Searching For Dilmun: Underwater Ruins In The Persian Gulf Predate The Pharaohs And Sumer

Ellen Lloyd– AncientPages.com – It’s difficult to say where we can find traces of the world’s oldest civilization because many ancient underwater ruins still await our discovery. There are many mysteries beneath the waters, and we have only unraveled a small percent of them.

In the Sumerian creation myth Enki and Ninhursag, God Enki promised to create a marvelous land called Dilmun where life could thrive.

“For Dilmun, the land of my lady’s heart, I will create long waterways, rivers and canals, whereby water will flow to quench the thirst of all beings and bring abundance to all that lives.”

“Most scholars agree the ancient Sumerians were the earliest developed civilization in our recorded history. Mesopotamia is therefore often characterized as the cradle of civilization.” ¹

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Sumerians were the oldest civilization. There is archaeological evidence that advanced ancient civilizations existed long before the Sumerians. The Indus Valley civilization also called the Harappan civilization was one of the world’s largest and oldest civilizations, and it's very possible they predate the Pharaohs and Sumerians.

Scientist Jeffrey Rose from the Birmingham University has suggested that paleoenvironmental, archaeological, and genetic evidence from the Arabian Peninsula and southern Iran provide us with vital clues about some of the earliest civilizations that walked the Earth.

Ruins Of Long-Lost Arabian - Persian Civilization May Be World’s Oldest

According to Rose, mysterious underwater ruins discovered at the bottom of the Persian Gulf could be traces of the world’s oldest civilization. Discoveries made in the Persian Gulf Oasis have the potential to re-write history.

Underwater archaeologists have discovered more than 60 ancient submerged settlements beneath the waters of the Arabo-Persian Gulf. The settlements date to around 5,500 B.C. and their inhabitants were a “prospering Neolithic population practicing a combination of fishing, date palm cultivation, and animal husbandry.” ²

A map that shows Arabian Peninsula with regions that were exposed as sea levels fell, and so became environmental refugees, possibly for some of the earliest humans out of Africa. Credit: Current Anthropology

This may sound like a primitive culture, but scientists have made surprising discoveries that give us reason to reconsider our knowledge about the past. Among the many submerged ancient ruins resting at the bottom of the Persian Gulf, there are sophisticated stone houses that could only have been built by an advanced culture.

The underwater artifacts discovered at the site are richly decorated and show evidence of trade with foreign lands. Scientists found submerged long-distance trade networks, and evidence for one of the oldest boats in the world.

Who were these people and where did they come from? There are some clues, but not many.

This unknown ancient civilization was erased from history pages because of climate change.

Some suggest the ancient underwater ruins unearthed in the Persian Gulf are remains of Dilmun that may have been the legendary Garden of Eden. Painting Thomas Cole: The Garden of Eden - Credit: Public Domain

"Perhaps it is no coincidence that the founding of such remarkably well-developed communities along the shoreline corresponds with the flooding of the Persian Gulf basin around 8,000 years ago," Rose said. "These new colonists may have come from the heart of the Gulf, displaced by rising water levels that plunged the once fertile landscape beneath the waters of the Indian Ocean."

“Although part of that jump in a settlement may be a shift from ephemeral hunting camps to more sedentary occupations with permanent architectural structures, thus, greater archaeological visibility, other indications in the material record suggest that the inhabitants of the region underwent a fundamental demographic transformation.

Did The Ubadians Originally Come From Eastern Arabia?

Middle Holocene sites around the Gulf are distinguished by the appearance of Mesopotamian-style plain and painted pottery called “‘Ubaid ware.” 2

Between 5,500–4,000 B.C. much of Mesopotamia shared a common culture, called Ubaid. The Ubadians, named after the site, where pottery from the period was first discovered, at Tell al-'Ubaid in southern Mesopotamia were sophisticated, but Rose suggests these people were present in other parts of the world, and not only Mesopotamia.

Ubaid period pottery, Susa I, 4th Millenium BC. Similar artifacts were found underwater in the Persian Gulf. Image credit: Siren-Com, CC BY-SA 3.0

In his science paper, Rose explains that “stylistically, ceramics from these sites fall within the ‘Ubaid 3 to ‘Ubaid 5 archaeological phases. a recent appraisal of ‘Ubaid ceramics around the Gulf places almost all of these assemblages within the ‘Ubaid 3 period. ²

Only a few sites possess a subsequent ‘Ubaid 4 element, and just two findspots in Qatar and Bahrain have a final ‘Ubaid 5 component. This is highly significant as it suggests that the introduction of ‘Ubaid-related sites in eastern Arabia falls within a single millennium. In addition, there is only one stratified ‘Ubaid-related site in eastern Arabia, Ain Qannas, that has an underlying archaeological implying that all other ‘Ubaid-related sites were established on previously unsettled land.

Is Dilmun Resting At The Bottom Of The Persian Gulf?

Dilmun was an important place for the Sumerians. Mentioned in Sumerian economics texts as an independent ancient kingdom, it was a commercial center that flourished around 2,000 B.C on Bahrain Island in the Persian Gulf. Dilmun’s location has never been confirmed and Bahrain is only a candidate. Some suggest Dilmun may have been the legendary Garden of Eden.

Could the ancient underwater ruins lying scattered at the bottom of the Persian Gulf be remains of this once important ancient kingdom? Rose thinks there is a possibility we may have discovered the underwater ruins of Dilmun, but he emphasizes the more important aspect of this archaeological finding.

Dilmun stamp seal with hunters and goats, rectangular pen, ca early 2nd Millennium B.C. Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art - CC0

The underwater ruins in the Persian Gulf offer evidence this part of the world was inhabited for much longer than previously thought. This place was home to a developed society. About 8,000 years ago the Gulf flooded and the Indian Ocean swallowed the culture. Rose suggests that the underwater lands would have been a "Persian Gulf Oasis" - a rich and fertile region perhaps home to humans for as much as 100,000 years before it was submerged.

If Rose is correct, then the underwater ruins in the Persian Gulf clearly show an advanced, long-lost civilization was present in the region before the emergence of the Pharaohs and Sumerians. This is incredible evidence that changes our understanding of ancient history.

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Written by Ellen Lloyd - AncientPages.com

Updated on April 14, 2023

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