Dr Robert Carter

Dr Robert Carter was educated at Oxford and the Institute of Archaeology, UCL, where he began his archaeological career. He has since worked on excavations throughout the Gulf. From 2003 to 2006 he was G. A. Wainwright Research Fellow in Near Eastern Archaeology at Oxford. He has worked as a consultant on rescue excavations in the Gulf, both independently and as leader of Oxford Brookes Archaeology and Heritage. Chair of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 2005–11, he is now a trustee of the British Foundation for the Study of Arabia (BFSA). He is currently Senior Lecturer at UCL-Qatar, Doha.

Sea of Pearls: Seven Thousand Years of the Industry That Shaped the Gulf

by Dr Robert Carter

Currently out of stock.

Since antiquity the natural pearls of the Gulf have been famed as the finest, most lustrous and most plentiful in the world. From the beginnings of trade till the 1930s, they were a major product of the Gulf ’s coastal peoples. From the 17th to the early 20th centuries, rising demand turned pearling into their economic mainstay. By this time pearls were fished in their millions, and the industry dominated the lives, health and expectations of entire shaikhdoms. The influx of people and wealth to the coast permanently transformed the Gulf, providing the manpower and capital to nurture the city-states – Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah – which endure there today.