Date & Time: Wednesday 7th, February 2024 at 7 pm
Speakers: Dr. Ferhan Sakal, Head of Excavation and Site Management
Venue: Doha English Speaking School
Location Map: DESS
Synopsis:
Rock Art in Qatar has been subject to several studies and publications since the discovery of petroglyph sites in 1957 by the Danish Archaeological Expedition to the Arabian Gulf. Holger and Hans Kapel provided a detailed and exemplary documentation of Al Jassasiya rock art site with photographs and illustrations as early as in 1974. Therefore, studies concerning the typology, function, dating and touristic potential of rock art in Qatar have focused on Al Jassasiya as the main site of interest.
For the last few years, and inspired through the public archaeology program of Qatar Museums, members of the public have started to report findings which have led to the discovery of few previously unknown rock art sites in Qatar. These new discoveries do not answer the questions concerning meaning, purpose of production and dating of the rock art but add new questions concerning the distribution patterns of the rock art sites. During this talk we will discuss about all currently known rock art sites of Qatar and give an update about their current state of documentation, preservation, conservation, and management while reassessing the questions concerning the typology, distribution, and function.
Speaker Bio
Dr. Ferhan Sakal is an archaeologist with over 30 years of field experience in Western Asia and Europe. Before moving to Qatar, he worked for several excavation projects in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Germany and was field director of several excavation and survey projects, as well as a teaching fellow at the University of Tübingen (Germany). He published several books, editions and articles mostly on chronology, funerary archaeology, archaeological excavations, and material studies. Since 2013 he works for Qatar Museums and currently holds the position Head of Excavation and Site Management at the Department of Archaeology.
