The History
 Kuwait, or officially the State of Kuwait, was referred to by the name Qurain (or Grane) in the early 17th century. The names Qurain or Kuwait are diminutives of the Arabic words Qarn and Kout. Qarn is a high hill and Kout is a fortress. In the dialect of neighbouring countries, Kout means a house built in the form of a fortress and adjacent to water. The plural of Kout is Akwat, as used by the Arabian peninsula's historians when they referred to a number of castles in towns with forts and walls. Some historians believe that Barrak, Sheikh of the Bani Khalid tribe, built Kuwait in Grane and that since then the city has been mostly referred to by the name Kuwait. This agrees with the local oral tradition that Sheikh Barrak ibn Ghurair Al Hamid, wh ruled the Bani Khalid tribe from 1669 to 1682, built Kuwait before the beginning of the 18th century AD, i.e. 12th century AH.
The Danish traveller Carsten Niebuhr depicted Kuwait as Grane on his map and in the narrative about his Arabia Felix expedition, undertaken in 1765. Furthermore, Kuwait was still known by the name Grane under the rule of Sheikh Abdullah bin Sabah, the second ruler of Kuwait (1762-1812). Several places in southern Kuwait still bear the name Grane (Qurain).
Archaeological investigations began in 1958 with the work of a Danish archaeological mission which excavated mainly in the south of the island, uncovering remains of the Dilmunite city from the Bronze Age, together with various Greek remains from the period 300-100 BC, including remains of houses, temples and a large fortress. The Greeks called Failaka Ikaros a Greek island in the Aegan Sea.
In 1985 a French archaeological expedition, in collaboration with Kuwait National Museum staff, uncovered more artfacts a Tell Khazneh on the island, which offered more evidence of continued life in that region during the Hellenistic period extending from the sixth century BC to the third century BC. A sandstone block contained a dedication in Greek by Soteles to Zeus, Poseidon and Artemis. Among the numerous artfacts discovered here are horse and camel figurines, Hellenistic bowls and nearly 450 Bronze Age steatite seals whose designs confirm links with Bahrain (Dilmun), Mesopotamia and the Indus valley. From such finds archaeologists have been able to draw a preliminary picture of the ancient Gulf's history and the early civilisations.
The Kuwait National Museum was established to preserve and celebrate aspects of Kuwait's heritage and culture that might otherwise have been subsumed by the modern age. It also serves as a center for research, investigation, and preservation of valuable artefacts from the nation's past.
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