Al-Shakhura or simply Shakhura (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: شاخورة, sometimes transliterated as Shakura) known as Shah Khoura (شاه خورا) in Persian, is a village situated in north-central

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

. It is a part of the Northern Governorate administrative region. The village is notable for its

burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

s, which have been nominated as a

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Etymology

Given Bahrain's connection with Persian rules on the Island, particularly during the Achaemenid, Sassanian, Parthian, and Safavid Empires, the name "Shakhura" (شاه خورا) likely has Persian roots, similarly to other city names. "

Shah Shāh (; ) is a royal title meaning "king" in the Persian language.Yarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII, no. 1 (1989) Though chiefly associated with the monarchs of Iran, it was also used to refer to the leaders of numerous Per ...

" ( شاه) means "king" in Persian, while "Khura" (خورا) is less clear but could be derived from older or regional Persian dialects: * One possible interpretation is that "Khura" might mean "food" or "sustenance," so Shakhura could be translated as "King's sustenance" or "King's nourishment." * Another is that "Khura" (خورہ) could be derived from "khur" ( خور) which in Persian means " bay," Together, "Shah Khura" could potentially mean "King's Bay" or "Bay King". However, the exact meaning might be linked to a historical or geographical context that could reveal a more specific interpretation.

History

Shakhura is the site of an ancient

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

dating back to the Tylos era of Bahraini history. The site was estimated to have been occupied from the 3rd century BC to the 4th century AD. Of significant interest of the site was a large 80 m long, 4–12.7 high

. It was noted to have had several distinct raised parts. The mound was demolished during the 1990s to make way for buildings.

Archaeological excavations

Archaeological work at the mound revealed 90

grave A grave is a location where a cadaver, dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is burial, buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of buria ...

s with the earliest graves situated in the centre of the mound, while others were added later in arcs around the

mound A mound is a wikt:heaped, heaped pile of soil, earth, gravel, sand, rock (geology), rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded ...

. Excavations carried out by Captain Robert Higham from the

Royal Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications an ...

during the 1960s revealed a number of important artefacts dating from the Roman and Parthian times, included an intact glass ribbed bowl, that are now kept at the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

in London. In 2008,

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

s announced the discovery of a layer of ash that contained fragments of glazed pottery with fish and animal bones, on the site. This led to archaeologists speculating that the Tylos civilisation practiced

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

banquets, which involved offering food and drink to the deceased and burying human and animal bones inside the tomb.

References

Populated places in the Northern Governorate, Bahrain {{Bahrain-geo-stub