Rocznik Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie (3(39).2014)

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Ancient Art

Ubaid sites (fig. 18). By far the most common finds were shells of two marine snail species:
Strombus persicus (known also as Conomurex persicus) and Lunella coronata, along with bivalve
shells (Veneridae), which had been brought to the settlement as food. However, the Strombus
and Veneridae shells could also have been used for making beads and other ornaments.
The inhabitants of Bahra i specialized in the production of tubular shell beads made of
Strombus persicus shells, as attested by the discovery in House i of a workshop of this kind of
beads, as well as by numerous failed beads (fig. 19), stone drills and shell wastes from fabrication
found in both houses. The bead’s manufacture required much skill and had a high failure rate.
As a semi-product for a tubular shell bead was used a curved segment cut-out from the lower
whorl of the spire. After a preliminary faceting of the surface, the segment was perforated
along its longitudinal axis from both ends with flint or chert drills (fig. 20). This was one of the
riskiest phases of the work, resulting in the largest number of damaged examples. Next, the
segment was abraded in order to achieve a straight tube, and then the bead was “calibrated”
on a sandstone plate with 5-6 mm wide grooves (fig. 21). Eventually, the bead was polished.
To date, about a hundred failed tubular shell beads, discarded at various production stages,
have been found in the settlement, which allowed for the reconstruction of the production
process. It is the first identified Ubaid-period workshop specialized in the production of
tubular beads from Strombus shells.29
A considerable number of ground and pecked stone tools was also discovered in the
settlement; most of them were associated with bead production. Notable among them is the
assemblage of over 100 drills (both whole and fragmentarily preserved) found in the tubular
beads-producing workshop. What is remarkable about the whole tools’ collection is an almost
complete lack of tools used for the preparation of food.30 This raises the question, if this
anomaly could connected with the special character of Houses 1 and 2 or if there is another
reason behind it.
Further research at the Bahra 1 site will aim at elucidating the spatial and functional
organization of the site, i.a., by uncovering architectural remains in other parts of the site.
Palaeoenvironmental studies may help to clarify some crucial issues, such as the sources of
fresh water for the settlement. An attempt must be made at explaining the role of the settle-
ment in the Ubaid period, and at understanding the link between its inhabitants and southern
Mesopotamia as well as finding the reason for the site’s abandonment.
Translated by Agnieszka Szymczak

29 Similar tubular beads were produced in the fifth millennium BC on the Akab Island in the United
Arab Emirates, but they were made of the columella of Murcidae shells see Vincent Charpentier, Sophie Méry,
“A Neolithic settlement near the Strait of Hormuz: Akab Island, United Arab Emirates,” Proceedings of the Seminar
for Arabian Studies, 38 (2008), p. 130.
30 Professor Stefan K. Kozłowski, personal communication.