Development of the Bronze age landscape in the southeastern Arabian gulf: New evidence from a buried shell midden in the eastern extremity of the Rub' al-Khali desert, Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, U.A.E

Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy

Volumn 18, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 132-138

  Parker, A G ^a   Goudie, Andrew S ^b  

^a OXFORD BROOKES UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Bronze Age; Dunes; OSL dating; Rasal Khaimah; Rub' al Khali; Shell midden

Indexed keywords

BRONZE AGE; DATING METHOD; DUNE; HOLOCENE; LANDSCAPE; PLEISTOCENE; SHELL;

ARABIAN SEA; ASIA; EURASIA; INDIAN OCEAN; MIDDLE EAST; OMAN; OMAN MOUNTAINS; PERSIAN GULF; RAS AL KHAYMAH [UNITED ARAB EMIRATES]; UNITED ARAB EMIRATES;

EID: 36749097399     PISSN: 09057196     EISSN: 16000471     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0471.2007.00278.x     Document Type: Article

References (38)

1. Wilson IG. Ergs. Sedimentary Geology 1973: 10: 77-106;
2. White K, Goudie AS, Parker AG & al-Farraj A. Mapping the geography of the northern Rub'al-Khali using multispectral remote sensing techniques. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 26: 2001: 735-748. The authors wish to thank His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr al-Qassimi for permission to work in Ras al-Khaimah and for his logistical support. Christian Velde and Imke Moellering are thanked for their help and support with this work. A.G. Parker would also like to thank the School of Social Sciences & Law Scholarship Fund, Oxford Brookes University, for funding the OSL ages. The OSL ages were determined by the Oxford Luminescence Laboratory and the support of Dr. Stephen Stokes and Steve Ward are gratefully acknowledged. The NERC (Allocation No. 2005/1/18) are thanked for supporting the AMS radiocarbon date used in this study.
3. Goudie AS, Colls A, Stokes S, Parker AG, White K & Al-Farraj A. Latest Pleistocene dune construction at the north-eastern edge of the Rub al Khali, United Arab Emirates. Sedimentology 47: 2000: 1011-1021.
4. Breed CS, Fryberger SG, Andrews S, McCauley C, Lennartz F, Gebel D & Horstman K. Regional studies of sand seas using Landsat (ERTS) imagery. In: McKee ED, ed. A Study of Global Sand Seas. US Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1052: 1979: 305-397.
5. Besler H. The north-eastern Rub'al-Khali, within the borders of the United Arab Emirates. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie NF 1982: 26: 495-504.
6. Glennie KW. The desert of southeast Arabia: A product of Quaternary climatic change. In: Alshahan AS, Glennie KW, Whittle GL & Kendall GGStC, eds. Quaternary Deserts and Climatic Change. Rotterdam: Balkema, 1998: 279-291.
7. Dalongeville R, Medwecki de V & Sanlaville P. Évolution du piédmont occidental de l'Oman depuis le Pléistocène supérieur. In: Déserts: Passé, présent, futur: Actes du 116e Congrès National des Sociétés Savantes. Paris: Éditions du CTHS, 1992: 93-115;
8. Goudie A, Parker A & Al-Farraj A. Coastal change in Ras al Khaimah (United Arab Emirates): A cartographic analysis. GJ 166: 2000: 14-25.
9. Boucharlat R, Dalongeville R, Hesse A & Millet, M. Occupation humaine et environnement au 5e et au 4e millénaire sur la Côte Sharjah-Umm al Qaiwain (UAE). AAE 2: 1991: 93-100;
10. Uerpmann M & Uerpmann HP. 'Ubaid pottery in the eastern Gulf - new evidence from Umm al-Qaiwain (UAE). AAE 7: 1996: 125-129; Philips C. Prehistoric middens and a cemetery from the Southern Arabia Gulf. In: Cleuziou S, Tosi M & Zarins J, eds. Arabia Antiqua III: Protohistoric Countries of Arabia. Rome: Serie Orientale Roma, 2002: 169-186.
11. Vogt B. In search for coastal sites in prehistoric Makkan: Mid-Holocene shell eaters in the coastal desert of Ras al Khaimah, UAE. In: Kenoyer JM, ed. From Sumer to Meluhha: Contributions to the archaeology of South and West Asia in memory of George F. Dales, Jr. Madison: Wisconsin Archaeological Reports, 3: 1994: 113-128;
12. Uerpmann M. Structuring the Late Stone Age of southeastern Arabia. AAE 3: 1992: 65-109.
13. Vogt, In search for coastal sites in prehistoric Makkan: 113.
14. Uerpmann M. The Dark Millennium-Remarks on the final Stone Age in the Emirates and Oman. In: Potts D, al-Naboodah H & Hellyer P, eds. Proceedings of the first international conference on the archaeology of the U.A.E. London: Trident Press, 2002: 74-81.
15. Vogt, In search for coastal sites in prehistoric Makkan: 115.
16. 14C ages of marine samples back to 10,000 BC. Radiocarbon 35: 1993: 137-189.
17. Southon J, Kashgarian M, Fontugne M, Metivier B & Yim WWS. Marine reservoir corrections for the Indian Ocean and Southeast Arabia. Radiocarbon 44: 2002: 167-180.
18. Murray AS & Wintle AG. The single aliquot regenerative dose protocol: Potential for improvements in reliability. Radiation Measurements 2003: 37: 377-381.
19. Stokes S, Hetzler R, Bailey RM & Tao MX. Combined IRSL-OSL single aliquot regeneration (SAR) equivalent dose (D[e]) estimates from source proximal Chinese loess. Quaternary Science Reviews 2003: 22: 975-983.
20. Dalongeville, Medwecki & Sanlaville, Évolution du piédmont occidental: 93.
21. Goudie et al., Latest Pleistocene dune construction: 1011.
22. White et al., Mapping the geography: 735.
23. Parker AG, Eckersley L, Smith MM, Goudie AS, Stokes S, White K & Hodson MJ. Holocene vegetation dynamics in the northeastern Rub'al-Khali desert, Arabian Peninsula: A pollen, phytolith and carbon isotope study. Journal of Quaternary Science. 19: 2004: 665-676;
24. Parker AG, Goudie AS, Stokes S, White K, Hodson MJ, Manning M & Kennet D. A record of Holocene Climate Change from lake geochemical analyses in southeastern Arabia. Quaternary Research 66: 2006: 465-476.
25. Fleitman D, Burns SJ, Mudelsee M, Neff U, Kramers J, Mangini A & Matter A. Holocene forcing of the Indian monsoon recorded in a stalactite from southern Oman. Science 300: 2003: 737-1739.
26. Neff U, Burns SJ, Mangini A, Mudelsee M, Fleitmann D & Matter A. Strong coherence between solar variability and the monsoon in Oman between 9 and 6 kyr ago. Nature 411: 2001: 290-293.
27. Parker et al., Holocene vegetation dynamics: 669.
28. Vogt, In search for coastal sites in prehistoric Makkan: 120.
29. Uerpmann, The Dark Millennium: 74.
30. Parker et al. A record of Holocene Climate Change: 469.
31. Potts DT. The Arabian Gulf in Antiquity. Volume 1. From Prehistory to the fall of the Achaemenid Empire. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990: 72-92.
32. Uerpmann, The Dark Millennium: 74. Uerpmann
33. Parker et al., A record of Holocene Climate Change: 470;
34. Cullen HM, de Menocal PB, Hemming S, Hemming G, Brown FH, Guilderson T & Sirocko F. Climate change and the collapse of the Akkadian Empire: Evidence from the deep-sea. Geology 28: 2000: 379-382;
35. Staubwasser M, Sirocko F, Grootes PM & Segl M. Climate change at the 4.2 ka BP termination of the Indus valley civilisation and Holocene south Asian monsoon variability. Geophysical Research Letters 30: 2003: 1425, doi: 1029/2002GLO016822.
36. Parker et al., A record of Holocene Climate Change: 472.
37. Carter R. The Wadi Suq Period in Southeast Arabia: A reappraisal in the light of excavations at Kalba. U.A.E. PSAS 1997: 27: 87-98.
38. Potts DT. Before the Emirates: An archaeological and historical account of developments in the region c.5000 BC to 676 AD. In: Al Abed I & Hellyer P, eds. United Arab Emirates: A new perspective. London: Trident Press, 2001: 28-70.