18th-century Al Zubarah and the genesis of the modern Gulf region: archaeological perspectives

In the study of the vibrant historical events that marked the subsequent emergence of a post-colonial Gulf from the 18th century onwards, archaeology is now making a significant contribution to documenting and explaining the principle social, political and economic factors that came to shape that period of fundamental change. Of the many social transformations that occurred between the later 18th and mid-20th centuries, none was more significant than the foundation and development of the modern emirate states along the south coast. The yoke of imperial control – real or threatened – was cast off and replaced with an indigenous political, cultural and economic independence; a transforming achievement, attained through astute leadership by the coast’s main ruling families in a strategic response to the rapidly changing global realities of the time.