The First Peoples of Oman: Palaeolithic archaeology of the Nejd plateau (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Neolithic peopling of Arabia is a subject of increasing debate, as different scenarios are proposed to describe the relatively sudden appearance of seemingly homogeneous archaeological sites throughout the south of the Peninsula during the Early Holocene. Such sites are identified by the co-occurrence of a laminar core reduction strategy with its supposed fossile directeur, the " Fasad point. " This techno-typological package has been used by some to link these sites with an expansion of pastoralists from the Levant. A recent study of blade technologies in Southern Arabia, however, demonstrates a large degree of internal variability within these reduction strategies, whilst an interregional study of Fasad points reveals this artifact category to be both time-transgressive and morpho-metrically variable across parts of Southern Arabia. Archaeological findings from al-Hatab Rockshelter in Dhofar, Oman go further to challenge the notion of an expansion originating in the Levant and spreading across Southern Arabia. Here we demonstrate that an indigenous occupation with a blade technology and tanged points pre-dates the 'Levantine expansion' by at least four millennia. Based on the lithic assemblage from al-Hatab, we argue the Arabian Late Palaeolithic developed locally in Southern Arabia, forming part of the previously defined Nejd Leptolithic tradition. The evidence from al-Hatab in conjunction with recent genetic findings indicates that some groups in Southern Arabia have persisted there since the Late Paleolithic ca 13,000 years ago, if not earlier. Résumé : Le peuplement néolithique de l'Arabie est devenu le sujet de nombreux débats, alors que différents scénarios ont été proposés pour expliquer l'apparition soudaine de sites archéologiques apparemment homogènes à travers le sud de la péninsule au cours de l'Holocène ancien. Ces sites sont identifiés par la concomitance d'une stratégie de débitage laminaire avec son fossile directeur supposé : la « pointe de Fasad ». Cet assemblage typo-technologique est utilisé pour relier ces sites à l'expansion de pasteurs venus du Levant. Une étude technologique récente sur le débitage laminaire d'Arabie du Sud a cependant montré une forte variabilité parmi ces stratégies de débitage, alors qu'une étude interrégionale des « pointes de Fasad » révèle que ce type est à la fois trans-chronologique et de morphométrie différente suivant les régions d'Arabie. Les découvertes archéologiques dans l'abri d'al-Hatab, dans le Dhofar (Oman), contredisent le scénario d'une origine levantine, démontrant l'existence d'une occupation indigène qui possédait une technologie laminaire et des pointes pédonculées, et qui précédait « l'expansion levantine » de plusieurs millénaires. Dans cet article, nous utilisons l'assemblage lithique d'al-Hatab pour définir une nouvelle industrie au sein du Paléolithique récent d'Arabie du Sud, qui se développe localement et appelée le Hatabien. Les vestiges provenant d'al-Hatab, ainsi que les données génétiques, suggèrent que des groupes en Arabie du Sud ont perduré sur place depuis le Paléolithique récent, il y a 10 000 à 15 000 ans.
Tracing Palaeolithic Populations across the Horn of Arabia: northern Oman
Paléorient, 2023
https://journals.openedition.org/paleorient/3173#quotation Arabia holds great geographical significance in Palaeolithic studies as the nexus between the African and Asian continents. While researchers have identified various contextual areas from the Middle to Late Pleistocene period in the peninsula’s southern, central, and northern zones, some regions such as northern Oman, still need to be explored. This paper is a synthesis of the French Archaeological Mission to Central Oman’s Palaeolithic expeditions (FAMCO). It fills a major geographic gap in terms of mapping the Palaeolithic settlements on the southern piedmont of the Hajar Mountains. Our preliminary surveys around the Adam and Bisya towns in Ad-Dakhiliyah Governorate and test excavation at a stratified Late Palaeolithic site—the first of its kind near the city of Al-Ma’mur—demonstrate a range of lithic industries spanning the Lower Palaeolithic to the Neolithic. By exploring this terra incognita, the provided synthesis will broaden our understanding of the distribution of Palaeolithic populations and different lithic production strategies in the Horn of Arabia.
Khashabian: a Late Paleolithic Industry from Dhofar, southern Oman
is an inter-displinary investigation of prehistoric archaeology, archaeogenetics, and palaeoenvironmental history across the mosaic landscapes of Dhofar, a region nestled in the southwestern corner of the Sultanate of Oman. Among the most thrilling discoveries made by the DAP team during these years was the discovery of a distinct Middle Palaeolithic lithic industry from North Africa, the Nubian Complex, along with its technological progeny, the Mudayyan industry. Somewhat less sensational, albeit equally spectacular, was the discovery of stratified Late Palaeolithic assemblages unlike any other archaeological technocomplex known outside of the region.
Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene archaeology and stratigraphy of the southern Nejd, Oman
Archaeological, geoarchaeological and geochronological research at the Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene sites of al-Hatab, Ghazal and Khamseen Rockshelters help to elucidate our understanding of the Late Palaeolithic occupation of the South Arabian Highlands. The stone tools found at these sites are attributed to the Nejd Leptolithic tradition; an autochthonous lithic culture found across Dhofar (Oman). The artifact-bearing deposits excavated within these rockshelters have been chronologically constrained by optically stimulated luminescence dating, while sedimentological analyses help to establish site formation processes. Together, these methods provide a chronological anchor for some Nejd Leptolithic archaeological findspots across Dhofar. The archaeological evidence from surface and stratified sites indicates a technological continuum across the shifting climatic regimes of the Terminal Pleistocene/ Early Holocene. This technological continuity points to possible population persistence within one of the posited South Arabian refugia.
A fourth-millennium BC Oman site and its context: Wadi Shab-GAS1
Archaeological fieldwork delivers a record that is a static pattern of associations among things distributed in space and time. To understand the processes which underline this association it is important to shift the attention from the intra-site setting to the surrounding context and, if possible, to an inter-site analysis. This paper, after a brief excursus on the evidence produced by five field seasons at Wadi Shah-GAS!, will offer suggestions as to the circumstances that made the Wadi Shah-Tiwi area an important outpost of the fourth millennium BC in Oman. The site is located in a rich cnvironmenlal niche, on a cliff line facing the sea, near a permanent freshwater source and not far from key resources. such as chlorite and steatite, which were thoroughly exploited by its inhabitants. The archaeological evidence produced by this site and other contemporaneous sites, especially where lithic industries are considered, will provide valuable observations as to the development of Wadi Shah-GAS 1 and its context in relation to other sites in Oman.
Études et Travaux, 2023
Over the past decade, extensive surveys have been carried out in the wider area surrounding the city of Duqm (south-central Oman). During fieldwork in 2023, research on the Neolithic encampment in the Wādī Ṣayy area was conducted. Numerous locations surrounding this large wadi have yielded evidence of Neolithic occupation. The proximity to chert outcrops and the presence of elevated fluvial terrace systems overlooking the wadi floodplains likely played a pivotal role in attracting human habitation during that period. Among these sites, DUQ-25A stands out for its exceptional preservation and the abundance of flint scatters. The excavation at the site aimed to achieve multiple objectives: validating the site’s chronology, expanding our understanding of its spatial extent and occupational sequence and filling the gaps in our knowledge about Neolithic societies in south-central Oman. Our research aims to provide new perspectives for the study of the Early and Middle Holocene in Al-Wusṭā. Full-text PDF available here: http://www.etudesettravaux.iksiopan.pl/images/etudtrav/EtudTrav\_otwarte/Etud\_Trav\_36/EtudTrav\_36\_05\_Maiorano\_Chlachula\_Danielisova\_Garba\_compressed.pdf
An overview of the latest prehistoric research in Qumayrah Valley, Sultanate of Oman
Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 2019
This paper concerns the prehistoric part of a project run by the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology and the Ministry of Heritage and Culture of Oman, in the micro-region of Qumayrah. The project, instigated in 2016, includes a survey, testing, and excavations of selected sites. During two seasons of investigations, archaeological sites of varied chronology were recorded, three of which were attested to late Stone Age occupation. The largest site (QA 2), although deflated, yielded a rich collection of lithics found in the context of a stone hearth, a platform, and the remains of a shelter. The lithics included simple tools produced by direct-scaled retouch, rare tanged projectile points made on flakes, and bifacial foliated pieces. Tubular beads of stone and shell (including Akab-type beads), and worked seashells, attest to connections with coastal regions. The two other sites (QA 6 and QA 12) are less well preserved, but surface collection and limited testing yielded lithic collections, including tanged spear points. At this stage, techno-typological analysis of materials is the only means of establishing a chronology of these sites. However, new information from this region of Oman is significant considering the disproportion between the state of research at coastal areas and inland territories.
Quaternary International (in press); http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.12.058, 2015
Numerous palaeoenvironmental and archaeological studies from southern Arabia (Yemen and Oman) have revealed strong relations between phases of human settlements and climate change linked to the Indian monsoon system. Analyses on speleothems, cave fills, lacustrine deposits and palaeo-mangroves have shown that during the Early to Mid-Holocene, a humid Optimum culminated around 9000-8000 cal BP. New results on inland speleothems and cave sediments fromthe Jebel Qara (southern Oman) are crucial in our depiction of Early and Mid-Holocene climatic evolution and cultural dynamics of the region. These aspects are discussed here, based on new archaeological surveys, excavations, geoarchaeological and micromorphological studies, aiming to better understand connections with Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene autochthonous cultures of southern Arabia. Our results suggest that the final Pleistocene was marked by strong aridity, which promoted a widespread thermoclastism within rock shelter and deposition of aeolian sand; in contrast, the transition towards the Holocene is marked (since c.12,000 cal BP) by a progressive increasing in environmental humidity, which permitted the formation of thick strata of peridesert loess. After this phase, the environmental humidity of the Jebel increased and permitted the existence of a large community of land snails; the latter were exploited by Early Holocene hunter-gatherers who lived in the rock shelters between c. 10,500e9500 cal BP and left consistent accumulations of land shells (escargotières). The maximum of Holocene humidity was reached between 9000 and 8000 cal BP; regional aquifer were recharged and the deposition of calcareous tufa at the entrance of caves started, lasting up to c. 4500 cal BP. C and O stable isotopes from calcareous tufa highlights, in accordance with several regional records, the progressive decline of the intensity of the Indian Ocean monsoon and the transition towards arid conditions. In this phase, the area was abandoned and archaeological communities possibly relocated along the coast of central and southern Oman, where they exploited the mangrove environment.
Second season of prehistoric investigations in the Qumayrah Valley, Oman
Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean , 2018
In the second field season of the Omani-Polish Qumayrah Archaeological Project, the prehistoric leg of the team conducted investigations of previously discovered lithic sites in the vicinity of Al-Ayn village. This paper summarizes the results of archaeological testing at three open campsites codenamed Qumayrah-Ayn (QA) 2, QA 6 and QA 12. The investigations provided new evidence of intensive Stone Age settlement of the Qumayrah Valley (also known as Wadi Fajj). The data, comprising lithic tools and some shell and stone beads, indicate that the occupation of these sites should be dated to various stages of the Neolithic period.