ABSTRACT
In the previous three chapters the prehistoric data from northeastern Arabia were outlined according to a broad hypothetical perspective. A tentative distinction, at least on a theoretical level, was made between three cultural components. The earliest of these appears to represent regional stone age industries akin to similar such traditions already known from elsewhere in east Arabia, for example, Qatar. The second element is central to this study. It signifies a distinct cultural modification, ostensibly a result of an interaction mechanism with the region of Southern Mesopotamia. The third is of an entirely different origin and configuration, related neither to the first nor to the second components. It is the outcome of a network of interrelationships, extraneous to east Arabia itself, involving a number of regions bordering the Arabian/Persian Gulf area, inclusive of southern Mesopotamia. This category is exemplified by the Tarut settlement, and likewise by the other third-second millennium BC western Gulf cultures. However, it is of only marginal interest to the main theme of prehistoric interactions expounded in this study. Thus it will be of concern only as an example of the shifting cultural focus that followed the earlier Ubaid interaction situation in eastern Arabia and which probably was a reflection of a changing ecological configuration.
