ABSTRACT
The emergence of the first civilised communities in the region of Mesopotamia is no matter for conjecture. In 1953, a Danish archaeological expedition began an investigation in the area of Gulf which, after fifteen years of patient digging and sifting, began to throw a startling new light on the discoveries and conclusions of the previous century, and to involve its founders in major questions of scholarship. The archaeologist's commonest pastime is the collection of pottery, in his own language, potsherds. In Bahrain, though they had been digging for several years, they were confined to a few major sites in a relatively large area where sand probably concealed far more than had yet been uncovered. Failaka island, like so many things in Kuwait, was generous in its divulging of riches. The government of Kuwait, keen to give practical and financial backing to the reconstruction of the country's past as well as to the construction of its future, made ample resources available.
