The Historical Quarries of Jabal Fuwairit (North Qatar): Preliminary Studies for its Enhancement, Conservation, and Musealisation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21701/bolgeomin/137.1/009Keywords:
Fossil dunes, limestone, Nasr bin Shahin Al Tuwar, archaeologyAbstract
The historical quarries of Jabal Fuwairit are in the north of Qatar. Approximately 1 km NW of the archaeological site of Fuwairit (N 26° 2’ 28.457’’ E 51° 21’ 57.418’’). Jabal Fuwairit fossil dunes are pseudo-parallel to the coastline and have an NW-SE orientation. They are approximately 1.3 km long and 0.2 km wide at their widest. Throughout the hills, there are numerous vestiges of historic stonework. Traditionally quarried building stone at Jabal Fuwairit is an ooidal limestone characterised by medium-scale crossbedding and a vuggy fabric with ophiomorpha burrows and cemented roots. Ooid grains are well sorted and medium- to coarse-grained, with sparse fossil debris. The quarrying was facilitated by the cross-bedded strata set in pseudo-horizontal planes, along with the desiccation cracks filled with muddy material (pseudo-vertical planes), which made possible the extraction of individual blocks in the historical quarry. The homogeneity of the grain size and high porosity of this stone allows it to be easily carved. Jabal Fuwairit historical quarries are in a privileged geological environment. They have numerous engravings, especially cup-marks, and possibly a ground-plan of a house with an inscription, attesting to the place where the stone was extracted for the building of a shaikhly residence around 1900 by the headman of Fuwairit, Nasr bin Shahin Al Tuwar. Jabal Fuwairit historical quarries can be reused generating economic profitability with cultural actions. They have numerous geological and archaeological elements to become an open-air museum.
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