"The Dilmun civilization was an important trading centre
[11] which at the height of its power controlled the
Persian Gulf trading routes.
[11] The Sumerians regarded Dilmun as holy land.[12] Dilmun is regarded as one of the oldest ancient civilizations in the Middle East.[13][14] The Sumerians described Dilmun as a paradise garden in the Epic of Gilgamesh.[15] The Sumerian tale of the garden paradise of Dilmun may have been an inspiration for the Garden of Eden story.[15] Dilmun appears first in
Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets dated to the end of fourth millennium BC, found in the temple of goddess
Inanna, in the city of
Uruk. The adjective "Dilmun" is used to describe a type of axe and one specific official; in addition there are lists of rations of wool issued to people connected with Dilmun.
[16]
Dilmun was very prosperous during the first 300 years of the second millennium.
[17] Dilmun's commercial power began to decline between 2000 BC and 1800 BC because piracy flourished in the Persian Gulf. In 600 BC, the
Babylonians and later the
Persians added Dilmun to their empires.
The Dilmun civilization was the centre of commercial activities linking traditional agriculture of the land with maritime trade between diverse regions as the
Indus Valley and Mesopotamia in the early period and
China and the
Mediterranean in the later period (from the 3rd to the 16th century AD).
[14]
Dilmun was mentioned in two letters dated to the reign of
Burna-Buriash II (c. 1370 BC) recovered from
Nippur, during the
Kassite dynasty of
Babylon. These letters were from a provincial official,
Ilī-ippašra, in Dilmun to his friend Enlil-kidinni in Mesopotamia. The names referred to are
Akkadian. These letters and other documents, hint at an administrative relationship between Dilmun and
Babylon at that time. Following the collapse of the Kassite dynasty, Mesopotamian documents make no mention of Dilmun with the exception of Assyrian inscriptions dated to 1250 BC which proclaimed the Assyrian king to be king of Dilmun and
Meluhha. Assyrian inscriptions recorded tribute from Dilmun. There are other Assyrian inscriptions during the first millennium BC indicating Assyrian sovereignty over Dilmun.
[18] Dilmun was also later on controlled by the
Kassite dynasty in Mesopotamia.
[19]
Dilmun, sometimes described as "the place where the sun rises" and "the Land of the Living", is the scene of some versions of the
Sumerian creation myth, and the place where the deified Sumerian hero of the flood,
Utnapishtim (
Ziusudra), was taken by the gods to live forever.
Thorkild Jacobsen's translation of the Eridu Genesis calls it
"Mount Dilmun" which he locates as a
"faraway, half-mythical place".
[20]
Dilmun is also described in the
epic story of
Enki and
Ninhursag as the site at which the
Creation occurred. The promise of Enki to Ninhursag, the Earth Mother:
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.
[21]
Ninlil, the Sumerian goddess of air and south wind had her home in Dilmun. It is also featured in the
Epic of Gilgamesh.
However, in the early epic
"Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta", the main events, which center on
Enmerkar's construction of the
ziggurats in
Uruk and
Eridu, are described as taking place in a world "before Dilmun had yet been settled"."
Pre-Islamic Arabia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dilmun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Ubaidians were the first civilizing force in Sumer, draining the marshes for agriculture, developing trade, and establishing industries, including weaving, leatherwork, metalwork, masonry, and pottery.
[5] However, some scholars such as Piotr Michalowski and Gerd Steiner, contest the idea of a Proto-Euphratean language or one substrate language. It has been suggested by them and others, that the Sumerian language was originally that of the hunter and fisher peoples, who lived in the marshland and the Eastern Arabia littoral region, and were part of the Arabian bifacial culture.[10] Reliable historical records begin much later; there are none in Sumer of any kind that have been dated before
Enmebaragesi (c. 26th century BC).
Professor Juris Zarins believes the Sumerians were settled along the coast of Eastern Arabia, today's Persian Gulf region, before it flooded at the end of the Ice Age.[11] Sumerian literature speaks of their homeland being Dilmun."
Sumer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This genetic tests conducted on the Marsh Arabs of modern-day Southern Iraq (exact geographic extent of the Sumerians) who have a remarkable resemblance to the Sumerians point to an origin on the Arabian Peninsula paternally by a vast, vast majority.
"Conclusions
Evidence of genetic stratification ascribable to the Sumerian development was provided by the Y-chromosome data where the J1-Page08 branch reveals a local expansion, almost contemporary with the Sumerian City State period that characterized Southern Mesopotamia. On the other hand, a more ancient background shared with Northern Mesopotamia is revealed by the less represented Y-chromosome lineage J1-M267*. Overall our results indicate that the introduction of water buffalo breeding and rice farming, most likely from the Indian sub-continent, only marginally affected the gene pool of autochthonous people of the region. Furthermore, a prevalent Middle Eastern ancestry of the modern population of the marshes of southern Iraq implies that if the Marsh Arabs are descendants of the ancient Sumerians, also the Sumerians were most likely autochthonous and not of Indian or South Asian ancestry."
BMC Evolutionary Biology | Full text | In search of the genetic footprints of Sumerians: a survey of Y-chromosome and mtDNA variation in the Marsh Arabs of Iraq.
Anyway it's a historical fact that the first Middle Easterner's lived on the Arabian Peninsula for thousands of years and later moved northwards. In fact the first humans outside of Africa. The question is the ancient migration routes and their precise age. Did more migrations occur AFTER the migrations to the Fertile Crescent (Neolithic period) and especially afterwards? And from where did the ancient Semites suddenly appear from? All information point either to the Arabian Peninsula or the Levant. It's an extremely interesting topic to understand the ancient history of the ME and all of its treasures. The problem is just that the Arabian Peninsula is vastly understudied by archeologists and historians but that is slowly changing which is a good thing and this will probably help answer many questions that have been asked by historians, archaeologists, geneticists etc. alike. Although this still faces big, big obstacles due to neglect and religious reasons……
BBC News - Bahrain digs unveil one of oldest civilizations
I even recently stumbled across a nearly 5000 years old bronze culture in UAE of all places. Adjacent to a modern metropolis like Abu Dhabi. Somewhat comical to think about. Who would have thought that? Anyway of course the climate and geography was different back then across the ME.
Umm an-Nar Culture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The ME is a very important region to understand human history and the earliest civilizations. What is certain is that the people of the ME are connected genetically and on almost every other front. Yet also distinct.
(that's a sad lol) 
i was a new member and you know.. i just wanted to say i am sorry.. peace bro 
