Prehistoric Jewelry Workshop Unearthed in Kuwait

KUWAIT CITY, KUWAIT—According to the Arab Times, a team of Kuwaiti and Polish archaeologists have uncovered a jewelry workshop at the prehistoric Ubaid period (5500–4000 b.c.) site of Bahra 1 in the country’s northern Subiya desert. This season, the team also recovered a clay figurine depicting an oblong human head whose spare features are typical of the Ubaid culture, which was once shared by people living throughout Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf. The workshop contained numerous shell ornaments, as well as pottery sherds dating to more than 7,000 years ago, which researchers believe could mean Bahra 1 is the oldest site in the Gulf region where pottery has been recovered. To read more about Kuwait’s history, go to “Archaeology Island.”