Third International Conference on the Archaeology of the Arabian Peninsula (The Neolithic in Arabia)

Organised by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) & the French Center for Archaeology and Social Sciences (CEFAS)

20-22 November 2018

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I am presenting a paper entitled “New results from excavations at MR11, Marawah Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates”

This will be presented on Tuesday 20 November from 11:05-11:25 am in Session 2: Latest results from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

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The full conference programme is as follows:

20 November 2018

8:30 – 9:00
Welcoming of the participants and general public

9:00 – 9:10
Official speeches

9:00 NCCAL representative(s)

9:05 French Embassy in Kuwait representative and CEFAS Director

9:10 – 9:20
Introduction to the Conference topic by Rémy CRASSARD (CNRS / CEFAS, France / Kuwait)

SESSION 1.
Origins and dispersals of the Arabian Neolithic
(Chair: Dr Robert Carter – Former Director of British Excavation Mission in al Sabbiya area)

9:20 – 9:40
Yamandú H. HILBERT (CNRS, France)
Stone tool use in Arabia during the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene human occupation: trends and their impact on human demography

9:40 – 10:00
Rémy CRASSARD (CNRS / CEFAS, France / Kuwait)
A Neolithic influence from the Fertile Crescent? ‘Naviform’ technology from Saudi Arabia

10:00 – 10:20
Cheryl MAKAREWICZ (University of Kiel, Germany)
The emergence of pastoralism in the Arabian peninsula: Zooarchaeological and isotopic perspectives from the Jordanian highlands and steppe ‘periphery’

10:20 – 10:40
Hans Georg K. GEBEL (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany)
Sustainable sedentarisation and the establishment of food production on the Arabian Peninsula

10:40 – 10:50
Questions and discussions

10:50– 11:05
Coffee Break

SESSION 2.
Latest results from United Arab Emirates and Qatar
(Chair: Dr Moawiya Ibrahim – Archaeologist and Historian – Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan)

11:05 – 11:25
Mark BEECH (Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, UAE)
New results from excavations at MR11, Marawah Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

11:25 – 11:45
Kevin LIDOUR (Paris University Panthéon-Sorbonne, France)
Analysis of the fish remains from the Neolithic stone house of Marawah Island (MR11), United Arab Emirates

11:45 – 12:05
Sophie MÉRY (CNRS, France)
UAQ36, a fifth millennium BC site in Umm al Quwain

12:05 – 12:25
Richard CUTTLER (Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, UAE)
Neolithic Occupation at Wadi Debay‘an, North West Qatar

12:25 – 12:35
Questions and discussions

12:35 – 13:00
Pre-lunch Break

SESSION 3.
Latest results from Saudi Arabia
(Chair: Dr Sayid Mahfoudh – Professor of Ancient History & Archaeology, Kuwait University)

13:00 – 13:20
Abdullah ALSHAREKH (King Saud University, Saudi Arabia)
Scientific and stylistic approaches to dating the earliest rock art in Arabia: An evaluation

13:20 – 13:40
Niklas HAUSMANN (Foundation of Research and Technology, Greece)
Marine food sources from the Farasan Islands and their relation to the Arabian mainland and the southern Red Sea

13:40 – 13:50
Questions and discussions

13:50 – 14:00
Open discussion on the first day of conference

14:00 – 14:45
Lunch at the National Library of Kuwait

14:45 – 15:00 shuttle to Cultural Centre

15:00 – 16:30 Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Cultural Centre

16:30 – 16:40 shuttle to hotel

16:40 – 19:00 hotel break

19:00 – 19:30 shuttle to Jabriya

19:30 – Reception at the Residence of H.E. the Ambassador of France 

21 November 2018

SESSION 4.
Latest results from Oman
(Chair: Dr Fahad al Wohaibi – Kuwait University Professor – Former Director of Kuwait National Museum)

9:00 – 9:20
Jean-François BERGER (CNRS, France)
First contribution of the excavation and the chronostratigraphic study of Ruways 1 Neolithic shell middens (Oman), in terms of Neolithization, palaeoeconomy, social-environmental interactions and site formation processes (Note: this paper was presented by Remy CRASSARD as Jean-François BERGER was unable to come to Kuwait)

9:20 – 9:40
Anaïs MARRAST (National Museum of Natural History, France)
Ancient exploitation of coastal resources during the Arabian Neolithic: the settlements of Ra’s al Hamra 6 and 5 (Sultanate of Oman)

9:40 – 10:00
Olivia MUNOZ (CNRS, France)
Neolithic coastal populations from South-Eastern Arabia: the contribution of funerary and bio-anthropological data

10:00 – 10:20
Ash PARTON (Oxford Brookes University, UK)
Holocene Lake and Wetland Development in the Batinah Region of Northern Oman

10:20 – 10:40
Marcin BIAŁOWARCZUK (Warsaw University, Poland)
New prehistoric sites in the Qumayrah Valley, Oman. Preliminary results of two seasons of investigations

10:40 – 11:00
Maria Pia MAIORANO (Naples University, Italy)
Projectile points of Southeastern Arabia: quantitative approach to regional issues

11:00 – 11:10
Questions and discussions

11:10– 11:25
Coffee Break

SESSION 5.
Neolithic in Kuwait
(Chair: Dr Abdulhadi al Ajmi – Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs)

11:25 – 11:45
Piotr BIELINSKI (University of Warsaw, Poland)
Bahra 1- an Ubaid culture related settlement in Northern Kuwait and its possible functions

11:45 – 12:05
Agnieszka PIEŃKOWSKA (University of Warsaw, Poland)
The earliest settlement remains at the Bahra 1 site

12:05 – 12:25
Robert CARTER (University College London, UK)
The Arabian Neolithic in Ubaid Mesopotamia? Cross-cultural Interactions in Northern Kuwait and Southern Iraq during the 6th  and 5th millennia BC

12:25 – 12:35
Questions and discussions

12:35– 13:00
Pre-lunch Break

SESSION 6.
Ubaid Ceramic from the Gulf
(Chair: Dr Piotr Bielinski – Current Director of Polish Excavation Mission in Kuwait)

13:00 – 13:20
Hasan ASHKANANI (Kuwait University, Kuwait)
A characterization study of Late Neolithic ceramics from As-Sabbiya, Kuwait, using non-destructive pXRF

13:20 – 13:40
Eleanor PRESTON (University College London, Qatar)
The Ubaid in the Arabian Gulf: Petrographic and Compositional Analysis of Ceramic material

13:40 – 14:00
Anna SMOGORZEWSKA (University of Warsaw, Poland)
Pottery traditions in the Neolithic Gulf. New evidence from Bahra 1 (Kuwait)

14:00 – 14:10
Questions and discussions

14:10 – 14:20
Concluding remarks / publications

14:20 – 15:10
Lunch at the National Library of Kuwait

15:10 – 15:25 shuttle to Dar al-Athar

15:25 – 17:00 Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah at Amricani Cultural Centre

17:00 – 17:10 shuttle to hotel

17:10 – 19:00 hotel break

19:00 – shuttle to dinner

25 April 2018

08:00 – 09:00 shuttle from hotel to Bahra

09:00 – 11:00 Site visit to Bahra 1 (organized in cooperation with the Kuwaiti-Polish team), and other archaeological sites around Bahra (with Dr Sultan Al-Duwaish)

11:00 – 12:00 shuttle from Bahra to Kuwait City

13:00
Lunch in Kuwait City (CEFAS)

Afternoon: free time at hotel and Kuwait City / Departure of the participants in the evening and the day after.