Occupation humaine et environnement au 5e et au 4e millénaire sur la côte Sharjah-Umm al-Qaiwain (U.A.E.)

Three contributions in this issue are concerned with sites along the west coast of the United Arab Emirates which pre-date the Bronze Age. In this paper we shall attempt to view these sites in the broader geographical context of the southern Gulf coast; and thereafter to consider (1) the lithic material attested in the Arabian peninsula and dated to between the late 6th and early 4th millennium B.C.; (2) the painted pottery comparable to Mesopotamian Ubaid wares; and (3) a dozen CI4 dates (1) run on shell which all range around 6000-4500 BR The material utilized here comes from a series of expeditions conducted by the French Missions to Sharjah and Umm al-Qaiwain between 1985 and 1990 (2). The objectives of our geomorphological and archaeological inquiries were to observe, within a restricted area, the remains and evolution of human occupation in a changing environment.