Climate change and human occupation in the Southern Arabian lowlands during the last deglaciation and the Holocene

Abstract

International audiencePaleohydrological and archaeological evidence from the Southern and South-Eastern Arabian Peninsula reveal strong relations between phases of human settlements and climate change linked to the Indian monsoon system. During the early to mid-Holocene, large fresh-water lakes extended in the lowland deserts of Ramlat as-Sab'atayn (Yemen) and Wahiba Sands (Oman), which were very similar to those occurring in the North, in the Rub' al-Khali (Saudi Arabia), at that time. Many archaeological sites, characterized by scattered stone artefacts, ostrich-eggshells and bones around hearths, are related to this lacustrine phase, which culminated around 10 000­8000 cal yr B.P. in the lowland deserts before the lakes progressively dried up. The last record of fresh-water bodies' extensions date back 7300 cal yr B.P. at Shabwa (Yemen) and 7500 cal yr B.P. at al-Haid (Oman). Then, fresh-water was probably available only from seasonal run-off from adjacent highlands, where paleolakes persisted into the late Holocene. Dry climate conditions in the inland desert of Yemen during the late Holocene coincide with a phase of intensive human inhabitation as testified by development of irrigation in the piedmontane areas, numerous necropolises of built collective burials and houses

A multi-proxy analysis of the Holocene humid phase from the United Arab Emirates and its implications for southeast Arabia's Neolithic populations

“…The first of these corresponds with a global cooling event (Bond Event 5) at ~8.2 ka BP and is associated with a short-term weakening of the monsoon system . The event has been reported from various records throughout the Middle East (BarMatthews et al, 1997), other Arabian palaeolake records (Lézine et al, 2010), the northern Arabian Sea (Staubwasser et al, 2003), and the Indus region (Dixit et al, 2014b).…”

“…There is a substantial body of palaeoclimatic data from southern (Lézine et al, 1998(Lézine et al, , 2010Wilkinson, 2005;Davies, 2006;Fleitmann et al, 2007), central (McClure, 1976;Preusser et al, 2005;Radies et al, 2005;Fuchs and Buerkert, 2008;Urban and Buerkert, 2009) and northern (Schultz and Whitney, 1986;Engel et al, 2012;Crassard et al, 2013) Arabia which indicates that after an arid post-Last Glacial Maximum phase, precipitation increased significantly throughout the Peninsula during the early-to mid-Holocene. At Wahalah, dune deposition, with a net accumulation rate of 3-4 m.ka −1 (Leighton et al, 2014), occurred between 15.9 -10.3 ka.…”

“…Geo-archives have revealed that areas of the presently hyper-arid Arabian subcontinent were transformed into an ameliorated landscape during the early-to midHolocene, with more favourable hydrological conditions leading to the expansion of lakes and vegetation throughout the desert interior Lézine et al, 2010;Berger et al, 2012). This change is thought to have been driven by a northwards shift in the mean latitudinal position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and associated monsoon precipitation belt (Overpeck et al, 1996;Fleitmann et al, 2007).…”

Northern Hemisphere control of deglacial vegetation changes in the Rufiji uplands (Tanzania)

“…Our results corroborate previous findings in the Rufiji Delta and the coast of Zanzibar, where dynamics of Holocene mangrove systems were related to past sea-level changes and local moisture availability (Punwong et al, 2013a, b, and c). Furthermore, the development of Suwayh mangroves near the littoral of the Indian Ocean in Oman clearly records the influence of enhanced tropical summer precipitation (Lézine et al, 2010). Increasing both freshwater supply and sediment load would also fit the development of aquatic taxa such as Typha, which is represented parallel to the Rhizophora pollen maximum, reflecting wetter coastal conditions and a continuous input of freshwater.…”

Hydro-geospatial analysis of ancient pastoral/agro-pastoral landscapes along Wadi Sana (Yemen)

“…We examine a welldocumented and radiocarbon dated ca. 5200 cal BP shift from aggradation to incision along Wadi Sana and conclude that this change was not solely the result of decreased annual precipitation but was more proximately a function of a concomitant increase in inter and intra-annual precipitation variability (see Dewar and Wallis, 1999;Lézine et al, 2010;Sanlaville, 1992) with attendant shorter duration, high-volume discharges. Moreover, we propose that increasing aridity and resultant plant food scarcity contributed to the emergence of agro-pastoralism in the 6th millennium BP in which small-scale irrigation of drying and incising alluvial sediments supplemented pre-existing herding economies.…”