The ceramics of Yughbi (Qatar), one of the earliest Islamic sites of the Gulf

In this paper the results of the macroscopic and petrographic analysis of the ceramics of the site of Yughbī are presented. This site was excavated in 2018, in the final fieldwork campaign of The Crowded Desert Project. It is so far the earliest Islamic site known in Qatar and one of the earliest ones in the Gulf, and it features a very well contextualized ceramic assemblage of 697 sherds, most of which date to a period between the 660s and the 770s CE.

The ceramics of Yughbī have been studied macroscopically and with petrographic microscopy. The combination of both analyses shows the presence of South Iraqi, Eastern Arabian and Indian wares, but an almost total lack of Iranian wares. The comparison of connectivity profiles between the ceramics of Yughbī and those of other sites of the same period (late Sasanian and early Islamic) indicate a certain similarity with Ṣohār, and, to a lesser extent, with Kush and Bushehr. The ceramic assemblage of Yughbī is much less similar to closer sites, like Ṣīr Banī Yās, Sīrāf or Bilād al-Qadīm.

Qatar. Gulf Archaeology. Early Islamic archaeology. Archaeological ceramics. Ceramic petrography.