Arabian Gulf: the Cradle of Civilisation?

[Sargon of Akkad]

]

Al-Magar site, amid the remote low hills and sandy valleys of southwestern Saudi Arabia and located near the town of Al-Gayirah, is one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in the Middle East. Carried out by the Antiquities Sector of the Saudi Commission for Antiquities and Museums, Al-Magar represents the first Neolithic settlement site in the Arabian Peninsula. According to Dr. Ali, the SCTA vice President, the horse stone sculpture located at al-Magar clearly shows that it was most likely a domesticated animal, and present in the Peninsula for over 10,000 years.

Al-Magar Site

One of the most excting components of Al-Magar was the discovery of a large stone carving of an 'equid' - an animal belonging to the horse family. According to Ali bin Ibrahim Al Ghabban, vice-president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, 'It could possibly be the birthplace of an advanced prehistoric civilisation that witnessed the domestication of animals, particularly the horse, for the first time during the Neolithic period.'

The piece itself, measuring 86 cms long by 18 cms thick and weighing more than 135kg., is a large sculptural fragment that appears to show the head, muzzle, shoulder and withers of a horse. The fact that other smaller, horse-like sculptures were found at Al-Magar, with similar bands over the shoulders, supports the idea that this culture may have been using 'tack' to domesticate horses.

On the ground surface at Al-Magar, there is large scattering of stone objects over a wide area. The typical Neolithic objects consist of arrow heads, precisely made stone scrapers, knives, grinding stones and pots, similar to those located at the Neolithic sites of Thimamh, Rub al-Khali, Tatleeth, Yabrin, Tabuk and Jawf, Sakkaka.



Several stone statues and carvings of conceivably domesticated animals were found on the site, possibly part of the daily life of the inhabitants. The statues of animals located at al-Magar are also represented in the rock art of various Neolithic sites at Hima, Najran, Jubbah and Shuwaymis. The statues of most common animals found at Al-Magar are sheep, goat, dogs, ostriches, falcons, fish and horses.

Al-Magar is the most elaborate and ancient settlement site in the Arabian Peninsula. It represents an advanced pre-pottery Neolithic period. The people lived in stone houses built with dry masonary.

The archaeological survey at al-Magar has revealed traces of stone structures, connected with settlement and with signs of agricultural activity. The sculptures themselves were found buried in one of the stone structures, formerly a building of some sort. The archaeology evidence of al-Magar is slowly revealing clues about the social aspects and the culture of the people who lived here; about domestication, trade and migration. What is more, there are clear signs of even earlier occupation; adjacent to the Neolithic finds, flaked stone tools, such as scrapers, estimated to be 50,000 years in age. Al-Magar was an attractive environment for human activity over multiple periods.

The Arabian Horse - Origin & Development

The Arabian Horse

It is generally believed that the horse was introduced into the Arabian Peninsula, but that it was domesticated in Arabia between 3,000 and 4,000 BC, although this remains controversial. Clearly, the horse has always been a part of Arabian culture.

The recent discovery of horse figures in the Neolithic rock art at Shuwaymis has changed the story of the presence and domestication of the horse in Arabia. Now we can say with authenticity that the horse was already present in Arabia as early as the Neolithic period c. 10,000-9,000 years before present.

The Arabian Horse in Saudi Arabia Rock Art

The Arabian Horse in Saudi Arabia Rock Art

Horse depictions in Saudi Arabia Rock Artt

Horse depictions in Saudi Arabia Rock Art

The Arabian Horse in Saudi Arabia Rock Art

The Arabian Horse in Saudi Arabia Rock Art

New Archaeological Discoveries in Eastern Province​

September 2016


Recent efforts to excavate archaeological sites in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia have unearthed a record of the Kingdom’s rich cultural past and ancient heritage. Under the patronage of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH), teams of international and national experts have revealed the region’s status as a hub of social and commercial life over 7,000 years ago.

Spread out over a number of sites in Saudi Arabia, the discoveries contain valuable artifacts that have given researchers a glimpse into the traditions of those living during the earliest days of the spread of Islam. In Dammam, experts are using pieces of pottery and houses to develop an understanding of traditional craftwork and architecture in the civilizations that once thrived in the Arabian Peninsula.

In the ancient city of Thaj, a key discovery of gold and jewelry provided researchers with new information on the skillful metalwork of the area’s residents. In Tarout, the unearthing of weaponry, pottery, and metal tools demonstrated similar levels of technical expertise that is slated to be exhibited in the National Museum of Riyadh.

As a center of human interaction and engagement between civilizations, the Arabian Peninsula was home to peoples who benefited from coastal trade and commerce along the routes of the Mesopotamia. It is for this reason, SCTNH President Prince Sultan bin Salman stated, that such archaeological history points to the role that Saudi Arabia played in the religious, political, and cultural flourishing of ancient life.

Vision 2030 Protects Proud Islamic Heritage, Attracts Tourists
In recognition of the nation’s proud heritage and ancient cultural vibrancy, Saudi officials have devoted resources under the Vision 2030 plan to protect the Kingdom’s proud Arab and Islamic heritage. According to the plan, the diversity that distinguishes Saudi Arabia will continue to offer future generations a foundation for social development and serve as a tool to attract visitors from other countries as witnesses to the country’s place in history.

Through the creation of the world’s largest Islamic heritage museum and intention to double the number of sites registered by UNESCO, the Kingdom aims to fortify its place among leading nations in cultural preservation and education.

http://www.arabianow.org/archaeolog...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

TRAVEL TOP FIVE

In Saudi Arabia, Jewish sites with ancient resonance beckon​

For now, Israelis are not allowed into the kingdom, and Jews are at best grudgingly admitted. But with ties just possibly warming, a Jewish history dating back millennia might soon be more accessible

BY JESSICA STEINBERG August 4, 2016, 12:53 am

​

Saudi Arabia is not high on the list of Jewish travel destinations.

There has been no organized Jewish activity in the country for 70 years. Even though a Saudi delegation visited Israel last month, anyone with an Israeli passport is banned from entering the country, as the two countries don’t have diplomatic relations. As of 2014, Jews are now apparently, unofficially, allowed to work there, though not to hold prayer services.

Yet 3,000 years ago, around the time of the First Temple, there was a strong, vibrant Jewish community in the area of what is today Saudi Arabia.

And in the sixth and seventh centuries, there was a considerable Jewish population in Hejaz, mostly around Medina, Khaybar and Tayma. Hejaz makes up most of the western part of modern-day Saudi Arabia and is centered on the two holiest Muslim cities, Mecca and Medina.

The medieval Jewish traveler, Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela in Spain, during an 1165-1173 trek to the Holy Land, made his way to the far-flung Jewish communities that are now in the geographic area of Saudi Arabia.

He cataloged his trip, describing the places he visited and the people he met and providing a demographic rundown of Jews in every town and country. Tayma and Khaybar, where he visited, are two oases that became populated communities because they were along a key land route between the Red Sea coast of the Arabian Peninsula and the Nile Valley.


Former Saudi general Dr. Anwar Eshki (center, in striped tie) and other members of his delegation, meeting with Israeli Knesset members and others during a visit to Israel on July 22, 2016 (via twitter)

Benjamin of Tudela in the Sahara , in the 12th century, as shown in an engraving by Dumouza (Wikimedia Commons)

Historical sites pertaining to the ancient Jewish experience still exist. With the Saudis just possibly warming their ties to Israel — ex-Saudi general Anwar Eshki, who led the recent delegation to Israel, also met publicly in the US last year with Foreign Ministry chief Dore Gold — the day may be drawing near when these locales will be more accessible.

These are five top Jewish spots in Saudi Arabia, to savor online for now, and just maybe up close in the near future:

1) Khaybar is situated in a valley with natural wells that have irrigated the area since ancient times, aiding in the growth of dates known throughout the country. The oasis made Khaybar a regular stop along the incense trade route from Yemen to the Levant, which is why it was the home of the Jewish community at the time. Visitors can also stop at the Jewish cemetery, a 1,400-year-old graveyard without any headstones but known locally for its Jewish history.

2) There’s also the Khaybar Fortress, perched on a hill overlooking the oasis, which is at least 1,400 years old. The earliest accounts of its construction date from the Battle of Khaybar, when the Prophet Mohammed and his army invaded and conquered Khaybar. It was Mohammed’s nephew and son-in-law, Ali, who was able to unlock the gate of the fortress to allow the Muslim armies to finally conquer the fortress. It was rebuilt and reused several times, but is still usually referred to it as the Fortress of the Jews.

Khaybar fortress (Wikimedia Commons)

3) The Palace of the Jewish Tribe’s Head is also located in Khaybar, and was the home of the Jewish tribe of Marhab. The tribe was known to be wealthy from dealing in gold and jewelry, and the palace it lived in is above the town, about a ten-minute climb from the center.

4) In Tayma, which was often referred to as a fortified city belonging to the Jews, most travelers stop at the Al-Naslaa Rock Formation, located in the Tayma oasis. It’s considered to have one of the most photogenic petroglyphs, or rock art, depicting the life and times of ancient communities. Al-Naslaa is also known for the perfect, natural slit between the two standing stones. Experts say the cause of this perfect slit could be the ground having shifted slightly underneath one of the two supports.

5) At the center of Tayma is Bir Haddaj, a large well considered to be about 2,500 years old, dating back at least to the middle of the sixth century BCE. It wasn’t in use until the 1950s, when it was repaired and later restored to its previous appearance.

The well is mentioned in the Book of Isaiah as the place where the descendants of Ishmael’s son, Tema, lived: “Unto him that is thirsty bring ye water! The inhabitants of the land of Tema did meet the fugitive with his bread.”

There are also the famous Tayma stones inscribed in Aramaic that are now in the Louvre Museum. Thousands of other Aramaic inscriptions that have been found in the area are stored in the city’s museum.


The Tayma Stone, a stele with Aramaic inscription. Now in the Louvre (Jastrow / Wikipedia)

http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-saudi-arabia-jewish-sites-with-ancient-resonance-beckon/

 

[Sargon of Akkad]

World's Oldest "Standing" Church is in Saudi Arabia - 4th Century Assyrian Church with PICS. ​

G'day ATS,

When I was about six years old, my family moved to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. One of my first memories of living there is being woken early in the morning by loud wailing. Little did I know that this was the call to morning prayers. My sister and I were actually freaked out and she had to be comforted by my parents (being only four), I will always remember that experience.

Saudi Arabia is Muslim to the core.

It is the birthplace of the religion and home to the two holiest places in Islam (Mecca &Medina)

But the Saudis have a "dirty" little secret.

It is one of those amazing stories, a chance discovery, a government trying to cover it up to save face.

But I've found some links and information and I can bring it to you now ATS!

For a background I'll quote Wikipedia, the information is highly innadequate, but the lack of the quality and quantity of information released in the public domain will tell how sensitive a subject this is for the Saudis.

The Jubail Church

Jubail Church is the oldest still remaining church in the world, located in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. It dates to the 4th century. It was discovered in 1986. The government hides it from locals and bans foreigners from visiting it, even archaeologists. It is an ancient Assyrian church possibly of the Nabatean culture.

That's it, all they have. But after some digging, and I must admit the sources are obscure, I can bring you more details and pics of the World's Oldest Remaining Church, in the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia no less!

The Church of Jubail


In 1986, people on a desert picnic discovered the ruins of a church near the city of Jubail, Saudi Arabia, while digging one of their trucks out of the sand. The church is believed to have been built prior to A.D. 400, making it older than most churches in Europe. It was likely associated with one of five bishoprics existing on the shores of the Arabian Sea during the term of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople and founder of the heresy that bears his name.

Anyone familiar with contemporary Latin and Eastern Rite Catholic church buildings will recognize the basic design. The foundation marks for roof support columns in the main room easily identify it as the nave of a church. Probably, the roof was a thatch of palm branches supported by risers and crossbeams about a foot above the walls for sunlight and ventilation. The congregation would have entered through the main doorway at the west side of the nave and assembled, women standing to the right and men to the left, facing east toward the sanctuary (the middle of the three smaller chambers") where the altar would have been.

At the doorways to the sacristy, sanctuary, chapel, and the main entrance, stone crosses were attached to the wall. These four crosses, in place during the early excavation, disappeared in late 1986 or early 1987. Over the years since the discovery, the desert has erased even the marks left when the crosses were removed.

The last part is not surprising, I believe this is an intentional plan to leave the Church at the Mercy of the Desert Winds:

4th Century Assyrian Church in Saudi Arabia (Assyrian International News Agency)


The ruins are known as the Jubail Church and are acknowledged by the Saudi government, who will not issue permits to visit it because 'the site is being excavated.'

In any case, the original ruins contained four stone crosses, which later went missing, though the marks where the crosses were are still visible. The ruins are thought to date from the 4th century, which make them older than any known church in Europe. Not much else is known but speculation is that it was in some way connected to one of the five Assyrian Church of the East bishoprics which are known to have existed in this area of the Gulf in the 4th century.

The photographs were taken by Robert and Patricia McWhorter during 1986 shortly after the ruins were partially excavated and protected by the Saudi Department of Antiquities.

I went to the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities and searched for Church of Jubail, guess what?

It goes without saying that there were no results for that (as well as just "Church"), nor for the same search on the World Heritage Site either.

The oldest standing Church in the World not mentioned by either the Saudi Commission for Antiquities nor the World Heritage Site.

I find that very odd!

Note in the pictures the barbed wire fence, obviously to "Protect" the building, more likely to stop interested parties finding out that Saudi Arabia had one of the World's first Churches, and also that the current Oldest Standing Church n the World can still be found in this strictly Muslim country.

All the best ATS, Kiwifoot!

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread533512/pg1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubail_Church

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtiname_of_Muhammad

Christian community of Najran

The existence of a Christian community in Najran is attested by several historical sources of the Arabian peninsula, where it recorded as having been created in the 5th century CE or perhaps a century earlier. According to the Arab Muslim historian, Ibn Ishaq, Najran was the first place where Christianity took root in South Arabia.
Contents
1Prior to Christianity

• 2Economic, political and religious center

• 3Persecution of Christians

• 4Book of Himyarites

• 5Letter of Simeon of Beth Arsham

• 6Martyrs of Najran

• 7Church in Najran

• 8Najran pact

• 9Resistance to the rise of Islam

• 10Najran accord of 897

• 11Disappearance of the Christian community

• 12See also

• 13Citations

• 14References

Prior to Christianity
Prior to the rise of Christianity, the people of Najran were polytheists and worshipped a tall date-palm tree, for which also they had an annual festival when they hung upon it the finest garments they could find, and female ornaments. Then they would come and dance around it the whole day. During this period, they had a Chief named Abdullah ibn ath-Thamir who became the first Najranite to embrace Christianity. A pious Christian builder and bricklayer named Phemion settled among them and led them to his religion and its religious laws, which they adopted.

Economic, political and religious center
Before the advent of Islam, it appears from indications in the Qur'an it would appear that the Jews to the West of the Himyarite kingdom, in western Arabia, maintained some form of rabbinical organisation, possibly connected to late antique Judaism, and were not wholly cut off from their brethren elsewhere in the Middle East.[1] On source speaks of rabbis from Tiberias itself enjoying the hospitality of Dhu Nuwas's court.[2] The apparent conversion of local Himyarite rulers to Judaism, or some form of a Judaic monotheism,[2] as early as the late fourth century under the Tabbāi'a dynasty,[2] is indirect evidence that suggests appear to have been effective Jewish proselytization was active in the region.[1]

The Christians of Najran were divided into two sects. One drew on a variety of Nestorianism[citation needed], which a local merchant had acquired during a sojourn in al-Hira, and took back to Najran sometime during the reign of the Sassanid ruler Yazdegerd II. The other was a form of anti-Chalcedonianism.[3] had suffered an earlier, but brief, stint of persecution with the advent of the new dynasty under the Himyarite ruler Shurihbi'īl Yakkuf (c.468-480).[2] The Jewish faith had strong roots within the Himyarite kingdom when Dhu Nuwas rose to power, and not only in Zafar but Najran also, it seems that several synagogues had been built.[2]

Najran was an oasis, with a large population of Christian Arabs, and a significant community of Jews,[4] unlike most Ṣayhadic people of that zone, had only come under the authority of the Himyarite kingdom in the early fifth century, more or less around the time that a local merchant, one Hayyān by name, had visited Constantinople and underwent conversion at al-Hīra, near Mecca, during a later journey. On his return to his native town, he began to proseyltise on behalf of the new religion.[2]

and the seat of a Bishopric (?). It sheltered an oligarchy of Christian merchants which were as rich as any in Edessa or Alexandria (?). It had been an important stop on the spice route from Hadhramaut. Najran had been an important centre of Christianity in South Arabia and the focus of international intrigues in which economics, politics, and religion were all entangled.

Persecution of Christians
Commercial reasons probably induced Christians to explore the possibilities in the area at an early period but the first attested Christian mission dates to that of Theophilos the Indian, a Christian of the Arian persuasion, who was active during the reign of Constantius II, and who was reported to have converted the Himyarites around 354/5.[5]

In the first quarter of the 6th century, a variety of records refer to a tragic episode in which a local king, Yusuf As'ar Dhu Nuwas, who had converted to Judaism and subjected the local Christian community to persecution, reportedly in retribution for the burning of a synagogue.[1] The events comprised episodes involving a massacre of Ethiopians in a Yemen garrison, the destruction of churches, punitive expeditions in a number of regions, and attempts to constrain communities to undergo conversion to Judaism. The most celebrated episode concerns the martyrdom of the Christian denizens in the great oasis of Najrān, culminating in the execution of Arethas,[6] an incident alluded to in the Qur'an, in Sura 85:4-8, where however the Christians are described as Believers martyred for their faith[7] These circumstances have a geopolitical dimension as well, in that there are indications that these Jewish communities had connections with the Iranian Sassanid kingdom, while the Christians, though Monophysites, were linked to Byzantine interests.[1]

After coming to the throne through a coup d'état, Dhu Nuwas launched a campaign which swept away an Aksumite garrison in Zafar, where a church was put to the torch, and then invaded the Tihāma coastal lowlands where a partially Christianized population dwelt, and where he took over key centres as far as the Bab el-Mandeb.He sent one of his generals, a Jewish prince, north to Najran in order to impose an economic blockade on the oasis by cutting off the trade route to Qaryat al-Faw in eastern Arabia.[8] The Christians of Najran were massacred in 524 by the Himyarite king, Yusuf As'ar Dhu Nuwas. The Najranite Christians, like other Southern Arabian Christian communities, had close connections with the ecclesiastical authorities in Byzantium and Abyssinia. They were identified by virtue of their religion as "pro-Axumite" and "pro-Byzantine".[citation needed]

Dhu Nuwas hoped to create, in the rich lands of Southern Arabia, a "Davidic" kingship which was independent of the Christian powers. He also considered Najran to be a Byzantine base that controlled the Red Sea trade route and did harm to the economic situation of Himyar.[citation needed]

When Dhu Nuwas invaded, he called upon its people to abandon Christianity and embrace Judaism. When they refused, he had them thrown into burning ditches alive. Estimates of the death toll from this event range up to 20,000 in some sources.[who?] Some sources[who?] say that Dus Dhu Tha'laban from the Saba tribe was the only man able to escape the massacre of Najran, who fled to Constantinople to seek help and promptly reported everything. This brought about the wrath of emperor of Byzantium, Justin I who, as protector of Christianity encouraged his ally, the Abyssinian king Ella-Asbeha of Aksum, to invade the country, kill Dhu-Nuwas, and annex Himyar in 525.[citation needed]

Book of Himyarites
However, according to the "Book of Himyarites", the instigation to action was not caused by a request from Constantinople but, more plausibly, the arrival at the court of the Abyssinian king of a refugee from Najran by the name of Umayya. Later, an army of 7,000 men led by Abraha al-Ashram, the Christian viceroy of the Negus of Abyssinia defeated Dhu Nuwas's forces and restored Christian rule in Najran.

In his 524 C.E letter describing the Najran persecutions in detail, the West-Syrian debater Simeon, the bishop of Beth Arsham describes how female martyrs rushed in to join "our parents and brothers and sisters who have died for the sake of Christ our lord".

In one exchange, reminiscent of the Acts of Marta and her father Pusai, a freeborn woman of Najran named Habsa bint Hayyan taunts Dhu Nuwas with the memory of her father:[9]

Habsa told him, "I am the daughter of Hayyan, of the family of Hayyan, the teacher by whose hand our lord sowed Christianity in this land. My father is Hayyan who once burned your synagogues". Masruq the Crucifier (Dhu Nuwas), said to her, "So, you have the same ideas as your father? I suppose you too would be ready to burn our synagogues just as your father did." Habsa told him, "No! I am not going to burn it down because i am prepared to follow quickly this path of martyrdom in the footsteps of my brothers in Christ. But we have confidence in the justice of Jesus Christ our Lord and our God, that he will swiftly bring an end to your rule and make it disappear from amongst mankind: he will bring low your pride and your life, and he will uproot your synagogues from our lands, and build there holy churches. Christianity will increase and rule here, through the grace of our Lord and through the prayers of our parents and brothers and sisters who have died for the sake of Christ our Lord. Whereas you and all who belong to your people will become a byword that will cause future generations to wonder, because of all that you, a godless and merciless man, have wrought upon the holy churches and upon those who worship Christ God."

Letter of Simeon of Beth Arsham
Simeon of Beth Arsham's Second letter preserves yet another memorably gruesome episode. After seeing her Christian kinsmen burned alive, Ruhm, a great noblewoman of Najran, brings her daughter before the Himyarite king and instructs him: "Cut off our heads, so that we may go join our brothers and my daughter's father." The executioners comply, slaughtering her daughter and granddaughter before Ruhm's eyes and forcing her to drink her blood. The king then asks, "How does your daughter's blood taste to you?" The martyr replies, "Like a pure spotless offering: that is what it tasted like in my mouth and in my soul."[10]

Martyrs of Najran
The martyrs of Najran are remembered in the Christian calendars and are even mentioned in the Surat al-Buruj of the Q'uran 85:4–8, where the persecutions are condemned and the steadfast believers are praised:

...slain were the men of the pit (Al-Ukhdood),

the fire abounding in fuel, when they were seated over it, and were themselves witnesses of what they did with the believers. They took revenge on them because they believed in God the All-mighty, the All-laudable...

The stories of the Najran deaths spread quickly to other Christian realms, where they were recounted in terms of heroic martyrdom for the cause of Christ. Their martyrdom led to Najran becoming a major pilgrimage centre that, for a time, rivaled Mecca to the north. The leader of the Arabs of Najran who was executed during the period of persection, Al-Harith, was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church as St. Aretas.[11]

The Martyrdom of the Christians of Najran is celebrated in the Roman Calendar on the 24 October; in the Jacobite Menologies on 31 December; in the Arabic Feasts of the Melkites on 2 October; in the Armenian Synaxarium on the 20 October, and in the Ethiopian Senkesar on November 22.

Church in Najran
The bishops of Najran, who were probably Nestorians, came to the great fairs of Mina and Ukaz, and preached Christianity, each seated on a camel as in a pulpit. The Church of Najran was called the Ka'bat Najran. (Note that several other shrines in Arabia were also called Ka'aba meaning square like building). The Ka'aba Najran at Jabal Taslal drew worshippers for some 40 years during the pre-Islamic era. The Arabian sources single out Khath'am, as a Christian tribe which used to perform the pilgrimage to the Christian Ka'aba of Najran. When Najran was occupied by Dhu Nuwas, the Ka'aba Najran was burned together with the bones of its martyrs and some 2,000 live Christians within it.

Najran pact
In the tenth year of the Hijrah, a delegation of fourteen Christian Chiefs from Najran; among them Abdul Masih of Bani Kinda, their chief, and Abdul Harith, bishop of Bani Harith, came to Medina to make a treaty with the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and were permitted by him to pray in his mosque, which they did turning towards the east.[12]

Resistance to the rise of Islam
They were ordered by Umar ibn al-Khattab to vacate the city and emigrate out of the Arabian peninsula, or accept a money payment.[13] Some migrated to Syria; but the greater part settled in the vicinity of Al-Kufa in predominantly Christian Southern Iraq, where the colony of Al-Najraniyyah long maintained the memory of their expatriation.

However, the historicity of these events is not absolutely reliably established.[13] It appears that the orders of Umar were not fully carried out and might have applied only to Christians living in Najran itself, not to those settled round about. This is because there is some evidence of a continuing Christian presence in Najran for at least 200 years after the expulsion.[13] Some sources also state that the Christian community of Najran still had considerable political weight in the late ninth century.[13]

Najran accord of 897
According to a Yemeni Arab source, the first Zaydite Imam of Yemen, al-Hadi Ila l-Haqq Yahya ibn al-Hussain (897–911) concluded an accord with the Christians and the Jews of the oasis on 897, at the time of the foundation of the Zaydite principality.[14]

A second Yemeni source alludes to the Christians of Najran in muharram 390 (999–1000). The oasis was still one third Christian and one third Jewish, according to the testimony of the Persian traveller, Ibn al-Mujawir.[15] The last evidence of the presence of Christianity in Northern Yemen of which Najran used to belong to, dates back to the 13th century.[15]

Disappearance of the Christian community
Eventually the Old Najran which was Christian disappeared, and is now represented by Al-Ukhdood, a desolate village, while another the Najran which is Islamic, has now appeared in its vicinity.[16]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_community_of_Najran

Write "MYSTAGOGY: Saint Arethas the Great Martyr and the Christian Martyrs of Najran" on Google.

In short there is no single region in the world that can even remotely rival the heritage of the Arab Near East. Impossible.

So basically we are the originals, the creators of civlization and everyone is a descendent from us but not exactly as holy.

It's a scientific fact as the ancestors of all non-Sub-Saharan Africans lived in the Arabian Peninsula for 1000's upon 1000's of years before they ventured out to all the remaining parts of the world. This is why all many of the maternal and paternal haplogroups of all humans descend from Arabia.

Our ancestors (the ancestors of Arabs and Semites of the Near East and our prehistoric descendants) invented writing, alphabets, the wheel, science, mathematics, farming, domestication, the first cities etc. List is very long. Yet certain regional cretins and outsiders want to belittle us (Arabs) when they are in no position to do so. In 40 years time alone the Arab world be far ahead of them on all fronts due to demographics and economics alone. Everything else will follow naturally and return to what it was for most of the recorded history.

 

[azzo]

Iranians should pay us tax for living in the basks of our civlization and culture, otherwise they should go back to their hunter and gatherer lifestyle.

 

[100]

Britain and Oman Signed treaty in 1853 used the Persian Gulf

​

 

[100]

Arabic Book dated in 1490 used the Persian Gulf name​

​

 

[Sargon of Akkad]

Iranians should pay us tax for living in the basks of our civlization and culture, otherwise they should go back to their hunter and gatherer lifestyle.

Speaking about Neolithic peoples, Saudi Arabians show the greatest genetic affinity to Neolithic mummies.

Recently a DNA study proved that modern-day Saudi Arabians, Palestinians, Jordanians and Egyptians have the largest ancestral claim on the Neolithic civilizations that first appeared in Southern Levant.

The Epipaleolithic Natufian culture /nəˈtuːfiən/[1] existed from around 12,500 to 9,500 BC in the Levant, a region in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was unusual in that it supported a sedentary or semi-sedentary population even before the introduction of agriculture. The Natufian communities may be the ancestors of the builders of the first Neolithic settlements of the region, which may have been the earliest in the world.[citation needed] Natufians founded Jericho which may be the oldest city in the world. Some evidence suggests deliberate cultivation of cereals, specifically rye, by the Natufian culture, at Tell Abu Hureyra, the site of earliest evidence of agriculture in the world.[2] Generally, though, Natufians exploited wild cereals. Animals hunted included gazelles.[3] According to Christy G. Turner II, there is archaeological and physical anthropological evidence for a relationship between the modern Semitic-speaking populations of the Levant and the Natufians.[4]

Dorothy Garrod coined the term Natufian based on her excavations at Shuqba cave in Wadi an-Natuf, in the western Judean Mountains.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natufian_culture

A culture that existed from 12.5000 BC to 9.500 BC whose people are known to have built the first Neolithic settlements on the planet as well as made the first attempts at agriculture, organized included. It was also arguably the first sedentary culture of this size in the world as well.

Here are the DNA results from this year (2016)

https://plot.ly/~PortalAntropologiczny9cfa/1.embed?share_key=za9Lb3y1UX6nJRG9v4EXOL

Here is the entire report:

http://biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/06/16/059311.full.pdf

It's quite cool that Saudi Arabians (in particular as they scored the highest percentage, one sample 60.38%!), Palestinians, Jordanians, "Israeli" Bedouins and Egyptians (afterwards other Arabs in the Near East and other MENA people) show the strongest genetic affinity to the ancient Natufian culture (12.500 BC - 9.500 BC) that was not only the first settled Neolithic civilization/community in the world but the first culture and people who introduced farming and built the first known settlements! More so knowing that the Natufians did not hail from the outside whether nearby Europe or Africa! They were indigenous.

Let them cry and they cannot change history and actually they are insulting their own ancestors who lived in Arabia for millennia like all others outside of Sub-Saharan Africa and their "Aryan" nonsense. If they are Aryans they should return to their primitive steppes of Central Asia where there is ZERO ancient heritage/artifacts whatsoever. They should not claim our ancient INDIGENOUS civilizations.

Anyway I should propose to the UN to rename the Gulf to the Gulf of Sumer or Dilmun which our ancient people probably called it for millennia before anything called "Persian" or "Iran" existed.

The first alphabet (of course Semitic) in the world was invented in Sinai that is inhabited by indigenous Arabs that have always lived there and which originally hail from neighboring Hijaz (millennia ago)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Sinaitic_script

Proto-Sinaitic is a term for both a Middle Bronze Age (Middle Kingdom) script attested in a small corpus of inscriptions found at Serabit el-Khadim in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, and the reconstructed common ancestor of the Phoenician and South Arabian scripts (and, by extension, of most historical and modern alphabets). It is also referred to as Sinaitic, Proto-Canaanite, Old Canaanite, and Canaanite.[1]

The earliest "Proto-Sinaitic" inscriptions are mostly dated to between the mid-19th (early date) and the mid-16th (late date) century BC. "The principal debate is between an early date, around 1850 BC, and a late date, around 1550 BC. The choice of one or the other date decides whether it is proto-Sinaitic or proto-Canaanite, and by extension locates the invention of the alphabet in Egypt or Canaan respectively." [2] The evolution of "Proto-Sinaitic" and the various "Proto-Canaanite" scripts during the Bronze Age is based on rather scant epigraphic evidence; it is only with the Bronze Age collapse and the rise of new Semitic kingdoms in the Levant that the direct ancestor of the Iron Age Phoenician alphabet, also known as "Proto-Canaanite", is clearly attested (Byblos inscriptions).[3]

The so-called "Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions" were discovered in the winter of 1904–1905 in Sinai by Hilda and Flinders Petrie. To this may be added a number of short "Proto-Canaanite" inscriptions found in Canaan and dated to between the 17th and 15th centuries, and more recently, the discovery in 1999 of the so-called "Wadi el-Hol inscriptions", found in Middle Egypt by John and Deborah Darnell. The Wadi el-Hol inscriptions strongly suggest a date of development of Proto-Sinaitic writing from the mid-19th to 18th centuries BC.[4][5]

The ancestor of all living alphabets.



You cannot even say Gulf without using the Arab Khalij. Anyway you are an Gulf of Oman/Arabian Sea country. The Gulf is from now on called The Gulf of Sumer and Dilmun and if that bothers you it will be called Gulf of Saddam Hussein.

Iranians should pay us tax for living in the basks of our civlization and culture, otherwise they should go back to their hunter and gatherer lifestyle.

I suggest a forceful deportation back to their ancestral lands (Kazahstan) and Andronovo.

But I love that they care so much about a name of a tiny shallow gulf. I guess this can happen, when you unlike Arabs, don't have entire seas, rivers, gulfs on 2 continents and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean named after you and when you already border 1 Gulf and 1 river named after Arabs/Arabic countries (Shatt al-Arab and Gulf of Oman).

@WebMaster a serious article written by a professor is flooded by Iranian trolls. Help needed to clean the off-topic posts. Thanks.

 

[100]

ذکر الخليج الفارسي علی لسان جمال عبد الناصر Gamal Abdel Nasser uses Persian Gulf

​

 

[The SC]

The Persian Gulf is an inland extension of the Arabian sea..so both Iranians and Arabs have their names on some water parts of the area, they both should be happy with that..
If one takes a look at the map of the Area in the OP article, he can see that there was no gulf at all, the land was very fertile with many fresh water lakes and then got pierced from the south by the sea and flooded; by either floods or Tsunami or else, hence creating a strait which is now called the strait of Hormuz..

The Oldest Map Carved in Stone near Roman Colosseum calls it the Persian Gulf.

Arabs were insignificant and have been destroyers of civilizations, God Blessed Arabs with a prophet, like the jews, Arabs kept waging wars on him till he died and then killed off all his family for ruling position.

Arabs tried to expand into Europe and Persia and got their *** kicked and ruined by Crusaders, Then Mongols also destroyed them,

Arabs always claiming other peoples civilization and things, like an prominent arab scholer said, to watch out from those from the Beduin Saudi Region, they are cowardly, and dont like hard work, so they will steal from those who live in normal lands, but if you are in mountains arabs wont come to steal from you, I am quoting someone here, not my own words.

Today 40% of Arab Population is Obese.

"The Arabs will be destroyed" Prophet Mohammad Said, Shahi Bukhari and Shahi Muslim Hadits.

"The Horns of the Devil will Rise from Njad" Prophet Mohammad Said.. (Saudi Arabia and Wahhabis / Saudi Family Comes from Njad)

Arabs lack civilization and now want to claim Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Indus, Roman and Persian Civilizations and Achievements.

Arabs were a nobody even 100 years ago, mark my words.

I will see the destruction of the Arab race and so will you.

You won't.. every one who has seeked that in history got destroyed himself.. from Roman to Persian and Mongol Empires to the crusaders (The whole Europe), and many more.. even the Muslim Ottoman empire lost its empire when it downgraded the Arabs..

 

[KediKesenFare3]

Sorry to disappoint you guys but neither India nor the Arabian Gulf is the cradle of civilization. In fact, it's simply Anatolia (and to some extent Mesopotamia). Anatolian civilization(s) is/are much older than any known Arabian, Persian or Indian civilization.

If you're interested in the Prehistory of Anatolia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistory_of_Anatolia + https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Anatolian_Civilizations + http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ly-humans-entered-Europe-earlier-thought.html

 

[TheCamelGuy]

Sorry to disappoint you guys but neither India nor the Arabian Gulf is the cradle of civilization. In fact, it's simply Anatolia (and to some extent Mesopotamia). Anatolian civilization(s) is/are much older than any known Arabian, Persian or Indian civilization.

If you're interested in the Prehistory of Anatolia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistory_of_Anatolia + https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Anatolian_Civilizations + http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ly-humans-entered-Europe-earlier-thought.html

Wouldn't really make a diff in your case given that Turks migrated to Anatolia from Asia not long ago. But that aside.

So the Arabian says Arabia is the cradle of civ.
The Indian says India is.
The Iranian says Persia is.
The Turk says Anatolia is.

What do you think that means? Should I jump in and say Mesopotamia is the oldest now.

 

[Sargon of Akkad]

Sorry to disappoint you guys but neither India nor the Arabian Gulf is the cradle of civilization. In fact, it's simply Anatolia (and to some extent Mesopotamia). Anatolian civilization(s) is/are much older than any known Arabian, Persian or Indian civilization.

If you're interested in the Prehistory of Anatolia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistory_of_Anatolia + https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Anatolian_Civilizations + http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ly-humans-entered-Europe-earlier-thought.html

Mesopotamia is part of the wider contemporary Arab civilization in the sense that it is a Semitic civilization and thus part of the larger family of civilizations of which Arab is one of them, found in the Arab world/Arab Near East. It is similar to how there are different Turkic, Iranic or Romance civilizations/peoples/langauges but they all have the same source.

And if I am not wrong the oldest cities and architectural remains in Turkey are exactly those originating from Southern Turkey (Mesopotamian/Semitic civilizations).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Göbekli_Tepe

For instance is just North of Syria and part of historical Mesopotamia. I still think that Arabs and Assyrians live in those regions of Turkey.

No doubt that Anatolia has very old civilizations but it cannot be the oldest or pre-date the Arab/Semitic ones simply due to the fact that there are older recorded civilizations/cultures in the Arab world and moreover if we are talking about prehistory that part of the world was inhabited for millennia upon millennia before humans reached Anatolia.

Also don't forget that Neolithic civilizations (first real civilizations in the world) themselves appeared in the Arab world or more precisely Arab/Semitic Near East (Southern Levant). Before the Neolithic period people were hunter-gatherers.

The Persian Gulf is an inland extension of the Arabian sea..so both Iranians and Arabs have their names on some water parts of the area, they both should be happy with that..
If one takes a look at the map of the Area in the OP article, he can see that there was no gulf at all, the land was very fertile with many fresh water lakes and then got pierced from the south by the sea and flooded; by either floods or Tsunami or else, hence creating a strait which is now called the strait of Hormuz..


You won't.. every one who has seeked that in history got destroyed himself.. from Roman to Persian and Mongol Empires to the crusaders (The whole Europe), and many more.. even the Muslim Ottoman empire lost its empire when it downgraded the Arabs..

True. The Persian/Arabian/Gulf of Saddam Hussein is an extension of the Gulf of Oman and both are extensions of the Arabian Sea which is an extension of the Indian Ocean. Not only that it is one of the youngest bodies of water in the world. Only 15.000 years which is nothing.

Wouldn't really make a diff in your case given that Turks migrated to Anatolia from Asia not long ago. But that aside.

So the Arabian says Arabia is the cradle of civ.
The Indian says India is.
The Iranian says Persia is.
The Turk says Anatolia is.

What do you think that means? Should I jump in and say Mesopotamia is the oldest now.

There is a difference between the age of human presence in area x or y and there are different criteria of what culture and civilization precisely entails. For instance I and most historians and sane people would argue that Neolithic settlements in contemporary Southern Levant, Arabia, Egypt and Mesopotamia (the oldest of their kind) were much more advanced than hunter-gatherer communities elsewhere at the same time period 12.500 BC - 9.500 BC.

This is not strange as Neolithic civilizations gave rise to farming, domestication of animals on a large scale, the first attempts at larger settlements etc.

A good example, as I previously talked about, is the Natufian culture of Southern Levant that Saudi Arabians and other nearby Arabs proved to be the most closely related people to (genetically) based on NDA from Natufian mummies/remains.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natufian_culture

See post 51.

Sumer of Southern Iraq and Northeastern Arabia is considered the first "real" civilization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer

 

[KediKesenFare3]

Wouldn't really make a diff in your case given that Turks migrated to Anatolia from Asia not long ago. But that aside.

So the Arabian says Arabia is the cradle of civ.
The Indian says India is.
The Iranian says Persia is.
The Turk says Anatolia is.

What do you think that means? Should I jump in and say Mesopotamia is the oldest now.

There is a debate ongoing whether the modern Turks migrated from Central Asia or not.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_studies_on_Turkish_people

It looks like the current Turkish-speaking population of Anatolia is mainly of Turkic heritage. They were really successful with the result that they assimilated nearby civilizations and societies. Due to this fact, the Turkish genetic pool today is very divers. This explanation sounds also very authentic to me. To this day, the maternal lineage is completely irrelevant in the Turkish society as long as your father is a Turk. In this case you're considered as a Turk without a doubt.

The wife of a Turkish male could be of Russian, Persian, Asian or Indian descent - it does not matter. The children are considered as Turkish in our society.

Btw, I quoted Wikipedia with many scientific sources. My claim regarding Anatolian cultures being the oldest proven civilizations is well documented. Mesopotamia and Anatolia have similarities but Anatolia is older.

Mesopotamia is part of the wider contemporary Arab civilization in the sense that it is a Semitic civilization and thus part of the larger family of civilizations of which Arab is one of them, found in the Arab world/Arab Near East. It is similar to how there are different Turkic, Iranic or Romance civilizations/peoples/langauges but they all have the same source.

And if I am not wrong the oldest cities and architectural remains in Turkey are exactly those originating from Southern Turkey (Mesopotamian/Semitic civilizations).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Göbekli_Tepe

For instance is just North of Syria and part of historical Mesopotamia. I still think that Arabs and Assyrians live in those regions of Turkey.

No doubt that Anatolia has very old civilizations but it cannot be the oldest or pre-date the Arab/Semitic ones simply due to the fact that there are older recorded civilizations/cultures in the Arab world and moreover if we are talking about prehistory that part of the world was inhabited for millennia upon millennia before humans reached Anatolia.

First of all, I'm ready to change my mind if you show me evidence that would disprove this:

In 2014, a stone tool was found in the Gediz River that was securely dated to 1.2 million years ago.[1] Evidence of paleolithic (prehistory 500,000 - 10,000 BCE) habitation include the Yarimburgaz Cave (Istanbul), Karain Cave (Antalya), and the Okuzini, Beldibi and Belbasi, Kumbucagi and Kadiini caves in adjacent areas. Examples of paleolithic humans can be found in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (Ankara), in the Archaeological Museum in Antalya, and in other Turkish institutions.

(...)

Remains of a mesolithic culture in Anatolia can be found along the Mediterranean coast and also in Thrace and the western Black Sea area. Mesolithic remains have been located in the same caves as the paleolithic artefacts and drawings. Additional findings come from the Sarklimagara cave in Gaziantep, the Baradiz cave (Burdur), as well as the cemeteries and open air settlements at Sogut Tarlasi, Biris (Bozova) and Urfa.[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistory_of_Anatolia

Just one example. Read the article and you'll find more evidence of human settlements and civilizations in Anatolia that are hundreds of thousands of years old. Are there older recorded cultures in the Arab world?

 

[Sargon of Akkad]

First of all, I'm ready to change my mind if you show me evidence that would disprove this:

In 2014, a stone tool was found in the Gediz River that was securely dated to 1.2 million years ago.[1] Evidence of paleolithic (prehistory 500,000 - 10,000 BCE) habitation include the Yarimburgaz Cave (Istanbul), Karain Cave (Antalya), and the Okuzini, Beldibi and Belbasi, Kumbucagi and Kadiini caves in adjacent areas. Examples of paleolithic humans can be found in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (Ankara), in the Archaeological Museum in Antalya, and in other Turkish institutions.

(...)

Remains of a mesolithic culture in Anatolia can be found along the Mediterranean coast and also in Thrace and the western Black Sea area. Mesolithic remains have been located in the same caves as the paleolithic artefacts and drawings. Additional findings come from the Sarklimagara cave in Gaziantep, the Baradiz cave (Burdur), as well as the cemeteries and open air settlements at Sogut Tarlasi, Biris (Bozova) and Urfa.[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistory_of_Anatolia

Just one example. Read the article and you'll find more evidence of human settlements and civilizations in Anatolia that are hundreds of thousands of years old. Are there older recorded cultures in the Arab world?

I am not trying to be rude here with but homo sapiens are nowhere near 1.2 million years old. Nor can anything this old resemble a culture or civilization even remotely. In such a case the cradle of civilization is Eastern Africa were mankind origins from.

Homo Sapiens (us humans) are between 200.000-100.000 years old.

Check this out below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_human_evolution#Homo

(there are plenty of sources used)

Homo sapiens migrations

Map of Y-chromosome haplogrooups.

Homo sapiens seems to have appeared in East Africa around 200,000 years ago. The oldest individuals found left their marks in the Omo remains (195,000 years ago) and the Homo sapiens idaltu (160,000 years ago), that was found at the Middle Awash site in Ethiopia.[8]

When modern humans reached the Near East 125,000 years ago, evidence suggests they retreated back to Africa, as their settlements were replaced by Neanderthals. It is now believed that the first modern humans to spread east across Asia left Africa about 75,000 years ago across the Bab el Mandib connecting Ethiopia and Yemen.[9] From the Near East, some of these people went east to South Asia by 50,000 years ago, and on to Australia by 46,000 years ago at the latest,[10] when for the first time H. sapiens reached territory never reached by H. erectus. H. sapiens reached Europe around 43,000 years ago,[11] eventually replacing the Neanderthal population by 40,000 years ago.[12] East Asia was reached by 30,000 years ago. Archaeological and genetic data suggest that the source populations of Paleolithic humans survived in sparsely wooded areas and dispersed through areas of high primary productivity while avoiding dense forest cover.[13] The date of migration to North America, and whether humans had previously inhabited the Americas is disputed; it may have taken place around 30 thousand years ago, or considerably later, around 14 thousand years ago. The oldest radiocarbon dated carbonized plant remains were determined to be 50,300 years old and were discovered at the Topper site in Allendale South Carolina in May 2004 alongside stone tools similar to those of pre-Clovis era humans.[14] The oldest DNA evidence of human habitation in North America however, has been radiocarbon dated to 14,300 years ago, and was found in fossilized human coprolites uncovered in the Paisley Five Mile Point Caves in south-central Oregon.[15] Colonization of the Pacific islands of Polynesiabegan around 1300 BC, and was completed by 1280 AD (New Zealand). The ancestors of Polynesians left Taiwan around 5,200 years ago.

More recent migrations of language and culture groups within the modern species are also studied and hypothetised. The African Epipaleolithic Kebaran culture is believed to have reached Eurasia about 18,000 years ago, introducing the bow and arrow to the Middle East, and may have been responsible for the spread of the Nostratic languages. The people of the Afro-Asiatic language family seem to have reached Africa in 6,200 BC, introducing the Semitic languages to the Middle East.

From there they spread around the world. An initial venture out of Africa 125,000 years ago was followed by a flood out of Africa via the Arabian Peninsula into Eurasiaaround 60,000 years ago, with one group rapidly settling coastal areas around the Indian Ocean and one group migrating north to steppes of Central Asia.[16]

There is evidence from mitochondrial DNA that modern humans have passed through at least one genetic bottleneck, in which genome diversity was drastically reduced. Henry Harpending has proposed that humans spread from a geographically restricted area about 100,000 years ago, the passage through the geographic bottleneck and then with a dramatic growth amongst geographically dispersed populations about 50,000 years ago, beginning first in Africa and thence spreading elsewhere.[17]Climatological and geological evidence suggests evidence for the bottleneck. The explosion of Lake Toba created a 1,000 year cold period, as a result of the largest volcanic eruption of the Quaternary, potentially reducing human populations to a few tropical refugia. It has been estimated that as few as 15,000 humans survived. In such circumstances genetic drift and founder effects may have been maximised. The greater diversity amongst African genomes may be in part due to the greater prevalence of African refugia during the Toba incident.[18]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_human_migrations



If we are going to talk about what place was first inhabited by humans, Anatolia was inhabited much later, compared to the Arabian Peninsula (second oldest inhabited place by humans in the world outside of Eastern Africa) and this goes for other parts of the Arab world too.

If you are going to talk about the first real cultures, those found in the Arab world also predate anything found in Anatolia.

If you are going to talk about the first "real" civilizations, the first civilization in the world is Sumer (Southern Iraq and Northeastern Arabia).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer

If you want to talk about the oldest cities in the world, they are also found in the Arab world (Arab Near East).

If you want to talk about inventions such as writing, the alphabet, the wheel, mathematics, science, farming, large-scale domestication of animals, the first cities in the world, time itself, the plow, the sailboat, astronomy, astrology, irrigation etc. they were all invented in the Arab Near East by our ancestors.

It is well-known that Anatolia is home to very old cultures, settlements and civilizations but none of them are older than what has been found in the Arab world and once again, human presence in the Arab world, Arabia in particular, predate human presence in Anatolia by millennia upon millennia.

Anyway back to topic.

 

[100]

The Persian Gulf is an inland extension of the Arabian sea..so both Iranians and Arabs have their names on some water parts of the area, they both should be happy with that..
If one takes a look at the map of the Area in the OP article, he can see that there was no gulf at all, the land was very fertile with many fresh water lakes and then got pierced from the south by the sea and flooded; by either floods or Tsunami or else, hence creating a strait which is now called the strait of Hormuz..

Even founder of Saudi Arabia, King Abdolaziz Al-Saud has used the name of Persian Gulf in his letter

 

[KediKesenFare3]

I am not trying to be rude here with but homo sapiens are nowhere near 1.2 million years old. Nor can anything this old resemble a culture or civilization even remotely. In such a case the cradle of civilization is Eastern Africa were mankind origins from.

Homo Sapiens (us humans) are between 200.000-100.000 years old.

Check this out below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_human_evolution#Homo

(there are plenty of sources used)

Homo sapiens migrations

Map of Y-chromosome haplogrooups.

Homo sapiens seems to have appeared in East Africa around 200,000 years ago. The oldest individuals found left their marks in the Omo remains (195,000 years ago) and the Homo sapiens idaltu (160,000 years ago), that was found at the Middle Awash site in Ethiopia.[8]

When modern humans reached the Near East 125,000 years ago, evidence suggests they retreated back to Africa, as their settlements were replaced by Neanderthals. It is now believed that the first modern humans to spread east across Asia left Africa about 75,000 years ago across the Bab el Mandib connecting Ethiopia and Yemen.[9] From the Near East, some of these people went east to South Asia by 50,000 years ago, and on to Australia by 46,000 years ago at the latest,[10] when for the first time H. sapiens reached territory never reached by H. erectus. H. sapiens reached Europe around 43,000 years ago,[11] eventually replacing the Neanderthal population by 40,000 years ago.[12] East Asia was reached by 30,000 years ago. Archaeological and genetic data suggest that the source populations of Paleolithic humans survived in sparsely wooded areas and dispersed through areas of high primary productivity while avoiding dense forest cover.[13] The date of migration to North America, and whether humans had previously inhabited the Americas is disputed; it may have taken place around 30 thousand years ago, or considerably later, around 14 thousand years ago. The oldest radiocarbon dated carbonized plant remains were determined to be 50,300 years old and were discovered at the Topper site in Allendale South Carolina in May 2004 alongside stone tools similar to those of pre-Clovis era humans.[14] The oldest DNA evidence of human habitation in North America however, has been radiocarbon dated to 14,300 years ago, and was found in fossilized human coprolites uncovered in the Paisley Five Mile Point Caves in south-central Oregon.[15] Colonization of the Pacific islands of Polynesiabegan around 1300 BC, and was completed by 1280 AD (New Zealand). The ancestors of Polynesians left Taiwan around 5,200 years ago.

More recent migrations of language and culture groups within the modern species are also studied and hypothetised. The African Epipaleolithic Kebaran culture is believed to have reached Eurasia about 18,000 years ago, introducing the bow and arrow to the Middle East, and may have been responsible for the spread of the Nostratic languages. The people of the Afro-Asiatic language family seem to have reached Africa in 6,200 BC, introducing the Semitic languages to the Middle East.

From there they spread around the world. An initial venture out of Africa 125,000 years ago was followed by a flood out of Africa via the Arabian Peninsula into Eurasiaaround 60,000 years ago, with one group rapidly settling coastal areas around the Indian Ocean and one group migrating north to steppes of Central Asia.[16]

There is evidence from mitochondrial DNA that modern humans have passed through at least one genetic bottleneck, in which genome diversity was drastically reduced. Henry Harpending has proposed that humans spread from a geographically restricted area about 100,000 years ago, the passage through the geographic bottleneck and then with a dramatic growth amongst geographically dispersed populations about 50,000 years ago, beginning first in Africa and thence spreading elsewhere.[17]Climatological and geological evidence suggests evidence for the bottleneck. The explosion of Lake Toba created a 1,000 year cold period, as a result of the largest volcanic eruption of the Quaternary, potentially reducing human populations to a few tropical refugia. It has been estimated that as few as 15,000 humans survived. In such circumstances genetic drift and founder effects may have been maximised. The greater diversity amongst African genomes may be in part due to the greater prevalence of African refugia during the Toba incident.[18]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_human_migrations



If we are going to talk about what place was first inhabited by humans, Anatolia was inhabited much later, compared to the Arabian Peninsula (second oldest inhabited place by humans in the world outside of Eastern Africa) and this goes for other parts of the Arab world too.

If you are going to talk about the first real cultures, those found in the Arab world also predate anything found in Anatolia.

If you are going to talk about the first "real" civilizations, the first civilization in the world is Sumer (Southern Iraq and Northeastern Arabia).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer

If you want to talk about the oldest cities in the world, they are also found in the Arab world (Arab Near East).

If you want to talk about inventions such as writing, the alphabet, the wheel, mathematics, science, farming, large-scale domestication of animals, the first cities in the world, time itself, the plow, the sailboat, astronomy, astrology, irrigation etc. they were all invented in the Arab Near East by our ancestors.

It is well-known that Anatolia is home to very old cultures, settlements and civilizations but none of them are older than what has been found in the Arab world and once again, human presence in the Arab world, Arabia in particular, predate human presence in Anatolia by millennia upon millennia.

Anyway back to topic.

Just read the whole article, please. What about the mesolithic cultures in Anatolia? They are older than any known Arabian civilization.