ZEKREET FORT

Known from Beatrice de Cardi's 1973-74 surveys, this fort is dated by surface ceramics to the modern period and is comparable in plan to buildings of the same period (late 18th, early 19th century) in Qatar. For example the site of al-Huwaylah and Zubara. However, it seems that it may have been built at the very beginning of the 19th century when Rahmat b. Jabayr seized Zubara in 1809 and established his hegemony over this part of the Qatari territory. The fort of Zekreet would be the southernmost mark of the territorial expansion of this tribal chief. But this superiority was short-lived: in 1811 the city of Zubara was taken over by the Al-Thani tribe. Rahmat B. Jabayr withdrew to the city of Damman when he was evicted from Zubara. It is not known at this stage of research whether the fort of Zekreet became a fallback area for Rahmat B. Jabayr's troops or whether the fort of Damman became a base for his troops. Jabayr's troops or whether the abandonment was effective from that date. The known acts of piracy by a member of this clan until 1841 do not exclude the use of this coastal fort, located in a difficult to access cove, as one of the bases of the fleet or as a place of refuge for members of the extended family. The textual sources do not inform us about its possible destruction by the ruling power when the fleet of Jasim B. Jabayr was annihilated (1841). The fortress does not seem to have been a remarkable and effective defense zone if we consider the construction techniques that were not very elaborate for a truly defensive system. It corresponds to a place of surveillance of both the desert territories: control of the Ras Abruk area, a small peninsula with protective creeks for dhow anchorages, and the maritime territories: surveillance of ships, passage, acts of piracy.

A deepened sounding allowed the discovery of some ceramics from the Abbasid period (9th century): there would have been a temporary occupation of the "camp" type before the modern period. At that time, the site may have been related to the "city" of Ras Uwaynat 'Ali, located on the other side of the bay of Zekreet and dated to the Sassanid and Abbasid periods.

The presence of a madbassa intended to produce date syrup, of a certain size and so close to the sea, allows us to propose the hypothesis of a commercial relationship between Qatar and Bahrain at the beginning of the 19th century. It is important to note the absence of palm groves in this large area of the western coast. In this case, we can suggest the arrival of dates by boat from Bahrain.

The constitution and analysis of the typology of Zekreet ceramics show an important occupation of the camp area as a cooking and eating area. Life was organized in unbuilt structures and perhaps in a temporary and/or seasonal manner.

Indeed, the artisanal zone of the madbassa was only supposed to function for a few months a year and the population had to diversify its economy with an occupation linked to livestock (goats and dromedaries) or linked to its geographical context: the seaside. The harvesting of pearl oysters is attested to by a large deposit of shells near the madbassa and the location of this protected complex at the bottom of the cove allowed for strategic withdrawals as well as occasional incursions into the Gulf.