The palaeoenvironmental potential of the eastern Jordanian desert basins (Qe'an)

Jones, Matthew D.; Richter, Tobias; Rollefson, Gary O.; Rowan, Yorke M.; Roe, Joe; Toms, Phillip; Wood, Jamie C.; Wasse, Alexander; Ikram, Haroon; Williams, Matthew; Al-Shdaifat, Ahmad; Pedersen, Patrick; Esaid, Wesam

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.06.023

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 42 publications

(36 reference statements)

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“…The C 4 signal can be modulated by ingestion of soil carbonate. To explore this we analysed qa’ sediments ~8.0 ka in age (from Jones et al, 2021) from both Wisad Pools and Wadi al-Qattafi. These sediments have δ 13 C between -1.0 and 0.3‰ (Table 1) suggesting a bedrock or blown dust carbonate source which would have trivial impact on the plant source signal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The aquatic snails found in W-80 were presumably transported in on plants growing in nearby pools and their δ 18 O values indicate relatively unevaporated freshwater. Thus, between 7.6 and 8.6 ka, Wisad Pools may have looked rather similar to Azraq today with the general landscape being arid, while the pools themselves supported lush, marshy, Mediterranean type vegetation (pollen dated by OSL to 7.9 ± 0.7 ka; Jones et al, 2021;Rowan et al, 2017) that included C 3 deciduous species such as Quercus, Prunus, Tamarix sp. and Salix sp.…”

Section: Local Archaeological and Environmental Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Soils in the eastern badia are either absent or very poorly developed (Allison et al, 2000) except in the topographic lows of wadis or in qi’an . At Qa’ al-Qattafi and ‘small’ Qa’ al-Wisad (immediately below the pools), the sediments are between 1.0 and 3.0 m thick (Jones et al, 2021) with underlying bedrock variously basalt (‘small’ Qa’ al-Wisad) or limestone (Qa’ al-Qattafi). At 60 cm depth OSL ages show the qa’ sediments as being <7.9 ka and at these depths CaCO 3 content is between 10% and 15% (Jones et al, 2021).…”

Section: Local Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At Qa' al-Qattafi and 'small' Qa' al-Wisad (immediately below the pools), the sediments are between 1.0 and 3.0 m thick (Jones et al, 2021) with underlying bedrock variously basalt ('small' Qa' al-Wisad) or limestone (Qa' al-Qattafi). At 60 cm depth OSL ages show the qa' sediments as being <7.9 ka and at these depths CaCO 3 content is between 10% and 15% (Jones et al, 2021). This carbonate is probably derived from bedrock (Qa' al-Qattafi) or windblown dust, although Allison et al (2000) describe gypsitic and calcitic deposits in some areas which they regard as 'secondary', that is, calcrete.…”

Section: Local Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Local-scale environmental gradients in ‘snail-shell’ stable isotopes from Holocene Jordanian archaeological sites

et al. 2022

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Reconstructing environments around archaeological sites is complicated by past land management practices and regional-scale climate proxies that can be contradictory and are often located at a distance from the sites themselves. Here we explore environmental information from fossil snail shells which, even when few in number on an archaeological site, may prove invaluable in constructing site-specific data. The palaeoecology of fossil snails and the stable isotopic composition of their shell carbonate can provide context-specific information on vegetation, water availability, and relative humidity during the occupation of a site. We studied terrestrial and aquatic snails from two later Neolithic archaeological sites in the Jordanian badia, Wadi al-Qattafi and Wisad Pools. At specific archaeological site-scale our study highlights the importance of aquatic snails in the reconstruction of semi-arid environments. At Wisad pools rare aquatic snails in contexts dating between ~8.0 and ~7.6 ka demonstrate episodes of wetness; moreover, their shell isotopic compositions indicate that local watercourses were well established, corroborating previous findings that during this period the immediate environs of Wisad Pools were host to C3 plant species more typical of the Mediterranean zone. Moreover, the δ18O signal in these snail shells allow tentative reconstruction of rainwater isotopic compositions and identify the effects of evaporation. Such fine-grained environmental information is much less evident from the terrestrial snail-shell data alone, showing that an ensemble of snail-shell data can be highly sensitive to environmental differentials across an archaeological site. Finally, at a regional palaeoclimate-scale our Wisad Pools snail-shell stable isotope data are consistent with a sustained, Rapid Climate Change (RCC)-driven wetness between 8.6 and 7.6 ka concurrent with cold and wet conditions in the wider Levant.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Local Archaeological and Environmental Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Local Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Local Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Local-scale environmental gradients in ‘snail-shell’ stable isotopes from Holocene Jordanian archaeological sites

et al. 2022

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“…This drainage continues to the south approximately 10 km before emptying into a plain about 40 km southeast of Azraq. Directly to the north of the qa', only a few isolated hunting or pastoral camps and burin sites are known [29].…”

Section: Brief Intro To Neolithic Badiamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Black Desert Drone Survey: New Perspectives on an Ancient Landscape

Hill

Rowan

2022

Remote Sensing

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This paper presents the results of a large scale, drone-based aerial survey in northeastern Jordan. Drones have rapidly become one of the most cost-effective and efficient tools for collecting high-resolution landscape data, fitting between larger-scale, lower-resolution satellite data collection and the significantly more limited traditional terrestrial survey approaches. Drones are particularly effective in areas where anthropogenic features are visible on the surface but are too small to identify with commonly and economically available satellite data. Using imagery from fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, along with photogrammetric processing, we surveyed an extensive archaeological landscape spanning 32 km2 at the site of Wadi al-Qattafi in the eastern badia region of Jordan, the largest archaeological drone survey, to date, in Jordan. The resulting data allowed us to map a wide range of anthropogenic features, including hunting traps, domestic structures, and tombs, as well as modern alterations to the landscape including road construction and looting pits. We documented thousands of previously unrecorded and largely unknown prehistoric structures, providing an improved understanding of major shifts in the prehistoric use of this landscape.

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The Neolithic of the Jordanian Badia

Finlayson

Flohr

2023

Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology

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The palaeoenvironmental potential of the eastern Jordanian desert basins (Qe'an)

Cited by 8 publications

References 42 publications

Local-scale environmental gradients in ‘snail-shell’ stable isotopes from Holocene Jordanian archaeological sites

Local-scale environmental gradients in ‘snail-shell’ stable isotopes from Holocene Jordanian archaeological sites

The Black Desert Drone Survey: New Perspectives on an Ancient Landscape

The Neolithic of the Jordanian Badia

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