Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating and spatial analysis of geometric lines in the Northern Arabian Desert

Athanassas, Constantin; Rollefson, Gary O.; Kadereit, Annette; Kennedy, David; Theodorakopoulou, Katerina; Rowan, Yorke M.; Wasse, and Alexander

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2015.09.005

Cited by 24 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Likewise, it would be valuable to investigate the sole example of a kite overlying a gate to obtain possible artefacts associated with the former. There is now the possibility of applying the scientific technique of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating to sediments beneath these structures and to the hidden surface of the structures themselves (Athanassas et al., ).…”

Section: The Futurementioning

confidence: 99%

‘Gates’: a new archaeological site type in Saudi Arabia

Kennedy

2017

Arab Archaeol Epigr

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The availability of high-resolution satellite imagery of Saudi Arabia on publicly available platforms such as Google Earth and Bing Maps has been transformational for archaeology. Within just a few years tens of thousands of sites previously unrecorded and scarcely known to the academic world have been mapped.Especially rich in sites are the successive lava fields (harret) stretching from southern Syria through Jordan and down the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula to Yemen, and characterised by the stone-built structures known to the Bedouin as the 'works of the old men'. Sites now being revealed include many types familiar from previous research in the wider region but also others of a form previously unknown. 'Gates' are one such type, found in large numbers in and around the Harret Khaybar in west-central Saudi Arabia. They are stone-built, the walls roughly made and low as with other 'works', but quite unlike them in form. Identification, mapping, and preliminary interpretation imply an early date in the sequence of the works-perhaps the very earliest-but no obvious explanation of their purpose can be discerned. Fieldwork is a desideratum. K E Y W O R D SArabia, gates, Harret Khaybar, kites, prehistory, remote sensing, works of the old men

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Section: The Futurementioning

confidence: 99%

‘Gates’: a new archaeological site type in Saudi Arabia

Kennedy

2017

Arab Archaeol Epigr

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“…While relatively scarce in the Mediterranean zone of the southern Levant, fan scrapers were abundant in pastoral nomad sites of north and south Jordan, the Negev and Sinai (Rosen 1983;McCartney 1992;McCartney & Betts 1998;Beit Arieh et al 2003;Fujii 2006;Abe 2008;Akkermans et al 2014;Rollefson et al 2014) and have been associated with the management of large herds beginning probably as early as the PN (McCartney & Betts 1998;Akkermans et al 2014;Rollefson et al 2014;Athanassas et al 2015;Rowan et al 2015). The term 'pastoralist' holds many levels of meaning, and while the essence of this term relates to the 'foundation of the management of domesticated animals' (Rollefson et al 2014 and references therein), the origins of such pastoral societies and the question of their socioeconomic independence is of major importance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A techno-typological analysis of fan (tabular) scrapers from Ein Zippori, Israel

Zutovski

Yerkes

Agam

et al. 2016

JLS

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Abstract:Fan (or tabular) scrapers are a diagnostic tool type in Chalcolithic Ghassulian and Early Bronze Age lithic assemblages from the southern Levant. To date, only small numbers of fan scrapers have been reported from the Late Pottery Neolithic Wadi Rabah culture. In this paper we present a technotypological analysis of a fair sample of fan scrapers and fan scrapers spalls from Wadi Rabah and Early Bronze Age layers at Ein Zippori, Lower Galilee, Israel. Techno-typological similarities and differences of Wadi Rabah, Chalcolithic Ghassulian and Early Bronze Age fan scrapers from Ein Zippori and other sites in the region are presented, trends of change along time are noted, and an updated definition is proposed. Our results indicate that fan scrapers are highly efficient tools for accurate and prolonged animal butchering and hide working. The main advantage of fan scrapers is their mostly flat, thin morphology and large size that permits the creation of several relatively long working edges, various retouched angles (from sharp to abrupt), extensive resharpening, and a comfortable grasp. While fan scrapers were products of a local trajectory in Late Pottery Neolithic Wadi Rabah lithic industries at Ein Zippori, a standardized, off-site manufacturing of fan scrapers is evident during the Early Bronze Age.

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“…(), and Athanassas et al. (). In some cases, incomplete bleaching of the sediments was shown to be an issue.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the potential of OSL to determine the age of stone structures by dating sediments associated with the ancient buildings, this approach has been used quite rarely in the wider study area. Examples of the use of luminescence dating on sediments in an archaeological context in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Arabian Peninsula are provided by Holzer et al (2010), Klasen et al (2011), Seeliger et al (2014), Kraushaar et al (2015), and Athanassas et al (2015). In some cases, incomplete bleaching of the sediments was shown to be an issue.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

OSL Age Determination of Archaeological Stone Structures Using Trapped Aeolian Sediments: A Case Study from the Negev Highlands, Israel

et al. 2016

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Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating is widely applied to sediments in paleoenvironmental sciences. However, there are only limited examples determining the age of archaeological stone structures by OSL using dust deposits. The age of dust deposits associated with ancient buildings may be used to date the onset of settlement (sediment below structures), settlement activity (occupation layer), or the time after a settlement had been abandoned or destroyed (sediment between collapsed roofs and walls). In this study, OSL dating is applied to establish numerical dates for settlement structures situated in the Negev Highlands, Israel. Two archaeological sites are investigated to identify their occupation history, by dating nine samples of aeolian dust trapped within the remains of ancient buildings. The OSL dating technique is applied using coarse grain quartz and a standard single‐aliquot regenerative‐dose (SAR) protocol. It was possible to date the onset of sedimentation in a later phase of the human occupation or shortly after the sites were abandoned, to 3.7 ± 0.3 ka (Intermediate Bronze Age) at the central site and to 2.7 ± 0.2 ka (Iron Age) at the ephemeral site. These results are supported by archaeological evidence gained from pottery finds and the architecture of the ancient buildings.

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Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating and spatial analysis of geometric lines in the Northern Arabian Desert

Cited by 24 publications

References 37 publications

‘Gates’: a new archaeological site type in Saudi Arabia

‘Gates’: a new archaeological site type in Saudi Arabia

A techno-typological analysis of fan (tabular) scrapers from Ein Zippori, Israel

OSL Age Determination of Archaeological Stone Structures Using Trapped Aeolian Sediments: A Case Study from the Negev Highlands, Israel

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