Prehistory and palaeoenvironments of the western Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia

Archaeological Research in Asia

Volumn 10, Issue , 2017, Pages 1-16

  Breeze, Paul S ^a   Groucutt, Huw S ^b   Drake, Nick A ^a   Louys, Julien ^c   Scerri, Eleanor M L ^b   Armitage, Simon J ^d   Zalmout, Iyad S A ^e   Memesh, Abdullah M ^e   Haptari, Mohammed A ^e   Soubhi, Saleh A ^e   Matari, Adel H ^e   Zahir, Muhammad ^f   Al Omari, Abdulaziz ^g   Alsharekh, Abdullah M ^h   Petraglia, Michael D ⁱ  

^a KING'S COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

^c AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^d UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

^e SAUDI GEOLOGICAL SURVEY   (Saudi Arabia)

^f HAZARA UNIVERSITY   (Pakistan)

^g Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage   (Saudi Arabia)

^h KING SAUD UNIVERSITY   (Saudi Arabia)

ⁱ The Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History ^*  (Germany)

Author keywords

Nefud Desert; Palaeoenvironments; Palaeolakes; Palaeontology; Prehistory; Saudi Arabia

Indexed keywords

EID: 85015704458     PISSN: None     EISSN: 23522267     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.ara.2017.02.002     Document Type: Article

References (43)

1. Ames, C.J.H., Cordova, C.E., Middle and Late Pleistocene landscape evolution at the Druze Marsh Site in Northeast Jordan: implications for population continuity and hominin dispersal. Geoarchaeology 30 (2015), 307–329.
2. Anton, D., Aspects of geomorphological evolution; palaeosols and dunes in Saudi Arabia. Jado, A., Zötl, J., (eds.) Quaternary Period in Saudi Arabia Sedimentological, Hydrogeological, Hydrochemical, Geomorphological, and Climatological Investigations in Western Saudi Arabia, vol. 2, 1984, Springer-Verlag, Wien-New York, 275–296.
3. Armitage, S.J., Jasim, S.A., Marks, A.E., Parker, A.G., Usik, V.I., Uerpmann, H.-P., The Southern route “out of Africa”: evidence for an early expansion of modern humans into Arabia. Science 331 (2011), 453–456.
4. Breeze, P.S., Drake, N.A., Groucutt, H.S., Parton, A., Jennings, R.P., White, T.S., Clark-balzan, L., Shipton, C., Scerri, E.M.L., Stimpson, C.M., Al-Omari, A., Petraglia, M.D., Remote sensing and GIS techniques for reconstructing Arabian palaeohydrology and identifying archaeological sites. Quat. Int. 382 (2015), 98–119.
5. Breeze, P.S., Groucutt, H.S., Drake, N.A., White, T.S., Jennings, R.P., Petraglia, M.D., Palaeohydrological corridors for hominin dispersals in the Middle East ∼ 250–70,000 years ago. Quat. Sci. Rev. 144 (2016), 155–185.
6. Cordova, C.E., Nowell, A., Bisson, M., Ames, C.J.H., Pokines, J., Chang, M., Al-Nahar, M., Interglacial and Glacial Desert Refugia and the Middle Paleolithic of the Azraq Oasis, Jordan. Quat. Int. 300 (2013), 94–110.
7. Crassard, R., Petraglia, M.D., Parker, A.G., Parton, A., Roberts, R.G., Jacobs, Z., Alsharekh, A., Al-Omari, A., Breeze, P., Drake, N.A., Groucutt, H.S., Jennings, R., Régagnon, E., Shipton, C., Beyond the Levant: first evidence of a pre-pottery Neolithic incursion into the Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia. PLoS One, 8, 2013, e68061.
8. Drake, N.A., Breeze, P., Parker, A.G., Palaeoclimate in the Saharan and Arabian deserts during the Middle Palaeolithic and the potential for hominin dispersals. Quat. Int. 300 (2013), 48–61.
9. Edgell, H.S., Arabian Deserts; Nature, Origin and Evolution. 2006, Springer, Dordrecht.
10. Engel, M., Brückner, H., Pint, A., Wellbrock, K., Ginau, A., Voss, P., Grottker, M., Klasen, N., Frenzel, P., The early Holocene humid period in NW Saudi Arabia-sediments, microfossils and palaeo-hydrological modelling. Quat. Int. 266 (2011), 131–141.
11. Garrard, A.N., Harvey, C.P.D., Switsur, V.R., Environment and settlement during the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene at Jubba in the Great Nefud, Northern Arabia. 1981, 137–148 (Atlal 5).
12. Garzanti, E., Vermeesch, P., Andò, S., Vezzoli, G., Valagussa, M., Allen, K., Kadi, K.A., Al-Juboury, A.I.A., Provenance and recycling of Arabian desert sand. Earth Sci. Rev. 120 (2013), 1–19.
13. Groucutt, H.S., Petraglia, M.D., The prehistory of the Arabian peninsula: deserts, dispersals, and demography. Evol. Anthropol. 21 (2012), 113–125.
14. Groucutt, H.S., Shipton, C., Alsharekh, A., Jennings, R., Scerri, E.M.L., Petraglia, M.D., Late Pleistocene lakeshore settlement in northern Arabia: Middle Palaeolithic technology from Jebel Katefeh, Jubbah. Quat. Int. 382 (2015), 215–236.
15. Groucutt, H.S., White, T.S., Clark-Balzan, L., Parton, A., Crassard, R., Shipton, C., Jennings, R.P., Parker, A.G., Breeze, P.S., Scerri, E.M.L., Alsharekh, A., Petraglia, M.D., Human occupation of the Arabian empty quarter during MIS 5: evidence from Mundafan Al-Buhayrah, Saudi Arabia. Quat. Sci. Rev. 119 (2015), 116–135.
16. Groucutt, H.S., Breeze, P., Drake, N.A., Jennings, R., Parton, A., White, T., Shipton, C., Clark-Balzan, L., Al-Omari, A., Cuthbertson, P., Wedage, O.M.C., Bernal, M.A., Alsharekh, A., Petraglia, M.D., The Middle Palaeolithic of the Nejd, Saudi Arabia. J. Field Archaeol. 4690 (2016), 1–17.
17. Guagnin, M., Jennings, R., Eager, H., Parton, A., Stimpson, C., Stepanek, C., Pfeiffer, M., Groucutt, H.S., Drake, N.A., Alsharekh, A., Petraglia, M.D., Rock Art Imagery as a Proxy for Holocene Environmental Change: A View from Shuwaymis. 2016, NW Saudi Arabia, The Holocene.
18. Hilbert, Y.H., White, T.S., Parton, A., Clark-Balzan, L., Crassard, R., Groucutt, H.S., Jennings, R.P., Breeze, P., Parker, A., Shipton, C., Al-Omari, A., Alsharekh, A.M., Petraglia, M.D., Epipalaeolithic occupation and palaeoenvironments of the southern Nefud desert, Saudi Arabia, during the terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene. J. Archaeol. Sci. 50 (2014), 460–474.
19. Hötzl, H., Kramer, F., Maurin, V., Quaternary sediments. Al-Sayari, S.S., Zötl, J.G., (eds.) Quaternary Period in Saudi Arabia Sedimentological, Hydrogeological, Hydrochemical, Geomorphological, and Climatological Investigations in Central and Eastern Saudi Arabia, vol. 1, 1978, Springer-Verlag, Wien-New York, 264–301.
20. Janjou, D., Halawani, M., Roobol, M.J., Memesh, A.M., Razin, P., Shorbaji, H., Roger, J., Explanatory Notes to the Geological Map of the Jibal Al Misma Quadrangle, Sheet 27 D. 1998, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Jiddah.
21. Jennings, R.P., Shipton, C., Al-Omari, A., Alsharekh, A.M., Crassard, R., Groucutt, H.S., Petraglia, M.D., Rock art landscapes beside the Jubbah palaeolake, Saudi Arabia. Antiquity 87 (2013), 666–683.
22. Jennings, R., Parton, A., Groucutt, H.S., Clark-Balzan, L., Breeze, P., Drake, N.A., Alsharekh, A., Petraglia, M.D., High-resolution geospatial surveying techniques provide new insights into rock-art landscapes at Shuwaymis, Saudi Arabia. Arab. Archaeol. Epigr. 25 (2014), 1–21.
23. Jennings, R.P., Singarayer, J., Stone, E.J., Krebs-Kanzow, U., Khon, V., Nisancioglu, K.H., Pfeiffer, M., Zhang, X., Parker, A., Parton, A., Groucutt, H.S., White, T.S., Drake, N.A., Petraglia, M.D., The greening of Arabia: multiple opportunities for human occupation of the Arabian Peninsula during the Late Pleistocene inferred from an ensemble of climate model simulations. Quat. Int. 382 (2015), 181–199.
24. Jennings, R.P., Parton, A., Clark-balzan, L., White, T.S., Groucutt, H.S., Breeze, P.S., Parker, A.G., Drake, N.A., Petraglia, M.D., Human occupation of the northern Arabian interior during early Marine Isotope Stage 3. J. Quat. Sci. 31 (2016), 953–966.
25. Ji, L., Zhang, L., Wylie, B., Analysis of Dynamic Thresholds for the Normalized Difference Water Index. Photogramm. Eng. Remote Sens. 75 (2009), 1307–1317.
26. Magee, P., The archaeology of prehistoric arabia; adaptation and social formation from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. 2014, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
27. Parker, A.G., Pleistocene climate change in Arabia: developing a framework for hominin dispersal over the last 350 ka. Petraglia, M.D., Rose, J.I., (eds.) The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia: Palaeoenvironments, 2009, Prehistory and Genetics. Springer, New York, 39–49.
28. Parton, A., White, T.S., Parker, A.G., Breeze, P.S., Jennings, R., Groucutt, H.S., Petraglia, M.D., Orbital-scale climate variability in Arabia as a potential motor for human dispersals. Quat. Int. 282 (2015), 82–97.
29. Petraglia, M.D., Alsharekh, A.M., Crassard, R., Drake, N.A., Groucutt, H.S., Parker, A.G., Roberts, R.G., Middle Paleolithic occupation on a marine isotope stage 5 lakeshore in the Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia. Quat. Sci. Rev. 30 (2011), 1555–1559.
30. Petraglia, M.D., Alsharekh, A.M., Breeze, P., Clarkson, C., Crassard, R., Drake, N.A., Groucutt, H.S., Jennings, R., Parker, A.G., Parton, A., Roberts, R.G., Shipton, C., Matheson, C., Al-Omari, A., Veall, M.-A., Hominin dispersal into the Nefud Desert and Middle Palaeolithic settlement along the Jubbah Palaeolake, Northern Arabia. PLoS One, 7, 2012, e49840.
31. Petraglia, M.D., Parton, A., Groucutt, H.S., Alsharekh, A., Green Arabia: human prehistory at the crossroads of continents. Quat. Int. 382 (2015), 1–7.
32. Pollastro, R.M., Karshbaum, A.S., Viger, R.J., Map showing geology, oil and gas fields and geologic provinces of the Arabian Peninsula. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report OFR-97-470-B, 1999, U.S. Geol. Surv., Central Energy Resources Team, Denver, Colorado.
33. Roach, N.T., Hatala, K.G., Ostrofsky, K.R., Villmoare, B., Reeves, J.S., Du, A., Braun, D.R., Harris, J.W.K., Behrensmeyer, A.K., Richmond, B.G., Pleistocene footprints show intensive use of lake margin habitats by Homo erectus groups. Sci. Rep., 6, 2016, 26374.
34. Rosenberg, T.M., Preusser, F., Risberg, J., Plikk, A., Kadi, K.a., Matter, A., Fleitmann, D., Middle and Late Pleistocene humid periods recorded in palaeolake deposits of the Nafud desert, Saudi Arabia. Quat. Sci. Rev. 70 (2013), 109–123.
35. Scerri, E.M.L., Breeze, P.S., Parton, A., Groucutt, H.S., White, T.S., Stimpson, C., Clark-balzan, L., Jennings, R., Alsharekh, A., Petraglia, M.D., Middle to Late Pleistocene human habitation in the western Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia. Quat. Int. 382 (2015), 200–214.
36. Schulz, E., Whitney, J.W., Vegetation on the Northern Arabian Shield and Adjacent Sand Seas. 1985, US Dept. of the Interior, Geological Survey.
37. Schulz, E., Whitney, J.W., Upper Pleistocene and Holocene lakes in the An Nafud, Saudi Arabia. Hydrobiologia 143 (1986), 175–190.
38. Shipton, C., Parton, A., Breeze, P., Jennings, R., Groucutt, H.S., White, T.S., Drake, N.A., Crassard, R., Alsharekh, A., Petraglia, M.D., Large Flake Acheulean in the Nefud Desert of nNorthern Arabia. PaleoAnthropology, 2014, 446–462.
39. Stimpson, C.M., Breeze, P.S., Clark-Balzan, L., Groucutt, H.S., Jennings, R., Parton, A., Scerri, E., White, T.S., Petraglia, M.D., Stratified Pleistocene vertebrates with a new record of a jaguar-sized pantherine (Panthera cf. gombaszogensis) from northern Saudi Arabia. Quat. Int. 382 (2015), 168–180.
40. Stimpson, C.M., Lister, A., Parton, A., Clark-Balzan, L., Breeze, P.S., Drake, N.A., Groucutt, H.S., Jennings, R., Scerri, E.M.L., White, T.S., Zahir, M., Duval, M., Grün, R., Al-Omari, A., Al Murayyi, K.S.M., Zalmout, I.S., Mufarreh, Y.A., Memesh, A.M., Petraglia, M.D., Middle Pleistocene vertebrate fossils from the Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia: implications for biogeography and palaeoecology. Quat. Sci. Rev. 143 (2016), 13–36.
41. Thomas, H., Geraads, D., Vaslet, D., Memesh, A., Billiou, D., Bocherens, H., Dobigny, G., Eisenmann, V., Gayet, M., de Lapparent de Broin, F., Petter, G., Halawani, M., First Pleistocene faunas from the Arabian peninsula: an Nafud desert, Saudi Arabia. C. R. Acad. Sci. 326 (1998), 145–152.
42. Vaslet, D., Janjou, D., Robelin, C., Al-Muallem, M.S., Halawani, M., Brosse, J.-M., Breton, J.-P., Courbouleix, S., Roobol, M.J., Dagain, J., Explanatory Notes to the Geological Map of the Tayma Quadrangle, Sheet 27 C. 1994, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Jiddah.
43. Whitney, J., Faulkender, D., Rubin, M., The environmental history and present condition of the northern sand seas of Saudi Arabia. United States Geological Survey Open-File report 03-95, 1983.