View source for Ubaid period

{{short description|Prehistoric period of Mesopotamia}}
{{Infobox archaeological culture
| name         =Ubaid period
| map          =
{{Location map+|Iraq|width=265|relief=yes|float=center|border=none|caption={{center|A clickable map of Iraq detailing important sites that were occupied during the Ubaid period}}
|places=
{{Location map~|Iraq|lat=30.815833|long=45.996111|position=left|label_size=50|label='''[[Tell Abu Shahrain]]'''}}
{{Location map~|Iraq|lat=30.972222|long=46.030556|position=right|label_size=50|label='''[[Tell al-'Ubaid]]'''}}
{{Location map~|Iraq|lat=31.243|long=45.885|position=top|label_size=50|label='''[[Tell el-'Oueili]]'''}}
{{Location map~|Iraq|lat=36.495556|long=43.260278|position=top|label_size=50|label='''[[Tepe Gawra]]'''}}
{{Location map~|Iraq|lat=33.88333|long=45.44999|position=left|label_size=50|label='''[[Choga Mami]]'''}}}}
| region       =[[Near East]]
| period       =[[Chalcolithic]]
| dates        ={{circa|5500|3700|lk=yes}} BC
| typesite     =[[Tell al-'Ubaid]]
| majorsites   =
*[[Tell el-'Oueili]]
*[[Tell Abu Shahrain]] (Eridu)
*[[Hadji Muhammed]]
*[[Choga Mami]]
*[[Tell Abada]]
*[[Tepe Gawra]]
| precededby   =
*[[Pottery Neolithic]]
*[[Samarra culture]]
*[[Hassuna culture]]
*[[Halaf culture]]
*[[Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period]]
| followedby   =
*[[Uruk period]]
}}
{{History of Iraq|File:Bowl MET DP104228 (cropped).jpg}}
{{Chalcolithic}}
The '''Ubaid period''' (c. 5500–3700 BC)<ref name=":0" /> is a [[prehistory|prehistoric]] period of [[Mesopotamia]]. The name derives from [[Tell al-'Ubaid]] where the earliest large excavation of Ubaid period material was conducted initially in 1919 by [[Henry Hall (Egyptologist)|Henry Hall]], [[Leonard Woolley]] in 1922–1923, and later by Pinhas Delougaz in 1937.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Harry Reginald |url=http://hdl.handle.net/11401/88671 |title=Al-'Ubaid: A Report on the Work Carried Out at Al-'Ubaid for the British Museum in 1919 and for the Joint Expedition in 1922-3 |last2=Woolley |first2=Sir C. Leonard |date=1927 |publisher=Oxford University Press |hdl=11401/88671 |language=en}}</ref><ref>[http://hdl.handle.net/11401/88695]H. R. Hall, "Season's Work at Ur; Al-'Ubaid, Abu Shahrain (Eridu), and Elsewhere; Being an Unofficial Account of the British Museum Archaeological Mission to Babylonia, 1919", Methuen, 1930</ref><ref name="Delougaz" >P. Delougaz, "A Short Investigation of the Temple at Al-'Ubaid", Iraq, vol. 5, pp. 1–11, 1938</ref> Excavations continue into the present day.  

In [[Lower Mesopotamia|Southern Mesopotamia]], this period marks the earliest known human settlements on the [[alluvial plain]], although it is likely earlier periods exist that are obscured under the [[Alluvium#Age|alluvium]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Adams Jr. |first1=Robert McCormick |author-link=Robert McCormick Adams Jr. |title=Upon this foundation: the ʿUbaid reconsidered; proceedings from the ʿUbaid Symposium, Elsinore, May 30th - June 1st 1988 |last2=Wright |first2=H.T. |author-link2=Henry Tutwiler Wright |date=1989 |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=978-87-7289-070-8 |editor-last=Henrickson |editor-first=Elizabeth F. |series=CNI-publikations |location=Copenhagen |pages=441–456 |chapter=Concluding remarks |editor-last2=Thuesen |editor-first2=Ingolf}}</ref> In the south it has a very long duration between about 5500 and 3800 BC when it is replaced by the [[Uruk period]].<ref name=":0" />

In [[Northern Mesopotamia]] the period runs only between about 5300 and 4300 BC.<ref name=":0" /> It is preceded by the [[Halaf period]] and the [[Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period]] and succeeded by the Late [[Chalcolithic period]].

== History of research ==
The excavators of [[Eridu]] and [[Tell al-'Ubaid]] found Ubaid pottery for the first time in the 1910-1920s.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=McMahon |first=A. |title=Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie 14. Band, 14. Band |date=2014 |isbn=978-3-11-041761-6 |pages=261–265 |language=English |chapter='Ubaid-Kultur, -Keramik |oclc=985433875}}</ref> In 1930, the attendees at a conference in [[Baghdad]] defined the concept of an "Ubaid pottery style". This characteristic pottery of this style was a black-on-buff painted ware. This conference also defined the Eridu and Hajji Muhammed styles.<ref name="matthews2002">{{Cite book |last=Matthews |first=Roger, Dr |title=Secrets of the dark mound: Jemdet Nasr 1926-1928 |date=2002 |publisher=British School of Archaeology in Iraq |isbn=0-85668-735-9 |location=Warminster |oclc=50266401}}</ref> Scholars at this conference mistakenly thought that these pottery styles were so different that "[...] they could not have developed out of the old, as is the case with the Uruk ware after the al-'Ubaid ware [...]". For many attendants of the conference, "this sequence based largely on pottery represented a series of different 'ethnic elements' in the occupation of southern Mesopotamia."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Potts |first=D.T. |title=Ǧamdat Naṣr: period or regional style?: papers given at a symposium held in Tübingen, November 1983 |date=1986 |publisher=Reichert |isbn=978-3-88226-262-9 |editor-last=Finkbeiner |editor-first=Uwe |location=Wiesbaden |pages=17–32 |language=English |chapter=A contribution to the history of the term 'Ǧamdat Naṣr' |oclc=16224643 |editor-last2=Röllig |editor-first2=Wolfgang}}</ref> These ideas about the nature of the Ubaid style phenomenon did not last. The term "Ubaid" is still used, but its meaning has changed over time.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Carter |first1=Robert A. |url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/saoc63.pdf |title=Beyond the Ubaid: transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East |last2=Philip |first2=Graham |date=2010 |publisher=Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago |others=Robert A. Carter, Graham Philip, University of Chicago. Oriental Institute, Grey College |isbn=978-1-885923-66-0 |location=Chicago, Ill. |pages=1–22 |chapter=Deconstructing the Ubaid |oclc=646401242}}</ref>

[[Joan Oates]] demonstrated in 1960 that the Eridu and [[Hadji Muhammed|Hajji Muhammed]] styles were not distinct at all. Instead, they were part of the greater Ubaid phenomenon. She proposed a chronological framework that divides the Ubaid period in four phases. Other scholars later proposed two more phases, zero and five.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crawford |first=Harriet |url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/saoc63.pdf |title=Beyond the Ubaid: transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East |date=2010 |publisher=Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago |others=Robert A. Carter, Graham Philip, University of Chicago. Oriental Institute, Grey College |isbn=978-1-885923-66-0 |location=Chicago, Ill. |pages=163–168 |chapter=The term "Hajji Muhammad": a re-evaluation |oclc=646401242}}</ref>

Scholars in the 1930s only knew a few Ubaid sites. These included the [[type site]] of Tell al-'Ubaid, [[Ur]], and in the north, [[Tepe Gawra]]. Since then, archaeologists have discovered Ubaid material culture throughout the ancient Near East. There are now Ubaid sites in the [[Amik Valley|Amuq Valley]] in the northwest and all the way to the [[Persian Gulf|Persian Gulf coast]] in the southeast.<ref name=":0" /> Important research includes the many excavations in the [[Hamrin Mountains|Hamrin area]] in the 1970s. There, archaeologists found a complete Ubaid settlement at [[Tell Abada]], and a very well-preserved house at [[Tell Madhur]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Roaf |first=Michael |title=Fifty years of Mesopotamian discovery: the work of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 1932-1982 |date=1982 |publisher=British School of Archaeology in Iraq |isbn=0-903472-05-8 |location=London |pages=40–47 |chapter=The Hamrin sites |oclc=10923961}}</ref> The excavation at [[Tell el-'Oueili]] in the 1980s revealed occupation layers that were older than those from [[Eridu]]. This discovery pushed back the date for the earliest human occupation of Lower Mesopotamia.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Huot |first1=Jean-Louis |last2=Vallet |first2=Régis |date=1990 |title=Les Habitations à salles hypostyles d'époque Obeid 0 de Tell El'Oueili. |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/paleo_0153-9345_1990_num_16_1_4527 |journal=Paléorient |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=125–130 |doi=10.3406/paleo.1990.4527}}</ref>

Excavations along southern coast of the Persian Gulf provided a great deal of evidence for contacts with Mesopotamia. The site of [[H3 (Kuwait)|H3]] in [[Kuwait]], for example, provided the earliest evidence in the world for seafaring.<ref name=":18">{{cite journal |last1=Carter |first1=Robert |title=Boat remains and maritime trade in the Persian Gulf during the sixth and fifth millennia BC |journal=Antiquity |date=March 2006 |volume=80 |issue=307 |pages=52–63 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X0009325X |s2cid=162674282 |url=https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/file/1559523/1/Published%20Journal%20Article }}</ref> The explosion of archaeological research in [[Kurdistan Region|Iraqi Kurdistan]] since the 2010s also led to discovery of even more new data on the Ubaid. For example, this research demonstrated that cultural links between the [[Shahrizor|Shahrizor Plain]] and the Hamrin area farther south were stronger than those with the north.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Carter |first1=Robert |last2=Wengrow |first2=David |last3=Saber |first3=Saber Ahmed |last4=Hamarashi |first4=Sami Jamil |last5=Shepperson |first5=Mary |last6=Roberts |first6=Kirk |last7=Lewis |first7=Michael P. |last8=Marsh |first8=Anke |last9=Carretero |first9=Lara Gonzalez |last10=Sosnowska |first10=Hanna |last11=D'Amico |first11=Alexander |last12=Sagan |first12=Wiktoria |last13=Lockyear |first13=Kris |title=The Later Prehistory of the Shahrizor Plain, Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Further Investigations at Gurga Chiya and Tepe Marani |journal=Iraq |date=December 2020 |volume=82 |pages=41–71 |doi=10.1017/irq.2020.3 |s2cid=228904428 |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10174568/ }}</ref>

== Climate and environment ==
{{See also|Geography of Mesopotamia}}
Mesopotamia does not have local, high-resolution [[Proxy (climate)|climate proxy records]] such as those found at the [[Soreq Cave]] in [[Israel]]. This makes it difficult to reconstruct the region's past climate. Even so, it is known that the environment during the sixth and fifth millennium BC was not the same as today. A more temperate climate settled in around 10,000 BC. Marshy and riverine areas transformed into [[floodplains]] and finally, river banks with trees. The area south of Baghdad may have been inhabitable by humans in the eleventh millennium BC, but current evidence indicates that humans could have lived south of Uruk as early as the eighth millennium BC. This is much earlier than what had been the oldest evidence of human occupation in this area. The oldest known site in southern Mesopotamia (Tell el-'Oueili) dates to the Ubaid 0 period.<ref name=":3">{{cite journal |last1=Altaweel |first1=Mark |last2=Marsh |first2=Anke |last3=Jotheri |first3=Jaafar |last4=Hritz |first4=Carrie |last5=Fleitmann |first5=Dominik |last6=Rost |first6=Stephanie |last7=Lintner |first7=Stephen F. |last8=Gibson |first8=McGuire |last9=Bosomworth |first9=Matthew |last10=Jacobson |first10=Matthew |last11=Garzanti |first11=Eduardo |last12=Limonta |first12=Mara |last13=Radeff |first13=Giuditta |title=New Insights on the Role of Environmental Dynamics Shaping Southern Mesopotamia: From the Pre-Ubaid to the Early Islamic Period |journal=Iraq |date=December 2019 |volume=81 |pages=23–46 |doi=10.1017/irq.2019.2 |s2cid=200071451 }}</ref> [[Paleoethnobotany|Archaeobotanical research]] in the Ubaid 0 levels at 'Oueili (6500-6000 BC) has indicated the presence of [[Populus euphratica|Euphrates poplar]] and [[Bolboschoenus maritimus|sea clubrush]], both indicative of a [[Wetland|wetland environment]].<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199573493.013.0009 |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Tony J. |chapter=Wetland Archaeology and the Role of Marshes in the Ancient Middle East |pages=121–139 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Wetland Archaeology |date=2012 |isbn=978-0-19-957349-3 |editor-last1=Menotti |editor-last2=O'Sullivan |editor-first1=Francesco |editor-first2=Aidan }}</ref> As a result of changes in sea-level, the shoreline of the [[Persian Gulf]] during the Ubaid was different from that of today. At the beginning of the Ubaid, around 6500 BC, the shoreline at Kuwait may have run slightly farther south. During the subsequent 2.5 millennia, the shoreline moved farther northward, up to the ancient city of Ur around 4000 BC.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kennett |first1=Douglas J. |last2=Kennett |first2=James P. |title=Early State Formation in Southern Mesopotamia: Sea Levels, Shorelines, and Climate Change |journal=The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology |date=July 2006 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=67–99 |doi=10.1080/15564890600586283 |s2cid=140187593 }}</ref>

[[Date palm]]s were present in southern Mesopotamia since at least the eleventh millennium BC, predating the earliest evidence for domesticated dates from Eridu by several millennia. Date palms require a perennial water source, again indicating that this period may have been wetter than today. Similarly, [[oak]] was present from the eighth millennium, but disappeared at around the same time that Ubaid material culture spread outward from southern Mesopotamia during the sixth millennium BC. It has been suggested that acquisition of high-quality wood may have played a role in this expansion.<ref name=":3" />

The available evidence in northern Mesopotamia points to a cooler and drier climate during the Hassuna and Halaf periods. From the [[Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period|Halaf-Ubaid Transitional]] (HUT) to early Uruk periods, this developed into a climate characterised by stronger [[Seasonality|seasonal variation]], heavy [[Rain|torrential rains]], and dry summers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hole |first1=Frank |title=Paleoenvironment and Human Society in the Jezireh of Northern Mesopotamia 20 000-6 000 BP. |journal=Paléorient |date=1997 |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=39–49 |doi=10.3406/paleo.1997.4651 }}</ref>

== Dating and geographical distribution ==
Ubaid and Ubaid-like material culture has been discovered over an immense area. Ubaid ceramics have been found from [[Yumuktepe|Mersin]] in the west to {{ill|Tepe Ghabristan|qid=Q109293319|s=1|v=sup}} in the east, and from [[Norşuntepe]] and [[Melid|Arslantepe]] in the north to [[Dosariyah]] in the south along the [[Persian Gulf|Gulf]] coast of [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Baldi |first=Johnny Samuele |title=Proceedings of the 5th "Broadening Horizons" Conference (Udine 5-8 June, 2017). |date=2020 |isbn=978-88-5511-046-4 |editor-last=Iamoni |editor-first=Marco |location=Trieste |pages=71–87 |chapter=Evolution as a way of intertwining: regional approach and new data on the Halaf-Ubaid transition in Northern Mesopotamia |oclc=1200195553}}</ref> In this area, researchers have discerned considerable regional variation, indicating that the Ubaid was not a monolithic culture through time and space.<ref name=":0" />

Currently, the Ubaid period is most commonly divided in six phases, called Ubaid 0-5. Some of these phases equate with pottery styles that in earlier publications, were considered to be distinct from Ubaid, but that are now considered to be part of the same cultural phenomenon. Some of these styles, such as those found at the type site of [[Hadji Muhammed]] (previously thought to be Ubaid 2) are now known to occur in Ubaid 3 contexts as well, thereby limiting their value as chronological markers. The [[Relative dating|relative chronology]] is based on the long stratigraphic sequences of sites such as Ur, Eridu, and Tepe Gawra. The [[Absolute dating|absolute chronology]] is more difficult to establish, mainly due to a lack of abundant radiocarbon dates determined in southern Mesopotamia.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Relative Ubaid chronology
!phase
!alternative name
!Northern Mesopotamia
!date (BC)
<small>(after Pournelle 2003 / after Harris 2021)</small><ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Pournelle |first1=Jennifer |title=Marshland of Cities: Deltaic Landscapes and the Evolution of Early Mesopotamian Civilization |date=2003 |id={{ProQuest|305339484}} |doi=10.6067/XCV8J67GK3 |oclc=54060767 }}{{page needed|date=July 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Harris |first1=Samuel Lee |title=Public Works and Private Work on the Threshold of Complexity: The Production and Use of Space at Late Chalcolithic 1 Tell Surezha, Iraq |date=2021 |publisher=The University of Chicago |doi=10.6082/uchicago.2971 }}{{page needed|date=July 2024}}</ref>
|-
|Ubaid 0
|Oueili phase
|Early Pottery Neolithic
|6500-5900 / 6800-6200
|-
|Ubaid 1
|Eridu style
|[[Halaf culture|Halaf]]
|5900-5200 / 6200-5500
|-
|Ubaid 2
|Hadji Muhammad style
|[[Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period|Halaf-Ubaid Transitional]]
|5200-5100 / 5500-5200
|-
|Ubaid 3
|Tell al-'Ubaid style
|Northern Ubaid
|5100-4900 / 5200-4600
|-
|Ubaid 4
|Late Ubaid
|Northern Ubaid
|4900-4350 / 5200-4600
|-
|Ubaid 5
|Terminal Ubaid
|Late Chalcolithic 1
|4350-4200 / 4600-4200
|}

=== Southern Mesopotamia ===
{{Location map+|Iraq|width=260|float=right|relief=yes|caption=Map of important Ubaid period sites in Iraq|places={{Location map~|Iraq|lat=30.97|long=46.025556|position=right|label_size=75 |label=[[Tell al-'Ubaid|'Ubaid]]}}
  {{Location map~|Iraq|lat=30.815833|long=45.996111|position=left |label_size=75 |label=[[Eridu]]}}
  {{Location map~|Iraq|lat=30.9625|long=46.103056|position=bottom |label_size=75 |label=[[Ur]]}}
  {{Location map~|Iraq|lat=31.243|long=45.885|position=top|label_size=75 |label=[[Tell el-'Oueili|'Oueili]]}}
  {{Location map~|Iraq|lat=34.1|long=45.12|position=right |label_size=75 |label=[[Tell Abada]]}}
  {{Location map~|Iraq|lat=34.38|long=44.99|position=right |label_size=75 |label=[[Tell Madhur]]}}
  {{Location map~|Iraq|lat=36.495556|long=43.260278|position=right|label_size=75 |label=[[Tepe Gawra]]}}
  {{Location map~|Iraq|lat=36.371389|long=43.197778|position=left|label_size=75 |label=[[Tell Arpachiyah|Arpachiyah]]}}
  {{Location map~|Iraq|lat=31.324167|long=45.637222|position=left|label_size=75 |label=[[Uruk]]}}
  {{Location map~|Iraq|lat=32.781667|long=44.664722|position=left|label_size=75 |label=[[Tell Uqair]]}}}}

In the south, corresponding to the area that would later be known as [[Sumer]], the entire Ubaid period extends from ca. 6500 to 3800 BC.<ref name=":0" /> It is here that the oldest known Ubaid site, [[Tell el-'Oueili]], was discovered. Perhaps because such ancient settlements are buried deep under alluvial sediments, to date no archaeological site in southern [[Iraq]] has yielded remains older than Ubaid. This was the case, for example, of the site of [[Hadji Muhammed]], which was discovered only by accident.<ref name=":5" />

=== Central and northern Mesopotamia ===
{{Location map+|Ottoman Empire1914|width=260|float=right|relief=yes|caption=Map of important Ubaid period sites in northern Mesopotamia|places={{Location map~|Ottoman Empire1914|lat=36.8|long=34.4|position=left|label_size=75 |label=[[Mersin]]}}
  {{Location map~|Ottoman Empire1914|lat=38.618889|long=39.47|position=right|label_size=75 |label=[[Norşuntepe]]}}
  {{Location map~|Ottoman Empire1914|lat=35.95|long=39.066667|position=left|label_size=75 |label=[[Tell Zeidan]]}}
  {{Location map~|Ottoman Empire1914|lat=38.381944|long=38.361111|position=left|label_size=75 |label=[[Arslantepe]]}}
  {{Location map~|Ottoman Empire1914|lat=36.667617|long=41.058644|position=left|label_size=75 |label=[[Tell Brak]]}}
  {{Location map~|Ottoman Empire1914|lat=36.495556|long=43.260278|position=right|label_size=75 |label=[[Tepe Gawra]]}}}}
In central and northern Iraq, the Ubaid culture was preceded by the [[Hassuna culture|Hassuna]] and [[Samarra culture|Samarra]] cultures. The Ubaid may have developed out of the latter.<ref name=":9">{{cite book |doi=10.1007/978-1-4615-0023-0_37 |chapter=Ubaid |title=Encyclopedia of Prehistory |date=2002 |last1=Peasnall |first1=Brian |pages=372–390 |isbn=978-1-4684-7135-9 }}</ref> In Northern Syria and southeastern Turkey, the Ubaid follows upon the [[Halaf culture|Halaf period]], and a relatively short [[Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period]] (HUT) dating to c. 5500-5200 BC has been proposed as well.<ref name=":6" /> HUT pottery assemblages displayed both typically Ubaid and Halaf characteristics.<ref name=":7">{{cite book |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376142.013.0008 |date=2012 |editor-last1=McMahon |editor-last2=Steadman |editor-first1=Gregory |editor-first2=Sharon |last1=Özbal |first1=Rana |chapter=The Chalcolithic of Southeast |pages=174–204 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia: (10,000-323 BCE) |isbn=978-0-19-537614-2 }}</ref> The relationships between these cultural periods is complex and not yet fully understood, including how and when the Ubaid began to appear in Northern Mesopotamia. To resolve these issues, modern scholarship tends to focus more on regional trajectories of change where different cultural elements from the Halaf, Samarra, or Ubaid - pottery, architecture, and so forth - could co-exist. This makes it increasingly difficult to define an occupation phase at a site as, for example, purely Ubaid or purely Halaf.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Campell |first=Stuart |date=2007 |title=Rethinking Halaf Chronologies |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/paleo_0153-9345_2007_num_33_1_5209 |journal=Paléorient |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=103–136 |doi=10.3406/paleo.2007.5209}}</ref>

In Northern Mesopotamia, Ubaid characteristics only begin to appear in Ubaid 2-3, i.e. toward the end of the sixth millennium BC, so that the entire Ubaid period there would be much shorter. For [[Syria]], a range of 5300-4300 BC has been suggested.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last1=Akkermans |first1=Peter M. M. G. |title=The archaeology of Syria: from complex hunter-gatherers to early urban societies (c. 16,000-300 BC) |last2=Schwartz |first2=Glenn M. |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-79230-4 |location=Cambridge, UK |oclc=50322834}}</ref> However, some scholars have argued that the interaction between the originally southern Mesopotamian Ubaid and the north had begun during Ubaid 1-2.<ref name=":6" />

=== Persian Gulf ===
{{Location map+|Persian Gulf|width=260|float=right|relief=yes|caption=Map of important Ubaid period sites along the [[Persian Gulf]] coast|places={{Location map~|Persian Gulf|lat=29.641667|long=48.150556|position=top|label_size=75 |label=[[H3 (Kuwait)|H3]]}}
  {{Location map~|Persian Gulf|lat=24.516667|long=52.316667|position=right |label_size=75 |label=[[Dalma (island)]]}}
  {{Location map~|Persian Gulf|lat=29.659722|long=48.051111|position=bottom|label_size=75 |label=[[Bahra 1]]}}
  {{Location map~|Persian Gulf|lat=26.877|long=49.818|position=left|label_size=75 |label=[[Dosariyah]]}}
  {{Location map~|Persian Gulf|lat=25.94|long=51.02|position=right|label_size=75 |label=[[Wadi Debayan]]}}
  {{Location map~|Persian Gulf|lat=25.592|long=49.60|position=left|label_size=75 |label=[[Ain Qannas]]}}}}
Ubaid pottery began to appear along the Persian Gulf coast toward the end of the sixth millennium BC, reaching a peak around 5300 BC and continuing into the fifth millennium. Coastal sites where Ubaid pottery has been discovered include [[Bahra 1]] and [[H3 (Kuwait)|H3]] in Kuwait, Dosariyah in Saudi Arabia, and [[Dalma (island)|Dalma Island]] in the [[United Arab Emirates]]. Ubaid pottery has also been found further inland along the central Gulf coast at sites such as [[Ain Qannas]], suggesting that the pottery may have been a valuable trade item, rather than being a container for some other commodity. This suggestion is reinforced by locally-produced pottery imitating Ubaid wares found at Dosariyah. It is unclear which products were traded for the pottery. Suggestions include foodstuffs (dates), semi-precious materials, jewellery (made from [[pearl]] and [[Seashell|shell]]), animal products, and livestock. Notably, the degree of cultural interaction between the Ubaid and local Neolithic communities is much stronger in the area of Kuwait than further south, up to the point that it has been suggested that Mesopotamians may have lived for part of the year at sites such as H3 and Bahra 1.<ref name=":10">{{cite book |doi=10.1017/9781108573276.004 |chapter=Globalising Interactions in the Arabian Neolithic and the 'Ubaid |title=Globalization in Prehistory |date=2018 |last1=Carter |first1=Robert |pages=43–79 |isbn=978-1-108-57327-6 |chapter-url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10062263/ }}</ref> Small objects such as labrets, tokens, clay nails, and small tools that may have had cosmetic use, and that are known from southern Mesopotamian sites also occur on sites along the Gulf coast, notably the sites in Kuwait.<ref name=":11">{{cite journal |last1=Carter |first1=Robert |title=The Mesopotamian frontier of the Arabian Neolithic: A cultural borderland of the sixth–fifth millennia BC |journal=Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy |date=May 2020 |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=69–85 |doi=10.1111/aae.12145 |s2cid=213877028 }}</ref>

Conversely, evidence exists for Arabian Neolithic material in Southern Mesopotamia. It has been noted that certain types of flint arrowheads found at Ur show clear resemblance with the Arabian Bifacial Tradition. Arabian Coarse Ware has been found at the sites of 'Oueili and Eridu. As at the sites in Kuwait, it may be possible that Arabian Neolithic groups also lived in Southern Mesopotamia.<ref name=":11" />

== Material culture ==

=== Figurines ===
[[File:Lizard-headed nude woman nursing a child, from Ur, Iraq, c. 4000 BCE. Iraq Museum (retouched).jpg|thumb|Late Ubaid; figurine of a lizard-headed nude woman nursing a child; terracotta and bitumen; {{circa|4000 BC}}; [[Iraq Museum]]]]
The majority of Ubaid [[figurine]]s represented various animals, including sheep, cattle, and dogs.<ref name=":9" /> Human [[figurine]]s were already present in previous periods. The majority of the human figures are female, but male and figurines without gender emphasis exist as well.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199675616.013.029 |date=2017 |editor-last1=Insoll |editor-first1=Timothy |last1=Campbell |first1=Stuart |last2=Daems |first2=Aurelie |chapter=Figurines in Prehistoric Mesopotamia |pages=567–590 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Figurines |isbn=978-0-19-967561-6 }}</ref> Those from the early Ubaid reflect a continuation of earlier traditions.<ref name=":2" /> A single, painted figurine from the Ubaid 0 levels at Tell el-'Oueili has been interpreted as an early representation of the so-called "ophidian figurines", which became common in the later Ubaid. Both seating and standing figurines were made, with paint being used to detail body parts, clothing, or [[body modification]]s. "Ophidian figures" have been exclusively found at various southern Mesopotamian sites. They are characterised by a slender body, long, reptilian head with incised eyes and mouth and a threedimensional small nose. This particular rendering of the face may be a representation of a mask or possibly [[Artificial cranial deformation|headshaping]]. The hands are placed before the abdomen, sometimes with incised fingers. The figurines are thought to be naked. Paint is sometimes used to indicate hair or other details. 

In the earlier Ubaid, ophidian figures were only used in domestic contexts, whereas in Ubaid 3-4, they appear in graves as well, indicating a shift in how these figures were used. The rarity of ophidian figures as grave gifts may indicate differential treatment of the dead, possibly based on age, kinship, or social standing.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Daems |first=Aurelie |url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/saoc63.pdf |title=Beyond the Ubaid: transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East |date=2010 |publisher=Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago |others=Robert A. Carter, Graham Philip, University of Chicago. Oriental Institute, Grey College |isbn=978-1-885923-66-0 |location=Chicago, Ill. |pages=149–161 |chapter=A snake in the grass: reassessing the ever-intriguing ophidian figurines |oclc=646401242}}</ref>

<gallery widths="150px" heights="200px">
File:Female clay figurine - Ubaid period - Ur - ME 122872.jpg|Figurine of a woman; clay; {{circa|5200|4200 BC}}; Tell el-Muqayyar
File:Two female figurines with bitumen headdresses ceramic Ur Iraq Ubaid 4 period 4500-4000 BCE.jpg|alt=Photograph of two ceramic figurines with breasts arms and incised eyes|Ophidian figurines of women from [[Ur]] (Ubaid 4)
File:Female figurines Ubaid IV Tello ancient Girsu 4700-4200 BC Louvre Museum.jpg|Ubaid IV; two figurines of women; {{circa|4700|4200 BC}}; Tell Tello; Louvre Museum AO 15327
</gallery>

=== Stamp seals ===
[[File:Stamp_seal_with_Master_of_Animals_motif,_Tello,_ancient_Girsu,_End_of_Ubaid_period,_Louvre_Museum_AO14165_(detail).jpg|alt=Terracotta stamp seal with Master of Animals motif, Tello, ancient Girsu, End of Ubaid period, Louvre Museum AO14165. Circa 4000 BC.|thumb|upright|Ubaid 5 stamp seal with [[Master of Animals|master of animals]] motif from [[Girsu]], currently in the Louvre Museum (AO14165)]]
[[Stamp seal]]s had been in use in Upper Mesopotamia since the seventh millennium BC. By the time of the Ubaid period, a wide range of motifs had developed, including geometric patterns and depictions of animals and occasionally, humans. The Ubaid period saw the first depictions of ibex-headed and bird-headed humans.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McMahon |first1=Augusta |title=Composite Human-Animal Figures in Early Urban Northern Mesopotamia: Shamans or Images of Resistance? |journal=Oxford Journal of Archaeology |date=August 2022 |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=230–251 |doi=10.1111/ojoa.12251 |s2cid=249807233 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

<gallery widths="250px" heights="150px">
File:Drop-shaped_(tanged)_pendant_seal_and_modern_impression._Quadrupeds,_ca._4500–3500_B.C._Late_Ubaid_-_Middle_Gawra._Northern_Mesopotamia.jpg|alt=|Late Ubaid – Middle Gawra (c. 4500–3500 BC) pendant seal and modern impression with quadrupeds motif from northern Mesopotamia, currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (                    93.17.122)
File:Stamp_seal_and_modern_impression._Horned_animal_and_bird,6th–5th_millennium_B.C._Northern_Syria_or_Southeastern_Anatolia._Ubaid_Period._Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art.jpg|alt=|Ubaid (6th–5th millennium BC) stamp seal and modern impression with horned animal and bird motif from northern Syria or southeastern Anatolia, currently in the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] (1984.175.13)
</gallery>

=== Pottery ===
The Ubaid period was first distinguished on the basis of its painted pottery. Ceramics continue to be a main characteristic to determine the chronology and geographical distribution of the period. The paint varies from black to brown, purple, and dark green and the pottery fabric usually has a buff to red-green brown color.<ref name=":0" /> Ubaid 1-2 pottery had dense, geometric, and abstract decoration. Later pottery was less decorated, with bands and swags being the most common patterns of decoration. The [[Potter's wheel|slow potter's wheel]] came into use during Ubaid 3-4, which may have played a role in the decrease in decoration.<ref name=":5" />

The coarse, [[Temper (pottery)|plant-tempered]] [[coba bowl]] pottery found at many Late and Post-Ubaid sites in northern Mesopotamia has been interpreted as some kind of vessel for handing out [[Rationing|rations]] or as evidence of more specialized production, and as such, may have been a precursor of the [[beveled rim bowl]] from the Uruk period. As with many other aspects of Ubaid material culture, it is possible to distinguish different geographical traditions in the production of the coba bowl during the Ubaid period.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Baldi |first=Johnny Samuele |date=2012 |title=Coba bowls, mass-production and social change in Post-Ubaid times |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/anatv_1013-9559_2012_act_27_1_1276 |journal=Publications de l'Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=393–416}}</ref><ref name=":7" /><gallery caption="Ubaid pottery">
File:Ubaid 0-1 pottery footed bowl - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago - DSC06927.JPG|Ubaid 0-1 footed bowl from Godin Tepe, currently in the Oriental Institute Museum
File:Ubaid III pottery jar 5300-4700 BC Louvre Museum.jpg|Ubaid 3 pottery, currently in the Louvre Museum (AO 29611)
File:Ubaid III pottery 5300-4700 BC Louvre Museum.jpg|Ubaid 3 pottery, currently in the Louvre Museum (AO 29598)
File:Ubaid III pottery 5300 - 4700 BC. Louvre Museum AO 29616.jpg|Ubaid 3 pottery, currently in the Louvre Museum (AO 29616)
File:Ubaid IV pottery 4700-4200 BC Tello, ancient Girsu, Louvre Museum.jpg|Ubaid 5 pottery from [[Girsu]], currently in the Louvre Museum (AO 15338)
File:Bowl MET DP104229.jpg|Bowl; mid 6th–5th millennium BC; [[ceramic]]; 6.99&nbsp;cm; Tell Abu Shahrain; [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
File:Bowl MET DP104227.jpg|Bowl; mid 6th–5th millennium BC; ceramic; Tell Abu Shahrain; Metropolitan Museum of Art
File:Bowl MET DP104228 (cropped).jpg|Bowl; mid 6th–5th millennium BC; ceramic; 5.08&nbsp;cm; Tell Abu Shahrain; Metropolitan Museum of Art
File:Early Ubaid pottery 5100-4500 BC Tepe Gawra Louvre Museum DAO 3.jpg|Pottery; {{circa|5100|4500 BC}}; ceramic; Tepe Gawra; [[Louvre Museum]]
File:Cup MET ME49 133 5.jpg|Cup; mid 6th–5th millennium BC; ceramic; 8.56&nbsp;cm; Tell Abu Shahrain; Metropolitan Museum of Art
File:Pottery bowl from Telul eth-Thalathat, Iraq. Ubaid period, c. 5000 BCE. Iraq Museum.jpg|Pottery bowl with a rounded bottom and monochrome paint (rosettes); {{circa|5000 BC}}; Telul eth-Thalathat; [[Iraq Museum]]
File:Spouted jar - Ur Ubaid period.jpg|Late Ubaid; spouted jar decorated with geometric designs in dark paint; {{circa|5200|4200 BC}}; Tell el-Muqayyar; British Museum
File:Bowl - Ur Ubaid period.jpg|Late Ubaid; painted bowl, decorated with geometric designs in dark paint; {{circa|5200|4200 BC}}; Tell el-Muqayyar; British Museum
File:Cup - Mefesh Ubaid period.jpg|Late Ubaid; painted cup, decorated with geometric designs in dark paint tattoos; {{circa|5200|4200 BC}}
File:Iran époque d'Obeid Sèvres.jpg|Goblet and cup; {{circa|4000 BC}}; Susa; [[Sèvres – Cité de la céramique]] museum
</gallery>

=== Stone tools ===
[[Flint]] was widely available in Mesopotamia and could be sourced from outcrops in the mountains of [[Zagros Mountains|Zagros]] and [[Sinjar Mountains|Jebel Sinjar]], from limestone and river terraces in northern Mesopotamia, and from alluvial deposits in southern Mesopotamia. Different qualities of flint were used, depending on what kind of tool was made from it. For example, blades were made from a higher quality flint than other tools, and they may have been produced off-site, indicating that not only raw materials but also finished products were transported over larger distances. Flint was used for a variety of tools, including arrowheads, sickle blades, hoes that are sometimes considered a hallmark of the Ubaid, and a variety of tools for piercing and drilling. Flint assemblages display both regional and temporal variation.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Healey |first=Elizabeth |url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/saoc63.pdf |title=Beyond the Ubaid: transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East |date=2010 |publisher=Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago |others=Robert A. Carter, Graham Philip, University of Chicago. Oriental Institute, Grey College |isbn=978-1-885923-66-0 |location=Chicago, Ill. |pages=181–200 |chapter=Ubaid lithics revisited: Their significance for the interpretation of Ubaid society |oclc=646401242}}</ref>

[[Obsidian]] was also in use during the Ubaid, although the percentage of obsidian tools that was found at archaeological sites fluctuates widely across Mesopotamia. At sites along the middle Euphrates, only few pieces were usually found, and the number of obsidian artefacts was also limited in southern Mesopotamian sites. At sites along the [[Khabur (Euphrates)|Khabur]] and the upper [[Tigris]], obsidian was more common. Also, obsidian seems to have been less common during the Ubaid than during the preceding Halaf period and the subsequent Uruk period.<ref name=":8" /> Obsidian could be transported over hundreds of kilometers. For example, obsidian tools found along the Gulf coast at sites such as [[Dosariyah]] ([[Saudi Arabia]]) and [[Wadi Debayan]] ([[Qatar]]) came from sources in southeastern Turkey.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Khalidi |first1=Lamya |last2=Gratuze |first2=Bernard |last3=Stein |first3=Gil |last4=McMahon |first4=Augusta |last5=Al-Quntar |first5=Salam |last6=Carter |first6=Robert |last7=Cuttler |first7=Richard |last8=Drechsler |first8=Philipp |last9=Healey |first9=Elizabeth |last10=Inizan |first10=Marie-Louise |last11=Mouralis |first11=Damase |last12=Pernicka |first12=Ernst |last13=Robin |first13=Anne-Kyria |title=The growth of early social networks: New geochemical results of obsidian from the Ubaid to Chalcolithic Period in Syria, Iraq and the Gulf |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |date=October 2016 |volume=9 |pages=743–757 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.06.026 |bibcode=2016JArSR...9..743K }}</ref>

The Ubaid may have witnessed a shift in the production of flint tools from being carried out as a domestic activity to a more specialized activity carried out by dedicated [[Artisan|craftspeople]]. This may have been associated with the introduction of [[Canaanean blade]] technology, which became common in the fourth millennium BC that may have been linked to increased mass-production and intensification of agricultural strategies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thomalsky |first=Judith |date=2012 |title=Lithic industries of the Ubaid and Post-Ubaid period in northern Mesopotamia |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/anatv_1013-9559_2012_act_27_1_1277 |journal=Publications de l'Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=417–439}}</ref>

=== Metallurgy ===
Evidence for [[metallurgy]] comes from several sites in Upper Mesopotamia, all dating to the final stages of the Ubaid period. At [[Mersin]], Level XVI (5000-4900 BC), unalloyed copper pins and chisels were found. At southeastern Anatolian sites such as [[Değirmentepe]] and [[Norşuntepe]], metallurgical production was practiced during the Ubaid 3, as evidenced by furnaces and related finds.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376142.013.0039 |date=2012 |editor-last1=McMahon |editor-last2=Steadman |editor-first1=Gregory |editor-first2=Sharon |last1=Muhly |first1=James D. |chapter=Metals and Metallurgy |pages=858–876 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia: (10,000-323 BCE) |isbn=978-0-19-537614-2 }}</ref> At late fifth millennium {{ill|Tell Nader|qid=Q108147320|s=1|v=sup}}, northern Iraq, kilns were excavated that may have been used for the production of both pottery and metal.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kopanias |first=Konstantinos |title=Bordered Places - Bounded Times: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Turkey |year=2017 |pages=27–36 |chapter=Ubaid 'islands' in a Non-Ubaid 'sea': An Attempt to Define the Ubaid and Its Cultural Boundaries in Northeastern Mesopotamia |volume=51 |publisher=British Institute at Ankara |jstor=10.18866/j.ctt1n7qk1h |isbn=978-1-898249-38-2 }}</ref> Copper objects are also known from the Ubaid levels at Tepe Gawra (XVII-XII) and [[Tell Arpachiyah]]. Copper objects were absent in the Ubaid levels at Eridu and 'Oueili, possibly indicating that copper use spread southward from the north. However, copper may have been traded, as it was present in elite burials of the Susa I (terminal Ubaid) necropolis at [[Susa]] east of the [[Tigris]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Stein |first=Gil |url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/saoc63.pdf |title=Beyond the Ubaid: transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East |date=2010 |publisher=Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago |others=Robert A. Carter, Graham Philip, University of Chicago. Oriental Institute, Grey College |isbn=978-1-885923-66-0 |location=Chicago, Ill. |pages=23–44 |chapter=Local identities and interaction spheres: modeling regional variation in the Ubaid horizon |oclc=646401242}}</ref> In general, copper objects seem to be very rare and gold has not been found at Ubaid sites.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stein |first=Gil |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/anthropology/v3922/pdfs/stein_gil.pdf |title=Chiefdoms and early states in the Near East: the organizational dynamics of complexity |date=1994 |publisher=Prehistory Press |others=Gil Stein, Mitchell S. Rothman |isbn=1-881094-07-3 |location=Madison, Wis. |pages=35–46 |chapter=Economy, ritual, and power in 'Ubaid Mesopotamia |oclc=30109140}}</ref>

=== Boats and boat models ===
The Ubaid period provides the first evidence for boating in the ancient Near East. Ceramic boat models have been recovered from numerous sites across Mesopotamia, from [[Tell Zeidan|Zeidan]] and [[Tell Mashnaqa]] in modern-day northern Syria to Eridu and 'Oueili in the south and Abada in the Hamrin. These models date from Ubaid 1-4, but become more common from Ubaid 3 onward. The models indicate that different boat types may have been in use, including [[reed boat]]s, and boats with masts.<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hnaihen |first=Kadim Hasson |date=2021-06-27 |title=River Transport in Mesopotamia (5900–539 BC) |url=https://swiatowitwuw.pl/resources/html/article/details?id=217204 |journal=Światowit |issue=59 |pages=141–151 |doi=10.31338/0082-044X.swiatowit.59.8|url-access=subscription }}</ref> It has been noted that no evidence for boats has been recovered from Halaf sites in northern Mesopotamia, and that Ubaid 3, from which more boat models have been recovered, coincides with the expansion of the Ubaid toward the north and into the Persian Gulf.<ref name=":10" />

At the site of H3 in modern-day Kuwait, a ceramic boat model and a ceramic disc with an image of a two-masted boat were recovered. The latter is the oldest evidence for the use of masts and sails. At the same site, pieces of bitumen with [[barnacle]]s attached to one side and reed-impressions on the other sides were recovered. These pieces are the earliest evidence for boats in [[Western Asia]], and the earliest evidence for seagoing vessels in the world.<ref name=":18" />

=== Wool production ===
Evidence for the production of [[wool]] is ambiguous and mostly indirect. Wool-bearing sheep have been clearly attested in Uruk-period sites, and the [[domestication]] of sheep and goat started in the ninth millennium BC, but exactly when wool-production emerged between those two fixed points is unclear. There is some evidence for emerging wool production in the fifth millennium BC, i.e. late Ubaid. Some of the earliest evidence comes in the form of an animal figurine from Iran dated to c. 5000 BC with incised decorations that might possibly represent wool. At {{ill|Kosak Shamali|qid=Q110697381|s=1|v=sup}}, an Ubaid site in northern Syria, indirect evidence for wool production has been found in the form of [[spindle whorl]]s, clay scrapers, and a [[Stamp seal|clay sealing]] with a cord impression that might have come from rope spun from wool fibers. The animal bone assemblage at this site had a large percentage of domesticated sheep and goat, with changes in the assemblage suggesting that the production of [[Secondary products revolution|secondary products]] (such as wool and milk) became more important toward the late Ubaid and the Uruk period. The spindle whorls from Kosak Shamali, and also those from [[Telul eth-Thalathat|Telul eth-Thalathat II]] (northern Iraq), gradually decreased in weight, which could indicate that more and more finer-quality or softer fibers were spun.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sudo |first=Hiroshi |url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/saoc63.pdf |title=Beyond the Ubaid: transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East |date=2010 |publisher=Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago |others=Robert A. Carter, Graham Philip, University of Chicago. Oriental Institute, Grey College |isbn=978-1-885923-66-0 |location=Chicago, Ill. |pages=169–179 |chapter=The development of wool exploitation in Ubai-period settlements of North Mesopotamia |oclc=646401242}}</ref> At {{ill|Tell Surezha|qid=Q108147342|s=1|v=sup}} (Iraqi Kurdistan), evidence from animal bones also suggests that wool production may have been important.<ref name=":19">{{Cite journal |last1=Proctor |first1=Lucas |last2=Smith |first2=Alexia |last3=Stein |first3=Gil J. |date=June 2022 |title=Archaeobotanical and dung spherulite evidence for Ubaid and Late Chalcolithic fuel, farming, and feasting at Surezha, Iraqi Kurdistan |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |language=en |volume=43 |article-number=103449 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103449|doi-access=free |bibcode=2022JArSR..43j3449P }}</ref>

=== Burials ===
The most common burial practice during the Ubaid seems to have been primary inhumation; i.e. burial of the complete body. During Ubaid 4, some 80% (adults) and 94% (infants) of the burials consisted of primary inhumations.<ref name=":13">{{cite journal |last1=Brereton |first1=Gareth |title=Mortuary Rites, Economic Behaviour and the Circulation of Goods in the Transition from Village to Urban Life in Early Mesopotamia |journal=Cambridge Archaeological Journal |date=May 2016 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=191–216 |doi=10.1017/S0959774316000032 |s2cid=163897465 }}</ref> The dead were often accompanied by personal adornments such as beads, necklaces, and headdresses. Pots (presumably) containing foodstuffs were also common.<ref name=":13" /> Pieces of red [[ochre]] have also been recovered from graves. Burials have been excavated at many Ubaid sites, with exceptionally large numbers coming from Tell Abada (127 infant burials) and Eridu (193 burials).<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Croucher |first=Karina |url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/saoc63.pdf |title=Beyond the Ubaid: transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East |date=2010 |publisher=Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago |others=Robert A. Carter, Graham Philip, University of Chicago. Oriental Institute, Grey College |isbn=978-1-885923-66-0 |location=Chicago, Ill. |pages=113–123 |chapter=Figuring out identity: The body and identity in the Ubaid |oclc=646401242}}</ref>

By the fifth millennium BC, children and adults were given differing treatments in death. The available evidence indicates that infants were primarily buried inside the settlement, often near larger, presumably more important dwellings, and often in pots. The association of child burials with larger buildings is well-illustrated at the sites of Tell Abada and Tepe Gawra.<ref name=":14">{{cite journal |last1=Brereton |first1=Gareth |title=Cultures of infancy and capital accumulation in pre-urban Mesopotamia |journal=World Archaeology |date=June 2013 |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=232–251 |doi=10.1080/00438243.2013.799042 |s2cid=144874348 }}</ref> It has been suggested that this pattern of child burials near larger dwellings was related to increasing social differentiation between [[Kinship|kin groups]].<ref name=":14" /> Adults, on the other hand, were buried at the edge of the settlement in communal burial grounds in pit burials or inside clay boxes. Such burial grounds have for example been excavated at Eridu.<ref name=":14" />

These burial practices represent a clear break from those of the preceding Late Neolithic period. During the Late Neolithic, burials were often [[Secondary burial|secondary]] and burial treatment was very diverse. The Ubaid witnessed a marked shift toward primary burial, less diverse burial customs, and less diversity in burial gifts.<ref name=":13" /> This shift has been interpreted as a reflection of changing perceptions of [[personhood]].<ref name=":13" />

=== Body modification ===
Evidence for [[Artificial cranial deformation|cranial modification]], i.e. deliberate headshaping, among both men and women, has come from many archaeological sites throughout wider Mesopotamia. Where headshaping was detected, it was all of the same type, i.e. one- or two-band circumferential headshaping, which results in an elongated shape of the head. Different types of headshaping were practiced prior to and after the Ubaid period across the Near East, but it seems that the specific technique of circumferential headshaping may have originated in Iran, east of the area of Ubaid influence, and reached its peak during the Ubaid period. It has been interpreted as a marker for socio-cultural group affiliation during the Ubaid.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lorentz |first=Kirsi O. |url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/saoc63.pdf |title=Beyond the Ubaid: transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East |date=2010 |publisher=Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago |others=Robert A. Carter, Graham Philip, University of Chicago. Oriental Institute, Grey College |isbn=978-1-885923-66-0 |location=Chicago, Ill. |pages=125–148 |chapter=Ubaid headshaping: negotiations of identity through physical appearance? |oclc=646401242}}</ref>

[[Labret]]s and/or [[Plug (jewellery)|ear-spools]] were likewise recovered from many archaeological Ubaid sites across Mesopotamia and its border regions. In at least one case from southwestern Iran, a labret was found ''[[in situ]]'' in a burial, located at the mandible of the buried individual and with associated [[tooth wear]] indicating that it had been worn.<ref name=":12" /> Labrets were absent from Halaf sites in northern Mesopotamia, again indicating that they may have been important markers of socio-cultural identity during the Ubaid. Their use seems to have declined again during the Uruk period.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Frayer |first1=David |last2=Nava |first2=Alessia |last3=Tartaglia |first3=Gianna |last4=Vidale |first4=Massimo |last5=Coppa |first5=Alfredo |last6=Bondioli |first6=Luca |date=2020-06-30 |title=Evidence for labret use in prehistory |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/ojs/index.php/paleodontology/article/view/10565 |journal=Bulletin of the International Association for Paleodontology |language=en |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=1–23 }}</ref>

== Subsistence economy ==

=== Agriculture ===
The modern excavations at Tell Zeidan have revealed a wealth of information on the subsistence economy of a large northern Mesopotamian Ubaid settlement. Cultivated species included [[barley]], [[wheat]], [[lentil]], [[Vicia ervilia|ervil]], and [[flax]]. There is some evidence that the inhabitants of Zeidan practiced a form of [[Irrigation|floodwater irrigation]] on agricultural lands. The excavators have suggested that the unpredictability of this type of irrigation may have been a factor in increasing social complexity. The relative absence of [[Dry dung fuel|animal dung]], and the common presence of charred wood remains, suggests that wood was used as fuel.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Alexia |last2=Graham |first2=Philip J. |last3=Stein |first3=Gil J. |date=2015 |title=Ubaid plant use at Tell Zeidan, Syria |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/paleo_0153-9345_2015_num_41_2_5675 |journal=Paléorient |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=51–69 |doi=10.3406/paleo.2015.5675}}</ref> At Surezha, dung was commonly used for fuel, and there is some evidence that cattle were used as traction animals for [[Plough|plowing]] fields.<ref name=":19" />

=== Animal husbandry ===
Tell Zeidan again provides a wealth of information. The composition of the animal bone assemblage from Zeidan changed considerably from the Halaf to the Ubaid period. During the Halaf, some 50% of the animal bones came from wild species (indicative of hunting), whereas during the Ubaid more than 90% represented domesticated species (indicative of herding and keeping animals). Common animals were sheep, goat, cattle, and pigs. A comparison with other Ubaid sites in northern Mesopotamia showed that, in general, pastoralism became more important and reliance on wild fauna decreased somewhat, but this pattern was not so evident at other sites as it was at Zeidan. There was no indication at Zeidan that there was spatial differentiation across the site in how animal products were consumed, suggesting that food stuffs were not a means to express social differentiation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Grossman |first1=Kathryn |last2=Hinman |first2=Miriam |date=2013 |title=Rethinking Halaf and Ubaid animal economies: Hunting and Herding at Tell Zeidan (Syria) |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/paleo_0153-9345_2013_num_39_2_5528 |journal=Paléorient |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=201–219 |doi=10.3406/paleo.2013.5528}}</ref>

=== Fishing ===
The Ubaid-related sites along the Persian Gulf coast provide evidence for fishing. The range of species recovered at H3, for example, indicates that fishing probably mainly took place in shallow coastal waters. Tuna, which cannot be caught in Kuwait Bay anymore, also was found at the site. Fish may have been a local commodity that was traded for the Mesopotamian pottery that has been found at sites along the Persian Gulf.<ref name=":42">{{Cite journal |last=Beech |first=Mark |date=2002 |title=Fishing in the 'Ubaid: a review of fish bone assemblages from early prehistoric coastal settlements in the Arabian Gulf |url=http://www.markbeech.com/pdf/Beech-2002-JOS12.pdf |journal=Journal of Oman Studies |volume=12 |pages=25–40}}</ref>

== Society ==
{{More citations needed|section|date=May 2022}}
{{Continental Asia in 5000 BCE|right|The Ubaid culture and contemporary cultures circa 5000 BC|{{Location map~|Continental Asia|lat=32|long=47|position=left|mark=Orange dot (semi-transparent).png|marksize=25}}}}
Ubaid culture is characterized by large unwalled village settlements, multi-roomed rectangular mud-brick houses and the appearance of the first temples of public architecture in Mesopotamia, with a growth of a two-tier settlement hierarchy of centralized large sites of more than ten hectares surrounded by smaller village sites of less than one hectare. Domestic equipment included a distinctive fine quality buff or greenish colored pottery decorated with geometric designs in brown or black paint. Tools such as [[sickle]]s were often made of hard fired [[clay]] in the south, while in the north stone and sometimes metal were used. Villages thus contained specialised craftspeople, potters, weavers, and metalworkers, although the bulk of the population were agricultural labourers, farmers, and seasonal pastoralists.

During the Ubaid Period (5000–4000 BC), the movement toward urbanization began. "Agriculture and animal husbandry [domestication] were widely practiced in sedentary communities".<ref name=":16">{{Cite book |last=Pollock |first=Susan |title=Ancient Mesopotamia: the eden that never was |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-57334-4 |series=Case studies in early societies |location=Cambridge |oclc=ocm40609053}}</ref> There were also tribes who practiced domesticating animals as far north as Turkey, and as far south as the [[Zagros Mountains]].<ref name=":16" /> The Ubaid period in the south was associated with intensive irrigated [[hydraulic agriculture]], and the use of the plough, both introduced from the north, possibly through the earlier [[Choga Mami]], [[Hadji Muhammed]], and [[Samarra culture]]s.

[[File:Mesopotamian_Prehistorical_cultures.jpg|left|thumb|A map of the Near East depicting the approximate extent of the:{{Legend|#b73828|Pre-Pottery Neolithic Sites}}{{legend|#FFFACD|[[Hassuna culture]]}}{{legend|#B57EDC|[[Samarra culture]]}}{{legend|#90EE90|[[Halaf culture]]}}{{legend|#FFD700|Ubaid culture}}]]
The Ubaid period as a whole, based upon the analysis of [[grave goods]], was one of increasingly polarized [[social stratification]] and decreasing [[egalitarianism]]. Bogucki describes this as a phase of "Trans-egalitarian" competitive households, in which some fall behind as a result of downward [[social mobility]]. [[Morton Fried]] and [[Elman Service]] have hypothesised that Ubaid culture saw the rise of an elite class of hereditary [[tribal chief|chieftain]]s, perhaps heads of kin groups linked in some way to the administration of the temple shrines and their granaries, responsible for mediating intra-group conflict and maintaining social order. It would seem that various collective methods, perhaps instances of what [[Thorkild Jacobsen]] called [[history of democracy|primitive democracy]], in which disputes were previously resolved through a council of one's peers, were no longer sufficient for the needs of the local community.

Ubaid culture originated in the south, but still has clear connections to earlier cultures in the region of middle Iraq. The appearance of the Ubaid culture has sometimes been linked to the so-called Sumerian problem, related to the origins of [[Sumer]]ian [[civilisation]]. Whatever the ethnic origins of this group, this culture saw for the first time a clear tripartite social division among intensive subsistence peasant farmers, with crops and animals coming from the north, tent-dwelling nomadic pastoralists dependent upon their herds, and hunter-fisher folk of the Arabian littoral, living in reed huts.

Stein and Özbal describe the Near East [[oecumene]] that resulted from Ubaid expansion, contrasting it to the colonial expansionism of the later [[Uruk period]]. "A contextual analysis comparing different regions shows that the Ubaid expansion took place largely through the peaceful spread of an ideology, leading to the formation of numerous new indigenous identities that appropriated and transformed superficial elements of Ubaid material culture into locally distinct expressions."<ref name=":17">{{Cite book |last=Hamblin |first=William J. |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781134520633 |title=Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC |date=2006-09-27 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-52063-3 |edition=0 |language=en |doi=10.4324/9780203965566}}</ref>

There is some evidence of warfare during the Ubaid period although it is extremely rare. The [[Tell Sabi Abyad#Burnt Village|"Burnt Village"]] at Tell Sabi Abyad could be suggestive of destruction during war, but it could also have been due to other causes, such as wildfire or accident. Ritual burning is also possible since the bodies inside were already dead by the time they were burned. A mass grave at [[Tepe Gawra]] contained 24 bodies apparently buried without any funeral rituals, possibly indicating it was a mass grave from violence. Copper weapons were also present in the form of arrow heads and sling bullets, although these could have been used for other purpose; two clay pots recovered from the era have decorations showing arrows used for the purpose of hunting. A copper axe head was made in the late Ubaid period, which could have been a tool or a weapon.<ref name=":17" />

During the late Ubaid period around 4500–4000 BC, there was some increase in social polarization, with central houses in the settlements becoming larger. But there were no real cities until the later [[Uruk period]].

=== Language, ethnicity, and genetics ===
The languages that were spoken during the Ubaid period cannot be determined. Despite the fact that the Ubaid period is [[Prehistory|prehistorical]], it has featured prominently in discussions on the origin and presence of the [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] and [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] languages in [[Sumer]]. This debate has been called the "Sumerian problem" or "Sumerian question". The starting point of this debate was that the oldest [[cuneiform]] [[Clay tablet|tablets]] were written in Sumerian, and that earlier pictographical tablets from the [[Uruk period|Late Uruk]] and [[Jemdet Nasr period|Jemdet Nasr]] periods (3200-3000 BC) were likely written in the same language. Based on this evidence, [[Henri Frankfort]] proposed in the 1930s that the people who wrote and presumably spoke Sumerian, originally came from the Iranian highlands and settled Mesopotamia at the start of the Ubaid period. [[Ephraim Avigdor Speiser|Speiser]], on the other hand, thought that the Sumerians entered Mesopotamia during the Uruk period and interpreted the regional styles that existed before that time, i.e. Ubaid, Hassuna, Halaf, as evidence of distinct [[ethnic group]]s.<ref name=":15">{{Cite journal |last=Soltysiak |first=Arkadiusz |title=Physical anthropology and the 'Sumerian problem' |url=http://www.antropologia.uw.edu.pl/SHA/sha-04-07.pdf |journal=Studies in Historical Anthropology |volume=4 |date=2004 |pages=145–158}}</ref>

More recent discussion has taken a more careful approach, taking pains not to equate pots with people or language with ethnicity. Archaeologists have stressed that a high degree of cultural continuity is evident throughout the Ubaid and Uruk periods, and it seems that there is some agreement that "the relation between three categories, linguistic, racial and ethnic, is exceedingly complex in Mesopotamia and still far from being sufficiently investigated".<ref name=":15" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cooper |first=J.S. |title=Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie 13 |date=2013 |publisher=de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-030715-3 |location=Berlin [u.a. |pages=290–297 |language=German |chapter=Sumer, Sumerian |oclc=1074893563}}</ref>

Scarce [[DNA|DNA analysis]] of human skeletal material from various archaeological sites in Upper Mesopotamia (none of which dated to the Ubaid period) provides some evidence for genetic links with other regions, but also provides evidence for continuity within Mesopotamia. Most importantly, the dating of genetic influxes that have been detected, has not been refined adequately in order to be assigned to the Ubaid period - or any other period earlier than the one from which the skeletal material came. In other words, this genetic influx could have happened during the Ubaid - or not.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Witas |first1=Henryk W. |last2=Tomczyk |first2=Jacek |last3=Jędrychowska-Dańska |first3=Krystyna |last4=Chaubey |first4=Gyaneshwer |last5=Płoszaj |first5=Tomasz |title=mtDNA from the Early Bronze Age to the Roman Period Suggests a Genetic Link between the Indian Subcontinent and Mesopotamian Cradle of Civilization |journal=PLOS ONE |date=11 September 2013 |volume=8 |issue=9 |article-number=e73682 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0073682 |pmc=3770703 |pmid=24040024 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2013PLoSO...873682W }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yaka |first1=Reyhan |last2=Birand |first2=Ayşegül |last3=Yılmaz |first3=Yasemin |last4=Caner |first4=Ceren |last5=Açan |first5=Sinan Can |last6=Gündüzalp |first6=Sidar |last7=Parvizi |first7=Poorya |last8=Erim Özdoğan |first8=Aslı |last9=Togan |first9=İnci |last10=Somel |first10=Mehmet |title=Archaeogenetics of Late Iron Age Çemialo Sırtı, Batman: Investigating maternal genetic continuity in north Mesopotamia since the Neolithic |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |date=May 2018 |volume=166 |issue=1 |pages=196–207 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.23423 |pmid=29399779 |hdl=11511/43609 }}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Commons category|Ubaid Period}}
{{Portal|History}}
*[[Art of Mesopotamia]]
*[[Kenan Tepe]]
*[[Ubaid house]]

== Citations ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite journal |last1=Ashkanani |first1=Hasan J. |last2=Tykot |first2=Robert H. |last3=Al-Juboury |first3=Ali Ismail |last4=Stremtan |first4=Ciprian C. |last5=Petřík |first5=Jan |last6=Slavíček |first6=Karel |title=A characterisation study of Ubaid period ceramics from As-Sabbiya, Kuwait, using a non-destructive portable X-Ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometer and petrographic analyses |journal=Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy |date=May 2020 |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=3–18 |doi=10.1111/aae.12143 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Bibby |first1=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Bibby |title=Looking for Dilmun |date=1970 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=978-0-394-43400-1 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Bogucki |first1=Peter |title=The Origins of Human Society |date=2000 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-55786-349-2 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Brian A. |last2=Feldman |first2=Marian H. |title=Critical Approaches to Ancient Near Eastern Art |date=2013 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-1-61451-035-2 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Charvát |first1=Petr |title=Mesopotamia Before History |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-53077-9 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Crawford |first1=Harriet E. W. |title=Dilmun and Its Gulf Neighbours |date=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-58679-5 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Crawford |first1=Harriet E. W. |title=Sumer and the Sumerians |date=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-53338-6 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Kuhrt |first1=Amélie |title=The Ancient Near East, C. 3000-330 BC |date=1995 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-16763-5 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=Harriet P. |title=The Early Dynastic Cemetery at al-'Ubaid, a Re-Evaluation |journal=Iraq |date=1982 |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=145–185 |doi=10.2307/4200161 |jstor=4200161 }}
*{{cite book |last=Mellaart |first=James |author-link=James Mellaart |date=1975 |title=The Neolithic of the Near East |publisher=Scribner |location=New York |isbn=0-684-14483-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/neolithicofnear00mell |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Moore |first1=A. M. T. |title=Pottery Kiln Sites at al 'Ubaid and Eridu |journal=Iraq |date=2002 |volume=64 |pages=69–77 |doi=10.2307/4200519 |jstor=4200519 }}
*{{cite book|last=Nissen|first=Hans Jörg|date=1990|title=The Early History of the Ancient Near East, 9000–2000 B.C.|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=0-226-58658-8|url=https://archive.org/details/earlyhistoryofan00hans|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Parker |first1=Adrian G. |last2=Goudie |first2=Andrew S. |last3=Stokes |first3=Stephen |last4=White |first4=Kevin |last5=Hodson |first5=Martin J. |last6=Manning |first6=Michelle |last7=Kennet |first7=Derek |date=2017-01-20 |title=A record of Holocene climate change from lake geochemical analyses in southeastern Arabia |url=http://www.gulfnexus.org/articles/geo/2006a%20Parker%20et%20al.pdf |journal=[[Quaternary Research]] |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |volume=66 |issue=3 |pages=465–476 |bibcode=2006QuRes..66..465P |doi=10.1016/j.yqres.2006.07.001}}
* {{cite book |last1=Pollock |first1=Susan |last2=Bernbeck |first2=Reinhard |title=Archaeologies of the Middle East: Critical Perspectives |date=2009 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4051-3723-2 }}
*{{cite book |last=Uerpmann |first=Margarethe |editor-last=Potts |editor-first=Daniel T. |editor-last2=Al Naboodah |editor-first2=Hasan |editor-last3=Hellyer |editor-first3=Peter |date=2003 |title=Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates |chapter=The Dark Millennium—Remarks on the final Stone Age in the Emirates and Oman |series=Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Archaeology of the U.A.E. |location=[[United Kingdom]] |publisher=[[Trident Press]] |isbn=978-1-900724-98-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Roux|first=Georges|author-link=Georges Roux|date=1966|title=Ancient Iraq|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZGxoAEACAAJ|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-012523-8}}
*{{cite book |last1=Stein |first1=Gil |author-link=Gil Stein (archaeologist) |last2=Özbal |first2=Rana |editor-last=Stone |editor-first=Elizabeth C. |date=2006 |title=Settlement and Society: Ecology, urbanism, trade and technology in Mesopotamia and Beyond |chapter=A Tale of Two Oikumenai: Variation in the Expansionary Dynamics of Ubaid and Uruk Mesopotamia |url=https://www.academia.edu/1515099 |location=[[Santa Fe, New Mexico]] |pages=329–343 |publisher=[[School for Advanced Research Press]]|doi=10.2307/J.CTVDJRQJP.21 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Stiebing Jr |first1=William H. |title=Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-51116-0 }}

== External links ==
*{{cite web|url=http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/s/stone_statue_of_kurlil.aspx|title=Stone statue of Kurlil|last=British Museum|first=Trustees of the|date=2008-06-03|website=The British Museum|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018152242/http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/s/stone_statue_of_kurlil.aspx|archive-date=2015-10-18}}
*{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/c/copper_figure_of_a_bull.aspx|title=Copper figure of a bull|last=British Museum|first=Trustees of the|date=2007-11-13|website=The British Museum|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071113080252/https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/c/copper_figure_of_a_bull.aspx|archive-date=2007-11-13}}
*{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/museum_in_the_world/middle_east_programme/iraq_project/ubaid_photos/page_1.aspx|title=Ubaid visit and photos|last=British Museum|first=Trustees of the|date=2008-06-06|website=The British Museum|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080801162531/https://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/museum_in_the_world/middle_east_programme/iraq_project/ubaid_photos/page_1.aspx|archive-date=2008-08-01}}

{{Ancient Mesopotamia}}
{{Near East Neolithic}}
{{Ancient seafaring}}
{{Iraq topics}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ubaid Period}}
[[Category:Ubaid period]]
[[Category:7th-millennium BC establishments]]
[[Category:4th-millennium BC disestablishments]]
[[Category:1930s neologisms]]
[[Category:Ancient Mesopotamia]]
[[Category:Archaeological cultures of West Asia]]
[[Category:Archaeological cultures of the Near East]]
[[Category:Chalcolithic cultures of Asia]]
[[Category:Archaeology of Iraq]]
[[Category:Archaeology of Kuwait]]
[[Category:Samarra culture]]