Pottery and p-values: ‘Seafaring merchants of Ur?’ re-examined

Abstract

A 1977 ANTIQUITY paper included a study of Neutron Activation Analyses of Ubaid pottery from Mesopotamia and the Arabian Gulf (Oates et al. 1977). A re-examination finds that the interpretation of the statistical analysis was mistaken and shows that the data do not prove the existence of ‘seafaring merchants of Ur’ in the Ubaid period.