manufactured into the Ur III period in southeast Iran, around Tepe Yahya and Jiroft
(Kohl 2001 : 201 ; Crawford and al-Sindi 1996 ), but at least one of the types represented
at Tarut is considered to be exclusive to the ED II period. The presence of série ancienne
softstone in the Gulf draws attention to connections between the Iranian side of the
Gulf and Eastern Arabia, particularly Tarut’s potential as a staging post between
southern Mesopotamian (and Susa) and urbanised southeastern Iran, thought by some
to equate to Marhashi (D. Potts 2005 ; Steinkeller 2006 ). Série anciennematerial
appears in Mesopotamia as early as the ED II period (D. Potts 1994 : 257 ). The Tarut
corpus is badly in need of restudy in the light of the new dating of some types, and
the new finds from around Jiroft (Anon 2003 ).
Further relevant finds at Tarut include a lapis-lazuli statue of a bearded man, a
limestone statue of a naked male in a typically Mesopotamian devotional posture, and
a cast bronze bull’s head. All indicate close ties with Early Dynastic Mesopotamia
(D. T. Potts 1990 : 66 – 68 ; Zarins 1978 ), or even the Jamdat Nasr period (Ippolitoni-
Strikka 1986 ). Piesinger believed the evidence from Al-Rufayah indicated that Tarut
was “a major transshipment centre” during the early third millennium, due to the
presence of abundant chunks of “raw copper, steatite and lapis lazuli” in the layers
above an ED I floor, though it must be cautioned that these layers were heavily
disturbed, devoid of stratigraphy and contained Early Dilmun and Hellenistic pottery.
In sum, these sites and finds indicate a settled farming population in the Eastern
Province from the late Uruk period, which was in frequent contact with southern
Mesopotamia. The presence of the bulla, a protoliterate administrative device con-
nected with the movement of goods, denotes an early trading relationship, or even the
presence of communities which used Mesopotamian administrative practices. By the
ED I or II period, the extent of settlement appears significant and the ties with
Mesopotamia were strong and crossed into the devotional sphere, with cultic objects
(i.e. the statuary mentioned above) being found. While this suggests integration into
the Sumerian world, trading ties with Iran are also significant (e.g. in the steatite),
while the local character of the bulk of the domestic inventory and funerary archi-
tecture indicates that a distinctive regional culture had emerged. It remains unknown
whether this complex included a truly urban centre, though investigations of the tell
site beneath the fort at Tarut, tested briefly by the Danes and shown to contain
Neolithic and Bronze Age finds (Bibby 1973 : 29 – 31 ), would be revealing.
Information from the Upper Gulf (Kuwait) is limited. Considerable numbers of
cairn burials are known in the adjacent Sabiyah, Mughaira and Bahra areas on the north
side of Kuwait Bay (Carter and Crawford 2010 : Appendix I). Many of these have now
been excavated by Kuwaiti and Polish teams, though publication is currently limited to
brief online reports (see individual season reports for Al-Sabiyah in the PCMA
newsletters of the University of Warsaw, 2007 – 2010 , at http://www.pcma.uq.edu.pl)..) Most of
the excavated tombs are impossible to date, but the available artefactual inventory
(mainly beads, and some copper alloy fragments) tentatively indicates dates in the late
fourth or first half of the third millennium for some (SQM 30 , SB 65 ). Hitherto
unpublished finds include a Mesopotamian pot from tomb SBH- 17 (Sabiyah-Bahra 17 ),
excavated in 2009 by a Kuwaiti team led by Sultan al-Duwish. A sketch is given in
Figure 30. 4 above; the shape of the rim and shoulder are identical to an example found
at Al-Rufayah (Tarut), and suggests an ED I–II date (D. Potts 1986 b: pl. 2 a).
–– Robert Carter ––