Hans-Peter Uerpmann

University of Tübingen | EKU Tübingen · Department of Geosciences

Despite the important roles that horses have played in human history, particularly in the spread of languages and cultures, and correspondingly intensive research on this topic, the origin of domestic horses remains elusive. Several domestication centers have been hypothesized, but most of these have been invalidated through recent paleogenetic stu...

Marine shells are a special challenge for radiocarbon. Compared to terrestrial material, shells usually seem shifted in age and older than its contemporary terrestrial counterparts. Thus, the marine reservoir correction is generally performed based on measurements of pre-bomb live collected shells found in museum collections and the mean value of s...

Site HLO1 (Sharjah, UAE), situated in a particularly favourable geographical position, has provided an extraordinary range of anthropogenic radiocarbon dates, spanning before 8000 to Zero BCE. The Neolithic is represented by finds from the eighth to the fifth millennium BCE. Apart from the dated fireplaces, however, there are almost no typical arte...

Research recommenced at Tell Abraq in 2007, carried out by Bryn Mawr College with an international team in co-operation with the Sharjah Archaeology Authority. Between 2007 and 2010 fieldwork was limited to documenting sections of the previous excavations and one small sounding while our attention focused mainly on the nearby shell-midden site of H...

We investigate the local marine reservoir effect at Kalba, United Arab Emirates (UAE), between the Neolithic and Bronze Age with respect to possible changes through time and mollusk species diversity. Two distinctive species living in close proximity to the mangrove of Khor Kalba provide insights into ocean circulation patterns in this coastal envi...

Human skeletal remains from the Neolithic sites BHS18 in the interior of the Sharjah Emirate and the Neolithic shell midden UAQ2 (Umm al-Quwain) on the coast of the Persian Gulf (United Arab Emirates, UAE) were analysed for their isotope ratios of strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and oxygen (18O/16O). The results are not in agreement with earlier assumptions...

Taxonomic over-splitting of extinct or endangered taxa, due to an incomplete knowledge of both skeletal morphological variability and the geographical ranges of past populations, continues to confuse the link between isolated extant populations and their ancestors. This is particularly problematic with the genus Equus. To more reliably determine th...

All tables are presented as separate spreadsheets consolidated into a single Excel file. Table A Description of all samples analyzed Table B Primers used to amplify mitochondrial sequences Table C Description of published sequences used Table D Sample location and results of sPCA analysis Table E Summary statistics for the kiangs and dziggetais of...

Supplementary figures of the phylogenetic analyses followed by the detailed description of the archeological sites and the samples analyzed grouped in a single supporting document. Figure A: Global alignment of all sequences obtained and used for the various analyses Figure B: Diagnostic SNPs of the various clades Figure C: sPCA, distribution of th...

The basic precondition for the transformation of animals into “commodities” – defined as useful articles or facilities – is their immediate availability for the intended purpose. This is certainly not the case for animals living free in the wild. Domestication – or at least taming – is therefore the basic precondition for human use of live animals...

Taxonomic over-splitting of extinct or endangered taxa, due to an incomplete knowledge of both skeletal morphological variability and the geographical ranges of past populations, continues to confuse the link between isolated extant populations and their ancestors. This is particularly problematic with the genus Equus. To more reliably determine th...

Background Climatic and environmental fluctuations as well as anthropogenic pressure have led to the extinction of much of Europe’s megafauna. The European bison or wisent (Bison bonasus), one of the last wild European large mammals, narrowly escaped extinction at the onset of the 20th century owing to hunting and habitat fragmentation. Little is k...

We recently started a systematic approach to determine the reservoir age in southeast Arabia and its dependence on mollusk species and their environment. This part of the study concentrates on local reservoir age and stable isotopes of the lagoonal species Terebralia palustris and Anadara uropigimelana at Khor Kalba, Oman Sea. Environmental and nut...

Climatic and environmental fluctuations as well as anthropogenic pressure have led to the extinction of much of Europe’s megafauna. Here we show that the emblematic European bison has experienced several waves of population expansion, contraction and extinction during the last 50,000 years in Europe, culminating in a major reduction of genetic dive...

Changes in reservoir effect between Neolithic and Bronze Age for Terebralia palustris and Anadara uropigimelana

Apparent reservoir offsets for land sanil Zootecus insularis with respect to different geological environments

The performance of hybridization capture combined with next generation sequencing (NGS) has seen limited investigation with samples from hot and arid regions until now. We applied hybridization capture and shotgun sequencing to recover DNA sequences from bone specimens of ancient-domestic dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) and its extinct ancestor, th...

Significance The dromedary is one of the largest domesticates, sustainably used in arid and hostile environments. It provides food and transport to millions of people in marginal agricultural areas. We show how important long-distance and back-and-forth movements in ancient caravan routes shaped the species’ genetic diversity. Using a global sample...

Dromedaries have been fundamental to the development of human societies in arid landscapes and for long-distance trade across hostile hot terrains for 3,000 y. Today they continue to be an important livestock resource in marginal agro-ecological zones. However, the history of dromedary domestication and the influence of ancient trading networks on...

We report here on layers and finds from Faya Shelter, an archaeological sequence excavated in the south-western part of site FAY-NE1 at Jebel Faya in the Central Region of Sharjah Emirate. Work between 2009 and 2013 exposed six archaeological horizons (AHs) and enabled a stratigraphic connection of AHs IV-VI from Faya Shelter with assemblages A, B,...

Dog Domestication The precise details of the domestication and origins of domestic dogs are unclear. Thalmann et al. (p. 871 ; see the cover) analyzed complete mitochondrial genomes from present-day dogs and wolves, as well as 18 fossil canids dating from 1000 to 36,000 years ago from the Old and New Worlds. The data suggest that an ancient, now ex...

Climatic changes in Arabia are of critical importance to our understanding of both monsoon variability and the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) out of Africa. The timing of dispersal is associated with the occurrence of pluvial periods during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 (ca. 130-74 ka), after which arid conditions between ca. 74 and 1...

Key to the understanding of Pleistocene human dispersals and settlement dynamics is knowledge about the distribution of human habitats in space and time. To add information about the characteristics of inhabited environments along the South Arabian dispersal route, this paper presents paleo-environmental data from deposits excavated at Jebel Faya (...

Stratified sites at Jebel Faya in the Central Region of the Emirate of Sharjah provide evidence for successive ‘facies’ of the Neolithic period. The oldest facies — found at FAY-NE 1 — yielded 14C dates in the late ninth millennium cal BC and is characterised by blade arrowheads which are morphologically similar to PPNB points. With 14C dates from...

Small fragments of cremated human bone, clearly representing numerous individuals, were found in a stratified Neolithic context in a small cave at Jebel Faya in the Central Region of the Emirate of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. With radiocarbon dates between 6500 and 5800 cal BC, they are among the earliest well-documented cases of cremations in s...

Kesslerloch Cave in Switzerland is one of the major Magdalenian sites in Central Europe. During a recent reanalysis of the faunal remains, we identified a cranial fragment and teeth of the domestic dog. The large maxillar fragment was directly dated to 12.225±45 bp (KIA-33350) or c. 14.100-14.600 BP. The finds are metrically well below the natural...

FAY-NE15 is an aceramic stratified site of the fifth millennium BC (Late Neolithic) in the central region of the Emirate of Sharjah (UAE) with a graveyard and a domestic area. Animal remains indicate an economy based on herding sheep, goats, and cattle. To date excavated parts of the graveyard are badly preserved. The dwelling area has well-preserv...

The timing of the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) out of Africa is a fundamental question in human evolutionary studies. Existing data suggest a rapid coastal exodus via the Indian Ocean rim around 60,000 years ago. We present evidence from Jebel Faya, United Arab Emirates, demonstrating human presence in eastern Arabia during the las...

The prey choice of extinct cave lions Panthera spelaea was determined using bone collagen isotopic signatures in the Belgian Ardennes and the Swabian Jura between 40,000 and 25,000 years ago as well as in the Late-glacial of the northwestern Alp foreland and of the Paris Basin. More than 370 specimens of large carnivorous and herbivorous mammals fr...

Population discontinuities on a micro-scale are familiar phenomena in the archaeological record of many parts of the world, and Western Asia is no exception. Multi-period sites often display stratigraphic features, gaps in ceramic sequences and distances between radiocarbon dates implying breaks in the history of settlement. However, there is often...

South-east Arabia is uniquely positioned with respect to both palaeoclimate and archaeological studies. While its role in the migration and dispersal of early modern humans continues to generate debate, its location at the critical interface between two of the world's major climate systems, the Indian Ocean Monsoon (IOM) and the mid-latitude wester...

The results of two seasons of research at Hamriya and Tell Abraq (Sharjah, UAE) by an international team of researchers are presented. The research has revealed extensive evidence for occupation from c. 5000 BC to the recent past adjoining lagoon areas that face the Arabian Gulf. C14 analysis of shells has contributed to understanding the chronolog...

Animal domestications happened as a series of independent events linked to the occurrence of particular circumstances during the evolution of human ecology. Nursing instincts transferred to animal babies are important a factor on the human side. Precondition on the animal side is the physiological and behavioral capacity for a symbiotic relationshi...

The extinct aurochs (Bos primigenius primigenius) was a large type of cattle that ranged over almost the whole Eurasian continent. The aurochs is the wild progenitor of modern cattle, but it is unclear whether European aurochs contributed to this process. To provide new insights into the demographic history of aurochs and domestic cattle, we have g...

Some 60 000 finds of fish bones from Bronze-Age harbour sites on the Arabian shores of the Irano-Arabian Gulf were evaluated with regard to their contribution to the understanding of the role of fisheries within the subsistence activities of the inhabitants. Fishing grounds and potential technologies -as reflected in the spectra offish species – we...

Southern Germany is rich with Palaeolithic cave sites, many of which are concentrated in the extensive karst systems of several river valleys. Artefact inventories and faunal assemblages from these sites are renowned but less is known about the Middle Palaeolithic faunas. This paper provides an evaluation of faunas from key Middle Palaeolithic cave...

Based on the animal bone finds from the excavations at Troia and Kumtepe the development of subsistence economy in the Troad is outlined. Stable proportions between the domestic animals developed during the final fourth millennium b.c. at Kumtepe and were gradually modified in response to population development through the prehistoric and historic...

When reconstructing the past, the archaeologist needs to take into account all kinds of relevant information. Where no written sources are available, the natural sciences play an indispensable role. Troia is a remarkable site in this respect. The present excavation project at Troia, under the directorship of Manfred Korfmann, integrates various dis...

ABSTRACT The first bone finds of domestic ,camels appear among the faunal remains of the Iron Age II layers ofTell Abraq (Emirates of Sharjah and Umm ,al Qaiwain) at about 800 – 900 BC. The earlier camel remains from the Bronze Age layers of the ,same site and from Umm an Nar are from large animals, which are identified as wild dromedaries. At Umm...

Animal burials from a graveyard at Mleiha in the interior of the Sharjah Emirate (U.A.E.) are described and documented with regard to the archaeozoology of the represented species. These are two horses, nine dromedaries, and three camel hybrids. The hybrids represent crossbreeds between two-humped Bactrian camels and one-humped Arabian dromedaries...

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The Konya basin in south central Turkey, which is now largely dry, was formerly occupied by an extensive lake1,2. Although the lake is generally considered to be of glacial age, its precise chronology has remained uncertain3. We report here preliminary 14C dates on shells which suggest that lake level attained its last maximum 23,000-17,000 yr ago....

Prehistoric man-animal relationships can be studied from both a zoological and an archaeological viewpoint. Despite the considerable degree of overlap between the approaches the interests of the two disciplines are substantially different. It is important that archaeology should develop hypotheses concerned primarily with human behaviour. Animal hu...

A re-examination of the ruminant remains from the excavations of the Jericho Tell has shown that sheep were certainly present, both in the pre-pottery Neolithic A levels and in the pre-pottery Neolithic B levels. Details are given of the osteology of the fourteen bones that have been identified as sheep and the implications of their origin in the c...