Mesopotamian ceramics from the burial mounds of Bahrain, c.2250-1750 BC

Abstract

Among the ceramic vessels recovered from the burial mounds of Bahrain, a small percentage represents Mesopotamian imports or local emulations of such. In this paper two overall horizons are distinguished in these Mesopotamian ceramics. These are significant because both coincide with major stages in Mesopotamia’s interaction with the populations of the ‘Lower Sea’. The first import horizon is comprised of a vessel type found exclusively in the scattered mounds of Early Type which pre‐date the rise of the Dilmun ‘state’ proper. The distribution of these vessels outside their areas of production demonstrates how they circulated widely in a network elsewhere considered to reflect the orbit of Mesopotamia’s late third‐millennium ‘Magan trade’. Here it is consequently concluded that this particular type represents an important fossile directeur of the ‘Magan trade’ and pre‐Dilmun florescence. The vessels that make up the subsequent horizon of Mesopotamian imports are found exclusively in the compact mound cemeteries and thus coincide with the heyday of Dilmun. On these grounds it is argued that the two horizons are the product of, respectively, the Ur III network of ‘Magan trade’ and the contracted Isin‐Larsa network of ‘Dilmun trade’.

Exchange networks of the Early Bronze Age Gulf: The imported ceramics from Kalba 4 (United Arab Emirates)

“…A similar vessel with a ridged rim (Figure 6, 2) corresponds to an imported Mesopotamian vessel known from Early Type burial mounds in Bahrain (c. 2250-2050 B.C.) and finds later Akkadian and Ur II parallels in Mesopotamia (Laursen, 2011). Distinctive body sherds include examples with ridges and combed decoration (Figure 4, 11-14) that finds parallels in Mesopotamia, Failaka Tell F6 and Qala'at al-Bahrain.…”

“…There is documentary evidence for large amounts of textiles being produced for export in state‐organised operations in the Ur III period. In addition to textiles and wool, there were also liquids being transported down the Gulf in ceramic jars, possibly including perfumed oil (Laursen, 2011; Laursen & Steinkeller, 2017, p. 58). The presence of bitumen on the inside of some of the Mesopotamian jars is of interest and may have been used to waterproof the jars.…”

“…This type of vessel seems less common in settlements but occurs at Tell Abraq (Potts, 1993b, fig. 4/1) and in the assemblage from Kalba 4 (Figure 6, 2; Laursen, 2011, fig 5.11)…”

“…At Qala'at al-Bahrain ceramic evidence suggests contact with SE Arabia continued until the end of the third millennium. In the second millennium, Dilmun merchants appear to have taken control of the trade routes (Laursen, 2010(Laursen, , 2011 and evidence of Dilmun trading way-stations can be identified along the coast of SE Arabia (Carter, 2003b, p. 129). This development of Dilmun into a major trading power in the early second millennium B.C.…”

A late fourth- to early third-millennium grave from Bahrain,c.3100-2600 BC

“…Significantly, the earliest material that was encountered during these investigations came from the flat‐topped burial mounds of so‐called Early Type, c .2250–2050 BC (Lowe ; Frøhlich ; Laursen , ). The finds included late Sargonic to Ur III period Mesopotamian pottery (Laursen ) as well as contemporary painted fine wares imported from the Oman peninsula based on Umm an‐Nar culture (Laursen ).…”