Archaeology Magazine - January 1973 - 18

Water, of course, is the all important resource
binding these civilizations together. Men were
attracted to the Gulf by its potential for transport; initial coasting efforts must have been in
small shallow craft. Simple nets were used to
catch a wide variety of salt water fish, and different sorts of mollusks were abundant then as now.
Shells were in great demand as ornamental trade
items and frequently travelled as far as the cities
of northern Mesopotamia. Mother-of-pearl inlay
was popular from the earliest times, and textual
references to "fish-eyes" (pearls) foreshadow the
thriving Gulf industry.
Fresh water was less plentiful. The available
supplies from isolated springs, oases and brackish
wells had to be managed with care, and the cultures of the Gulf exercised ingenuity in assuring
a constant provision. The Mesopotamian deity
Enki, prominent in the Gulf, symbolized man's
dependency on water. As the divine source of
fresh water, Enki dwelt in a shrine in the Abyss
beneath the surface of the salty Gulf; his power
over the sweet waters flowing under land and sea
is clearly recorded in Sumerian mythology and is
frequently illustrated in the glyptic repertoire of
Mesopotamia, Bahrein Island and Failaka Island,
now part of Kuwait. Natural springs were so
prized that shrines were sometimes built around
them, as at the Bronze Age Barbar Temple in
Bahrein where underground channels led off to
irrigate fields. Scooped-out wells provided brackish
water on which some plants and wild animals
could survive, although not the important datepalm. Reservoirs, such as those on Failaka and
Bahrein, consisted of large depressions supplied
by channels which collected excess water during
the rainy season.
The more sophisticated underground aqueduct made its appearance later, possibly in
Roman times. Carefully engineered tunnels were
carved underground to carry water gradually
downhill; the qanat at Pir Bagram in Iran stems
from springs in the mountain, and its crystal
waters flow underground for ten kilometers or
more. In theory, its travelling so far insures that the
water is clean, and the cool underground temperatures destroy such germs as typhoid. Periodically broken by light wells for maintenance, the
qanats are dug out in places for the use of local
citizens who drink, bathe and launder in them,
and water their animals. On the west side of the
Gulf the qanat is called a falaj. Several very
deep falaj lines have been observed near Sar in
18

Bahrein. At Buraimi, in the sheikdom of Muscat
and Oman, the channel emerged above ground
into a luxuriant garden, and the water was said
to be warm in winter and cool in summer. (Just
possibly the warm water came from hot springs
known to be in the vicinity.) A variant type of
aqueduct is found in Iran at Bishapur and several sites in Oman: it consists of an open springfed canal cut into a vertical rock face at some
height above the ground.

N ext to the problem of water was the problem
of food. In the early Gulf culture, the date-palm
was supreme; green, ripe or dried, it provided
the basic nourishment. Its pits and other refuse
are still used as animal fodder; the juice or sap
from the tree could be fermented to make wine,
distilled to a heady liquor or simply drunk fresh.
Stamp and cylinder seals from the Gulf and surrounding lands record man's early dependency
on the palm for food and other benefits. The seals
reveal further sources of food: water birds (prized
for their eggs as well as their meat), fish, goat,
gazelle and water buffalo or zebu; the last is
clearly depicted on a third millennium pot from
Umm an-Nar. Even in this period gazelles and
wild goats were admired for their grace, agility
and capricious qualities; practically speaking,
they were hunted for flesh, hides and sport.

In the matter of shelter, too, the peoples of
the Gulf had similar, yet individual, solutions.
Because the land was virtually devoid of raw
materials, the first builders whose efforts are recorded used reeds from the marshes; we possess
stylized illustrations of these structures dating
from the third millennium. Now, aided by ethnographic observations, we can make clearer distinctions between the structural types. The classic
type in modern times consists of an interior reed
frame with mats lashed to the exterior; the most
elegant expression of this form is the barrelvaulted mudhif used for ceremonies, meetings
and entertainment in the marshes of Southern
Iraq. A gabled version of the interior frame
building survives in Khuzistan, Iran, and a less
formal rendering can still be seen on Bahrein
Island.
The traditional reed hut facade, extant in our
time only among the Marsh Arabs, dates back as
far as the Protoliterate period in Mesopotamia.

Archaeology Magazine - January 1973

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - January 1973