Bahrain was once covered with burial mounds. Over thousands of years, between roughly 2200 BC and the early centuries AD, the people of Dilmun, an ancient civilisation that controlled trade in the Gulf between Mesopotamia and the Indus valley, built tens of thousands of tombs across the northern part of the island. Many have been lost to modern development, but some fields survive, and in 2019 a selection of them, including the Madinat Hamad mound fields, was inscribed as the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Dilmun Burial Mounds.
The mounds are low, rounded heaps of stone and earth, some small, others large royal tombs, and they cluster together in fields on the gravelly plain. Each covered a stone chamber where the dead were buried with pottery, seals and other objects, many now in the Bahrain National Museum. The density of the mounds is remarkable, suggesting a large population and a culture deeply concerned with death and the afterlife. Dilmun was described in Mesopotamian texts as a land of paradise, and some scholars have linked it to the Garden of Eden.
Riding in Bahrain means dealing with busy multi-lane highways, fast traffic and roundabouts, and the island is small, so distances are short. The landscape is flat, with desert, towns and the sea never far away. Heat is the main challenge: from May to September, temperatures often exceed forty degrees, with high humidity, so riding is best in the early morning or in the cooler months from November to March. Dust and wind can reduce visibility. Driving is on the right, and speed cameras are common.
The mound field lies close to the towns of Dar Kulayb and Madinat Hamad, which have fuel, shops and restaurants. Fuel in Bahrain is cheap. Manama, the capital, is about twenty kilometres north, with all services and the Qal'at al-Bahrain, an ancient harbour and Portuguese fort, also a World Heritage Site. Food in Bahrain includes machboos, spiced rice with meat or fish, and fresh dates. Visiting the mounds at sunset, when the light turns gold and the heat begins to ease, is a memorable experience.