We visited most of Bahrain’s T List sites in 2005 and, with Bahrain hosting the 2011 WHC, are interested to guess which (if any) might be inscribed as that country’s “reward”! Could it be the “Barbar Temple”? These remains of the Dilmun civilisation date back 4-5000 years. Any structure that ancient is of interest and anyone with time to spare in Bahrain should aim to take in the site – though the visit itself is only likely to take about half an hour. When we were there it was not well laid out/explained though no doubt a lot more could be done to improve this aspect – as Bahrain has shown it can do when gaining inscription for the Fort. The main interest to me was the entrance to a spring of water (photo). It was thought that the site was dedicated to Enki the god of “Wisdom and the sweet waters under the earth”. Bahrain’s geology provides aquifers which must have seemed miraculous all those years ago. But a WHS?? I think not. The Bahrain Fort inscription already includes Dilmun remains – though these are not that visible at a site dominated by the Portuguese fort. Perhaps Barbar could be included in an inscription of multiple Dilmun remains. But every extra location creates problems for gaining inscription in terms of buffer zones, management plans, stakeholder reviews etc so there is an inbuilt disincentive to include too many sites in any inscription and really Bahrain has rather cut the ground from under itself by already including some Dilmun remains in the Fort inscription . I would expect Barbar Temple to remain its same sleepy self way past 2011!