The Dilmun Burial Mounds (Arabic: مدافن دلمون, romanized: Madāfin Dilmūn) are a UNESCO World Heritage Site that includes burial areas on the main island of Bahrain. These sites date back to the Dilmun and Umm al-Nar cultures. Bahrain has long been known as an island with many burial sites. Originally, these burial mounds covered many square kilometers and were considered one of the largest cemeteries in the ancient world. The cemeteries are mainly located in the northern part of the island, on rocky areas slightly above farmland. The southern part of the island is mostly sandy and desert-like. Recent studies suggest that about 350,000 ancient burial mounds may have been created by the local population over thousands of years. The graves are not all from the same time period or style, and their sizes can vary in different areas. Research, led by the Bahrain National Museum and supported by the Bahrain Historical and Archaeological Society, continues to study these mounds. Scientists are working to create a clear timeline for the changes over time and to understand the societies that built them.

Excavations

From February 10 to February 19, 1889, some mounds were excavated by British explorer J. Theodore Bent and his wife, Mabel Bent. Mrs. Bent wrote in her diary that they found items such as ivory, charcoal, and ostrich eggshells. These items are now in the British Museum in London. Theodore Bent shared his findings in two articles, but a more detailed description was included in the Bents’ book Southern Arabia (1900). At A'ali, three cuneiform inscriptions were discovered in Mound 8. Each inscription read, "[Pa]lace of [Y]aglī-’el, [son] of Ri’mum, [the servant] of Inzak [of] Akarum." The same inscription was found on the surface at Qal'at al-Bahrain.

In the 1950s, a Danish group was excavating Qal'at al-Bahrain, the capital city of the Bronze Age. They uncovered tumuli and found items dating to about 4100–3700 years before the present from the same culture. Other researchers later excavated more graves, revealing details about their construction and contents.

Each tumulus has a central stone chamber surrounded by a low ring-wall and covered with earth and gravel. The mounds vary in size, but most are 15 by 30 feet (4.5 by 9 meters) in diameter and 3–6 feet (1–2 meters) high. Smaller mounds usually have only one chamber. The chambers are typically rectangular, with one or two alcoves at the northeast end. Larger chambers sometimes have additional pairs of alcoves in the middle.

Most chambers contained one burial, though some had multiple people, and others had no remains. The deceased were usually placed with their heads toward the alcove end of the chamber and lying on their right sides. Few items accompanied the bodies, including pottery, shell or stone stamp seals, baskets sealed with asphalt, ivory objects, stone jars, and copper weapons. The skeletons represent both males and females, with an average life expectancy of about 40 years. Babies were often buried near or outside the ring-wall. On average, each family had 1.6 children.

Efforts to protect the burial mounds have faced opposition from religious groups who consider them un-Islamic. During a parliamentary debate on July 17, 2005, Sheikh Adel Mouwda, leader of the Salafist al Asalah party, stated, "Housing for the living is better than graves for the dead. We must take pride in our Islamic roots, not in an ancient civilization from another place and time, which has only given us a jar here and a bone there."