New French-Kuwaiti research in the Hellenistic fortress of Failaka-Ikaros
Résumé
The Hellenistic fortress of Ikaros faces the Arabian Gulf, standing on the south beach of Faïlaka Island (Kuwait). It was built by Antiochos the First at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. The fortress has known several occupation periods, the most important for 150 years in Hellenistic times. Special care was devoted to the fortifications, with many reinforcements, additions and extension. The work of the new French-Kuwaiti expedition (French Institute for the Near East – Department of Antiquities and Museums of Kuwait) is concentrated first on study of the fortifications, in order to understand the chronology of the fortress. Next, this work is linked with the study of the internal circulation, to understand if both are interrelated. Finally, a program of preservation and presentation of the heritage should be put in place. The new research reveals that the chronology of the fortifications is much more complicated than what it first seemed: the discovery of occupations located outside the fortress and linked with the first period poses new questions, similarly as does the chronology between the different constructions of the defense system.
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