Middle Paleolithic occupation on a Marine Isotope Stage 5 lakeshore in the Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia (original) (raw)
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Recent archaeological discoveries indicate that the Arabian Peninsula played an important role in Late Pleistocene hominin dispersals. The presence of Middle Palaeolithic archaeological sites in the Nefud Desert of northern Saudi Arabia demonstrates that hominins moved far inland, probably following networks of ancient lakes and rivers deep into the Arabian interior. These Middle Palaeolithic sites, located close to the spatial and temporal boundary between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, are critical for our understanding of Late Pleistocene demographic processes and hominin behaviour. Here we present the first detailed analysis of a Middle Palaeolithic lithic assemblage from the north Arabian desert interior. The Late Pleistocene site of Jebel Katefeh-1 (JKF-1) is located beside a palaeolake at Jubbah in the Nefud Desert. The assemblage appears to reflect a relatively short-lived occupation. Reduction produced Levallois flakes of diverse morphologies as well as more expedient small flakes. Our results emphasise that factors such as differential reduction intensity and raw material characteristics need to be considered along with putatively cultural interpretations of Middle Palaeolithic variability. Consideration of assemblage affinities indicates similarities with both the African and Levantine Middle Palaeolithic, perhaps reflecting the location of Jubbah at a crossroads of the highlands of western Arabia, the Levant and the Euphrates/Tigris river system. JKF-1 demonstrates both the potential and the complexity of the Arabian Middle Palaeolithic record in debates on hominin dispersal and adaptation.
Human footprints provide snapshot of last interglacial ecology in the Arabian interior
Science Advances, 2020
The nature of human dispersals out of Africa has remained elusive because of the poor resolution of paleoecological data in direct association with remains of the earliest non-African people. Here, we report hominin and non-hominin mammalian tracks from an ancient lake deposit in the Arabian Peninsula, dated within the last interglacial. The findings, it is argued, likely represent the oldest securely dated evidence for Homo sapiens in Arabia. The paleoecological evidence indicates a well-watered semi-arid grassland setting during human movements into the Nefud Desert of Saudi Arabia. We conclude that visitation to the lake was transient, likely serving as a place to drink and to forage, and that late Pleistocene human and mammalian migrations and landscape use patterns in Arabia were inexorably linked.
Prehistory and palaeoenvironments of the western Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia
Mid-latitude dune fields offer significant records of human occupations in southwest Asia, reflecting human responses to past climate changes. Currently arid, but episodically wetter in the past, the Nefud desert of northern Saudi Arabia provides numerous examples of human-environment interactions and population movements in the desert belt. Here we describe results from interdisciplinary surveys in the western Nefud that targeted palaeolake deposits identified using satellite imagery. Surveys indicate the presence of thousands of discrete palaeolakes and palaeowetlands, providing valuable palaeoenvironmental records, and numerous archaeological and palaeontological assemblages. Geomorphological investigations suggest that many further deposits remain buried. Forty-six prehistoric archaeological sites have been identified in association with freshwater deposits, spanning the Lower Palaeolithic to the pre-Islamic Holocene. Lower Palaeolithic sites appear concentrated close to raw material sources near the Nefud fringe, despite the presence of freshwater and fauna deeper in the dune field. Middle Palaeolithic occupations extend more broadly, and by the early Holocene humans were at least periodically occupying areas deep in the desert. We present the first records of Neolithic sites in this dune field, including substantial hearth complexes distributed relatively deep within the dunes, potentially indicating increased mobility during this period. Later Holocene sites with stone structures are present around the dune fringes. Our results indicate that, during wet periods of the Pleistocene and Holocene, water in the western Nefud may have been more readily available than elsewhere in northern Arabia due to the high density of depressions where wetlands can form. The high frequency of lakes or marshes appears to have facilitated human occupations and dispersal through the region.
The Arabian Peninsula is a key region for understanding hominin dispersals and the effect of climate change on prehistoric demography, although little information on these topics is presently available owing to the poor preservation of archaeological sites in this desert environment. Here, we describe the discovery of three stratified and buried archaeological sites in the Nefud Desert, which includes the oldest dated occupation for the region. The stone tool assemblages are identified as a Middle Palaeolithic industry that includes Levallois manufacturing methods and the production of tools on flakes. Hominin occupations correspond with humid periods, particularly Marine Isotope Stages 7 and 5 of the Late Pleistocene. The Middle Palaeolithic occupations were situated along the Jubbah palaeolake-shores, in a grassland setting with some trees. Populations procured different raw materials across the lake region to manufacture stone tools, using the implements to process plants and animals. To reach the Jubbah palaeolake, Middle Palaeolithic populations travelled into the ameliorated Nefud Desert interior, possibly gaining access from multiple directions, either using routes from the north and west (the Levant and the Sinai), the north (the Mesopotamian plains and the Euphrates basin), or the east (the Persian Gulf). The Jubbah stone tool assemblages have their own suite of technological characters, but have types reminiscent of both African Middle Stone Age and Levantine Middle Palaeolithic industries. Comparative inter-regional analysis of core technology indicates morphological similarities with the Levantine Tabun C assemblage, associated with human fossils controversially identified as either Neanderthals or Homo sapiens. Citation: Petraglia MD, Alsharekh A, Breeze P, Clarkson C, Crassard R, et al. (2012) Hominin Dispersal into the Nefud Desert and Middle Palaeolithic Settlement along the Jubbah Palaeolake, Northern Arabia. PLoS ONE 7(11): e49840.
The transition from the Terminal Pleistocene to the Early Holocene is poorly represented in 19 the geological and archaeological records of northern Arabia, and the climatic conditions that 20 prevailed in the region during that period are unclear. Here, we present a new record from the 21 site of Al-Rabyah, in the Jubbah basin (southern Nefud desert, Saudi Arabia), where a 22 sequence of fossiliferous lacustrine and palustrine deposits containing an archaeological 23 assemblage is preserved. Sedimentological and palaeoenvironmental investigations, both at 24 Al-Rabyah and elsewhere in the Jubbah area, indicate phases of humid conditions, during 25 which shallow lakes developed in the basin, separated by drier periods. At Al-Rabyah, the 26 end of a Terminal Pleistocene phase of lake expansion has been dated to ~12.2 ka using 27 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), with a mid-Holocene humid phase dated to after 28 ~6.6 ka. Palaeoecological reconstructions based primarily on non-marine molluscs and 29 ostracods from the younger lacustrine deposits indicate a relatively shallow body of 30 freshwater surrounded by moist, well-vegetated environments. A lithic assemblage 31 characterized by bladelets and geometric microliths was excavated from sediments attributed 32 to a drier climatic phase dated to ~10.1 ka. The lithic artefact types exhibit similarities to 33
The Arabian Peninsula is a key region for understanding hominin dispersals and the effect of climate change on prehistoric demography, although little information on these topics is presently available owing to the poor preservation of archaeological sites in this desert environment. Here, we describe the discovery of three stratified and buried archaeological sites in the Nefud Desert, which includes the oldest dated occupation for the region. The stone tool assemblages are identified as a Middle Palaeolithic industry that includes Levallois manufacturing methods and the production of tools on flakes. Hominin occupations correspond with humid periods, particularly Marine Isotope Stages 7 and 5 of the Late Pleistocene. The Middle Palaeolithic occupations were situated along the Jubbah palaeolake-shores, in a grassland setting with some trees. Populations procured different raw materials across the lake region to manufacture stone tools, using the implements to process plants and animals. To reach the Jubbah palaeolake, Middle Palaeolithic populations travelled into the ameliorated Nefud Desert interior, possibly gaining access from multiple directions, either using routes from the north and west (the Levant and the Sinai), the north (the Mesopotamian plains and the Euphrates basin), or the east (the Persian Gulf). The Jubbah stone tool assemblages have their own suite of technological characters, but have types reminiscent of both African Middle Stone Age and Levantine Middle Palaeolithic industries. Comparative inter-regional analysis of core technology indicates morphological similarities with the Levantine Tabun C assemblage, associated with human fossils controversially identified as either Neanderthals or Homo sapiens. Citation: Petraglia MD, Alsharekh A, Breeze P, Clarkson C, Crassard R, et al. (2012) Hominin Dispersal into the Nefud Desert and Middle Palaeolithic Settlement along the Jubbah Palaeolake, Northern Arabia. PLoS ONE 7(11): e49840.