Film · The Date Palm, Part II
The Date Palm: Living Traditions
How the tree is grown, worked, and remembered across the peninsula today
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The date palm made settled life in Arabia possible, and then outlived the economy it built. This is the second of two films on the tree: not its deep origins, but how it is grown, worked, eaten, timed, and remembered across the peninsula today, from the aflāj of Oman to the great oases of al-Aḥsāʾ and the markets of al-Qaṣīm.
Published record
These are the sources accompanying the film. The research was recorded before writing and the finished script was checked against that record, line by line.
Sources
- Alain Cariou, on the decline, resistance and renewal of the oases of the United Arab Emirates and Oman
- Julien Charbonnier, on the mastery of irrigation time in the oases fed by the aflāj
- D. V. Johnson, J. M. Al-Khayri and S. M. Jain, on date production status and prospects, in Date Palm Genetic Resources and Utilization, Vol. 2
- Rashid Al-Yahyai and M. M. Khan, on the status and perspective of the date palm in Oman
- S. M. Aleid, J. M. Al-Khayri and A. M. Al-Bahrany, on the status and perspective of the date palm in Saudi Arabia
- M. A. Al-Khalifa and colleagues, on the status and perspective of the date palm in Bahrain
- Daniel Martin Varisco, on Islamic folk astronomy
- M. Sherif and colleagues, on water resources in the region (Water, 2021)
- S. Fragaszy and R. McDonnell, on groundwater governance in the Liwa oasis (IWMI)
- Abdullah S. Al-Ghafri and colleagues, on sustainability and equity in access to water in the aflaj of Oman
- Sterenn Le Maguer, on archaeological research and heritage in Oman as a factor of modernisation
- Manikandan and colleagues, on advancing date palm cultivation in the Arabian Peninsula
- On recent advances in date palm genomics (Frontiers in Genetics, 2022)
- Shahalam, on the aflaj systems of Oman
- With Arabic-language heritage and press sources, listed in full in the production archive
Primary sources
- al-Aʿshā (Maymūn ibn Qays), Dīwān al-Aʿshā al-Kabīr, ed. Muḥammad Muḥammad Ḥusayn
- UNESCO and ICOMOS, the Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman, inscription of 2006
- UNESCO, al-Ahsa Oasis, an Evolving Cultural Landscape, inscription of 2018
- FAO, Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems: the Al Ain and Liwa historical date-palm oases
- FAOSTAT and national statistical authorities of Saudi Arabia and Oman, date and agriculture data
- Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Qassim date-sector figures
- The Buraydah International Dates Festival, on the Qassim palm count and varieties
- National groundwater and salinisation assessments for Oman and the United Arab Emirates
- The national emblems of Saudi Arabia and Qatar
Image sources
Images and footage are drawn from the archive's own material, Wikimedia Commons, Pexels, and iStock. They are used under Creative Commons, platform, and standard commercial licences. Several diagrams were produced by the archive. Full credits appear at the end of the film.