DOI: 10.33547/Aegypt2025.02
Fragment of an Ubaidian clay figurine found in Kuwaiti desert
by: Piotr Bieliński 
in: M.A. Jucha, J. Dębowska-Ludwin, G. Bąk-Pryc (eds), Per vias Aegypti et Orientis Medii. Studies Presented to Krzysztof M. Ciałowicz, Kraków: Institute of Archaeology Jagiellonian University, Archaeologica Foundation, Profil-Archeo Publishing House, 2025, pp. 23-28.
Abstract: The Kuwaiti-Polish excavations at the Bahra 1 site in northern Kuwait, conducted there since 2009, revealed remains of an extensive settlement from the sixth millennium BC whose inhabitants maintained contacts with southern Mesopotamian Ubaid culture centers. These interactions are, among other things, evidenced by numerous finds of Ubaid 2/3 pottery appearing alongside local Red Coarse Ware typical of Arabian Neolithic. The settlement itself differs from the well-known Arabian Neolithic dwellings in that it comprises multi-chambered houses built on orthogonal plan. One of the buildings discovered at Bahra 1 features a ground plan reminiscent of a shrine from Eridu XVI, and was probably associated with cultic activities. In the course of the 2023 season at Bahra 1, a small clay head, part of an ”ophidian” figurine, typical of the Ubaid culture and named so due to its elongated shape, was uncovered. Figurines of this type are found in large numbers at Ubaid culture settlements, both in ”domestic” as well grave contexts, still their function – symbolic, ceremonial or cultic – remains undetermined. Finding a fragment of this type of figurine at the site of Bahra 1, indeed the first instance of this kind in the Gulf region, makes it clear that the Ubaid culture influence extended well beyond occasional commercial interactions.