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 a great number of mysteries beneath the waters, and we have only unraveled a small percent of them.
In the Sumerian creation myth Enki and Ninhursag, God Enki made a promise saying he will create a marvelous land called Dilmun where life can 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 from all points of view.”
The oldest civilization
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.
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 on Earth.
Ruins Of Long-Lost Arabian – Persian Civilization
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 agriculture.”
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 beautifully 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.
“Perhaps it is no coincidence that the founding of such 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.”
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.” Hence the name of this mysterious civilization.
Between 5,500–4,000 B.C. much of Mesopotamia shared a common culture, called Ubaid. The specialists do not exclude the fact that these people came from the heart of Mesopotamia. It is not possible to say exactly who they were or where they came from. All these are simple assumptions. It is certain that this civilization is one of the oldest that existed on Earth. Some suggest that when the gods descended on Earth (Enki) in that place they created the Garden of Eden.
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.
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.
The underwater ruins of the Persian Gulf provide evidence that this part of the world was inhabited far more than previously thought. This place was the home of a developed society. About 8,000 years ago, the Gulf flooded and the Indian Ocean swallowed everything. Rose suggests that underwater lands would be a kind of „Persian Gulf Oasis” – a rich and fertile region, probably the home of mysterious people many years ago.