The bird remains from Saruq al-Hadid: Insights into human activity and the environment in late prehistoric southeastern Arabia (original) (raw)
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A remarkable new site consisting of a concentration of as many as forty or more camel skeletons has been discovered in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region in the United Arab Emirates. Eight camel bone samples (from six individuals) from the site have been AMS radiocarbon dated by the Leibniz Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Stable Isotope Research, Kiel University, Germany, revealing that they date from the second half of the fifth millennium BC. The site is located in an interdunal area to the south-east of the Baynunah Plantation, not far from the Ruwais–Habshan pipeline. The spread of camel bones extends over an area of about 10,000 m2. Preliminary analysis of the bones suggests that they are from wild dromedaries. Other archaeological finds associated with the camel bones include a finely made flint arrowhead. This important newly discovered site will provide a valuable opportunity to examine a large sample of wild camel bones during the later prehistory of south-eastern Arabia. Future detailed investigations at the site will throw fresh light on the early interactions between the communities inhabiting late prehistoric Arabia and the camel.
Saruq al-Hadid: a persistent temporary place in late prehistoric Arabia
World Archaeology, 2018
In this paper, the authors use the site of Saruq al-Hadida 'persistent temporary place' located in the mobile dune fields of the north eastern edge of the Rub' al-Khali desertas a lens to focus discussion on the variable nature of temporary sites and mobile adaptations within the archaeology of southeastern Arabia, the relationships between temporary sites and permanent settlements, and the evidence for collective events and gatherings from later prehistory into the Islamic period. They discuss evolving arguments regarding sedentary and mobile sites and groups in Arabia from the Neolithic period to the Iron Age, and summarize the material record of human activity at Saruq al-Hadid. This research emphasizes the site's changing significance as a temporary place and its emergence, in the early Iron Age, as a locus for periodic interaction between multiple community groups.
Faunal remains are described from a series of contexts excavated in the coastal site of ed-Dur, dated between the second and fourth century AD. The more than 19,000 identified animal bones allowed a diachronic and spatial analysis. Subsistence relied heavily on domestic animals, in particular sheep and goat, and on fishing. Whereas the exploitation of terrestrial resources seems to have been quite constant throughout the period considered, the aquatic fauna shows changes through time. A shift, possibly linked to overexploitation, is seen both in the proportions of the targeted fish species and in their sizes. The deposition of some of the mammals encountered in burials is also dealt with; dog and ovicaprid can probably be added to the list of mammals used in ritual context in the region. Spatial analysis did not reveal particular concentrations or activity areas. In general the finds fit nicely in the archaeozoological record of the wider region.
The faunal remains from Mamluk Khirbat al-Sar (Jordan)
Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean
Excavations at Khirbat al-Sar in 2019 yielded a small assemblage of animal remains dating mainly to the Mamluk period. An archaeozoological analysis provided insight into the food provisioning of the site’s inhabitants. Caprids (sheep and goat) and cattle made up the bulk of the animal food products. The other species present in small quantities are the dromedary, the horse, the dog, the chicken and the hare. The faunal remains offer an opportunity to collect data on animal management and consumption during this period, of which we know very little in terms of archaeozoology.
This paper summarises the preliminary results of an analysis of the mammalian, bird and fish vertebrate fauna from site H3 at Sabiyah in Kuwait. The site is a settlement located on the northern shore of Kuwait Bay. Radiocarbon dating, as well as distinctive pottery found at the site, confirms that the settlement dates to the late 6th/early 5th millennium BC. Domestic livestock exploited include sheep/goat and cattle. Hunting was carried out for gazelle, fox and marine turtle. Birds so far identified include cormorants. The numerous fish remains include requiem sharks, sawfish, sea catfish, groupers, jacks/trevallies, emperors, seabream and tuna. Most fishing was probably carried out in shallow waters adjacent to the site, although some larger jacks and groupers, and particularly the tuna, must have been caught in deeper offshore waters. A large number of sea catfish otoliths were recovered from the site. These are currently being studied by the authors in the Fish Ageing Laboratory of the Mariculture and Fisheries Department, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research. Preliminary data suggest that the sea catfish were caught during both summer and winter months. Interestingly, some of their otoliths had been utilised as blanks for the manufacture of beads.
Exploitation of a Seasonal Resource: Bird Hunting During the Late Natufian at Shubayqa 1
This paper discusses the Late Natufian avifaunal remains from Shubayqa 1, a Late Epipalaeolithic site situated in northeast Jordan. The site has produced an exceptionally large and well-preserved assemblage of bird bones recovered from a substantial midden deposit, and from the analysis of this material, we argue that there is evidence for en masse hunting of seasonally migrating waterfowl during the occupation of the site. The abundance of waterfowl and the hunting strategies employed to capture this prey must have resulted in a plentiful supply of meat, enabling the choicest parts of the birds to be quickly removed from the rest of the carcass. The tibiotarsus bones were also frequently taken back to the habitation site for use as a raw material, possibly for bead manufacture. Extensive hunting of the birds was not a result of resource pressure as often argued; instead, people chose to take advantage of a particularly abundant prey population during the winter months. This evidence casts a critical light on the suggestion that population growth and environmental change forced late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers in the Levant to expand their subsistence base to include lower-ranked prey species. Our data also have implications for the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the landscape. The presence of a few bones of birds other than waterfowl suggests these species had minimal importance to the diet of the inhabitants and bones from diurnal raptors may have been collected to be used in decorative items or as tools rather than reflecting the hunting of these species for food.
Anthropozoologica, 2014
By its extraordinary adaptability to live in a hyper arid environment, the camel (Camelus dromaderius) is certainly the animal that best characterizes the Arabian Peninsula. If a rich ethnographic literature exists showing the economic importance of this species through the last two millennia, few archaeozoological remains confirm this importance. This article presents preliminary archaeozoological data (skeletal representation, ageing and sexing bone, bone traces) from two archaeological assemblages from Saudi Arabia: Dûmat al-Jandal (Al-Jawf oasis) and al-Yamâma (Al-Kharj oasis). RÉSUMÉ Les dromadaires dans l'oasis de Saudi Durant les deux derniers millénaires ; l'exemple de Dumat al-Jandal (province Al-Jawf) et al-Yamâma (province de Riyadh). Par ses extraordinaires facultés d'adaptation à un mileu désertique hyper aride, le dromadaire (Camelus dromaderius) est certainement l'animal qui caractérise le mieux la péninsule arabique. Mais si une abondante littérature ethnographique existe montrant l'importance économique du dromadaire à travers ces deux derniers millénaires, rares sont les preuves archéozoologiques confirmant cette importance. Cet article présente des données archéozoologiques préliminaires (représentation squelettique, détermination de l'âge et du sexe, traces sur les ossements) de dromadaire provenant de deux assemblages osseux issus d'oasis saoudiennes, les sites de Dûmat al-Jandal (Al-Jawf region) et d'al-Yamâma (Al-Kharj oasis).