Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T02:08:27.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Boat remains and maritime trade in the Persian Gulf during the sixth and fifth millennia BC

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Robert Carter
Robert Carter*
Affiliation:
G.A. Wainwright Research Fellow (University of Oxford, University of Durham), 38B Grand Parade, Green Lanes, London N4 1AQ, England
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Archaeological excavations in Kuwait have revealed the earliest remains anywhere of sea-going boats. The author explains these remains and the distribution of Ubaid pottery as evidence for a system of maritime exchange in the Arabian Neolithic driven by status and ceremony.

Keywords

Persian GulfUbaid wareboat-buildingmaritime archaeology
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 80 , Issue 307 , 1 March 2006 , pp. 52 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beech, M., Elders, J. & Shepherd, E. 2000. Reconsidering the ‘Ubaid of the southern Gulf: new results from excavations on Dalma Island, U.A.E. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 30: 41–7.Google Scholar
Berndt, R.M. 1951. Ceremonial exchange in western Arnhem Land. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 7: 156–76.Google Scholar
Bourriau, J. & Oates, J. 1997. Spinning or sailing?: the boat models from Eridu. Antiquity 71: 719–21.Google Scholar
Breniquet, C. 1987. Les petits objets de la fouille de Tell el ‘Oueili, in Huot, J.-L. (ed.) Larsa (10e campagne, 1983) et ‘Oueili (4e campagne, 1983): rapport préliminaire 73: 141–58. Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations.Google Scholar
Burkholder, G. 1972. Ubaid sites and pottery in Saudi Arabia. Archaeology 25: 264–9.Google Scholar
Carter, R. 2002. Ubaid-period boat remains from As-Sabiyah: excavations by the British Archaeological Expedition to Kuwait. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 32: 13–30.Google Scholar
Carter, R. 2003. The Neolithic origins of seafaring in the Arabian Gulf, Archaeology International 2002/2003: 44–l7.Google Scholar
Carter, R. forthcoming. ‘Ubaid pottery and plaster vessels from DA-11, in Beech, M. & Shepherd Popescu, E. (ed.) Excavations at an early 5th millennium BCsettlement on Dalma island, United Arab Emirates.Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Carter, R.A., Crawford, H.E.W. Mellalieu, S. & Barrett, D. 1999. The Kuwait/British Archaeological Expedition to as-Sabiyah: report on the first season’s work. Iraq 61: 43–58.Google Scholar
Carter, R.A. & Crawford, H.E.W. 2001. The Kuwait/British Archaeological Expedition to as-Sabiyah: report on the second season’s work. Iraq 63: 1–20.Google Scholar
Carter, R.A. 2002. The Kuwait/British Archaeological Expedition to as-Sabiyah: report on the third season’s work. Iraq 64: 1–13.Google Scholar
Carter, R.A. 2003. The Kuwait/British Archaeological Expedition to as-Sabiyah: report on the fourth season’s work. Iraq 65: 77–90.Google Scholar
Casson, L. 1995. Ships and seamanship in the ancient world. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Cleuziou, S. & Tosi, M. 2000. Ra’s al-Jinz and the prehistoric coastal cultures of the Ja’alan. Journal of Oman Studies 11: 19–74.Google Scholar
Connan, J., Carter, R.A. Crawford, H.E.W. Tobey, M. Charrié-Duhaut, A. Jarvie, D. Albrecht, P. & Norman, K. 2005. A comparative geochemical study of bituminous boat remains from H3, As-Sabiyah (Kuwait), and RJ-2, Ra’s al-Jinz (Oman). Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 15: 1–46.Google Scholar
Connan, J. & Nishiaki, Y. 2003. The bituminous mixtures of Tell Kosak Shamali on the Upper Euphrates (Syria) from the early Ubaid to the post Ubaid: composition of mixtures and origin of bitumen, in Nishiaki, Y. & Matsutani, T. (ed.) Tell Kosak Shamali - the archaeological investigations on the Upper Euphrates, Syria, Volume II: Chalcolithic technology and subsistence: 283–306. Tokyo: The University Museum and the University of Tokyo.Google Scholar
Dalton, G. 1977. Aboriginal economies in stateless societies, in Earle, T.K. & Ericson, J.E. (ed.) Exchange systems in prehistory: 191–212. NewYork, San Francisco, London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
De Cardi, B. 1986. Some aspects of Neolithic settlement in Bahrain and adjacent regions, in Al-Khalifa, S.H.A. & Rice, M. (ed.) Bahrain through the ages: the archaeology: 87–93. London, New York, Sydney, Henley: KPI.Google Scholar
Dickson, H.R.P. 1956. Kuwait and her neighbours. London: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Dietler, M. 2001. Theorizing the feast: rituals of consumption, commensal politics and power in African contexts, in Dietler, M. & Hayden, B. (ed.) Feasts: archaeological and ethnographic perspectives on food, politics and power. Washington, DC and London: Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar
Forest, J.-D. 1996. Éléments de chronologie, in Huot, J.-L. (ed.) Oueili. Travaux de 1987 et 1989. Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations.Google Scholar
Frifelt, K. 1995. The island of Umm an-Nar. The third millennium settlement. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press.Google Scholar
Golding, M. 1974. Evidence for pre-Seleucid occupation of east Arabia. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 4: 19–31.Google Scholar
Hall, H. & Woolley, L. 1927. Ur excavations, volume I. Al-ߢUbaid Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hayden, B. 2001. Fabulous feasts: a prolegomenon to the importance of feasting, in Dietler, M. & Hayden, B. (ed.) Feasts: archaeological and ethnographic perspectives on food, politics and power. Washington, DC and London: Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar
Hermansen, B.D. 1993. ‘Ubaid and ED pottery from five sites at ‘Ain as-Sayh, Saudi Arabia. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 4: 126–44.Google Scholar
Højlund, F. & Anderson, H.H. 1994. Qala’at al-Bahrain 1. The northern citywall and the Islamic fortress. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press.Google Scholar
Junker, L.L. 2001. The evolution of ritual feasting systems in prehispanic Philippine chiefdoms, in Dietler, M. & Hayden, B. (ed.) Feasts: archaeological and ethnographic perspectives on food, politics and power: 267–310. Washington, DC and London: Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar
Kallweit, H. 2003. Remarks on the late stone age in the U.A.E., in Potts, D. Al-Naboodah, H. & Hellyer, P. (ed.) Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates. Proceedings ofthe First International Conference on the Archaeologyofthe U.A.E.: 56–64, Trident, London.Google Scholar
Kiesewetter, H., Uerpmann, H.-P. & Jasim, S.A. 2000. Neolithic jewellery from Jebel al-Buhais 18. Proceedings ofthe Seminar for Arabian Studies 30: 137–46.Google Scholar
Lenzen, H.J. 1968. Vorläufiger Bericht über die von dem Deutschen Archäologischen Institut und der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft aus Mitteln der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft unternommenen Ausgrabungen in Uruk-Warka. XXIV. Winter 1965/1966. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag.Google Scholar
Lloyd, S. & Safar, F. 1943. Tell Uqair. Excavations by the Iraq Government Directorate of Antiquities in 1940 and 1941. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 2: 131–89.Google Scholar
Lorimer, J.G. 1908. Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman andCentralArabia. Volume 2, Geographical and Statistical. Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing.Google Scholar
Malinowski, B. 1984. Argonauts of the western Pacific. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland.Google Scholar
Marshall, Y. & Maas, A. 1997. Dashing dishes. World Archaeology 28: 275–90.Google Scholar
Masry, A.H. 1974. Prehistory in northeastern Arabia: the problem of interregional interaction. Miami, FL: Field Research Projects.Google Scholar
Masry, A.H. 1997. Prehistory in northeastern Arabia: the problem of interregional interaction, 2nd edition. London and New York: Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Mcclure, H.A. & Al-Shaikh, N.Y. 1993. Palaeogeography of an ‘Ubaid archaeological site, Saudi Arabia. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 4: 107–25.Google Scholar
Oates, J. 1983. Ubaid Mesopotamia reconsidered, in Young, T.C. Smith, P.E.C. & Mortensen, P. (ed.) The hilly flanks and beyond: essays in the prehistory of southwestern Asia presented to Robert J. Braidwood: 251–81. Chicago, IL: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Oates, J. 1993. Trade and power in the fifth and fourth millennia BC: new evidence from northern Mesopotamia. World Archaeology 24: 403–22.Google Scholar
Oates, J., Davidson, T.E. Kamilli, D. & Mckerrel, H. 1977. Seafaring merchants of Ur? Antiquity 51: 221–34.Google Scholar
Ochsenschlager, E. 1992. Ethnographic evidence for wood, boats, bitumen and reeds in southern Iraq. Ethnoarchaeology at al-Hiba. Bulletin ofSumerian Agriculture 6: 47–78.Google Scholar
Phillips, C.S. 2002. Prehistoric Middens and a cemetery from the southern Arabian Gulf, in Cleuziou, S. Tosi, M. & Zarins, J. (ed.) Essays on the late prehistoryofthe Arabian Peninsula: 169–86. Rome: Istituto Italiano Per L’Africa e L’Oriente.Google Scholar
Piesinger, C.M. 1983. Legacy of Dilmun - the roots of ancient maritime trade in eastern Coastal Arabia in the 4th/3rd millenniums BC. PhD Thesis, University of Winsconsin.Google Scholar
Polanyi, K. 1957. The economy as instituted process, in Polanyi, K. Arensberg, C. & Pearson, H. (ed.) Trade and market in the earlyempires. Economies in history and theory. New York, NY: Free Press.Google Scholar
Potts, D.T. 1990. The Arabian Gulf in antiquity, Volume 1. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Potts, D.T. 1995. Watercraft of the lower sea, in Dittmann, R. Finkbeiner, U. & Hauptmann, H. (ed.) Beiträge zur Kulturgeshichte Vorderasiens: Festschrift für Rainer MichaelBoehmer 559–571. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.Google Scholar
Potts, D.T. 1997. Mesopotamian civilization: the material foundations. London: Athlone.Google Scholar
Qualls, C. 1981. Boats of Mesopotamia before 2000 B.C. PhD Thesis, Columbia University.Google Scholar
Renfrew, C. 1975. Trade as action at a distance: questions of integration and communication, in Sabloff, J. & Lamberg-Karlovsky, C.C. (ed.) Ancient civilization and trade: 3–59. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Safar, F. & Lloyd, S. 1981. Eridu. Baghdad: Ministry of Culture and Information.Google Scholar
Schwartz, M. 2002. Early evidence of reed boats from southeast Anatolia. Antiquity 76: 617–8.Google Scholar
Schwartz, M. & Hollander, D. 2001. Annealing, distilling, reheating and recycling: bitumen processing in the ancient Near East. Paléorient 26: 83–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stein, G. 2002. From passive periphery to active agents: emerging perspectives in the archaeology of interregional interaction. American Anthropologist 104: 903–16.Google Scholar
Strathern, A. 1971. The rope of Moka: big-menand ceremonial exchange in Mount Hagen, New Guinea. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Thesiger, W. 1994. The Marsh Arabs. Dubai: Motivate.Google Scholar
Thuesen, I. 2000. Ubaid expansion in the Khabur.New evidence from Tell Mashnaqa, in Roualt, O. & Wäfler, M. (ed.) Subartu VIII: La Djéziré et lEuphrate Syriens, de la Protohistoire à la fin du IIe Millénaire av. JC: 71–9. Turnhout: Brepols.Google Scholar
Uerpmann, H.-P. & Uerpmann, M. 1996. ‘Ubaid pottery in the eastern Gulf: new evidence from Umm al-Qaiwain (U.A.E.) Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 7: 125–39.Google Scholar
Vosmer, T. 2000a. Model of a third millennium BC reed boat based on evidence from Ra’s al-Jinz. Journal of Oman Studies 11: 149–53.Google Scholar
Vosmer, T. 2000b. Ships in the ancient Arabian Sea: the development of a hypothetical reed boat model. Proceedings ofthe Seminar for Arabian Studies 30: 235–42.Google Scholar
Vosmer, T. 2003a. The Magan boat project: a process of discovery, a discovery of process. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 33: 49–58.Google Scholar
Vosmer, T. 2003b. The naval architecture of early Bronze Age reed-built boats of the Arabian Sea, in Potts, D. Al-Naboodah, H. & Hellyer, P. (ed.) Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates. Proceedings ofthe First International Conference on the Archaeologyofthe U.A.E.: 152–7, Trident, London.Google Scholar
Weissner, P. 2001. Of feasting and value. Enga feasts in a historical perspective (Papua New Guinea), in Dietler, M. & Hayden, B. (ed.) Feasts: archaeological and ethnographic perspectives on food, politics and power: 115–43. Washington, DC and London: Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar