Aljasasyah mountain is the landmark to the rock carvings at Aljasasyah low outcrops, located nearly 100km northeast of Doha, and it is accessible by all means of transportation.
Parts of the site, which is nearly a kilometre long and half a kilometre wide, contain 868 carvings. Chief among the nine things depicted are sail ships depicted from above and in profile, and holes shaped like cups, known as cupules, used as a game board down the ages in the Qatar peninsula and other Arabian Gulf states and known as Aila and Huwais.
The other depictions are of animals such as donkeys and camels, and of scorpions. In addition there are symbols of the sun, fertility and various unidentified marks.
The Aljasasyah carvings were revealed to the public after their discovery by a Danish archaeological team in the spring of 1956.
Between 1957 and 1965, the Danes did several field studies of the carvings but few details were released. Detailed studies took place when Kabul, former head of the Danish teams, and his son revisited the site and the few settlements around it in 1974.
The essence of their study was published in a local journal called Al Rayan in 1975. It was mentioned in that article that the depictions of some of the ships seem to be influenced by European ships dated to the 15th century AD. The symbols of the sun and fertility, which have no relation to Islam, can be attributed to earlier periods. They also indicated that the site was used down the ages as a quarry.
Primary field studies and recent technical studies, on the other hand, suggest that the carvings are no more than 250 years old.
The latter dating seems to fit well with the time when the economy of Zubara and its surrounding areas began to flourish in 1765. Consequently they needed a lot of stone and masonry to build forts, defensive walls, palaces, and religious, official and educational buildings.
The Peninsula
