Neolithic Plants From Eastern Arabia: Archaeobotanical and Technological Insights From Bahra‐1 (Kuwait)

Poor preservation of organic material at Bahra‐1 required expanding archaeobotanical analysis beyond sediments to plant impressions in pottery. The examined sediments yielded only a few biomineralized Boraginaceae seeds, whereas examination of locally made Coarse Red Ware (CRW) and imported Ubaid pottery significantly broadened the Neolithic plant dataset. Almost all CRW contained temper composed of wild plants, while plant inclusions in Ubaid pottery appeared mainly in thicker‐walled vessels. Chaff of cultivated barley ( Hordeum vulgare ) and einkorn wheat ( Triticum monococcum ), along with additional cereal‐derived straw, was identified in the imported pottery clay, providing some of the earliest evidence for domesticated plants' use in Eastern Arabia. Local ceramics, by contrast, contained only wild plant remains, likely originating from herbivore dung or wind‐accumulated debris. Together, wild plant impressions in local pottery (Poaceae, Asteraceae, etc.) and Boraginaceae seeds from sediments illuminate the composition of local desert flora and offer new insights into Neolithic environments and ceramic technology in the region.