ShareKUWAIT: The National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) announced on Sunday the discovery of a courtyard and a building west of the Al-Qurainiya site on Failaka Island, dating back 2,300 years to the Hellenistic period. Acting Assistant Secretary-General of the Council for Antiquities and Museums, Mohammad bin Redha, told KUNA that the Kuwaiti-Italian archaeological mission team made the discovery during its work at the Al-Qurainiya site, a settlement that stretches back to multiple periods extending from before Islam to the early and late Islamic periods in the north of Failaka Island, which directly overlooks the sea coast.
Bin Redha explained that the team found inside the courtyard and the discovered building rock foundations, an internal wall and an entrance linking the external courtyard with the room, inside which many remains of plastered walls were also found, in addition to numerous pottery items that are over 2,000 years old.
He stated that the oldest layer at this site dates back to the third and second centuries BC (2,300 years ago), stressing that it is one of the largest archaeological sites on the island of Culture, Arts, and Literature. He mentioned that Al-Qurainiya has been one of the most important sites for archaeological survey and excavation since 2014, in cooperation between the Council and the University of Perugia, Italy, under the supervision of the head of the Italian mission, Dr Andrea De Micheli.
Bin Redha stated that the Council began this season to involve various sectors to cooperate with archaeological missions in Kuwait, specifically between Kuwait University, international laboratories, and the Italian mission, to utilize modern laboratory equipment to answer questions related to the preparation of gypsum and the original materials used at the site, as well as the types of clay used in the pottery industry. For his part, Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology at Kuwait University, Dr Hassan Ashkanani, confirmed that the discovery of a building dating back to the Hellenistic period is a significant archaeological achievement for Failaka Island.
Ashkanani pointed out that the antiquities associated with this period that were previously found were concentrated in the southwest of the island, while the newly discovered courtyard and building are located in the north of the island, indicating the extension of the Hellenistic presence to include this site as well. He explained that this discovery suggests that the Hellenists used the Al-Qurainiya site as a control point, port, or center in the north of the island, in addition to the Hellenistic dwellings, castle, and temples in the south.
For his part, De Micheli stated that the focus for the 2025 season is on the west of the Al-Qurainiya settlement, which dates back to the pre-Islamic period. Here, the remains of a courtyard and a building outside the Islamic settlement from the Hellenistic period were found, while other excavations revealed stages from both the early and late Islamic periods. This indicates human settlement in Al-Qurainiya over long and intermittent periods, extending more than 1,800 years.
He noted that excavations from 2014 to 2020 revealed several buildings of various sizes and layouts, most of which are dwellings that date back to the eighth century AD, during the early Islamic period. These findings showed that the site was abandoned at the end of the eighth century or the beginning of the ninth century, but human activity returned to the site from the second half of the 18th century until the early decades of the 20th century AD.
He pointed out that the discovery of large quantities of pottery and ovens allows us to learn about the details of daily human life at the Al-Qurainiya site. It is worth mentioning that the remains of the Al-Qurainiya site extend approximately 500 meters from east to west directly along the sea coast and extend inland for about 250 meters to the south. These remains include numerous dwellings made of limestone, mud bricks, and pottery from various time periods, making it one of the largest archaeological sites on Failaka Island. — KUNA
