The Social and Environmental Context of Neolithic Seafaring in the Persian Gulf

During the late sixth and fifth millennium bc, a maritime trading network linked the villages of southern Mesopotamia and the Neolithic communities of the Arabian shores. This was more than an aggregate of opportunistic exchanges, but was a mature, stable and structured system that persisted for many generations. The reasons for its emergence and maintenance are to be found both in the motives of its participants and the geophysical and climatic development of the Persian Gulf region. The exchange relationship can be set within the broader context of the Ubaid horizon in Greater Mesopotamia and neighbouring regions, a phenomenon which saw a marked intensification of inter- and intra-regional interaction, manifested in the material culture as a shared suite of styles and perhaps ideologies.