palms in the village and livestock included 35 donkeys & 10 cattle. Lorimer also mentions that the village was the site of the largesttumuli on the island[10]
A'ali is located in the middle ofBahrain Island (al-awal island), south ofIsa Town and north ofRiffa. Its name (Arabic: عالي) translates to “high” in English and refers to the town’s high elevation from sea level.[citation needed] It lays approximately 15 km (9.3 miles) southwest of the capitalManama.
The mounds have been a source of controversy inBahraini politics; in July 2008, the municipal council chairman of thecentral governorate called for the demolition of 62 ancient burial mounds to make way for the construction of a nearbyjunction.[11] In 2009, the construction of amuseum dedicated to the history of the mounds and of A'ali was announced.[12]