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Black Gold and Frankincense
Photographs of Southern Arabia
by the Early Oil Explorers, 1947-71
by Michael Quentin Morton
Hardback: 404
pages (half in English, half in Arabic),
142 b+w photographs, 56 colour photographs, maps
ISBN 9789948050797
When the author's father, Mike Morton, arrived with René Wetzel and Tony Altounyan
in Aden at the start of their first expedition to southern Arabia in the autumn of 1947, they met Wilfred Thesiger, the great
explorer, who was about to embark on his second crossing of the Empty Quarter. Their meeting was a crossing of paths both
real and symbolic: the oilmen’s path led to the future, the search for oil and the promise of wealth and rapid change,
while Thesiger’s path led to the past, the Bedouin way of life, of camels and encampments in the desert. Each, in their
own way, compiled a lasting record of the people they met and the places they encountered.
This
is the starting point for Black Gold and Frankincense. The title of the book derives from the contrast between the
ancient civilisations that rose and fell with the frankincense trade, and the arrival of the oil age, as represented by the
geologists and others who came in search of “black gold”. The idea for the book evolved from a desire to create
a permanent record of these early expeditions. It contains some 200 colour and black and white photographs of the people
of southern Arabia before the oil started to flow. Nothing is known about the subsequent lives of the people in the photographs
but most will have lived to see many changes since their photographs were taken.
Black Gold and Frankincense, in English
and Arabic, expands on the author's first book, In the Heart of the Desert, with photographs of
local people in a variety of settings: in their villages, at water wells, working in salt mines, riding camels,
dancing, attending weddings, or simply posing for the camera. For many of these subjects, this was the first time
their photograph had been taken. The book also depicts the ancient mouments and artefacts that the geologists found
on their journeys, and concludes with the advent of the oil age in the countries known today as Yemen, Oman and
the UAE.
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Black Gold and Frankincense is published by the National
Centre of Documentation and Research in Abu Dhabi. To visit the publisher's website, please click here.
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