Middle to Late Pleistocene human habitation in the western Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia

Scerri, Eleanor M. L.; Breeze, Paul S.; Parton, Ash; Groucutt, Huw S.; White, Tom S.; Stimpson, Christopher; Clark-Balzan, Laine; Jennings, Richard; Alsharekh, Abdullah; Petraglia, Michael D.

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.09.036

Cited by 46 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(53 reference statements)

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“…The authors report on stone tool reduction, raw material influences, and mobility strategies, situating the Jebel Katefeh sites in relation to others in the basin and in surrounding areas. Consistent with the findings reported by Scerri et al (2015), the analysis of lithic assemblages from Jebel Katefeh suggest a limited occupation span by a highly mobile population. The technological traits of the Jebel Katefeh sites are considered to reflect situational adaptions and perhaps cultural influences from both the Levant and North Africa.…”

Section: Contents Lists Available At Sciencedirectsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…Archaeological survey in the western portion of the Nefud Desert was recently conducted by Scerri et al (2015), resulting in the identification of a range of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic sites. Consistent with the identification of vertebrate animals near lakeshores in the Nefud, the archaeological sites are primarily associated with lacustrine settings.…”

Section: Contents Lists Available At Sciencedirectmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Green Arabia: Human prehistory at the Crossroads of Continents

Petraglia

Parton

Groucutt

et al. 2015

Quaternary International

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Section: Contents Lists Available At Sciencedirectsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Contents Lists Available At Sciencedirectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Green Arabia: Human prehistory at the Crossroads of Continents

Petraglia

Parton

Groucutt

et al. 2015

Quaternary International

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“…13) e a Middle and Lower Palaeolithic site in the Hail region Groucutt et al, in review) identified within a basin erroneously identified as holding lake deposits by the classifier. The archaeological implications of the identified sites are discussed elsewhere Groucutt et al, in review;Scerri et al, 2015).…”

Section: Archaeological Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…See also Groucutt et al, in review;Scerri et al, 2015;Jennings et al, forthcoming). The importance of these lakes as a focus for Palaeolithic activity is discussed by Scerri et al (2015) and is clearly highlighted by Fig. 13.…”

Section: Example Of Regional Palaeohydrological Reconstruction For Spmentioning

confidence: 98%

Remote sensing and GIS techniques for reconstructing Arabian palaeohydrology and identifying archaeological sites

Breeze

Drake

Groucutt

et al. 2015

Quaternary International

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100

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a b s t r a c tFreshwater availability is critical for human survival, and in the Saharo-Arabian desert belt repeated fluctuations between aridity and humidity over the Quaternary mean the distribution of freshwater was likely a primary control upon routes and opportunities for hominin dispersals. However, our knowledge of the spatio-temporal distribution of palaeohydrological resources within Arabia during MideLate Pleistocene episodes of climatic amelioration remains limited. In this paper we outline a combined method for remotely mapping the location of palaeodrainage and palaeolakes in currently arid regions that were formerly subject to more humid conditions. We demonstrate the potential of this approach by mapping palaeochannels across the whole Arabian Peninsula, and palaeolakes and marshes for select regions covering c. 10% of its surface. Our palaeodrainage mapping is based upon quantitative thresholding of HydroSHEDs data, which applies flow routing to Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data, while our palaeolake mapping uses an innovative method where spectral classification of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery is used to detect palaeolake deposits within endorheic (closed) basins, before modelling maximum lake extents by flooding the basin to the level of the elevation of the highest detected deposit. Field survey in the Nefud desert and the Dawadmi and Shuwaymis regions of Saudi Arabia indicates accuracies of 86% for palaeodrainage mapping, and 96% for identifying former palaeolake basins (73% accuracy of classification of individual deposits). The palaeolake mapping method has also demonstrated potential for identifying surface and stratified archaeological site locations, with 76% of the surveyed palaeolake basins containing archaeological material, including stratified Palaeolithic archaeology. Initial examination of palaeodrainage in relation to archaeological sites indicates a relationship between mapped features and previously recorded Palaeolithic sites. An example of the application of these data for period-specific regional palaeohydrological and archaeological reconstructions is presented for a region of Northern Saudi Arabia covering the southern Nefud desert and adjacent lava fields.

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“…The lithic assemblage was analysed using the methods outlined in Scerri et al . () and Groucutt et al . ().…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human occupation of the northern Arabian interior during early Marine Isotope Stage 3

Jennings

Parton

Clark-Balzan

et al. 2016

J Quaternary Science

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The early part of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (c. 60-50 ka) is a crucial period for studying human demography and behaviour in Southwest Asia, and how these relate to climatic changes. However, the archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records for MIS 3 in critical areas such as the Arabian Peninsula remain poorly developed. Here, we present findings from the Al Marrat basin in the Nefud desert, which provides the first clear evidence for both increased humidity and human occupation of the interior of northern Arabia during early MIS 3. A Middle Palaeolithic assemblage, dated by OSL to c. 55 ka, was found stratified within a sequence of relict palustrine deposits indicative of shallow water body formation in the Al Marrat basin. Hominin presence in northern Arabia at this time coincides with the intensification and northward displacement of monsoon rainfall systems during a period of maximum insolation. These findings add to a growing corpus of palaeoenvironmental evidence, which indicates that the Arabian interior was neither arid nor unpopulated during early MIS 3, and that hydrodynamic responses to enhanced moisture availability facilitated demographic expansions into the Arabian interior.

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Middle to Late Pleistocene human habitation in the western Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia

Cited by 46 publications

References 30 publications

Green Arabia: Human prehistory at the Crossroads of Continents

Green Arabia: Human prehistory at the Crossroads of Continents

Remote sensing and GIS techniques for reconstructing Arabian palaeohydrology and identifying archaeological sites

Human occupation of the northern Arabian interior during early Marine Isotope Stage 3

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