The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia: Paleoenvironments, Prehistory and Genetics
Abstract
The contemporary deserts of Arabia form some of the most dramatic arid landscapes in the world; yet, during many times in the past, the region was well-watered, containing evidence for rivers and lakes. Climatic fluctuations through time must have had a profound effect on human population that lived and passed through the region. In this book, paleoenvironmental specialists, archaeologists and geneticists are brought together to provide a comprehensive account of the evolution of human populations in Arabia. A wide range of topics are explored in this book, including environmental change and its impact on human populations, the movement and dispersal of populations through the region, and the origin and spread of food producing economies. New theories and interpretations are presented which provide new insights into the evolution of human populations in a key region of the world.
Chapters (20)
Take a glance at any world map and it is immediately apparent that Arabia occupies a critical geographic position, linking Africa, Europe, and Asia. This singular point echoes across every chapter, noted by nearly every author who has contributed to this volume. It is odd, then, that the prehistory of such a critical corner of global real estate has languished in such obscurity until now. As archaeologists begin to shed further light on this relatively unknown region, the emerging picture seems to underscore what is so cartographically obvious – that the Arabian peninsula has probably played a central role in the dispersal of our species and closely related ancestors.
The geographic designation ‘Arabian peninsula’ refers to the 2.5 million km2landmass fringed by the Red Sea to the west, Arabian Sea to the south, and Persian Gulf to the east. Politically, it encompasses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Republic of Yemen, the Sultanate of Oman, the United Arab Emirates, the State of Qatar, the Kingdom of Bahrain, and the State of Kuwait. Arabia’s most evocative landscape features are the expansive dune fields that sprawl across much of the subcontinent, filling the huge interior basins with heaping deposits of rust-colored sand. Juxtaposed in and around these vast wastelands are lush sub-tropical forests, deflated gravel plains, jagged mountain ranges, and some 7,000 km of coastline.
The Red Sea has typically been viewed as a barrier to early human movement between Africa and Asia over the past 5 million
years, and one that could be circumvented only through narrow exit points at either end, vulnerable to blockage by physical
or climatic barriers (Fig. 1). It is one of several significant obstacles cutting across ‘savannahstan’ (Dennell and Roebroeks,
2005), a broad swathe of herbivore-rich savannah and grassy plains that began to extend over a vast area stretching from West
Africa to China with climatic cooling from at least 2.5 Ma, and a key macro-environmental context for early hominin dispersal1.
However, this concept of the Red Sea Basin as a barrier should not obscure the fact that its coastal regions also hold considerable
potential attractions for early human settlement, especially under climatic conditions wetter than today, including a complex
tectonic and volcanic topography not unlike that of the African Rift, capable of providing localized fertility for plant and
animal life, tactical opportunities for pursuit of herbivores and protection from predators (King and Bailey, 2006), along
with inshore and intertidal marine resources.
KeywordsBab al Mandab-Coasts-Farasan Islands-Marine Resources-Paleoenvironment-Paleoclimate-Red Sea
Environmental change in Arabia has oscillated between climatic extremes throughout the Quaternary period with evidence for ancient pluvials, apparent in the lacustrine sediments, alluvial fans and gravels, paleosols, and speleothems (e.g., McClure, 1976; Schultz and Whitney, 1986; Parker et al., 2006a, 2006b; Lézine et al., 2007; Fleitmann et al., 2007). Conversely, there are numerous signals that Arabia was also subjected to extremes in aridity, most obviously manifested in the expansive sand seas comprising the Nafud, Rub’ al Khali, and Wahiba deserts, as well as fracture calcites from hyperalkaline springs (Clark and Fontes, 1990) and petrogypsic soil horizons (Rose, 2006).
Any paper that claims to present long term population trends of Arabia or any part of it has to face the fact that demographic data is, at best, limited. Nevertheless, that southwest Arabia is a very well populated area today, and may have been so during parts of prehistory needs to be explored. This chapter therefore focuses primarily on emerging archaeological evidence that suggests that this little known, but verdant and agriculturally productive region was during much of the Holocene a significant population center. How far such a model can be projected back in time (for example back into the Paleolithic) is difficult to say, but by laying out the evidence for climatic and population cycles during the past 10,000 years or so it should be possible to suggest what might have prevailed during those earlier periods, and more importantly to seek the relevant evidence for such occupations. It is not the aim of this chapter to present a full and detailed synthesis of the archaeological sites in southwest Arabia; regional syntheses can be found in Breton (1999), Cleuziou and Tosi (1998), Durrani (Durrani (2005), Edens and Wilkinson (1998), and de Maigret (2002).
Yemen, in the southwestern corner of Arabian peninsula, lies at the crossroads between Africa and Eurasia. Genomes of present-day Yemenis were inherited from their progenitors, and may attest to the history of the region. Molecules of DNA can, therefore, shed light on how busy this crossroads was during the past millennia. Unfortunately, Yemeni populations have been neglected in genetic literature until recently. However, from the genetic point of view, there are several important questions that cannot be addressed without detailed genetic data. Do the present-day populations of southern Arabia contain genetic traces testifying to the first migration Out-of-Africa? Can such traces survive until today? What subsequent population movements may have affected the Yemeni gene pool? What is the proportion of more ancient (Pleistocene) and more recent (Holocene) population impacts to its genetic diversity? Did the specific geographic position of Yemen influence the genetic structure of its population?
This chapter provides a review of published mitochondrial DNA data from Yemeni populations within the archaeological and paleoclimatological context. Further the implications for estimations of past migratory events as well as for future prospects are discussed.
The reconstruction of the origin and spread of modern humans has been a multidisciplinary enterprise. Archaeological records
and genetic inferences (Stringer and Andrews, 1988), have given strong support to the model of a single recent origin of modern
humans in Africa around 200 ka (McDougall et al., 2005). Subsequent dispersals out of Africa replaced, in relatively short
time, the archaic humans living in Eurasia (Pääbo et al., 2004). However, the dates of this exit and the routes taken to spread
out of Africa are currently debatable topics. On the basis of modern human fossils in the Levant, dated around 120 ka (Valladas
et al., 1988), a northern route by land across the Sinai peninsula was proposed. The lack of fossil continuity in the area
prompted researchers to consider it as an unproductive exit. A later successful exit around 45 ka using the same corridor
has received stronger archaeological support (Lahr and Foley, 1994). A second, maritime, southern route across the Bab al
Mandab strait and afterwards coasting Arabia, India, Southeast Asia to reach the Sahul has also been proposed as a complementary
or alternative exit gate (Stringer, 2000). Recent archaeological findings in coastal Eritrea dated about 125 ka (Walter et
al., 2000) have been taken as support of an earlier exit age for the southern route (Stringer, 2000).
KeywordsDispersals-Macrohaplogroup-MtDNA
Even after its separation from Africa, around the Miocene–Pliocene transition, the ineludible importance of Arabia in the
history of biotic movements between Africa and Eurasia has been verified by accumulating data from biogeographic (Delany,
1989), paleontological (Thomas et al., 1998), genetic (Kivisild et al., 2004; Abu-Amero et al., 2008), and archaeological
studies (Petraglia and Alsharekh, 2003; Beyin, 2006; Rose, 2007; Petraglia et al., 2009). What we don’t know for most of the
(inferred) species dispersals between the two continents since the Miocene, are the details about routes, timings, and the
role of the Arabian peninsula in these events. The difficult challenge now is to uncover those details for each species dispersal
between Africa and Eurasia. For instance, for any given species, was Arabia a swift shortcut, a prolonged stopover, a dead
end, the remaining refuge of a receding expansion into Eurasia, or a mere bystander of a migration exclusively via the northern
Levantine corridor?
KeywordsColonization-Hamadryas Baboon-Mammal Dispersals-Afro-Arabian Zoogeography
The expansion of Acheulean populations into the Arabian peninsula is a topic of some importance in human evolutionary studies as it provides information about dispersal routes and the adaptive capabilities of early humans. The presence of Acheulean sites in Arabia provides definitive evidence for the dispersal of populations from their African source. And, indeed, the recovery of characteristic tool types such as handaxes, cleavers and picks, provides solid evidence for Acheulean expansion in new territories. Moreover, the identification of spatially dispersed and sometimes dense concentrations of Acheulean sites provides information concerning hominin landscape behaviors and activities. The aim of this chapter is to review two key Acheulean site complexes in Saudi Arabia, those identified along the Wadi Fatimah near the Red Sea, and those found along hillslopes near the modern town of Dawādmi in the center of the peninsula.
Until recently, our knowledge of the Paleolithic period in Arabia has been limited. Occasional Paleolithic tools were collected
and reported early in the last century, such as the discovery of a Lower Paleolithic handaxe from central Arabia (Cornwall,
1946). Geological teams exploring Arabia for its mineral wealth reported on the identification of Acheulean implements (Field,
1971; Overstreet, 1973). In the late 1970s, knowledge concerning the Paleolithic of Arabia began to change as archaeologists
began a systematic, five year comprehensive program to survey various provinces of Saudi Arabia. A large number of archaeological
sites, of varying periods, were discovered across the country. As a result of survey efforts, nearly 200 Acheulean and Middle
Paleolithic sites were discovered in the central, western and south-western provinces. Of special importance were three old
sites, namely, Shuwayhitiyah in the north, site 226-63 near Najran in the south and Tathlith in the southwest of Saudi Arabia.
These sites were thought to belong to an early part of the Pleistocene on typological grounds (Whalen and Pease, 1992). In
addition, important research into the Middle Paleolithic along the Red Sea coast has progressed and a possible Lower Paleolithic
site has been reported in central Saudi Arabia (Petraglia and Alsharekh, 2003; Alsharekh, 2007). The only in situ, dated site
excavated in Arabia is that of Saffa¯qah, near Dawa¯dmi in central Saudi Arabia (Whalen et al., 1983; Petraglia et al., 2009).
Uranium–thorium dating has placed Acheulean artifacts to a minimum of 200 ka (Whalen et al., 1982). In southern Yemen, the
discovery of five pre-Acheulean sites has been claimed within the Hadhramaut Mountains (Whalen et al., 1982).
KeywordsAbu Dhabi Emirate-Jebel Barakah-Middle Paleolithic-Technology
Over the past 20 years a virtual moribundity has descended on Paleolithic research in the region of the Persian Gulf. This predicament arose as a direct consequence of the reassessment of Holger Kapel’s lithic ‘Group’ classifications in his ‘Atlas of the Stone Age Cultures of Qatar’ (Kapel, 1967) by the French team working in Qatar during 1976–1978 (see Inizan, 1980). Group A, which Kapel had tentatively assigned to the Paleolithic, was categorized by the French as Neolithic effectively curtailing Paleolithic research in the Persian Gulf region as the re-evaluation of Group A was seen by many to demonstrate a general absence of the Paleolithic in the entire region and furthermore, suggesting that any lithics found in the Gulf area would almost certainly not be Paleolithic. A view which was strengthened, certainly in the United Arab Emirates, following field surveys in Sharjah Emirate by various French Archaeological Missions between 1984 and 1988 (see Boucharlat et al., 1984; Cauvin and Calley, 1984; Calley and Santoni, 1986; Millet, 1997) and further investigations between 1990 and 1992 (Briand et al., 1992). The result of these investigations was the discovery of numerous prehistoric lithic assemblages. Briand and colleagues state in their 1992 report, “We have already carried out a certain number of studies which show that the lithic industry in the area of Mleiha, as in all the Emirate of Sharjah, dates back to the sixth and fourth millennia, though in most cases it does not present a well-defined typology… Without going into detail, we may say that all the petrographic examples found among the tools whether from the interior or the from the coast of Sharjah, may be found near the sites…but, the fabrication of the tools which we know at Sharjah could have been carried out using raw materials from local outcrops”. They also add: “The fact that we find in the Emirate of Sharjah all the petrographic components encountered in the stone tools does not mean that all the lithic industry recorded locally comes automatically from this emirate. It only means that men of the fifth and fourth millennia could find nearby all the materials necessary to [for] the debitage and to [for] their knapping. Inversely, even if imports from afar took place, they could not explain all the local lithic industry”.
So often, thorough investigations generated problematic data, and for the French researchers these were no exception as they concluded that the Sharjah Emirate lithic assemblages dated back to the fourth, fifth and sixth millennia (thereby making them post-Paleolithic) although generally, in their words, the lithics “did not present a well defined typology”. Furthermore, (as noted above) “they could not explain all the local lithic industry”.
The principal objective of the Central Oman Paleolithic Survey (COPS) program is the exploration of the earliest human occupation
in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula. The COPS, organized by the Institute for Prehistory and Archaeological Science
(IPAS) of the University of Basel (Switzerland), was carried out in 2007, in the Huqf area of the Sultanate of Oman. This
project is complementary to the ongoing research of the IPAS in Syria which has been operating for more than 20 years (Le
Tensorer and Hours, 1989; Le Tensorer, 1996, 2004; Le Tensorer et al., 1997, 2001; Le Tensorer et al., 2007). During 5 weeks
of field work, a tremendous amount of information was collected shedding new light on Omani prehistory. A total of 623 sites
were surveyed for information on prehistory and geology. In total, 369 archaeological sites were recorded. Even though the
main goal of the survey was to discover Early Paleolithic sites, the preliminary results of the COPS survey are astonishing
in the array of archaeological sites that were identified. The 2007 discoveries revealed a significant and diverse prehistoric
legacy in Central Oman reflecting a proliferate population unexpected in an arid area.
KeywordsHuqf-Oman-Prehistory-Survey-Technology
While prehistoric research in the Arabian peninsula is still in its primary stages of development, the very existence of this
book is proof of a recent growing interest in the region. Yet, the interest in the prehistory of the region is outshined by
the dearth and frailty of the available data. We must then ask ourselves, why such interest and enthusiasm? And is it really
justified to theorize about the contribution of Arabia for human prehistory if the data remain scant? It can certainly be
explained, as Petraglia (2007: 383) correctly states, by the progressive reorientation of research towards areas of the world
where it is more “logical” to look in order to understand “the evolutionary history of geographically widespread populations”.
Consequently, this phenomenon is akin to a revolution in the small world of Arabian prehistoric research; a revolution that
carries great aspirations for crucial questions such as the origin of the dispersion of anatomically modern humans out of
Africa. While the data are scarce, the passion which one can have for the prehistory of a region such as Arabia is fully justified
by the simple recognition of its being an area laden with enormous possibility.
KeywordsDispersals-Hadramawt-Levallois-Middle Paleolithic-Yemen
The practice of assigning names to archaeological periods in Arabia is inherently problematic. Just as the Arabian subcontinent is the geographic bridge between Africa and Eurasia; similarly, it is wedged between the bifurcation of Eurasian and African taxonomic schema. This distinction represents separate evolutionary trajectories as expressed in the development of regional lithic technologies. For instance, if we refer to the Arabian “Middle Paleolithic” (MP), we are using a Eurasian name and insinuating closer affinities to this part of the world between 250 and 40 ka, whereas the Arabian “Middle Stone Age” (MSA) presumes a connection to sub-Saharan Africa during a similar interval. This distinction is critical for evaluating the origin and expansion of early modern humans, which predicts linked stone tool technologies on either side of the Red Sea during the Middle and/or Late Stone Age (LSA).
Hence, our use of the term Upper Paleolithic (UP) in reference to South Arabia is no accident. It is a deliberate attempt to highlight closer archaeological affinities with lithic industries found in North Africa and Southwest Asia, rather than sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, a similar connection has already been made based upon Middle and Upper Paleolithic discoveries in Yemen (Delagnes et al., 2008; Crassard, 2009) and the United Arab Emirates (Marks, 2009). For the purposes of this chapter, “Upper Paleolithic” should be considered an archaeological phase, however, since there is so little evidence from this period in Arabia, we cannot presume a temporal range. The apparently wide range of blade technologies in South Arabia (Amirkhanov, 1994, 2006; Delagnes et al., 2008; Crassard, 2009; Marks, 2009) suggests a long-term tradition of linked laminar technologies that spans at least MIS 4 through early MIS 1 (~75–8 ka).
Our understanding of the Late Pleistocene of Arabia lags far behind that of the Levant, where decades of research have provided a highly refined cultural-chronological framework. Part of the reason for this is a difference in research intensity between the two regions, with the Levant much more intensively studied. More than that, these sites are elusive in Arabia. Very few have been documented and those that have been are small in size, deflated, and contain only lithics. This makes them difficult to categorize temporally and typologically and as a result, the Late Pleistocene remains poorly understood. Alongside issues relating to how to identify the Late Pleistocene in Arabia are those questions regarding potential connections with the Levant and North Africa.
From 25 to 10 ka, hunter-gatherer groups in the Levant, Arabia and Africa underwent compelling social, technological, and economic changes, while also experiencing dramatic fluctuations in climate and ecology. These three regions are connected to each other geographically and environmentally, but much less attention has been placed on potential cultural connections (although see Tosi, 1986; Lahr and Foley, 1994; Petraglia, 2003; Petraglia and Alsharekh, 2003; Rose, 2004a, for example). This chapter attempts to summarize and evaluate our current evidence for Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherer occupation of Arabia within the context of its much better known neighbors in the Levant and, to a lesser degree, North and East Africa.
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 a presumption that if settlement evidence from one period is missing in one trench or set of associated trenches, it may be present elsewhere since not all areas necessarily contain the full stratigraphic record of occupation at any given site. Population discontinuities at a macro-scale, such as a valley system or drainage zone, are equally common in settlement pattern studies, and de-population for periods ranging from centuries to millennia is familiar to most archaeologists who have worked at this scale. There is, however, another aspect of discontinuity which is rarely addressed directly by archaeologists working in Western Asia, even when it is observed, namely the issue of population continuity or discontinuity between the Pleistocene and the Holocene.
Specialization in archaeology has had the unintended and unfortunate effect of compartmentalizing Paleolithic archaeology (and cognate fields like Pleistocene climatic and geological studies), turning it into a stand-alone field of study with little or no relationship to the study of later periods (Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, etc.). Similarly, the perspective of scholars who work on the later periods of human history often fails to reach back in time beyond the ‘great’ Pleistocene–Holocene divide. In the present chapter we shall consider the specific case of eastern Arabia, where opinions on the matter of occupational continuity or discontinuity between the Pleistocene and the Holocene have been evolving rapidly in recent years.
The uplands of the western Arabian peninsula have featured negligibly in discussions about the Pleistocene and Early Holocene occupation of Southwest Asia. Paleolithic, or presumed Paleolithic implements, have only been reported occasionally, and these are often without context. In most instances such findings have not been approached with critical scrutiny. As far as human occupation is concerned, the whole chronological period between the Last Glacial Maximum and the beginning of the Holocene is relatively unknown. Whether there is reason to think of an actual void in human presence can not be assessed. In particular, no lithic assemblage resembling an “Upper Paleolithic” industry has been reported. An attempt in the 1980s to develop a Paleolithic archaeology on the eastern and central Yemen Plateau met with limited success (Bulgarelli, 1988) and was soon discontinued. The Early Holocene itself, here defined as the period earlier than the “Mid-Holocene Pluvial”, has remained archaeologically unknown. Against this background, even modest information obtained from systematic archaeological fieldwork should be of interest.
Across the arid expanses of the Arabian peninsula and even at the margins of its limited upland farmlands in Northern Yemen
and the Asir, pastoralism has proved an enduring and effective economic strategy through the later Holocene. Goats, camels,
and cattle are the principal herd animals, with mixed strategies of goats and sheep, goats and camels, and to a lesser extent
cattle and goats. Strategies have changed through time and across geographic and socio-political territories with the herding
of particular animals such as cattle or camels conferring not only specific economic benefits and constraints but also playing
significant roles in the establishing and differentiation of people’s social identities and statuses. While it is not entirely
clear when a fully pastoral commitment, that is, one that emphasized production of secondary animal products, appeared in
Arabia, it is evident that there long remained groups with partial economic dependence on herd animals and still exploiting
the rich interior game (e.g., gazelle, ibex) and coastal-estuarine resources (principally fish and shellfish). To the important
questions of when and from where domesticated animals entered the Arabian peninsula therefore must be added the question of
what constitutes a transition to true pastoralism in the ancient Arabian record. With new evidence from Southern Arabia, it
is now possible to address these issues there.
KeywordsFauna-Grazing-Manayzah-Pastoralism-Shi’b Kheshiya-Southern Arabia
The Arabian subcontinent sits at a critical juncture in the Old World, surrounded to the west, north and east respectively
by the African landmass, the Levant (with the European world beyond it), and the Asian continent. While its ancient and historical
development has certainly been shaped by this positioning relative to the great continents, however, Arabia is equally defined
by its near circumspection by the sea, which wraps itself around some 80% of its perimeter, and has served as both barrier
and bridge to the surrounding regions since the emergence of modern humans out of Africa at ca. 80–60 ka (Petraglia and Alsharekh,
2003; Petraglia et al., 2007; Bailey, 2009). An increasing weight of evidence suggests that the three main bodies of water
that surround Arabia – the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea – not only offered a rich resource base for thousands
of years of human occupation in the subcontinent, but also witnessed some of the world’s earliest seafaring and maritime exchange
activities. Evidence for maritime contact over long distances is for this arena also amongst the oldest in the world. At the
same time, the sea has also sometimes served to distance Arabia from her neighbors, helping to shape a distinctive trajectory
within the subcontinent.
KeywordsDomesticates-Exchange-Linguistics-Maritime-Seafaring-Trade
Arabia holds a particularly interesting geographic position for our knowledge of population dispersals and exchanges. It occupies
the southern end of a peninsula with access to two of the most heavily exploited maritime channels in antiquity as well as
to desert routes linking it to the Near East. In addition it is close to the African continent and thus to the birthplace
of our human ancestors. Due to its central geographic position, Arabia must be considered as a migration route during different
periods of early human prehistory. In the same light, Arabia also cannot be ignored as a major crossroads of inter-continental
Holocene human interaction and movement.
Unfortunately, knowledge of the Paleolithic record of Arabia is still in its infancy, as the Pleistocene human fossil record
is non-existent and stratified sites are scant as a result of poor preservation, taphonomic processes, and relatively poor
research coverage (Amirkhanov, 1997; Petraglia, 2003; Crassard, 2007). These issues are by no means limited to Pleistocene
remains, but also affect those of the Early and Middle Holocene which have, in southwest Arabia in particular, suffered a
similar fate (Crassard and Khalidi, 2005). As in many regions of the world with a recent history of archaeological investigation,
the field of Arabian archaeology is fueled by what is most visible: ancient monuments, the complex societies who built and
inscribed them, and the classical texts which evoke them. It is for this reason that one must often tread backward in time
to reconstruct the choices that were made by prehistoric people but affecting those very pathways that made ancient history
memorable. It is those prehistoric pathways and, particularly, the conduits provided by the Red Sea that will be considered
in this chapter from the perspective of obsidian exploitation in the region.
KeywordsGeometric Microliths-Microlithic-Obsidian-Red Sea-Tihamah-Yemen
Very little is known about the Paleolithic of Arabia. In spite of surveys undertaken immediately after the initial exploration
of this environmentally marginal region (e.g., Philby, 1933; Caton-Thompson, 1939) and a small but continuous trickle of prehistorians
into Arabia over the past 60 years, knowledge of both Arabian Pleistocene occupations and paleoenvironments is woefully poor,
compared to what is known about adjacent regions. The reasons for this are myriad, ranging from the absence of extant, large
karstic caves with deeply stratified sediments (the highly preferred Paleolithic site type of the twentieth century), to truly
difficult logistics, and, until recently, a lack of encouragement from local authorities. Still, prehistorians did try and
virtually all found some materials they could attribute to the Paleolithic (e.g., Caton-Thompson, 1954; Van Beek et al., 1963;
Gramly, 1971; Pullar, 1974; Inizan and Ortlieb, 1987; Whalen and Pease, 1990; McBrearty, 1993).
KeywordsAcheulean-Early Stone Age-Middle Stone Age-Lower Paleolithic-Middle Paleolithic-Post-Acheulean-Upper Paleolithic
... Port towns in both southern and northern Oman have served for over two millennia as major stopping points on the maritime trade routes connecting Africa, India, and East Asia (Petraglia and Rose, 2009), and perhaps much longer (Rose et al., 2011).Throughout the Holocene, Southern Arabia and the eastern shores of the Red Sea, and of the Mediterranean Sea have all served as stopping areas for maritime and overland traders of spices, aromatics, dyes, textiles , precious woods, ivory, and much more. Traditional knowledge in agricultural, horticultural, and water-harvesting practices was highly developed as well (Al-Marshudi, 2001; Tengberg, 2012). ...
... Today, it is rare in Yemen, but still abundant in southern Oman, and the mountains of northern Somalia. As a result, maritime and overland trade routes were numerous and frequently used " between Rome and the Indian Ocean " (Mariotti Lippi et al., 2008) to carry frankincense, myrrh, and many other precious items of trade (Petraglia and Rose, 2009). Oman in particular, but also Yemen, are well-known to scholars as an historical crossroads of inter-regional exchange of cultivated plants (Hammer et al., 2009). ...
... Considering the evidence available, we propose that four of the five trees studied here are likely to be archaeophytes, meaning that their presence in the Middle East is considered to be due to introductions by inter-continental travellers. We consider the likeliest period for the introductions to have been between 2500 and 1500 years BP, when there was intense traffic of over-land caravans and sea-going vessels plying trade routes between East Africa, the Middle East, and Mediterranean Europe (Mariotti Lippi et al., 2008; Petraglia and Rose, 2009; Rose et al., 2011). In contrast, we argue that Dalbergia sissoo is probably a neophyte that was introduced to the region during the British occupation in Egypt and Mandate period in Palestine, 1882e1948. ...
... Archaeological evidence suggests that the Arabian Peninsula played a key role during the dispersal of modern humans outof-Africa (Cabrera et al. 2010;Rose and Petraglia 2010;Petraglia et al. 2019). Anatomically modern humans have inhabited the Arabian Peninsula since immediately after the out-of-Africa migration; therefore, the resident populations have a long and complex evolutionary history (Petraglia and Alsharekh 2003). ...
... Paleoanthropological studies have recorded the dramatic environmental transformations and extreme climatic conditions in the Arabian Peninsula over time in addition to the subsequent human dispersal into the region (Groucutt and Petraglia 2012). The extreme and varying environmental conditions could have influenced natural selection and triggered adaptation to the hot and dry desert climates (Rose and Petraglia 2010). Additionally, the ramifications of adaptive trends reported for continental populations (e.g., lactose tolerance, skin color, resistance to blood pathogens, etc.) may have implications for the health of Arabian populations. ...
Despite the extreme and varying environmental conditions prevalent in the Arabian Peninsula, it has experienced several waves of human migrations following the out-of-Africa diaspora. Eventually, the inhabitants of the peninsula region adapted to the hot and dry environment. The adaptation and natural selection that shaped the extant human populations of the Arabian Peninsula region have been scarcely studied. In an attempt to explore natural selection in the region, we analyzed 662,750 variants in 583 Kuwaiti individuals. We searched for regions in the genome that display signatures of positive selection in the Kuwaiti population using an integrative approach in a conservative manner. We highlight a haplotype overlapping TNKS that showed strong signals of positive selection based on the results of the multiple selection tests conducted (integrated Haplotype Score, Cross Population Extended Haplotype Homozygosity, Population Branch Statistics, and log-likelihood ratio scores). Notably, the TNKS haplotype under selection potentially conferred a fitness advantage to the Kuwaiti ancestors for surviving in the harsh environment while posing a major health risk to present-day Kuwaitis.
... There is clear evidence that the Arabian Peninsula was host to Acheulean hominins throughout the Early to Middle Pleistocene (c. 2 Mya-200 kya), and that these hominins occupied landscapes and environments close to water and raw material sources in the interior and coastal regions of the Peninsula (Petraglia 2003;Field & Lahr 2005;Bailey et al. 2007Bailey et al. , 2015Petraglia & Rose 2009;Groucutt & Petraglia 2012). It is not clear whether a land bridge would have existed across the southern end of the Red Sea at periods of low sea level during the Pliocene or Early Pleistocene. ...
... These regions, in particular those along the southern Red Sea coast with their added increment of territory available at lower sea levels, would have presented hominins with a productive landscape of fauna, water and raw material sources comparable to those already experienced in the Horn of Africa. They would also have acted as refugia during periods of hyperaridity, when the Arabian interior would have become uninhabitable (Petraglia & Rose 2009;Winder et al. 2015). ...
Open Access Accepted Manuscript available at: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/113622/
The role played by the Arabian Peninsula in hominin dispersals out of Africa has long been debated. The DISPERSE Project has focused on south-western Arabia as a possible centre of hominin settlement and a primary stepping-stone for such dispersals. This work has led to the recent discovery, at Wadi Dabsa, of an exceptional assemblage of over 1000 lithic artefacts, including the first known giant handaxe from the Arabian Peninsula. The site and its associated artefacts provide important new evidence for hominin dispersals out of Africa, and give further insight into the giant handaxe phenomenon present within the Acheulean stone tool industry.
... The difficulty in crossing a few maritime kilometres (Tavoso, 1986;Carbonell et al., 1999aCarbonell et al., , 1999bCarbonell et al., , 2001Mussi, 2001;Roe, 2001;Straus, 2001;Derricourt, 2005;Santonja and P erez-Gonz alez, 2010) seems to be overcome (Gibert et al., 2003;Moncel, 2010). This hypothesis is not incompatible in theory with the existence of other possible continental routes of expansion (Carbonell et al., 2008;Chauhan, 2009;Petraglia and Rose, 2009;Dennell, 2010;Moncel, 2010;Bar-Yosef and Belmaker, 2011). ...
... With an important gap of time, in the order of 0.5 My, apparently without continuity, there are a number of Acheulean sites recognized in some regions of Europe (Venosa-Notarchirico, La Noira, L'Arago, Boxgrove : Piperno, 1999;Roberts and Parfitt, 1999;Falgu eres et al., 2004;Santonja and P erez-Gonz alez, 2010;Moncel, 2010), while remarkable differences appear in relation to others. Some of the sites (Isernia La Pineta, Caune de l'Arago, V ertessz€ ol€ os, Bilzingsleben, Barranc de la Boella, Menez-Dregan) do not include handaxes and cleavers or show alternate presence of these tool types (Svoboda, 1987;Mania, 1990;Peretto, 1994;Barsky and Lumley, 2005;Coltorti et al., 2005;Barsky and Lumley, 2010;Ravon and Monnier, 2013;Rocca, 2013;Vallverdú et al., 2014). In particular, in the Italian peninsula, "cores and flakes" assemblages do not consistently precede Acheulean assemblages (Villa, 2001). ...
The succession of archaeological units at Notarchirico offers technical and environmental arguments aimed at the characterization of the variability of the European Ancient Palaeolithic. Analysis shows the presence of distinctive features within the Acheulean assemblage besides the presence of handaxes. Hominins used flint and limestone on the site: a lithological analysis shows a predominance of the same raw materials in every unit and a partial selective exploitation. In unit B, traditionally associated with so-called “Mode 2”, the knapper principally intended to produce a sharp or convergence of the sharps (choppers or bifacial tools). In the E/E1 units, flaking prevails on the sporadic shaping: the presence of cores with polyhedral forms and the extreme dimensional reduction of objects are other main technical features associated with this core and flake assemblage. The presence or absence of handaxes is not the only element of variability: the presence of micro-tools and other technical elements represent technological innovations in the Lower Pleistocene assemblages common to many Italian sites during the so-called “Mode 1–2” transition. The traditional idea of Acheulean as an uniform entity characterized by the presence of handaxes does not seem to be valid.
... The reconstruction of the population history of Arabia is based on archaeological and genetic investigations. These data distinguish both Paleolithic and Neolithic contributions from adjacent regions and suggest cultural and biological contact of Arabia with neighboring populations from across the seas and/or deserts (Petraglia and Rose, 2009;Groucutt and Petraglia, 2012;Groucutt et al., 2015a). ...
... On the other hand, since the Upper Paleolithic industries in Arabia come almost exclusively from localities without stratigraphic context, one explanation might be that the tools typologically determined as "Middle Paleolithic" were also in use during the Upper Paleolithic and even until the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) 20 ka when the climate changed dramatically (Groucutt and Petraglia, 2012). Glacial refugia where paleo-Arabic populations could survive harsh times have been located along the Tihama coast in Yemen, southeastern Omani Dhofar and the Persian Gulf (Petraglia and Rose, 2009;Rose, 2010). ...
Objectives:
Genetic and archaeological research supports the theory that Arabia was the first region traversed by modern humans as they left Africa and dispersed throughout Eurasia. However, the role of Arabia from the initial migration out of Africa until more recent times is still unclear.
Materials and methods:
We have generated 379 new hypervariable segment 1 (HVS-1) sequences from a range of geographic locations throughout Yemen. We compare these data to published HVS-1 sequences representing Arabia and neighboring regions to build a unique dataset of 186 populations and 14,290 sequences.
Results:
We identify 4,563 haplotypes unevenly distributed across Arabia and neighboring regions. Arabia contains higher proportions of shared haplotypes than the regions with which it shares these haplotypes, suggesting high levels of migration through the region. Populations in Arabia show higher levels of population expansion than those in East Africa, but lower levels than the Near East, Middle East or India. Arabian populations also show very high levels of genetic variation that overlaps with variation from most other regions.
Conclusion:
We take a population genetics approach to provide a comprehensive view of the relationships of Arabian and neighboring populations. We show that Arabian populations share closest links to the Near East and North Africa, but have a more ancient origin with slower demographic growth and/or lower migration rates. Our conclusions are supported by phylogenetic studies but also suggest that recent migrations have erased signals of earlier events. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
... the hostile environments of Central Arabia into a semiarid savannah, capable of sustaining a much larger biomass than under present conditions, and human populations would be attracted to such environments (Parker & Rose 2008;Rose & Petraglia 2009;Fleitmann & Matter 2009). The Middle Palaeolithic period represents a long timeline across which numerous waves of human expansion could have occurred. ...
... The second "southern" route was from a location within contemporary Djibouti across a relatively shallow stretch of water referred to as Bab al Mandab Strait into what is now Yemen in the South Western corner of the Arabian peninsula (Shepard and Herrera, 2006). Prehistoric huntergatherer communities were supported by a more conducive climate and environment (Petraglia and Rose, 2009). However, it is not clear, whether continuous populations occupied the peninsula since its earliest settlement, and whether later immigration waves superseded or interbred with previous ones. ...
With high consanguinity rates on the Arabian Peninsula, it would not have been unexpected if the population of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was shown to be relatively homogenous. However, this study of 1000 UAE nationals provided a contrasting perspective, one of a relatively heterogeneous population. Located at the apex of Europe, Asia, and Africa, the observed diversity could be explained by a plethora of migration patterns since the first Out-of-Africa movement. A strategy to explore the extent of genetic variation of the population of the UAE is presented. The first step involved a comprehensive population stratification study that was instructive for subsequent whole genome sequencing (WGS) of suitable representatives (which is described elsewhere). When these UAE data were compared to previous smaller studies from the region, the findings were consistent with a population that is a diverse and admixed group of people. However, rather than sharp and distinctive clusters, cluster analysis reveals low levels of stratification throughout the population. UAE emirates exhibit high within-Emirate-distance/among-Emirate distance ratios. Supervised admixture analysis showed a continuous gradient of ancestral populations, suggesting that admixture on the south eastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula occurred gradually. When visualized using a unique technique that combined admixture ratios and principal component analysis (PCA), unappreciated diversity was revealed while mitigating projection bias of conventional PCA. We observe low population stratification in the UAE in terms of homozygosity versus separation cluster coefficients. This holds for the UAE in a global context as well as for isolated cluster analysis of the Emirati birthplaces. However, the subtle clustering observed in the Emirates reflects geographic proximity and historic migration events. The analytical strategy used here highlights the complementary nature of data from genotype array and WGS for anthropological studies. Specifically, genotype array data were instructive to select representative subjects for WGS. Furthermore, from the 2.3 million allele frequencies obtained from genotype arrays, we identified 46,481 loci with allele frequencies that were significantly different with respect to other world populations. This comparison of allele frequencies facilitates variant prioritization in common diseases. In addition, these loci bear great potential as biomarkers in anthropological and forensic studies.
... It is vital to understand their usefulness and their limits for a nuanced interpretation of past human subsistence and in turn long-term mobility of human migration patterns. This lack of information is due to the relatively short research history (Petraglia and Rose, 2009) as well as difficult preservation conditions, skewing chronologies (Durrani, 2001) and removing entire sites (Hausmann et al., 2019b;Bailey et al., 2019). In addition, coastal sites from the Pleistocene period are almost entirely absent due to large scale sea level changes, drowning ancient shorelines and making the necessary datasets virtually inaccessible (Lambeck et al., 2011). ...
Intertidal environments have been the main source for mollusc gathering and consumption for at least the last 164,000 years. However, our knowledge of long-term trends is compromised by the fact that the majority of Pleistocene and early Holocene shorelines, and in turn their archaeological sites, are either currently submerged under water or have long been destroyed by sea-level change. Ecological information on the resilience of intertidal resources is crucial in assessing how attractive they were to past humans as a long-term source of food. Of particular interest is the southern Red Sea and its function as the southern gateway out of Africa into Arabia during a period of aridity. The role that marine food sources likely played in this dispersal is underplayed and largely ignored when interpreting periods of terrestrial aridity. Here we analyse the resilience of Conomurex fasciatus and report size measurements of over 15,000 specimens from the Holocene shell middens on the Farasan Islands, Saudi Arabia, as an ecological baseline for prehistoric shellfish exploitation to determine the long-term sustainability of shellfish harvesting in an arid environment. Changes in shell-size and relative abundance can indicate whether a species was subjected to changes in the intensity of human harvests and we use this dataset to reconstruct how the species was affected by a known intense exploitation period between 7,360 and 4,780 cal BP. Our results indicate no signs of resource depletion throughout the occupation period and add to the growing body of evidence that marine resources along arid shorelines are an important part of a mixed diet. Further, by measuring size changes occurring during early life stages of C. fasciatus we were able to reveal changes in size that were unaffected by human harvesting pressure and instead suggest patch-selection as the main control. These results have implications for the interpretation of shellfish harvesting during periods of terrestrial aridity and specifically the potential of shellfish as a reliable food source during Palaeolithic migrations out of Africa.
... In central and western Dhofar and eastern Mahra thick fogs and precipitation during the monsoon, popularly known as the khareef, support an endemic cloud forest community with high biodiversity and endemism (Kürschner et al. 2004). The khareef has provided forage resources for pastoralism for millennia (Petraglia and Rose 2010). However, recent research suggests that forest loss may inhibit the ecosystem's ability to intercept fog moisture during the khareef, a process thought to be critical to ecosystem functioning (Hildebrandt and Eltahir 2006) and groundwater recharge (Friesen et al. 2018). ...
In the Dhofar Mountains of Oman stakeholders are concerned about the social and ecological sustainability of pastoralism. In this study we used interviews with pastoralists to examine the prevailing drivers of pastoralism and how they are changing. We find that people are committed to pastoralism for sociocultural reasons but also that this commitment is under pressure because of husbandry costs and changing values. We find that capital investment in feedstuff enables pastoralists to overcome the density-dependent regulation of livestock populations. However, high production costs deter investment in marketing and commercialization, and there is little off take of local livestock. Our study reveals how pastoral values, passed down within households, motivate pastoralists in the face of high husbandry costs, modernization and social change.
... In the last decade there has been a dramatic acceleration in research in Arabia (e.g. Petraglia and Rose 2009;Groucutt and Petraglia 2012), an area which was previously very poorly understood. The publication of dozens of Middle Paleolithic assemblages with Nubian Levallois technology in Dhofar, southern Oman, by Rose and colleagues (2011) led to a major reinvigoration of the Nubian Complex idea. ...
Nubian Levallois' lithic technology has been found from South Africa to India, it occurs sporadically over a period of more than two hundred thousand years, and it appears to be associated with at least two hominin species. Despite this, proponents of the 'Nubian Complex' argue that this technocomplex-often, but not exclusively, defined by the presence of Nubian Levallois technology-offers a strong culture historical signal. This argument claims that the Nubian Complex is an originally Northeast African entity, dating to Marine Isotope Stage 5, and that by tracing the distribution of Nubian Levallois technology it is possible to trace the spread of Homo sapiens from Northeast Africa. In light of these bold claims, it is important to test the reality and usefulness of the Nubian Complex idea. In this paper I review the history of the Nubian Complex, evaluate sites assigned to it, and consider the characteristics and significance of Nubian Levallois technology. This review suggests that the original reasons for defining the Nubian Complex were flawed, definitions of it are overly-variable and inconsistent, and that the concept is driving misleading models that are actively harming interpretations of the record. It should therefore be abandoned. Perhaps the most telling criticism of the Nubian Complex is that even its proponents do not agree on which sites should be included (e.g. Bir Tarfawi). I explore the possibility that Nubian Levallois technology-which should be disentangled from the culture-historical concept of the 'Nubian Complex'-represents a case of convergent evolution and identify avenues for future research. This reorientation facilitates insights into the behavioral significance of Nubian Levallois technology, in terms of factors such as standardization and mobility strategies.
... The role of the Saharo-Arabian desert belt has been of interest to researchers from biological and cultural evolutionary fields (e.g. Lahr & Foley, 1994;Rose, 2007;Rose & Petraglia, 2009). Research projects conducted in Oman during the last decades have highlighted the presence of several important prehistoric sites that are now well documented, notably in Dhofar (Rose & Usik, 2009;Hilbert et al., 2015;. ...
In this paper we present the results of surveys carried out in February 2016 along a palaeo-drainage system near the village of Bisyah, Oman. Among the scatter of artefacts, we found cores and large Kombewa flakes with two opposed bulbs of percussion, a technology that had not been known in this region until 2017. In spite of the local features, the typo-technological traits of the artefacts suggest that at least part of them resemble in some way the Acheulean techno-complex, but there are still many questions remaining on the age of these artefacts.
... In-depth studies on the Palaeolithic in the Arabian Peninsula are relatively recent, compared with those in Europe, Africa or the Levant. In recent years, the multiplication of excavations and survey operations on surface sites in southern Arabia (Amirkhanov 2006;Crassard 2009a;Delagnes et al. 2008;Rose 2006) implies many discussions and reflections on the role that this region could have played during prehistory (Amirkhanov 2008;Crassard 2008aCrassard , 2008bCrassard , 2009aCrassard , 2009bMarks 2008;Rose & Bailey 2008;Petraglia & Rose 2009). As regards more particularly the Middle Palaeolithic, the first studies on lithic materials indicate a relatively abundant presence of remains from this period in Arabia. ...
... Oman has received less attention by the scholarly community in comparison to other areas of the Near East. Recently, there has been a growing interest in various aspects of Oman's archaeological record, which dates to the Paleolithic period (Petraglia and Rose 2010;Whalen 2003). This overview of the archaeology of Oman aims to contextualize the prehistoric foundations of oasis agriculture in northern Oman, but it is important to note that many prehistoric findings in northern Oman are similar to those found immediately across the Oman and United Arab Emirates (UAE) border. ...
... Further information supporting the likely timing of Adam and Eve's appearance is provided by the time of their believed existence in a western Arabian refuge extending from Jeddah until the inland region around Arafat and Mecca. 86 Mecca lies 68km due east from Jeddah. The presence of Adam and Eve at these sites suggests they were coastal as well as inland-dwelling people, which given the current dryness of this area, would have been possible only during high rainfall periods. ...
A Muslim scientist engaged in interaction between theology and science needs to remain completely faithful to the Holy Qur’an. This also applies to understanding the historical and spiritual dimensions of Adam and Eve. When Islamic scholars (‘ulama’) differ on subject details, this author chooses the position closest to that suggested by the scientific data. This method, then, allows incorporation of facts drawn from skeletal material of early Homo sapiens who could well have provided our ancestral physical form. This article tenders a parsimonious and probable theory that accommodates all relevant Qur’anic statements in conjunction with the scientific data.
... The role of the Saharo-Arabian desert belt has been of interest to researchers from biological and cultural evolutionary fields (e.g. Lahr & Foley, 1994;Rose, 2007;Rose & Petraglia, 2009). Research projects conducted in Oman during the last decades have highlighted the presence of several important prehistoric sites that are now well documented, notably in Dhofar (Rose & Usik, 2009;Hilbert et al., 2015;. ...
In this paper we present the results of surveys carried out in February 2016 along a palaeo-drainage system near the village of Bisyah. We report first on the geological prospection, which was our main goal, and then present our discovery of the only known localities in north Oman of large Kombewa flake production (>10 cm up to 20 cm). Among the scatter of artefacts, we found cores and large Kombewa flakes with two opposed bulbs of percussion, a technology that had not been known in this region until now. In spite of the local features, the typo-technological traits of the artefacts suggest that at least part of them resemble in some way the Acheulean techno-complex, but there are still many questions remaining on the age of these artefacts.
... It does not account for the legal status or citizenship, but just the presence inside the country. Oman has a long and interesting history, going back thousands of years to the times of the civilization of Magan [9]. Oman was once a powerful empire after overcoming the Portuguese forces in the 17 th century, extending from India in the east to Zanzibar (East Africa) in the west, with the capital being Muscat as it is today [10]. ...
... The Palaeolithic of Arabia has received increasing attention in recent times, due largely to its potential signifi cance in discussions of a southern dispersal route for human groups from Africa ( e.g., Armitage et al . 2011 ;Rose 2010 ;Petraglia & Rose 2009 ). The occupation of Arabia by hunter-gatherer groups from the Lower Palaeolithic was clearly documented in the western Arabian Peninsula by the Saudi comprehensive surveys of the 1970s and 1980s, and more recently the existence of Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sites in eastern Arabia has been confi rmed (Rose 2010 ;Uerpmann et al. 2009 ). ...
... Les sites s'étendent de l'Afghanistan (Otte et Kozlowski, 2007), à l'Altaï (Otte et Derevianko, 2001), l'Ouzbékistan (Vandenberghe et al., 2014 ;Flas et al., 2010 ;Derevianko, 2010 ;Otte et Biglari, 2004 ;Schlütz et Lehmkuhl, 2007 ;Shidrang, 2009) à Kulbulak, le Tadjikistan à Shugnou (Otte et Kozlowski, 2007), à l'Iran à Yafteh et Warwasi (Olszewski et Dibble, 1993 ;Otte et Kozlowski, 2011), à la Syrie à El Kown (Soriano et Ploux, 2003) et au Levant (Belfer-Cohen et Goring-Morris, 2003). Les récents progrès en Arabie montrent l'importance de cet immense pays où il est spécialement clair que le désert actuel a suivi une steppe gigantesque, très favorable aux herbivores donc à leur prédateur humain (Petraglia et Rose, 2009 ;Rose et Marks, 2014). ...
Origins of modern people from Central Asia towards both Europe and Near East, during Aurignacian period.
... The prehistoric archaeological record of Arabia, and how it correlates with environmental and ecological changes, remains poorly understood, but has become a focus of increased research in recent years (e.g. Crassard and Drechsler, 2013;Groucutt and Petraglia, 2012;Petraglia et al., 2015;Petraglia and Rose, 2009). In the case of the Holocene, processes of demographic and behavioural change -such as 'Neolithisation' -are the subject of ongoing debate. ...
The animal species depicted in the rock art of Shuwaymis, Saudi Arabia, provide a record of Holocene climatic changes, as seen by the engravers. Of 1903 animal engravings, 1514 contained sufficient detail to allow identification with confidence. In addition, the stratigraphy of the engravings and the depiction of domesticates provide a broad chronological framework that allows a division into images created during the Holocene humid phase and animals represented after the onset of desert conditions. Despite the large sample size, only 16 animal species could be identified, which represents an extraordinarily narrow species spectrum. Comparison with the scarce faunal record of the Arabian Peninsula shows that all larger animals that are thought to have been present in the area were also depicted in the rock art. The contemporaneous presence of at least four large carnivores during the Holocene humid phase suggests that prey animals were abundant, and that the landscape consisted of a mosaic of habitats, potentially with thicker vegetation along the water courses of the wadis and more open vegetation in the landscape around them. Community Earth System Models (COSMOS) climate simulations show that Shuwaymis was at the northern edge of the African Summer Monsoon rainfall regime. It is therefore possible that Shuwaymis was ecologically connected with southwestern Arabia, and that an arid barrier remained in place to the north, restricting the dispersal of Levantine species into Arabia.
... Since then, the sea level has been more or less at the same position as today. New archaeological findings in Arabian Peninsula (Rose and Petraglia, 2009) showed that human migration from Africa to Asia occurred during the late glacial period through the waterless Persian Gulf (Rose, 2010 ). As the region was one of the first destinations of human societies (Rose, 2010) and according to frequent sea level oscillation of the Persian Gulf during the late Quaternary (Pirazzoli et al., 2004), one could expect to find the vital pieces of the human evolutionary puzzle in the depths of the Persian Gulf (Rose, 2010). ...
Owing to their continuous sedimentation, lacustrine environments
are usually excellent archives of palaeo-environmental
changes (Stockhecke et al., 2014; Sharifi et al., 2015). Even environmental
changes at an annual scale may be detected in lake sediments
and therefore offer an opportunity to study past changes
at high resolution, e.g. when the sediments are laminated and/or
when the age control is robust. Moreover, lakes and inland seas
often act as amplifiers of the impacts of natural and anthropogenic
forcing.
As the provider of fresh water and source of food, coastal areas
of lakes are favourable habitat for human settlement (Dolukhanov
et al., 2010; Krivonogov et al., 2014). In many regions, local populations
depending on these water sources for drinking or for economic
activities have been deeply affected. Because water-level
variations can greatly influence the surface area of the water
bodies, they can also intrude onto the land surface component;
and therefore affect not only coastal communities (e.g. fisheries,
harbours, transports) but also farmland and urban areas at a distance
from the ‘normal’ position of the shores. Thus, environmental
changes (e.g. geo-hazards and hydro-meteorological changes)
along with human activities (such as agricultural activities) are
recorded in lacustrine sediments (Cordova et al., 2009) and may
reveal a tight link between human and environment (Djamali
et al., 2009a; Sharifi et al., 2015).
Many studies show that climatological history of West Asia
(Turkish-Iranian Plateau and Central Asia) during the Quaternary
has changed in accordance with not only global change but also
its regional context (Roberts and Wright, 1993; Djamali et al.,
2008; Roberts et al., 2008; Kehl, 2009; Abrantes et al., 2012). According
to the geographical position ofWest Asia, longeterm interaction
of major climatic systems of Siberian High Pressure, Indian
Ocean Monsoon and Mid-Latitude Westerlies may be archived in
lake sediments of the region (Djamali et al., 2008) (Fig.1). However,
some complications may be observed that are probably caused by
local modifications such as orography of the region and the position
of marginal seas and large lakes (Stevens et al., 2006).
In recent years, the concerns from global warming and new
technological achievements have pushed researchers to focus on
terrestrial environments as the best archives to study the impacts
of past climate changes on ancient societies (e.g. Naderi Beni
et al., 2013a; Clarke et al., 2016; Sharifi et al., 2015; Haghani et al.,
2016). Located at the border of different atmospheric systems and
the host of many early civilizations, lakes in West Asia clearly are one of the key locations to reconstruct past climate changes and
variability and their impacts (Kehl, 2009). Here, we try to present
a brief review of past investigations on West Asia's lake sediments
as well as human response to the changes during the Late Pleistocene
and Holocene, as part of the editorial to a special issue
deriving from an INQUA project: “QuickLakeH: rapidly changing
large lakes and human response”
... Coastal adaptations and the exploitation of marine resources are important topics in the study of human evolution. Numerous studies highlight the role of marine resources in human brain evolution and demography (e.g., Parkington, 2003Parkington, , 2010Steele and Klein, 2005;Marean, 2011) and in Homo sapiens dispersion (e.g., Stringer, 2000;Walter et al., 2000;Mellars, 2006;Rose and Petraglia, 2009;Boivin et al., 2013;Erlandson and Braje, 2015). Many publications focusing on site function and settlements on coastal landscapes concern sites in southern Africa (e.g., Marean, 2011;Will et al., 2015aWill et al., , 2015b. ...
Coastal adaptations and the exploitation of marine resources are important topics in the study of the human evolution as certain other human behaviors may be linked to them: large group size, low mobility, complex technology and wide-ranging gifting or exchange. It is therefore essential to characterize the socio-economic organization of Aterian hunter–gatherers in coastal landscapes. The example of Unit 8 of El Mnasra Cave provides some initial insights into the economic organization of Aterian groups living on the Atlantic coastal landscapes of Morocco through a combination of zooarchaeological and stone tool industry data. The lithic industries include tanged tools, which in fact encompass a mosaic of tools (points, scrapers, unmodified edges, etc.) having a long use-life and high mobility. The lithic industries also present a fragmented reduction system associated with a large range of mainly local raw materials. The lithic assemblages are thus very flexible and include multifunctional-tools. Aterian hunter–gatherers consumed a broad range of terrestrial resources (small, medium and large ungulates, tortoises) as well as coastal ones (mollusks). The artifacts (faunal remains, lithic and osseous industries, hearths, ornaments in Nassarius sp. shells pigments) reflect diverse activities, showing that El Mnasra Unit 8 is not a single-activity site. The low density of archaeological artifacts, the small number of faunal species exploited by humans and the fragmented lithic reduction system indicate brief occupations.
... The importance of the Arabian Peninsula as one of the steppingstones for modern human expansions out of Africa and as the possible southernmost range of the Neanderthal occupation in the Near East is becoming increasingly obvious, as more publications on these subjects become available (e.g. Petraglia and Rose, 2009;Armitage et al., 2011;Petraglia, 2011;Rose et al., 2011;Delagnes et al., 2012Delagnes et al., , 2013Petraglia et al., 2012;). Furthermore, some of the lithic assemblages found across the Arabian Peninsula hint at the existence of regionally specific developmental trajectories ( Marks, 2009). ...
Since 2013, the authors have conducted archaeological surveys across the Al-Jawf province in northern Saudi Arabia. In the past two seasons, 48 sites were mapped and characterized by the presence of Levallois technology and, therefore, attributed to the Middle Paleolithic of Arabia. Preferential Levallois reduction using different methods of dorsal core preparation have been found at these sites. The technological variability includes Nubian Levallois methods, preferential Levallois with centripetal preparation, as well as recurrent centripetal reduction methods. In Arabia, sites with Nubian Levallois reduction are known from southern Oman, eastern Yemen, and central Saudi Arabia, while in Africa this reduction method has been identified across much of the northeastern continent. Preferential Levallois with centripetal preparation and recurrent centripetal Levallois methods have been found across Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. Outside of Arabia, these methods have been found in many regions across the Old World. In this paper, we present the results from technological analyses on the Middle Paleolithic assemblages from the newly discovered Al-Jawf sites. The technological data are used to place these sites into a wider regional framework, assessing whether connections with known lithic industries from across the Near East and northeastern Africa can be surmised.
... The posited significance of the southern dispersal route out of Africa (e.g., Lahr & Foley 1994;Quintana-Murci et al. 1999;Kivisild et al. 2004;Metspalu et al. 2004;Forster & Matsumura 2005;Macaulay et al. 2005;Ghirotto & Barbujani 2011) served to invigorate archaeological fieldwork programs throughout Arabia over the past decade. In stark contrast to the "coasting out of Africa" model (Stringer 2000;Mellars 2006;Oppenheimer 2009;Mellars et al. 2013), all of these new findings in Arabia unanimously suggest that demographic movements into and out of the Peninsula were not associated with occupation of the littoral zone, and were far more complex than previously considered (e.g., Rose 2006Rose , 2007Bailey 2009;Crassard 2009;Rose & Petraglia 2009; Rose & Usik sequence, which exhibits a standardized, hard hammer bidirectional Levallois point and blade reduction strategy utilizing extensive cresting in initial core shaping (Fig. 1), to Level 2, which shows a co-association between the bidirectional Levallois point production system and hard hammer volumetric blade core reduction, primarily bidirectional with occasional unidirectional flaking, to Level 3, with a marked shift away from bidirectional Levallois point cores and to an increase in unidirectional reduction. Finally, in Level 4, the assemblage is dominated by a hard hammer volumetric blade strategy, mainly unidirectional, but with some bidirectional reduction, as well (Volkman 1983). ...
... In-depth studies on the Palaeolithic in the Arabian Peninsula are relatively recent, compared with those in Europe, Africa or the Levant. In recent years, the multiplication of excavations and survey operations on surface sites in southern Arabia (Amirkhanov 2006;Crassard 2009a;Delagnes et al. 2008;Rose 2006) implies many discussions and reflections on the role that this region could have played during prehistory (Amirkhanov 2008;Crassard 2008aCrassard , 2008bCrassard , 2009aCrassard , 2009bMarks 2008;Rose & Bailey 2008;Petraglia & Rose 2009). As regards more particularly the Middle Palaeolithic, the first studies on lithic materials indicate a relatively abundant presence of remains from this period in Arabia. ...
... The route through the Arabian Peninsula has been a much less considered alternative given the seemingly poor archaeological record. In fact, Palaeolithic research in Arabia only came into focus in the 21st century, revealing an early and astonishingly widespread human presence throughout the Arabian Desert (Petraglia and Rose, 2009;Groucutt and Blinkhorn, 2013, and literature therein). Short-lived land bridges permitting faunal movement from Africa into Arabia at the Bab Al Mandeb, the entrance to the Red Sea, were possible throughout the Pleistocene, as the area is part of the tectonically highly active Afar triangle (Winney et al., 2004). ...
The area of the El Kowm oasis in the centre of today's Syria is a unique showcase of Middle Eastern prehistory not only for its geographic position within the Arabian Desert, but also for the depth of its history. In fact the core area, about a dozen kilometres across, with the numerous natural springs were an important attractor for game and humans, visiting regularly this region since more than 1.8 million years. All over the periods, from the Lower Palaeolithic to the arrival of farmers, definitely arid conditions prevailed, perfectly showing human adaption to this particular environment, as has been clearly demonstrated by several extensive excavations of exceptionally rich Palaeolithic sites. Exceptional preservation conditions due to a particular geological setting in the context of active or dry springs offer an extraordinary resolution of human behaviour within a limited landscape during the complete period of the Pleistocene, illustrating cognitive capacities of early man to cope readily with arid environments, challenge the migration routes proposed by Out of Africa diffusion models, typically considered to be corridors with a superior environmental potential.
... Les sites s'étendent de l'Afghanistan (Otte et Kozlowski, 2007), à l'Altaï (Otte et Derevianko, 2001), l'Ouzbékistan (Vandenberghe et al., 2014 ;Flas et al., 2010 ;Derevianko, 2010 ;Otte et Biglari, 2004 ;Schlütz et Lehmkuhl, 2007 ;Shidrang, 2009) à Kulbulak, le Tadjikistan à Shugnou (Otte et Kozlowski, 2007), à l'Iran à Yafteh et Warwasi (Olszewski et Dibble, 1993 ;Otte et Kozlowski, 2011), à la Syrie à El Kown (Soriano et Ploux, 2003) et au Levant (Belfer-Cohen et Goring-Morris, 2003). Les récents progrès en Arabie montrent l'importance de cet immense pays où il est spécialement clair que le désert actuel a suivi une steppe gigantesque, très favorable aux herbivores donc à leur prédateur humain (Petraglia et Rose, 2009 ;Rose et Marks, 2014). ...
Dans un mouvement orienté vers l’Ouest, la population et la civilisation aurignaciennes ont pénétré en Europe sous des conditions climatiques froides et sèches, mais ensoleillées. Au Moyen-Orient, ces aires originelles connaissaient alors une vaste couverture steppique, favorable aux grands gibiers, et ainsi à d’importantes ressources caloriques. Parmi d’autres témoignages, cette unité culturelle s’impose au travers d’étroites analogies entretenues entre l’ensemble des activités observées à Jabroud (Syrie) et à Yafteh (Iran). Aujourd’hui désertique, cette vaste région, géographique et ethnique, s’étendait alors de part et d’autre du Zagros, jusqu’en Asie Centrale dont les steppes immenses semblent avoir formé l’épicentre.
... A set of new scholarly publications have attempted to rectify this situation, drawing attention to the entirety of the Arabian Peninsula as a key geographic zone where significant demographic processes unfolded (e.g. Petraglia and Rose, 2009;Magee, 2014). Although mainly concentrating on the Holocene record, the travelling "Roads of Arabia" exhibit and its accompanying book (Al-Ghabban et al., 2010) have also engendered greater scholarly and public awareness of the region's natural and cultural heritage and the place of Arabia in the wider world. ...
The Arabian Peninsula accounts for approximately 6% of the world’s coral reefs. Some thrive in extreme environments of temperature and salinity. Using 51 Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structure (ARMS), a standardized non-destructive monitoring device, we investigated the spatial patterns of coral reef cryptobenthic diversity in four ecoregions around the Arabian Peninsula and analyzed how geographical and/or environmental drivers shape those patterns. The mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene was used to identify Amplicon Sequence Variants and assign taxonomy of the cryptobenthic organisms collected from the sessile and mobile fractions of each ARMS. Cryptobenthic communities sampled from the two ecoregions in the Red Sea showed to be more diverse than those inhabiting the Arabian (Persian) Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Geographic distance revealed a stronger relationship with beta diversity in the Mantel partial correlation than environmental distance. However, the two mobile fractions (106–500 µm and 500–2000 µm) also had a significant correlation between environmental distance and beta diversity. In our study, dispersal limitations explained the beta diversity patterns in the selected reefs, supporting the neutral theory of ecology. Still, increasing differences in environmental variables (environmental filtering) also had an effect on the distribution patterns of assemblages inhabiting reefs within short geographic distances. The influence of geographical distance in the cryptofauna assemblages makes these relevant, yet usually ignored, communities in reef functioning vulnerable to large scale coastal development and should be considered in ecosystem management of such projects.
XX в. Однако в отличие от западной и в некоторой степени центральной части Иранского нагорья на северо-востоке пока было найдено лишь несколько стоянок. Полевые исследования на Нишапурской равнине предоставили палеолитические материалы с четырех местонахождений у подножия хребта Биналуд: Дарбехешт, Мушан-Тапех, Али-Абад и Гхезел-Тапех. В статье дана оценка этих материалов. Пересмотрена типология артефактов эпохи плейстоцена с Нишапурской равнины. Рассмотрено значение этих и других находок из данного региона для рекон-струкции расселения плейстоценовых популяций гоминин. Сделан вывод о том, что два коридора в северо-восточной ча-сти Иранского нагорья сыграли основную роль в распространении предков человека. Ключевые слова: Нишапурская равнина, плейстоцен, северо-восточная часть Иранского нагорья, палеолит, популя-ции гоминин.
Questo Manuale di geoarcheologia. Un approccio geomorfologico da remoto intende offrirsi come strumento di formazione e conoscenza a quanti, studenti universitari, ricercatori e cultori della materia, intendano approfondire lo studio dell’ambiente considerato come contenitore delle testimonianze del passato nella sua perenne evoluzione di forme e di risorse.
Esso raccoglie l’esperienza acquisita sul campo, nel corso di vari decenni di attività di ricognizione e scavo, da parte dei suoi Autori in Italia e in numerosi paesi del vicino e medio-oriente, del centro Asia e del nord Africa. Ricerche sostenute e condotte sempre con l’ausilio di un punto prospettico privilegiato, quale quello offerto dalle varie immagini telerilevate riprese con sensori differenti da piattaforme aeree e satellitari in periodi temporali successivi, la cui interpretazione è stata sempre confrontata con le osservazioni dirette, ovvero con la cosiddetta ‘verità terreno’.
Proprio questa stretta integrazione tra paesaggio, risorse del territorio ed emergenze antropiche più o meno antiche costituisce l’elemento portante del libro, declinato attraverso numerosi ed esaustivi esempi di analisi in vari ambienti dell’area mediterranea, del Vicino Oriente e dell’Asia che vedono applicato un approccio teorico ampiamente illustrato nella prima parte del volume.
L’augurio è che il produttivo connubio tra tecnologia avanzata e cultura diventi una comune attitudine tra le giovani generazioni di futuri studiosi e che l’esperienza maturata in questo settore da parte degli scriventi venga raccolta e implementata, raggiungendo nuovi traguardi e più fruttuosi risultati.
This Handbook of geoarchaeology. A remote geomorphological approach intends to offer itself as a training and knowledge tool to those who, university students, researchers and connoisseurs of the subject, intend to deepen the study of the environment as a context of the testimonies of the past in its perennial evolution of forms and resources.
It collects the experience acquired in the field, over several decades of reconnaissance and excavation activities, by its authors in Italy and in numerous countries of the near and middle east, central Asia and north Africa. Researches supported and always conducted with the aid of a privileged perspective point, such as that offered by the various remote sensing images taken with different sensors from aerial and satellite platforms in successive time periods, the interpretation of which has always been compared with direct observations, or with the so-called 'ground truthing'.
Precisely this close integration between landscape, local resources and more or less ancient anthropic emergencies constitutes the backbone of the book, expressed through numerous and exhaustive examples of analysis in various environments of the Mediterranean area, the Near East and Asia that see applied a theoretical approach amply illustrated in the first part of the volume.
The hope is that the productive combination of advanced technology and culture will become a common attitude among the younger generations of future scholars and that the experience gained in this area by the writers will be collected and implemented, reaching new goals and more fruitful results.
Human dispersals and adaptations are the result of the dynamic relationship between cultural and biological systems. This chapter focuses on the last half a million years with an emphasis on the environmental controls on human dispersal and adaptation, with the perspective of spatiotemporal variations in environments as a key factor. It provides a brief overview of landscapes and their complexity and controls over time and space. Human dispersals and adaptations require an understanding of complex interactions and strong couplings that link human dynamics, biology, biochemistry, geochemistry, geology, hydrology, geomorphology, and atmospheric dynamics, including climate change. The literature is increasingly full of proposals about environmental barriers, glacial/interglacial cycles, sea‐crossings, land bridges, and adaptive specializations, but they often lack the means to evaluate their individual and combined impacts on hominid dispersal. The chapter highlights aspects relating to examples of three of these, namely sea level variations, deserts, and mountains.
Quaternary palaeoenvironmental (QP) sites in Southeast Arabia are important not only to understand the history of global climate change but also to study how ancient humans adapted to a changing natural environment. These sites, however, are currently missing from conservation frameworks despite reports of destroyed sites and sites under imminent threat. This study presents the Geocultural Database of Southeast Arabia, the first open-access database on QP sites in this region, created as a comprehensive inventory of regional QP sites and a tool to analyse QP records and archaeological records. The endangerment assessment of QP sites in this database reveals that 13% of QP sites have already been destroyed and 15% of them are under imminent threat of destruction, primarily due to urban development and infrastructure development. Chronological and spatial analyses of QP and archaeological sites and records highlight the intricate relationship between palaeoenvironment and archaeology and emphasise the need for sub-regional-scale studies to understand the variation of climatic conditions within the region, especially to study changes in the ancient human demography. This database illustrates the potential of a geocultural approach that combines archaeological heritage with Quaternary geoheritage as a way forward for the conservation of QP sites at risk.
The biodiversity distribution patterns and their formation history in continental waters are studied based on some model groups such as Daphnia O.F. Müller (Crustacea: Cladocera). Most publications on this genus concern the subgenus Daphnia (Daphnia) while representatives of the subgenus Daphnia (Ctenodaphnia), inhabiting mainly temporary waters, are poorly studied. We found a new species of the D. (C.) sinensis complex in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, and our discovery allows us to resolve some problems concerning the history of these daphniids in the northern hemisphere. A formal description, illustrations (including numerous SEM photos) and a differential diagnosis of D. (C.) arabica Neretina, Al Neyadi & Hamza sp. nov. are provided. Phylogeny of D. (C.) similis complex is reconstructed based on three mitochondrial genes (12S, 16S and COI); a haplotype network based on short 12S fragments is also constructed. A monophyletic D. (C.) sinensis within the D. (C.) similis complex includes three earlier-derived locally distributed members: D. (C.) similoides, D. (C.) inopinata and D. (C.) arabica sp. nov. Our data suggest an old (Late Mesozoic) Gondwanan origin of the D. (C.) sinensis group and its Caenozoic differentiation in North Africa and the Middle East. This region then became a center of subsequent dispersion of D. (C.) sinensis through the whole of Eurasia and Africa during the Miocene and subsequent epochs. Interestingly, our scheme of the D. sinensis group dispersion has a well-known analogue: it is comparable to that suggested for earlier human migration from Africa through the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East to the rest of Eurasia.
Archaeologically, Fars cultural basin is one of the key areas in which the most purposeful archaeological research has been carried out until now. The geographical vastness of this culture extends to the northern banks of the Persian Gulf and especially its hinterlands. Paleolithic studies in Fars cultural basin have a long history focusing on the northern parts of the area. Recently discovered Paleolithic sites belong to the middle to upper Paleolithic period showing that the hinterland territories near the Persian Gulf occupied by Pleistocene humans. The human groups that their movement and exiting of Africa are one of the crucial issues in anthropology and paleontology. During an archaeological survey, 5 Paleolithic open-sites were discovered in this area. All the sites are located on the seasonal river terraces and are related to springs which Showing the importance of this landscape for more Paleolithic investigations. Geographically, the study area in this article is located near the Persian Gulf and Hormuz Strait in the southern Iranian plateau. For this reason the study area can prove the potential of shoreline dispersal routes and can points to the strategic role of the Hormuz Strait as a connecting route between north and southern parts of the Persian Gulf. And referring this strait as a corridor using by Hominins to enter into the Iranian Plateau and dispersal to the eastern realms.
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a research project with a multi-disciplinary approach to investigate a unique geographical and geological landscape in the western piedmonts of the Zagros, which has been used by the Pleistocene humans. Because of varied landscape and suitable environmental conditions, the Iranian Plateau has had a high potential for attracting human populations from the past to the present. In terms of geographical location, Iran is located between West and East Asia, and it connects southwest Asia to the central and eastern parts of Asia. Hence, it could always be used as one of the migration routes of Pleistocene humans. Although in the last two decades, the presence of expert researchers and the beginning of professional researches on the activities of Pleistocene humans in the mountainous regions of Zagros and Alborz, piedmont regions, plains, edge of deserts, and the coastlines have provided some interesting information that has reinforced the above thesis, but some areas are less considered, and there is limited information about the Paleolithic periods. Among these unknown regions, the western piedmonts of Zagros in western Iran can be mentioned. This area has always been one of the natural communication corridors of the Pleistocene period and even nowadays in western Iran. Our study area includes the northern piedmont parts of Susiana, Deh Luran, and Mehran plains (the piedmonts between the Zagros Mountains and the lowlands).
In recent years several Paleolithic sites were discovered accidentally in these areas. The discovered sites are indicating the high potential of the area for further Paleolithic studies. As most of the identified Paleolithic sites in this area are close to the available water resources and raw material outcrops (e.g., Bakhtyari conglomerate formation), study the geological, geomorphological, and physical geography features of the area are necessary. It is also essential to conduct a techno-typological analysis of assemblages for each site to recognize their exact chronology and functions. Furthermore, using some laboratory methods to identify the chemical composition and chemical characteristics of raw materials to recognize these raw materials' resources is essential. Based on these studies, we will obtain some new information about geological features and the study area's geographic landscape to understand better Paleolithic sites' formation and their distribution in the study area. It is possible to analyze the settlement patterns of the sites based on other environmental and climatic information.
In general, the detailed analysis of recovered Paleolithic artifacts and analysis of the sites' settlement patterns in the region's general landscape can provide useful information about the dispersal and adaptability strategies applied by the Paleolithic groups in confronting the environment of this area. Some other strategies, such as patterns used in the raw materials procurement and stone economic, can be clarified for archaeologists. Based on some basic questions about the sites' chronology, settlement patterns, and crucial role(s) of geological and geomorphological elements of the study area, we are trying to A) Present a better perspective about the situation of settlement patterns of Paleolithic landscape in this area; B) Recognize the importance of this part of Iranian Plateau in the Paleolithic studies; C) Doing a geoarchaeological investigation on the Paleolithic sites relying on archaeological, geological, geomorphological, physical geography, laboratory methods; E) Utilization of paleoenvironmental and climatic information in the study area in this extensive landscape and recognizing their possible role.
Cette thèse intègre l'analyse inédite de plus de 80 000 restes provenant des sites néolithiques d'Akab, de Dalma et de Marawah MR11 (Emirats Arabes Unis) – occupés entre la moitié du VIe et la fin du IVe millénaire av. n. è. Les résultats dévoilent des pêcheries déjà investies dans l'exploitation d'une grande variété de milieux marins. Les poissons capturés et consommés par ces pêcheurs incluent de nombreux sargues, pagres (Sparidae), empereurs (Lethrinidae) et petites aiguilles (Belonidae) qui témoignent avant tout de l'exploitation des eaux côtières peu profondes : le long des rivages ainsi que dans les zones d'herbiers et de récif frangeant. À Akab, la pêche dans la lagune et la mangrove est également reflétée par la présence de nombreux poissons‐chats marins (Ariidae) et mulets (Mugilidae) dans l'assemblage. Les techniques impliquées dans ce type de pêche sont peu sélectives et relativement simples : la prospection des petits fonds à l'aide de senne, la pose de filets calés, voire l'utilisation de barrages à poissons. À Dalma, des nasses étaient probablement déjà employées dans les zones de récifs moyennement profondes, pour la capture de mérous en particulier (Serranidae). Les mangroves et les zones de récifs sont des environnements très productifs auprès desquels les pêcheurs pouvaient vraisemblablement se fournir en poissons et en coquillages tout au long de l'année. En l'occurrence, ceux d'Akab connaissaient et exploitaient probablement déjà les grands rassemblements de becs‐de-cane (Lethrinus nebulosus) près de la lagune d'Umm al‐Quwain, au printemps et à l'occasion de leur frai. L'étude du matériel d'Akab et de Dalma révèle toutefois aussi l'existence d'expéditions de pêche en mer ouverte, impliquant l'usage de bateaux. Ces expéditions sont notamment conduites à la recherche des bancs de thonines (Scombridae) voire de carangues (Carangidae). Leur pêche n'impliquait pas seulement l'emploi de lignes munies d'hameçons en nacre mais aussi celui de filets tels que des sennes tournantes. Ces filets ont également permis aux pêcheurs de Dalma de capturer de grands requins et quelques dauphins plus occasionnellement. Bien que la pêche des bancs de pélagiques soit aujourd'hui considérée comme une activité hivernale dans les pêcheries du Golfe persique, l'existence d'un climat plus humide au Néolithique, alors soumis au régime de la mousson de l'Océan Indien, invite à nuancer nos modèles de saisonnalité. Au Néolithique, la pêche était ainsi pratiquée à la fois de manière généraliste et de manière spécialisée en faisant contribuer un large panel de techniques et de savoirs écologiques aux besoins d'une économie de subsistance reposant principalement sur l'exploitation des ressources marines.
This study utilizes lithofacies characteristics, petrographic, XRD, and stable isotope data of Al-Mejarma beachrocks, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, to interpret its depositional setting, origin of cement, and coastal evolution. The beachrock is 1.15 m thick, medium to very coarse-grained sandstone with scattered granules. It shows massive to graded bedding, horizontal, ripple, and shore parallel to slightly oblique planar cross-laminations, with a remarkable absence of bioturbation. It was deposited by shore-parallel longshore currents in a relatively high-energy beach environment. The framework comprises quartz, feldspars, and lithic fragments admixed with biogenic remains of algae, mollusca, foraminifera, corals, and echinoids. They are cemented by high magnesium calcite in the form of isopachous rims and pore-filling blades, and rarely, as a meniscus bridge. The mean values of δ18OVPDB and δ13CVPDB are 0.44‰ and 3.65‰, respectively, suggesting a seawater origin for the cement. The framework composition, facies geometry, and association with back-barrier lagoon impose a deposition as a shoreface-beach barrier through two stages corresponding to the middle and late Holocene. The first stage attests landward migrating sediment accumulation and rapid marine cementation. The sediments stored offshore during the early and middle Holocene humid periods migrated landward from offshore and alongshore by onshore waves and longshore drift during the middle and late Holocene sea-level highstand. They were cemented to form beachrock and subsequently emerged as the late Holocene sea-level fell.
The Western Periphery of the Red Sea (WPRS) is an important region for paleoanthropological discussions about the history of hominin dispersal out of Africa. This paper examines the existing Paleolithic evidence in the region and some key aspects of its environmental setting, with the goal of assessing its role in hominin survival and dispersals. The paper’s chronological focus is the span 1.8–0.05 million years ago (Ma). Although the majority of the Paleolithic (Stone Age) sites so far documented in the region lack precise chronological control, the available evidence comprises Acheulean, Middle and Later Stone Age technocomplexes that can be broadly linked to distinct hominin settlement episodes. Most of the documented sites appear to be related to terrestrial niche exploitation around channelized alluvial plains between the coastal zone and the eastern slopes of the Red Sea Hills, although wave erosion may have destroyed sites associated with coastal resource use. As an extension of the East African Rift system, the WPRS mirrors the landscape features of the fossil-rich Rift Valley region, with the addition of a coastal niche. Thus, it may have posed little survival risk for hominins coming from the inland habitats, and some of the inhabitant populations may have easily dispersed toward Eurasia from there.
Significance
Over the last 12,000 y, humans have faced a variety of challenges from climatic variability, either leading to a wide range of technological, economic and cultural responses, or societal collapse. In southeastern Arabia, ancient droughts appear to have corresponded with the decline of inland occupations and population movements to resource-rich areas on the coast, with transformative societal effects. Data from northern Arabia suggest that Holocene populations responded to environmental challenges through high mobility, managing water sources, and transforming their economies. Though more interdisciplinary archaeological data remain to be gathered from Arabia, these examples illustrate diverse strategies to resilience and provide important lessons for a world in which climate predictions forecast dramatic changes in temperature and precipitation.
Intertidal environments have been the main source for mollusc gathering and consumption for at least the last 164,000 years. However, our knowledge of long-term trends is compromised by the fact that the majority of Pleistocene and early Holocene shorelines, and in turn their archaeological sites, are either currently submerged under water or have long been destroyed by sea-level change. Ecological information on the resilience of intertidal re- sources is crucial in assessing how attractive they were to past humans as a long-term source of food. Of particular interest is the southern Red Sea and its function as the southern gateway out of Africa into Arabia during a period of aridity. The role that marine food sources likely played in this dispersal is underplayed and largely ignored when interpreting periods of terrestrial aridity. Here we analyse the resilience of Conomurex fasciatus and report size measurements of over 15,000 specimens from the Holocene shell middens on the Farasan Islands, Saudi Arabia, as an ecological baseline for prehistoric shellfish exploitation to determine the long-term sustainability of shellfish harvesting in an arid environment. Changes in shell-size and relative abundance can indicate whether a species was subjected to changes in the intensity of human harvests and we use this dataset to reconstruct how the species was affected by a known intense exploitation period between 7,360 and 4,780 cal BP. Our results indicate no signs of resource depletion throughout the occupation period and add to the growing body of evidence that marine resources along arid shorelines are an important part of a mixed diet. Further, by measuring size changes occurring during early life stages of C. fasciatus we were able to reveal changes in size that were unaffected by human harvesting pressure and instead suggest patch-selection as the main control. These results have implications for the interpretation of shellfish harvesting during periods of terrestrial aridity and specifically its potential as a reliable food source during the Palaeolithic migration out of Africa.
Surface artifacts dominate the archaeological record of arid landscapes, particularly the Saharo‐Arabian belt, a pivotal region in dispersals out of Africa. Discarded by hominins, these artifacts are key to understanding past landscape use and dispersals, yet behavioral interpretation of present‐day artifact distributions cannot be carried out without understanding how geomorphological processes have controlled, and continue to control, artifact preservation, exposure and visibility at multiple scales. We employ a geoarchaeological approach to unraveling the formation of a surface assemblage of 2,970 Palaeolithic and later lithic artifacts at Wadi Dabsa, Saudi Arabia, the richest locality recorded to date in the southwestern Red Sea coastal region. Wadi Dabsa basin, within the volcanic Harrat Al Birk, contains extensive tufa deposits formed during wetter conditions. We employ regional landscape mapping and automatic classification of surface conditions using satellite imagery, field observations, local landform mapping, archaeological survey, excavation, and sedimentological analyses to develop a multiscalar model of landscape evolution and geomorphological controls acting on artifact distributions in the basin. The main artifact assemblage is identified as a palimpsest of activity, actively forming on a deflating surface, a model with significant implications for future study and interpretation of this, and other, surface artifact assemblages.
Background: The UAE is positioned at the crossroads of human migration out of Africa and through to Asia and Europe.
Aim: To compare the degree of genetic diversity of the Arabian UAE population with populations in other countries from the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa.
Subjects and methods: Twenty-Seven Y-STR were analysed in 217 individuals. Y-STR haplotypes from this study were compared to population data stored in YHRD, using MDS and AMOVA.
Results: Two hundred and twelve haplotypes were observed in the 217 individuals studied. Although the reduction in Y-STR loci from 27 to 17 resulted in a decrease in discriminatory power, comparisons of populations were possible. The UAE population clustered closer with other populations of the Middle East. The South Asian and North African populations were separated by Middle Eastern populations in between both clusters.
Conclusion: This is the first study to report the diversity of a population of the Arabian Peninsula using 27 Y-STR. MDS plots show that Middle Eastern populations are positioned in the centre with African, Asian and European populations around the Arab population cluster. The findings of this study are consistent with this region being at the epicentrer of human migration between continents.
We report on a preliminary exploration of the submerged landscapes in the Saudi Arabian sector of the southern Red Sea aboard the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) Research Vessel, AEGAEO, in May–June 2013. The survey sampled areas of the continental shelf down to the shelf margin at ~130 m depth in the vicinity of the Farasan Islands and combined high resolution acoustic techniques with sediment coring to reconstruct features of the now-submerged landscape of potential archaeological significance, including geological structure, topography, palaeoenvironment, and sea-level change. The region is currently of wide interest and significance: to archaeologists because it is currently regarded as one of the primary pathways of dispersal for early human populations expanding out of Africa during the Pleistocene, in which the extensive but now-submerged shelf region may have played a key role; and to marine geoscientists because the Red Sea offers unusual opportunities as a ‘laboratory’ for investigating Pleistocene sea-level change. Preliminary results indicate that the submerged landscape was characterised by a complex topography with fault-bounded valleys and deep basins, some of which may have hosted, at least intermittently, fresh water during periods of lowered sea level.
Nubian Levallois technology is the defining characteristic of the Middle Paleolithic or Middle Stone Age technocomplex known as the Nubian Complex. Until recently, this technocomplex was found exclusively in northeastern Africa; however, archaeological surveys conducted across the Arabian Peninsula in the last decade have expanded the known distribution of this technological phenomenon. Since 2009, researchers from separate archaeological missions have mapped sites yielding Nubian cores and debitage, and by extension Nubian technology, in the southern, central and northernmost parts of the Arabia Peninsula. Nubian Complex artifacts in central and southern Arabia were made using different raw materials: in Al-Kharj (central Saudi Arabia) Middle Paleolithic industries were made exclusively on quartzite, while in Dhofar (southern Oman) chert was the only knappable material available for use. Given these differences, we sought to examine the influence of raw material variability on core morphology and size. Contrary to initial hypothesis, this study finds that the differences recorded are not a function of raw material properties. In both areas, Nubian cores were reduced using the same technological systems producing a set of preferential blanks. Rather, the recorded differences from raw material constrains were primarily due to knapping accidents, which occur in higher proportions at quartzite-based assemblages from Al-Kharj (specifically the siret fracture) compared with the chert assemblages from Dhofar. In sum, we argue that raw material had little effect on Nubian Levallois core technology and was not a constraint on Nubian Complex artisans.
The present study aims to improve our understanding of the spatiotemporal variability of the dust emission occurrences and intensities over the Middle-East and North-Africa (MENA). We present monthly and yearly MENA's dust emission potential (MENA-DEP) ranging between 0 and 1, which are derived from the hourly simulated sandblasting fluxes between 2011 and 2014. These simulations are carried out using the dust emission parameterization scheme proposed by Alfaro and Gomes (2001), which has already proven its efficiency over the MENA region. The computation is undertaken by considering the wind speed and the soil/surface variables from different datasets as input data. Results obtained in this study show a high spatiotemporal variability of the dust emission, where the average percentage proportions of the low, moderate and high dust emission areas from the total MENA's desert lands are respectively 62%, 32%, and 7%. In short, a minor area of ~ 1.6 million km² contributes to the high dust emissions, thereby affecting the global environment. The maximum dust emission activities are observed during winter-spring seasons over North-Africa and during summer season over the Middle-East. Similar to the published studies, these emissions occur intensely in areas of abundant fluvial deposits, such as the Bodele depression in Chad, the Qattarah depression in Egypt, the Chott el-Jerïd in southern Tunisia, the Chott Melghir in northerneast Algeria, the Nubian desert in Sudan, the Sistan basin in Iran-Afghanistan, the Makran desert in Pakistan and the Thar desert in northwest India, and less in areas of coarse sand sediments (seas sand and dune systems), such as the Rub'al Khali desert in the southern Arabian Peninsula, the Grant Erg occidental in Algeria, the Great sand sea in Libya. Specifically, the Chad basin including the Bodele depression is conclusively found to be the dustiest region in the world. Further, a few new dust source areas are revealed in this study, such as the Nogal valley in the Horn of Africa region, the Aljafra plain and the Nafusa mountain slopes at the Tunisia-Libyan borders, the northwestern slopes of the Tibesti mountains at the Libya-Chad border, the Sebkhet te-n-Dghâmcha region in Mauritania/Western-Sahara border, the Wadi Howar in central Sudan, and the west Algeria region bordering with Morocco. All these dust sources exhibit high spatial and temporal heterogeneity in dust emissions, which are tightly coupled to atmospheric processes, geomorphology and sediment deposition.
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