Ain Qannas or Ein Ganas is an archaeological site located near Al-Murah village in
Al-Hasa Al-Ahsa or Al-Hasa may refer to:
* Al-Ahsa Eyalet, or Lahsa Eyalet, a subdivision of the Ottoman Empire, now part of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar
* Al-Ahsa Oasis, an oasis and historical region in eastern Saudi Arabia.
** Al-Ahsa Governorate, a ...
, Eastern Saudi Arabia.
It dates to between the late 6th to early 5th millennium BCE. The site is related to
Ubaid period
The Ubaid period (c. 5500–3700 BC) is a 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, Leonard Woolley in 19 ...
, which is Arabian
Neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
period.
Description
The site is approximately from the coast, at the time it was located by the shores of a lake. The site is at a
mound
A mound is a wikt:heaped, heaped pile of soil, earth, gravel, sand, rock (geology), rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded ...
high and across.
It contains multi-storied residential units with evidence of a slave culture that evolved in the site.
The stratigraphy indicated abrupt climatic fluctuation with moist and dry periods alternating. In upper stratigraphic levels, fragments of pottery have been found; there is also evidence of hunting equids and herding of goats and cattle.
Blade-type tools with projectile points and scrapers have also been found.
By the end of slave era (Ubaid period), before 5,550 years ago, the civilized era began in Mesopotamia where commercial and cultural contacts between the civilizations around the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...
has thrived.
References
{{reflist
Archaeological sites in Saudi Arabia
Ubaid period