Editing History of Qatar (section)

===Neolithic period (8000–3800 BC)===
[[Al Da'asa]], a settlement located on the western coast of Qatar, is the most extensive [[Ubaid period|Ubaid]] site in the country. It was excavated by the 1961 Danish team.<ref name="embassy">{{cite web|url=http://www.qatarembassy.or.th/download/Complete_History_of_Qatar.pdf|title=History of Qatar|website=www.qatarembassy.or.th|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Qatar. London: Stacey International, 2000|access-date=9 January 2015}}</ref> The site is theorized to have accommodated a small seasonal encampment, possibly a lodging for a hunting-fishing-gathering group who made recurrent visits.<ref name="rice">{{cite book|last=Rice|first=Michael|title=Archaeology of the Arabian Gulf|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0maIAgAAQBAJ|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415032681|pages=206, 232–233|year=1994}}</ref> This is evidenced by the discovery of nearly sixty fire pits at the site, which may have been used to cure and dry fish, in addition to flint tools such as scrapers, cutters, blades and arrowheads. Furthermore, many painted Ubaid potsherds and a [[carnelian]] bead were found in the fire pits, suggesting overseas connections.<ref name="masry">{{cite book|last=Masry|first=Abdullah|title=Prehistory in Northeastern Arabia: The Problem of Interregional Interaction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0VCPBAAAQBAJ|publisher=Routledge|year=1997|page=94|isbn=978-0710305367}}</ref>

In an excavation done in [[Al Khor]] in 1977–78, several Ubaid-period graves were uncovered in what is considered the earliest recorded burial site in the country.<ref name="vine1">{{Harvnb|Casey|Vine|1991|p=12}}</ref> One grave contained the cremated remains of a young woman with no grave goods. Eight other graves contained grave goods, including beads made of shell, carnelian, and obsidian. The obsidian most likely originated from [[Najran]] in southwest Arabia.<ref name="embassy"/><ref name="masry"/>