Abandoned towns provide a rare window into Qatar's modest past

Beyond the small, arching doorway, a winding spiral staircase climbs to the top of the wind-battered minaret, still towering above a landscape where everything else has largely fallen to ruin.

At the summit, in the cramped room inside the circular tower, four small windows frame the view of the desolate landscape. On one side, the crumbling remnants of ancient fishermen's homes—many lacking roofs, doors, and windows—stretch along the azure coastline. On the other, the vast Qatari desert.

This is Al Jumail, one of several forgotten villages scattered along Qatar’s northwest coast. The scattered ruins of these little-known ‘ghost towns’ offer a fascinating peek into life from a bygone era, before Qatar’s monumental oil- and gas-driven economic surge lured people away from its small coastal communities and into the thriving modern city of Doha.

Although the exact origins of Al Jumail remain unclear, Qatar Museums suggests it dates back to the late 19th century. The widespread remains of homes and other structures indicate the importance of this village, one of the area’s oldest settlements, which continued to be inhabited well into the previous century.

Fishing and pearl harvesting

The majority of Al Jumail’s residents, like those in other nearby abandoned villages, centered their livelihoods around the sea.

“These are fishing communities, which is why the houses are positioned just above the high tide mark,” explains Ronald William Hawker, a Gulf architecture expert, to Dinogo.

“The tidal flats in front of the villages were lined with fish traps that would catch fish as the tide receded. With shallow waters surrounding them, they likely used smaller boats capable of navigating through reefs, rocks, and rip currents,” he explains.

In the Gulf, most people had multiple seasonal means of making a living, with pearl diving – once a key source of income for Qatar before the oil discovery in the 1930s – occurring during the four summer months.

“Their entire lives revolved around the sea,” Jumaan Basheer Al Hamad can be heard saying in a video shown at the newly opened National Museum of Qatar, part of a collection of clips where elderly Qataris share stories of the country’s past.

“We started our work at the first light of dawn and continued until the maghreb prayer (sunset),” recalls Ahmed Mohammed Srour.

“There was no rest, no naps. We didn’t have breakfast or lunch. The only meal was dinner” – usually rice and fish, if they were fortunate enough to catch any.

Natural community design

Back then, most coastal dwellers would journey into the Qatari desert for the winter, setting up temporary camps with their livestock in various oases across the peninsula. When summer came, they would return to their coastal homes along the western, northern, and eastern shores, in villages like Al Arish, Al Khuwayr, Al Ghariyah, and Al Mafjar, among others.

The design and structure of these towns were heavily influenced by the surrounding environment and Islamic customs, with mosques serving as key focal points in the community.

In Al Jumail, most homes were courtyard-style, designed to face inward. They featured tall walls and staggered entrances to shield the inner courtyards and private family areas from view. Meals were prepared over wood fires, with the diet mainly consisting of rice and fish, while dates were often used as a sugar substitute.

“People lived close together according to extended family ties,” says Hawker. “They were not allowed to build in ways that would allow them to see into their neighbors’ courtyards. This organic community layout contrasts with the grid systems preferred by Western architects.”

The development of these northwestern coastal settlements reveals multiple stages of construction, blending techniques from before and after the onset of oil exploration. The older buildings combine beach-rock or coral cores with lime-based plaster for the walls.

“Both materials are typical of the region,” explains Hawker, noting that Al Jumail has also been modified over the years for use as a film location.

“These [villages] represent the last remnants of an old construction method before the oil and gas industry completely reshaped life in the region, reflecting Islamic law and its influence on the physical arrangement of society,” he adds.

Open to the public, the ruins of Al Jumail and its neighboring villages are clearly marked with signs along the main road to Al Zubarah, Qatar's sole UNESCO World Heritage Site and once a vital pearling and trading center in the 18th century.

Although you can visit the site by regular car, it is recommended to use a four-wheel-drive vehicle for the few kilometers of unpaved road leading there.