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9th mill. to 5th BC
The increase in rainfall which occurred between 8,000 and 4,000 BC made eastern Arabia a more hospitable place than it had been previously.
It is this period which saw the gradual emergence of Neolithic cultures throughout the Middle East. Domestication of animals and cultivation of plants evolved in Egypt, Turkey, Iraq and Iran.
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Al-Wsel Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al-Thani Museum Qatar National Museum |
In Qatar, the wandering population of hunters and gatherers learned to harvest wild cereals. Two limestone querns found at Al-Da'asa on the coast south of Duhkan may have been used for the preparation of wild grains.
The making of pottery is thought to have begun around 6,000 BC. Pottery from Al Ubaid, a small site near the ancient city of Ur in Iraq, begins to turn up in Qatar less than a thousand years later. Early Ubaid pottery is thin, greenish in colour, and characterised by lively painted designs in red or dark brown. Since the discovery of Ubaid pottery in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia in 1968, it has been found on over forty sites in Saudi Arabia, five in Qatar and recently at Umm al-Quwain and Ras al-Khaimah in the northern Emirates. Clearly, people were able to travel long distances at that time, making short, coastal hops between settlements. The earliest craft were probably constructed of bundles of reeds lashed together, or of palm-frond ribs. Small inshore fishing craft made of palm-frond ribs, known as “shashahs”, were in use in the Gulf until a few years ago.
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