0001 Dear Dr. Richard Cuttler,

0002 In 2012, the European Science Foundation convened an exploratory workshop, titled, “The Neolithic of Arabia: New Paradigms and Future Perspectives”.  The schema is available online.

In the section on the main objectives of the workshop, the organizers (Dr. Remy Crassard and Dr. Phillipp Drechsler) note that the fragmentary characteristics of scientific knowledge to date favors the persistence and acceptance of current theories and precludes the development of new paradigms, along with a comprehensive and coherent approaches to the Neolithic.

0003 This “favoring” and “precluding” is intrinsic to a recent essay in the journal, Prehistory, which is examined in Razie Mah’s blogs on January 1, 2026, titled Looking at Melinda Zeder’s Article (2025) “Repackaging the Neolithic.

0004 While the workshop organizers do not call for a novel global vision, they do call for a synthetic approach that encourages the integration of diverse research on the topic.

0005 This open letter calls for more comprehensive research into the link between the early Holocene infilling of the Arabian Gulf and the emergence of two spheres of interaction for the Ubaid (southern Mesopotamia and the western Gulf littoral).  The addendum provides an introduction.

0006 How comprehensive?

0007 Consider the questions raised by Razie Mah in the e-book, The First Singularity and Its Fairy Tale Trace.

0008 First, does the forced migration induced by the early Holocene marine transgression explain the ‘Ubaid phenomenon, where this culture may be considered to be the first to practice speech-alone talk?

0009 Second, does speech-alone talk spread from the Ubaid, along established paths of down-the-line trading, to the rest of Eurasia?  Why do all hand-speech talking cultures adopt speech-alone talk after coming into contact with a speech-alone talking culture?  Are there archaeological markers indicating that, not only has contact occurred, but the transition is underway.  Artifacts that might demand labels, like copper, certain types of pottery (such as the white pottery of the Archaic Hassuna), changing habits of lithic-tool knapping, might serve as markers.

0010 Third, what are the semiotic natures of hand-talk, hand-speech talk and speech-alone talk? Does hand- and hand-speech talk constrain social complexity? Does speech-alone talk potentiate unconstrained social complexity?

0011 These questions can be bundled into one grand question, which, ironically, is what the workshop specifically forbade.

Is our current Lebenswelt the same as the Lebenswelt that we evolved in?

Are we who we evolved to be?

0012 I hope this call is heard by all people of good will.  The time has come to set aside the swords and pick up where European Science Foundation’s exploratory workshop left off.  

0010 Earnestly yours,

The Desk of Razie Mah

September 2-15, 2026

0011 Addendum: Looking at Richard Cuttler’s Article (2013) “Considering Marine Transgression as a Mechanism for Enforced Migration and the Littoral Gulf ‘Ubaid Phenomenon” in Razie Mah’s blog, September 1, 2026