Episode 001 - Boating with the Ubaid People

And here we go! In this first episode, we'll journey to ancient Mesopotamia and meet the Ubaid people, the first people to settle southern Mesopotamia. We'll see how the Ubaid people overcame the environment by instituting complex irrigations systems tied to the might rivers Tigris and Euphrates. We'll also see how the Ubaid people used reeds, their most abundant natural resource, to build a wide range of useful items, including houses and boats. We'll meet some modern-day descendants of the Ubaid people and see how their way of life can inform our understanding of the past. All that, and more, in Episode 001 - Boating with the Ubaid People.

Episode Transcript

Welcome aboard for Episode One, where we’ll see how the first sailors in recorded history were also farmers. I know that might sound strange to hear at first, but it’s true as we’ll have seen by the end of this episode. Our narrative begins in Mesopotamia, an area that is oftentimes referred to as the “cradle of civilization.” Since it almost goes without saying that water is integral to the survival and growth of any society, it’s apparent from the start that Mesopotamia is an ideal location for a nascent people group to settle. The name of this geographic area, Mesopotamia, comes to us as many modern names do, from the ancient Greek. The Greeks liked to name things in a literal yet descriptive way, it seems: the word comes from the Greek root words meso- for “middle” and potamos for “river,” so the Greeks aptly called the region a word that means “land between rivers.” The rivers are the Tigris and Euphrates, rivers that flow from north to south and eventually merge into a marshland that ultimately drains into the Persian Gulf. 

The presence of humans in this area of the world stretches far back into prehistory, it’s tough to actually put a date on it to be honest. Rather than quibble about a date that seems reasonable, let’s just dive right in and meet the people whose culture presents the earliest evidence of watercraft from Mesopotamia, they are first found in connection with the pre-historic period that’s been called the Ubaid period. In this and any future talks, I’ll use the term ‘Ubaid’ to refer to the people group as a culture, but it is also the name of a settlement site in the region, and it is the label affixed to the historical period when the Ubaid people were present in southern Mesopotamia.

Quickly though, before we discuss the Ubaid people’s relation to maritime history, let’s briefly look at where they came from and why they are considered to be among the first major players on the historical stage.

The predecessors of the Ubaid people have been called the Samarra culture, a culture that existed in the mid-section of modern-day Iraq. They were among the first who began to use irrigation as a method to improve their agricultural output. During the Samarra period small settlements emerged as the farming peoples banded together, but none of the settlements would be considered large, to any extent. Nor was the Samarra culture the only culture to have populated the various locales around Mesopotamia and the Middle East as a whole, many different farming cultures were sprinkled around the area. Although some trade occurred among these early farmers, trade was land-based and contained to the middle and northern regions of modern-day Iraq.

 The main area that had not been settled was the area further south in Mesopotamia, the alluvial plain where the Tigris and Euphrates drain into the Persian Gulf. Gradually, in the several centuries surrounding 5000 BC, the Samarra culture gave way to the Ubaid culture, a culture whose people were the first to move south and make southern Mesopotamia their home. There, they took advantage of the fertile conditions to further improve agricultural production, a result that in turn led to the establishment of early permanent settlements in southern Mesopotamia.

Now, while there are many fascinating rabbit trails to explore when it comes to the Ubaid people and the development of society, civilization, and culture, our main focus here is on maritime history, so I’ll try to keep it focused on the background elements most closely related to the maritime aspects of history.

One of those background elements that will crop up in relation to each place and time we’ll gradually discuss involves local ecology, climate, and natural resources, all things that played a huge role in the early development of the Ubaid people. The region bordering the Persian Gulf can be quite dry, despite the high water table, but the Ubaid people managed to institute a complex system of canal works. They used this system to harness the life-giving water of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, diverting the amount necessary to irrigate their crops and to grow grain.

The aridity of southern Mesopotamia didn’t just make crop growth difficult, it also kept the region from being well forested. Because the Ubaid people lacked a sufficient wood supply to make timber their main building material, they quite naturally opted to use the most prevalent natural resource in their area. In Mesopotamia, and particularly in the region where the Tigris and Euphrates meet the Persian Gulf, that natural resource was, and still is, the reed that grows in marsh-like environments. Generally, these reeds are quite sturdy and can grow to lengths of up to 15 feet. Now if you’re wanting to build a boat, 15 feet of reed gives you a fair amount of material to work with, it would allow you to construct a decent sized vessel without even having to combine reeds for purposes of achieving greater length. As we talk about reed boats here, let’s keep in mind the fact that ancient cultures did use wood to make boats, but reed-boats were the most common type of boat in the region we’re currently discussing. In later episodes we’ll certainly look at examples of wooden boats built by other ancient cultures, but for now we will focus on the early evidence of reed boats.

The Ubaid people grew adept at using reeds for a variety of uses, even using them to build dwellings and entire floating villages. A great example of this type of culture and what it would have looked like can be seen in the still existent culture that occupies the same region where the Ubaid and Sumerian people originally flourished. This modern people group is known as either the Ma’dan, or also the Marsh Arabs. They live in villages that are made completely of reed and float on the marshy water in Iraq’s southeast region. This culture is fascinating to me personally, and on a more recent note, in the 1990s, sectarian religious persecution by Sadam Hussein’s government forced many of the Marsh Arabs from their homes. The government diverted the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in a way that caused the marshes where the they lived to dry up, in turn causing their food supply to vanish, a result that forced a large percentage of the Marsh Arabs to become refugees. Although the marshes have gradually been revived in recent years, allowing some of the people to return to their way of life, many are still refugees, and I encourage you to do some research of your own if their plight piques your interest.

Anyhow, after that rabbit trail that I think you’ll forgive me for, let’s get back to the Ubaid people and their use of the reed. Now, actually, in defense of my little foray to discuss the Marsh Arabs, it does relate to our discussion of reed boat construction, and in a way that British explorer and travel writer/photographer Sir Wilifred Thesiger can help explain. Thesiger wrote a great book detailing the time that he spent living amongst the Marsh Arabs during the 1950s and 60s, and in the book there’s a passage that describes his observations of an Arab man building a reed boat, using the same technique that was most likely used by his ancestors of millennia ago. Thesiger described the reed-boat construction this way:

First he made half a dozen tight bundles of five or six qasab reeds rather longer than the length of the proposed boat, and fastened them securely together side by side to form the keel, eighteen inches free at both ends, which he bent upwards. He next bent five long reed into the shape of a U, passed the middle among the loose ends of the keel, and laced them back to the keel itself. He repeated the process at either end alternatively, until he had built up the sides and ends of the hull. This framework he stiffened by tying into it a number of ribs made from two or three willow wands. Finally, he wedged three stout sticks across the boat as thwarts and secreted their ends in place with lumps of bitumen.

Wilifred Thesiger, The Marsh Arabs (1964).

Before we get to the all important bitumen, it’s important to note that the man in Thesiger’s passage was busy constructing a coracle, (called a guffa in the Mesopotamian version) which is a boat that is round and reinforced by ribbing along the internal structure. The coracle is one common type of reed boat, but it is just as easy to build a reed boat in the more traditional, elongated canoe shape, and the Marsh Arabs still use reeds to build boats of both styles.

All right. I mentioned bitumen as being all important, and in the passage a minute ago it was the last thing that the boat builder added to his boat, so what’s the big deal with bitumen? And what is it, anyway? Bitumen is a naturally occurring substance that is quite similar to modern asphalt. It’s black and oily, but it’s also viscous and tar-like, so it makes a great sealant, among other uses. The Ubaids were the first people to use bitumen on a large scale, and although bitumen has a variety of uses, it is relevant to maritime history because they used it to ‘waterproof’ their reed houses and boats. They’d originally used mud to seal their reed constructions, but mud was a poor sealant that had to be reapplied constantly as it broke down. Bitumen, on the other hand, was impervious to moisture and maintenance-free, for the most part, so it proved a giant leap forward for the Ubaids in their quest to keep their boats and their houses in useful shape for long periods.

We know that bitumen became an important part of the Ubaid people’s societal growth thanks to a boat model that was found at As-Sabiyah, an archaeological site in modern-day Kuwait. At As-Sabiyah, archaeologists discovered traces of a stone architecture that indicated some settlement of the area. The site was tied to the Ubaid people because of the distinctive pottery by which most Ubaid sites have been identified. There, along with the Ubaid pottery evidence, archaeologists discovered a small ceramic boat model. It measures 14.5 cm long by 7 cm wide, with a current height of slightly more than 5 cm. I say ‘current height’ because the prow and stern of the boat are raised and were broken off at some point in history past. Without reading too far into this one single artifact, in it’s context, the boat model is indicative of the fact that the earliest of Mesopotamian settlers used boats, and that they traveled fairly large distances. The raised prow and stern of the boat are evidence that it is a model of a reed-boat, as reed boats typically have a curved prow and stern where the ends of the reeds are tied of and bent.

Because it is quite small and devoid of detail, the model leaves much to be desired in the way of evidence about their construction techniques. However, other artifacts uncovered at As-Sabiyah give us better insight into the Ubaid people’s boat construction. These other artifacts are a series of bitumen chunks, many of which bear reed impressions on one side, and barnacles on the other side. Since the pottery uncovered at As-Sabiyah does not show signs of having been submerged in water, the only logical explanation for the bitumen having barnacles on it is that a reed structure or artifact was covered in bitumen and then submerged in the sea for an appreciable length of time. Other evidence at the site tends to show that the bitumen likely came from a reed-boat of the kind that we have already seen were being used by the Ubaid people.

What does the evidence of a reed-boat in Kuwait tell us about the Ubaid people, then? Well, basically it tells us that before the Ubaid period gave way to the Sumerian Civilization with it’s larger cities which began to grow in earnest, the Ubaid people had begun to trade with the fishing communities that lined the Central Persian Gulf. If you are curious to see a map of the Ubaid related sites that have been identified so far in the Persian Gulf, take a look at the map below. When you’re looking at the map, keep in mind that in the time period we’re talking about, the Persian Gulf extended about 25 miles or 40 kilometers further to the north-west than it currently does, so in pre-Sumerian Mesopotamia the major cities that sprouted up (Eridu, Uruk, etc.) were much nearer the coastline than they are today.

The archaeological evidence at As-Sabiyah goes a long way to helping us see that the Ubaid people were adept at using reeds and bitumen to build the early reed-boats that were probably abundant in their society. It goes without saying that natural resources like that are degradable, and we’ve not really found any complete reed-boat artifacts to date, but we have found other indicators to help us chart out the locations where reed-boats were used. Although reed-boat evidence has been found at large distances from Mesopotamia, evidence of sailing technology does not show up until later in our narrative, for reasons that we’ll get into more fully next time, so it is likely that Ubaid boatmen kept close to the shore of the Persian Gulf or on the inland waterways while on their trading runs, a theory that is further bolstered by the fact that almost all of the Ubaid-period sites are found only on the western shore of the Persian Gulf.

Well, that does it for this episode, our one and only encounter with the somewhat mysterious Ubaid people. We’ve seen how they settled in southern Mesopotamia, how they pioneered the irrigation techniques that allowed their culture to flourish, and how they used their natural resources to construct basic boats. Be sure to tune in next time when we meet their successors and see how the growth of civilization and shifting social dynamics led to the first long-distance sea trade between civilizations.

Sources

• Bertman, Stephen, Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia (2003).
• Carter, R.A., Watercraft, in A Companion to the Archaeology of the Near East 347 (D.T. Potts ed., 2012).
• Carter, Robert, Excavations and Ubaid-Period Boat Remains at H3, As-Sabiyah (Kuwait), in INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS BETWEEN SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST ASIA. STUDIES IN COMMEMORATION OF E.C.L. DURING CASPERS (1934-1996) E. Olijdam & R.H. Spoor (eds.), BAR International Series 1826 (2008): 92-102.
• Casson, Lionel, The Ancient Mariners: Seafarers and Sea Fighters of the Mediterranean in Ancient Times (1959).
• Fagan, Brian, Beyond the Blue Horizon: How the Earliest Mariners Unlocked the Secrets of the Ocean (2012).
• Johnstone, Paul, The Sea-craft of Prehistory (1980).
• McGrail, Seán, Boats of the World: From the Stone Age to Medieval Times (2009).
• McGrail, Seán, Early Ships and Seafaring: Water Transport Beyond Europe (2015).
• Moorey, P.R.S., Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: The Archaeological Evidence (1994).
• Thesiger, Wilifred, The Marsh Arabs (1964).