The material culture of coastal Arabian Neolithic sites of the sixth–fifth millennia BC contains a range of small Mesopotamian‐style objects, in addition to Ubaid pottery. There is a significant concentration of such objects at the Kuwaiti sites, H3 and Bahra 1, with lesser amounts in the Central Gulf region and virtually none in the Lower Gulf. The combination of material and symbolic culture at the Kuwaiti sites indicates that their inhabitants could communicate with both Ubaid and Neolithic peoples with equal facility, implying a key role in the region’s earliest experiments in maritime trade. Moreover, the presence in southern Iraq and at Susa of distinctive arrowheads, and possibly Arabian Coarse Ware ceramics, suggests that the range of eastern Arabian Neolithic peoples extended all along the ancient shoreline to the vicinity of the Mesopotamian Ubaid settlements, and even Susiana. The bifacial pressure‐flaked arrowheads are of two different types that are well attested in eastern Arabia, though one type is more common in southern Iraq and Susiana, hinting at a local population related to the Arabian Neolithic. These finds are quantified and illustrated in this paper, and indicate a cultural borderland stretching for around 300 km north of Kuwait.

The episcopal seat of Meshmahig or Mašmahig is referred to in various historical sources, such as the synods of the Church of the East of 410 and 576. These sources have been extensively explored, and it is suggested that Mašmahig can be linked to the village of Samahij in north‐east Muharraq Island, Bahrain. However, archaeological evidence for a Christian presence in Samahij, or elsewhere in Bahrain, was lacking. Excavations completed within the village cemetery at Samahij uncovered part of a large building complex. Based on the architecture, associated material culture and chronology, it is suggested this building was occupied by a Christian community, perhaps as part of a monastery or even the episcopal palace itself. This was abandoned after Islamisation, seemingly in the eighth century. The results of the first season of excavations are described, and the implications for Christianity, Islamisation and settlement in Bahrain are considered.

The intention of this paper is to outline the stratigraphic and chronological sequence of Julfar al-Nudud (Ras al-Khaimah, UAE, henceforth referred to as Al-Nudud), and to compare it to the archaeological record revealed by former excavations at the neighbouring site of Julfar al-Mataf (henceforth Al-Mataf). Both are part of the same very major medieval coastal town, historically known as Julfar. The dating of the various excavated elements of Al-Mataf will then be reconsidered, and a concordance established with the phases at Al-Nudud, allowing us to examine the developmental trajectory of the city. This will then briefly be set within its historical context. Only passing reference will be made to the architecture and the major classes of finds, with the exception of the Far Eastern ceramics, which contain valuable dating evidence. The full architectural and artefactual record will be presented in the final monograph, currently in preparation, which includes specialist studies of the local ceramics, the glassware, the coins, and fish and faunal remains. The excavations at Al-Nudud took place in February-April 2010, funded by the Government of Ras al-Khaimah, and conducted by a team from Oxford Brookes Archaeology

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