Survey and Excavation of Stone Age Sites in Jordan's Wadi al-Hasa: 1979–2012

Clark, Geoffrey A.; Coinman, Nancy R.; Hill, J. Brett; Neeley, Michael P.; Olszewski, Deborah I.; Peterson, Jane; Schuldenrein, Joseph

doi:10.1017/9781316106754.037

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The sequence of Upper Palaeolithic occupations and Quaternary valley sediments at Wadi Sabra ( Fig 9A ) [ 21 – 23 , 30 ] compares to the Wadi Al-Hasa record, about 100 km to the North. Long-term archaeological surveys in the Wadi Al-Hasa have also produced a number of Upper Palaeolithic sites [ 60 ], including Early Ahmarian occurrences (e.g. the Tor Sadaf site; cf.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Al-Ansab and the Dead Sea: Mid-MIS 3 archaeology and environment of the early Ahmarian population of the Levantine corridor

et al. 2020

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Our field data from the Upper Palaeolithic site of Al-Ansab 1 (Jordan) and from a pollen sequence in the Dead Sea elucidate the role that changing Steppe landscapes played in facilitating anatomically modern human populations to enter a major expansion and consolidation phase, known as the "Early Ahmarian", several millennia subsequent to their initial Marine Isotope Stage 4/3 migration from Africa, into the Middle East. The Early Ahmarian techno-cultural unit covers a time range between 45 ka-37 ka BP. With so far more than 50 sites found, the Early Ahmarian is the first fully Upper Palaeolithic techno-cultural unit exclusively and undisputedly related to anatomically modern human populations. In order to better understand the potentially attractive features of the Early Ahmarian environmental context that supported its persistence for over 8,000 years, we carried out a decennial research program in Jordan and in the Dead Sea. This included (1) a geoscientific and archaeological survey program in the Wadi Sabra (Jordan) with a particular focus on excavations at the Early Ahmarian site of Al-Ansab 1 alongside the detailed analysis of Quaternary sediments from the same area and (2) palaeobotanical research based on Quaternary lake deposits from the Dead Sea. Our pollen data from the Dead Sea indicate slow, low frequency vegetational variation with expanding Artemisia steppe, from 60 to 20 ka BP (MIS 3-2). Here, we see a reciprocal assimilation of southern and northern Levantine vegetation zones thereby enhancing a long-lasting south-to-north steppe corridor. The same integration process accelerated about 40 ka ago, when forested areas retreated in the Lebanese Mountains. The process then extended to encompass an area from Southern Lebanon to

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Al-Ansab and the Dead Sea: Mid-MIS 3 archaeology and environment of the early Ahmarian population of the Levantine corridor

et al. 2020

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“…Among these could be the exploitation of lithic or other organic raw materials and cultural constraints. For many sites of the Early Ahmarian, a tethering to locations of water availability could be observed in strongly varying environmental contexts (Clark et al, 2017;Lieberman, 1995;Phillips, 1988Phillips, , 1991Schuldenrein & Clark, 2001). This indicates the importance of ecological variables to the placement of sites in the Early Ahmarian context.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…The study analyses a dataset of 40 Early Ahmarian sites covering the Sinai Peninsula (Gilead, 1983(Gilead, , 1984Phillips, 1988Phillips, , 1991, the Negev desert (Bar-Yosef & Belfer, 1977;Gilead & Bar-Yosef, 1993;Goring-Morris, 1995;Goring-Morris & Belfer-Cohen, 2018;Goring-Morris & Davidzon, 2006), the Dead Sea Transform, Transjordan (Clark et al, 2017;Coinman & Henry, 1995;Kerry & Henry, 2003;Richter et al, 2020;Schuldenrein & Clark, 2001), Israel (Bar-Yosef & Belfer-Cohen, 2004Belfer-Cohen & Goring-Morris, 2003Caracuta et al, 2020;Yeshurun et al, 2019;Ziffer, 1978), Lebanon (Bergman, 1988;Bergman et al, 2017;Douka et al, 2013), Syria (Pastoors et al, 2008;Ploux & Soriano, 2003) and Turkey (Kuhn, 2004;Kuhn et al, 2009). It was compiled in the context of the CRC 806 and the GEOPAL project at the University of Cologne.…”

Section: Geospatial Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Gazelle Hunting Strategies in the Early Ahmarian: Close-Range Visuospatial Characteristics of Site Locations Indicate Spatially Focused Hunting Strategies on Gazella sp. During the Early Ahmarian

Sauer

Schoenenberg

2021

J Paleo Arch

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Visual conditions around Palaeolithic sites determine how the landscape was perceived by prehistoric hunter-gatherers. By placing the site in different landscapes, different visual foci were encoded in the locational characteristics of the different places. For the Early Ahmarian sites in the Levant, it can be shown that visual characteristics differ significantly with the combination of large ungulate prey exploited at the respective location. A Higuchi viewshed approach was combined with total viewsheds of the study area to introduce a human scale into the viewshed modelling. While diverse prey locations in the Mediterranean biome provide an overview over the landscape, specialised prey locations in the steppe biomes of the Irano-Turanian and Saharo-Arabian biome have their focus on the immediate vicinity of the sites. This correlates with the placement of sites in the context of highly humid environments which can be best exemplified with the site of Al-Ansab 1 in the escarpments of the Jordanian Rift Valley. Here, the environmental conditions acted as a magnet, focusing gazelles on the migration between different environments.

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“…The Middle Palaeolithic period marked the occurrence still of Bos primigenius, the bone remains of which were found in the area of Wadi Hassa (Clark et al, 1988).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This most strategic geographical position is said to engender environmental diversity and certainly offers a very favourable situation from which to investigate changes associated with environmental and anthropological factors (Disi, 1987). Moreover, the modern geographical and environmental characteristics of this area result in an ideal setting for collecting information on prehistoric evidence concerning the faunal elements of the region (Clark et al, 1988;Garrard et al, 1988;Kohler-Rollefsonera/., 1988).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

History, Distribution, and Conservation, of Large Mammals and Their Habitats in Jordan

Hatough-Bouran¹,

Disi

1991

Envir. Conserv.

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Jordan lies at a meeting-point of three zoogeographical areas: the Palaearctic, the Afrotropical, and the Oriental—circumstances which were conducive to habitat diversity in Jordan and hence the diversity and often abundant occurrence of different floral and faunal elements.The present paper gives information about the history and past occurrence of large mammalian species and their populations in Jordan, while also focusing on the present status of the large mammalian species, and gives the reasons for extinctions and the preventive measures that are being taken to conserve the populations remaining. In addition, this study gives a future prospective outlook for habitat and mammalian conservation, and the reintroduction programme that is being implemented in Jordan.The first part of the paper sheds light on the past existence of large mammals in Jordan. The historical sequence of events starting from the Upper Palaeolithic and continuing right up to the present, and the succession of civilizations, had a negative impact on the large mammalian populations. This section gives tabulated data on the past occurrence of 26 species, supported by evidence of their past existence such as bone remains, rock drawings, engravings, mosaics, and frescos, found in various archaeological sites in Jordan.The second part of the paper deals with the present status of large mammalian populations, their distribution being reflected through maps indicating recent sightings in some outstanding cases. Among those are reintroduced species such as the Arabian Oryx and the Syrian Wild Ass, and highly threatened species such as the Nubian Ibex. This part also investigates the reasons for extinction, which mainly link the destruction of habitats with the direct deterioration of mammalian populations. Habitat destruction was chiefly due to the rapid decline of the natural pasture areas, overgrazing, urban expansions, unorganized construction plans, human impact, mismanagement of the highlands, fire, and hunting. All of these factors led to deforestation and soil erosion, resulting in a patchy, fragile ecocomplex. The decrease of rainfall assisted the severe deterioration of natural forests.The future outlook of this study includes plans to restore ecosystems and, with them, much of the overall ecocomplex. For this and other reasons it also stresses the urgent need to establish more reserves, both grazing and natural. This concluding part of the paper encourages the improvement of national parks, and urges the authorities to look seriously at the often disastrous effects of mismanagement. The importance of collaboration between Jordan and the various international agencies is emphasized, as well as the need to speed up work on the National Conservation Strategy of Jordan.

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Survey and Excavation of Stone Age Sites in Jordan's Wadi al-Hasa: 1979–2012

Cited by 7 publications

References 29 publications

Al-Ansab and the Dead Sea: Mid-MIS 3 archaeology and environment of the early Ahmarian population of the Levantine corridor

Al-Ansab and the Dead Sea: Mid-MIS 3 archaeology and environment of the early Ahmarian population of the Levantine corridor

Gazelle Hunting Strategies in the Early Ahmarian: Close-Range Visuospatial Characteristics of Site Locations Indicate Spatially Focused Hunting Strategies on Gazella sp. During the Early Ahmarian

History, Distribution, and Conservation, of Large Mammals and Their Habitats in Jordan

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