Not Just a Crossroad

Bretzke, Knut; Conard, Nicholas J.

doi:10.1086/694077

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 50 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The Jebel Faya records testify that local geographic and environmental conditions can support a more frequent human occupation in SE Arabia beyond global peak interglacial periods. This reflects the importance of producing spatially finer scales of analyses, instead of linking local archaeological records with global climate proxies (e.g., 2 , 42 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple phases of human occupation in Southeast Arabia between 210,000 and 120,000 years ago

Bretzke

Preusser

Jasim

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple phases of human occupation in Southeast Arabia between 210,000 and 120,000 years ago

Bretzke

Preusser

Jasim

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The archaeological record serves as a fundamental backdrop on which all models project. As Bretzke and Conard (2017) justifiably note, the relative paucity of hominin fossils and consequently ancient DNA from across large expanses of the Asian continent make it difficult to generate robust models for hominin dispersal patterns and interactions. Data for such modeling can be collected, however, from large-scale archaeological survey and excavation projects.…”

Section: Laying the Foundation: Contributions From Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data for such modeling can be collected, however, from large-scale archaeological survey and excavation projects. A number of archaeologyoriented papers in this volume provide the critical necessary footing to contribute to such models currently being debated: Bretzke and Conard (2017) cover Southwest Asia; Buzhilova, Derevianko, and Shunkov (2017) discuss Central Asia; Graf and Buvit (2017) review Siberia; Blinkhorn and Petraglia (2017) cover the Indian subcontinent; Wang (2017) reviews China; and Nakazawa (2017) discusses Japan. In addition, more general reviews of the East Asian record are provided by Bae (2017) and O'Connor and colleagues (2017) for island Southeast Asia.…”

Section: Laying the Foundation: Contributions From Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Colonization of Asia in the Late Pleistocene

Bae¹,

Douka²,

Petraglia³

2017

Current Anthropology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The origin and evolution of modern humans continues to be of great interest to the scientific and public communities alike; the field has long been dominated by findings from Europe and Africa. With new discoveries of hominin fossils and archaeological sites, in addition to the application of recent genomic and paleoclimate modeling studies, findings from Asia are serving to revolutionize the field of modern human origins. The identification of Neanderthals and Denisovans in Siberia, for example, along with growing fossil and archaeological evidence for the presence of early modern humans in East and Southeast Asia, much earlier than originally thought, places the spotlight on the evolutionary history of our species in Asia over the last 125,000 years. Exciting and unanticipated new discoveries call for a need to critically reexamine the Asian record. Taking a multidisciplinary perspective, a group of active researchers participated in a week-long Wenner-Gren symposium titled "Human Colonization of Asia in the Late Pleistocene" (#153) in March 2016. Here we review the major themes and findings emerging from the symposium and discuss avenues to move the field forward.

show abstract

“…Nonetheless, both layers lack characteristic artifacts of the UP techno-cultural repertoire in the Zagros, such as perforated shells and Arjeneh points, which were recovered in AHs IV to IVb despite having similar low find densities 50 . Consequently, AHs IVc and IVd have been tentatively assigned to either the MP 66 , or to the MP–UP transition 50 . The MP deposits have only been excavated so far in three quadrants (6/7, 6/8, and 7/7), which are located towards the central-northern part of the excavation area.…”

Section: Geographical Archaeological and Chronological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of diverse animal exploitation during the Middle Paleolithic at Ghar-e Boof (southern Zagros)

Mata-González,

Starkovich,

Zeidi

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although Middle Paleolithic (MP) hominin diets consisted mainly of ungulates, increasing evidence demonstrates that hominins at least occasionally consumed tortoises, birds, leporids, fish, and carnivores. Until now, the MP zooarchaeological record in the Zagros Mountains has been almost exclusively restricted to ungulates. The narrow range of hominin prey may reflect socioeconomic decisions and/or environmental constraints, but could also result from a research bias favoring the study of large prey, since archaeologists have undertaken no systematic taphonomic analyses of small game or carnivores in the region. Here, we report on the first comprehensive taphonomic analysis of an MP faunal assemblage from Ghar-e Boof (∼ 81–45 kyr), a Late Pleistocene site in the southern Zagros of Iran. Anthropogenic bone surface modifications point to hominins as the main agent of accumulation. Hominins preyed primarily on ungulates, particularly wild goat. However, we also found evidence for MP hominin exploitation of carnivores and tortoises at the site. Although small game represents only a minor portion of the diet, our results suggest that the hunting behavior of MP hominins in the Zagros was more diverse than previously thought, similar to what we find elsewhere in Eurasia.

show abstract

Not Just a Crossroad

Cited by 17 publications

References 50 publications

Multiple phases of human occupation in Southeast Arabia between 210,000 and 120,000 years ago

Multiple phases of human occupation in Southeast Arabia between 210,000 and 120,000 years ago

Human Colonization of Asia in the Late Pleistocene

Evidence of diverse animal exploitation during the Middle Paleolithic at Ghar-e Boof (southern Zagros)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About