In Search of Ancient Seafarers in the Arabian Gulf

Chris Kostman

The Arabian Gulf and the adjacent regions of the Indian Ocean is an area of the world with a seafaring tradition of over 5,000 years in age, yet which has gone essentially unexplored beneath the waves. In fact, the South and Southwest Asian regions, and the Gulf area in particular, have perhaps the richest and longest running seafaring tradition of any world region. From before and through the Bronze Age, Iron Age, rise of Islam, medieval period, on down into the 20th century, ships in this region have played a vital and pivotal role in commerce, communication, and exploration.

The discovery, excavation, and documentation of a Bronze Age (c.5,000 - 3,500 years ago) ship involved in the elaborate trading activity between Sumer (Iraq), Magan (southeastern Arabia), Meluhha (Pakistan), Dilmun (Bahrain and northeastern Arabia), and the regions between and beyond would be one of the greatest achievements in the field of archaeology. To that end a search has been inaugurated for submerged shipwrecks of any period in the coastal and territorial waters of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a fascinating country located on the Arabian peninsula, adjacent to the Straits of Hormuz.

The UAE's strategic location at the confluence of trading routes extending from China, Sri Lanka, and India in the east, to Ethiopia, Egypt, and Europe in the west, as well as the country's own rich cultural heritage, make this an ideal region in which to search for ancient seafarers. Thankfully, the UAE welcomed my research team from the University of California at Berkeley in February of 1994, and a second field season is planned for the Summer of 1995.

The multidisciplinary team of Berkeley scientific divers included myself, marine biologist Kyler Abernathy, and historian Sean Hathaway Kelly.

Our research and search methods involved all of the basic nuts and bolts of searching for shipwrecks from a time and place with little or no historical records to steer us:

• Studying the historical and popular records of shipping lanes, ports, and commercial areas.
• Collecting maps and charts of the coastal regions and adjacent sealanes, as well as U.S. Navy seafloor soundings.
• Surveying the coastlines by Land Cruiser and foot to catalogue likely ports of call and dangerous coastlines.
• Surveying the coastlines by boat and scuba diving to establish a knowledge base of water conditions, tidal patterns, seafloor depths and geological makeup.
• Surveying the coastlines by helicopter to visually search for wrecks or likely wreck-producing areas.

Our initial season in the UAE allowed preliminary searches of the UAE's east coast along the Indian Ocean in the Emirate of Fujairah, and selected west coast sites and islands in the Arabian Gulf in the Emirate of Sharjah. We will continue our efforts in 1995, with the aim of pinpointing very specific target areas to search in a more detailed manner with the use of side-scanning sonar and ROV (remotely-operated vehicle). Though our first efforts in the UAE have been timid and of a broad stroke, we are laying the scientific and archaeological groundwork for greater discoveries to come in future seasons. There are, quite assuredly, ancient ships, artefacts, and possibly even sunken villages to be found in those waters, and we intend to find them.

Note: This research project owes an immense gratitude to the generous support of HH Dr. Shaikh Sultan Muhammad al-Qasimi, H.H. Shaikh Hamad Bin Mohammed Al Sharqi and H.H. Shaikh Salah Bin Mohammed Al Sharqi; the Departments of Cultural and Archaeological Affairs of the Emirates of Sharjah and Fujairah, UAE; the Stahl Travel Fund, Department of Near Eastern Studies, and Office of Scientific Diving at the University of California at Berkeley; and the Dr. Karl Koenig Foundation.