In southern Iberia, the surroundings of the Strait of Gibraltar are known as a crossroad for population movements, cultural exchanges, and trade from Late Prehistory to modern times. However, questions remain about the impact of this historical development on the environment. The settlement of La Silla del Papa, an important hillfort in southern Andalusia (Cádiz), was occupied during the entire Iron Age, replaced by the coastal town Baelo Claudia during Roman times, and re‐occupied during Early Medieval times. As such, La Silla del Papa and its territory represent an ideal location for long‐term studies on human‐environment interactions. Within the framework of the interdisciplinary project “Archeostraits,” geoarchaeological investigations in the surroundings of La Silla del Papa aimed at constraining ecological conditions and human‐environment interactions during the mid‐ and late Holocene and during major human occupation phases. Our results document an early mid‐Holocene marine embayment in the lower floodplain of the Río del Cachón, rapidly turning into a coastal lagoon and later into freshwater‐dominated wetlands. After approximately 2100 BP (c. 150 BC), fluvial and alluvial deposition i600ing a high anthropogenic impact on the local landscape during Roman or post‐Roman times. Palynological results reveal fluctuating agricultural and pastoral activities and distinct periods of landscape opening during the Neolithic and Iron Age.
Changing climatic conditions are thought to be a major control of human presence in Arabia during the Paleolithic. Whilst the Pleistocene archaeological record shows that periods of increased monsoon rainfall attracted human occupation and led to increased population densities, the impact of arid conditions on human populations in Arabia remains largely speculative. Here, we present data from Jebel Faya in Southeast (SE) Arabia, which document four periods of human occupation between c. 210,000 and 120,000 years ago. The Jebel Faya record indicates that human occupation of SE Arabia was more regular and not exclusively linked to major humid periods. Our data show that brief phases of increased rainfall additionally enabled human settlement in the Faya region. These results imply that the mosaic environments in SE Arabia have likely formed a population refugia at the end of the Middle and the beginning of the Late Pleistocene.
Quaternary environments on the Arabian Peninsula shifted between pronounced arid conditions and phases of increased rainfall, which had a profound impact on Earth surface processes. However, while aeolian sediment dynamics are reasonably well understood, there is a lack of knowledge with regard to variability in the fluvial systems. Presented here are the findings from several locations within wadi drainage systems to the west of the Hajar Mountains (United Arab Emirates). The performance of optically stimulated luminescence dating using a customized standardized growth curve approach is investigated, showing that this approach allows reliable determination of ages by reducing the machine time required. Three main periods of fluvial activity occurred at 160–135, 43–34, and ca. 20 ka. Additional ages fall into the latest Pleistocene and Late Holocene. None of the ages coincides with major wet periods in SE Arabia that have been identified in stalagmites and by the deposition of lake sediments. It is shown that fluvial activity was partly contemporaneous (within the given time resolution) with phases of aeolian deposition and was almost continuous, but likely sporadic, during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. This highlights the need for regionally defined paleoenvironmental records to fully understand the response of dryland systems to long-term climatic change.
The Late Pleistocene occupation of Southeast Arabia is well documented in the sequence recorded at Jebel Faya, Emirate of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates). Here the archaeological record suggests pulses of occupation in the region between ca. 125,000 and 10,000 years ago. The large chronological gaps observed between settlement phases are thought to indicate long periods of severe climatic conditions during the Late Pleistocene preventing human occupation over long periods of time. Recent palaeoenvironmental research, however, revealed the occurrence of brief periods with increased potential for human settlement in the region. To test the pulsed occupation scenario developed from the Jebel Faya stratified sequence, we conducted systematic surveys in Suhailah, a region about 50 km north of Jebel Faya. Our results show that besides abundant Holocene material, a number of typo-technologically distinct assemblages of Palaeolithic can be found. Comparisons with the archaeological record from Jebel Faya, led us to conclude that the Suhailah record provides evidence for Palaeolithic occupation phases not recorded in the stratified Faya sequence. We argue that an increased diversity in the archaeological record and potentially more frequent occupations of the central region in Sharjah during the Late Pleistocene, implies that the recently identified brief periods of increased precipitation could have played an important role for human occupation. Résumé. Le peuplement de l'Arabie du Sud-Est durant le Pléistocène supérieur est bien documenté dans la séquence enregistrée à Jebel Faya, émirat de Sharjah (Émirats arabes unis). Ces données archéologiques suggèrent que des vagues d'occupation onteu lieu dans la région entre environ 125 000 et 10 000 ans. Les importantes lacunes chronologiques observées entre les phases de peuplement pourraient indiquer de longues périodes où des conditions climatiques rigoureuses durant le Pléistocène ont empêché toute occupation humaine. Cependant, des recherches paléoenvironnementales récentes ont révélé l'existence de courtes périodes potentiellement propices au peuplement de la région. Afin de tester le scénario d'occupations intermittentes, élaboré à partir de la séquence stratifiée de Jebel Faya, nous avons entrepris des sondages systématiques à Suhailah, une région située environ 50 km au nord de Jebel Faya. Nos résultats montrent qu'en plus de l'abondant matériel holocène, de nombreux assemblages caractéristiques du Pléistocène ont été identifiés. D'après les comparaisons avec le matériel archéologique de Jebel Faya, les données de Suhailah révèlent des phases d'occupation qui n'ont pas été enregistrées dans la séquence de Faya. Nous soutenons que la diversité accrue des données archéologiques, et peut-être les occupations plus fréquentes de la région centrale de Sharjah pendant le Pléistocène supérieur, impliquent que les brèves périodes de précipitations accrues identifiées récemment auraient pu jouer un rôle important pour le peuplement humain.
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