Boat remains and maritime trade in the Persian Gulf during the sixth and fifth millennia BC

Carter examines the boat-related finds from H3, As-Sabiyah, together with the distribution and use of Ubaid pottery at sites around the Gulf, and presents the two lines of evidence as pointing to maritime exchange between southern Mesopotamia and Arabian Neolithic communities.

At H3 he discusses a ceramic model of a reed-bundle boat, a painted disc interpreted as a sailing boat, and pieces of bituminous material. Reed impressions and barnacle encrustations on the bitumen support his reading of it as a waterproof coating for hulls, and the analysis he reports traces it to Burgan, south of H3. For the wider Gulf he looks at the distribution of Ubaid pottery, its local imitations and its vessel forms, noting that the H3 assemblage leans towards bowls and cups and comparing it with assemblages from Central Gulf sites and Dalma (pp. 58–60).

Gulf communities, Carter argues, actively sought Ubaid pottery and circulated it within their own settlements: its presence at large and small sites, the local imitations and the prevalence of serving vessels are presented as evidence for local demand and use. He proposes that ceremonial gift-giving or exchange, possibly at communal feasts, distributed the pottery and helped to negotiate status, alliances and group boundaries.

He concludes that a long-distance maritime exchange relationship linked southern Mesopotamia and the Gulf by the late sixth millennium BCE, sets it apart from earlier seaborne obsidian exchange in the Aegean, and calls for comparison with the spread of Ubaid-related material culture in other directions. His terminology runs from Ubaid 2/3 to Ubaid 5, and under Forest's chronological scheme he gives a possible Ubaid 3–4 contact span of c. 5300–4300 BC (p. 61).