© 2002 Jeanmarie Chaise
© 2002 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
Very soon after the rebellion the entire staff of sedition were engaged in energetic defense of the city against the hordes of semisavages who besieged its walls as a result of the doctrines of liberty which had been prematurely taught them. And years before the beautiful headquarters went down beneath the southern waves, the misled and mistaught tribes of the Dalamatia hinterland had already swept down in semisavage assault on the splendid city, driving the secession staff and their associates northward. (UB 67:5.2)
The Urantia Book tells us that Dalamatia, the splendid city of the Hundreds of Caligastia, was located in the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula. Probably off the western coast of present-day Yemen, that is to say in the southern part of the present-day Red Sea. At least that is what we can deduce from what we read in the Urantia Book by comparing it with what modern archaeology tells us in parallel. Here is how we can arrive at such a hypothetical conclusion:
Let us not forget, in fact, that Dalamatia was submerged between one hundred and fifty and two hundred thousand years ago and that at that time the entire Arabian Peninsula was slowly rising, gradually opening a large breach between it and the African continent, thus allowing the waters of the southern seas to rush in through what has become today the Gulf of Aden. The narrowness of the Bab al Mandab strait (gate) and the thrusts exerted here according to observations of the movements of the continental plates tell us enough that the Red Sea is a geologically recent sea, contemporary with the first human races. We would therefore not be surprised to learn that this gate, which we see so narrow, at the entrance to this sea let more and more ocean waters penetrate inward and thus finally swallow up this first civilized city of the superterrestrial messengers. (UB 67:5.5) When the first capital of the world was swallowed up, it housed only inferior types of the Sangik races of Urantia, renegades who had already converted the temple of the Father into a shrine to Nog, the false god of light and fire.
We would therefore hardly be able to fix more precisely the location of the former city of the Hundreds of Caligastia and we would hardly be very sure of this deduction if the Urantia Book did not bring us an additional precision. Indeed, it tells us again in UB 77:3.1 "After the engulfment of Dalamatia, the Nodites headed towards the north and the east and soon founded the city of Dilmun, which became their new racial and cultural headquarters.
This is where we need to equip ourselves with a somewhat detailed map of the Arabian Peninsula and its surroundings. Indeed, since the Nodites of the former Dalamatia headed in a north-eastern direction to found the city of Dilmun, we could know more precisely where Dalamatia was located if we knew better where Dilmun was. From the geographical location of Dilmun, heading in the opposite direction, that is to say south-west, we would inevitably head towards the submerged Dalamatia.
Now, we know approximately where Dilmun was. Here is what the discoveries made at Qualaat el Bahrain tell us. Bahrain is an island wedged between the Qatar peninsula and the eastern Arabian coast. It is nicknamed “the island of the dead” because it is almost entirely covered with some 100,000 mounds, small and large, dating back to prehistoric times. It was thought that the prehistoric populations of the eastern coast of Arabia went there to bury their dead and that no city, temple or palace had ever existed on this desert land. But recent excavations demonstrate the opposite, uncovering the enclosure and houses of a city, a palace of an unknown style and a sanctuary. Bahrain - it is now proven - was the center of a completely forgotten empire which extended into present-day Saudi Arabia, and of which the Sumerians spoke in their texts: the “kingdom of Dilmoun”, land of the rising sun, seat of the earthly paradise and the only region which “survived the flood”.
The objects unearthed indicate commercial activity oriented towards both India and Mesopotamia. In ancient times, underground canals captured springs to irrigate gardens.
Archaeological work is still in its early stages; however, on the coast of Arabia and on neighboring islands, remains similar to those discovered in Bahrain and sometimes older, but belonging to the same civilization have been unearthed. The key site, which would allow us to date the beginning of this culture, unfortunately cannot be excavated, because this is where women’s bathing is located, which is strictly forbidden by Saudi Arabian customs. What a shame, isn’t it? And what a calamity to see why our delay in knowledge is sometimes due! The scientific world asks the question: “Will we one day have an explanation for the birth and development of this civilization of Dilmoun, which is perhaps the oldest in the world? Or will new discoveries reveal an even older culture?”
To this, we, the readers of The Urantia Book, have the answers. But as for the situation of the former Dalmatia, consider our map. From the island of Bahrain, let us draw the north-south and east-west axes. Let us divide the southwest quarter into two equal parts. The direction indicated by this southwest division goes straight towards the south of the Red Sea. Which had to be demonstrated. It is a hypothesis!
Jeanmarie Chair