Places of contact, spheres of interaction. The ʿUbaid phenomenon in the central Gulf area as seen from a first season of reinvestigations at Dosariyah (Dawsāriyyah), Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Dosariyah (Dawsāriyyah), located close to the shore of the Arabian Gulf in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, appears to have been a major coastal settlement during the end of the sixth and beginning of the fifth millennium BCE. Stone artefacts and animal remains scattered on the surface over an area of more than 10,000 m² indicate substantial human activities. In addition, more than 3000 pieces of ʿUbaid (ʿUbayd) pottery collected from the surface of the site point to intense social contacts with southern Mesopotamia. Recent reinvestigations at the site confirm that these cultural contacts with Mesopotamia existed from the beginning of the settlement at Dosariyah onwards. In this paper, initial results from new excavations at Dosariyah are discussed against present models of interaction between people living in eastern Arabia and Mesopotamia during the ʿUbaid period.