Archaeological and Palaeoenvironmental Investigation of Upper Pleistocene human occupation in the Dhofar Mountains, southern Arabia

阿拉伯南部佐法尔山脉上更新世人类居住的考古和古环境调查

• 批准号: AH/G012733/1
• 负责人: Jeffrey Rose
• 金额: $ 16.09万
• 依托单位: Oxford Brookes University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2009 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FG012733%2F1
• 关键词: Archaeological; Palaeoenvironmental; Investigation; Upper; Pleistocene

Arabia is situated at the nexus of three continents, connecting Africa, Asia, and Europe. Given this geographic position, the territory of southern Arabia may have served as an important pathway linking hominins throughout the Pleistocene. Indeed, many of our species' most diverse and ancient mitochondrial (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome (yDNA) genetic lineages cluster around the Arabian Peninsula, confirming that the subcontinent played a critical role in the evolution and expansion of modern humans. Some scholars have even documented traces of a human expansion back into Africa, suggesting that this pathway was a bidirectional conduit of population movement.It is not surprising that the peninsula facilitated periodic population expansions. The drastically oscillating Upper Pleistocene palaeoclimate occasionally transformed Arabia's hyperarid desert interior into savannah grasslands incised by perennial rivers and playa lakes. The landscape was also dramatically altered by depressed sea levels that exposed the continental shelf along the Red Sea and within the Arabo-Persian Gulf basin, together exposing over one million square kilometres of land. In addition, reduced sea levels triggered increased freshwater upwelling across these emerged landscapes, creating stable refugia for Arabia's prehistoric inhabitants. Given this cyclical process of amelioration and desiccation, it is posited that Arabia served as a demographic pump by drawing in hunter-gatherers during favourable phases; conversely, causing them to contract back into geographically conscripted refugia at the onset of aridification. Challenging climatic conditions created a negative-feedback-loop, as environmental desiccation reduced landscape carrying capacity and exerted pressure on Arabian foragers.This research project will investigate one such environmental refugium: the Dhofar Mountains in southern Oman. Even under the present arid climatic regime, the annual monsoon rains deposit up to 400 mm of rainfall during the summer months. Therefore, Dhofar is posited to have served as an important population retreat during climatic downturns. This is supported by new evidence from al-Hatab Rockshelter in Dhofar, where evidence of human occupation during the Terminal Pleistocene has been found - a hyperarid phase when the peninsula was previously thought to have been uninhabitable.Research in Dhofar permits the exploration of a potentially important refugium to determine the local record of human occupation and what adaptive behaviours (if any) developed amidst the backdrop of a fluctuating palaeoclimate. A series of preliminary investigations conducted by the PI throughout the region have recorded dense and ubiquitous lithic surface scatters across the landscape, often found in association with ancient lake basins and relict drainage systems. Two in situ buried archaeological sites have been tested (al-Hatab rockshelter and Ras Aïn Noor), with several other deposits requiring test-pitting (see Figures 1, 2, and 3 in visual evidence). Weaving together geological landscape survey with archaeological excavation and radiometric dating, we will begin to reconstruct the sequence of Upper Pleistocene occupation in Dhofar to articulate the expansion and contraction of hunter-gatherer communities associated with this niche.

阿拉伯位于三大洲的交汇处，连接着非洲、亚洲和欧洲。考虑到这一地理位置，阿拉伯南部的领土可能是连接整个更新世人类的重要通道。事实上，我们物种中许多最多样化和最古老的线粒体(MtDNA)和Y染色体(YDNA)遗传谱系聚集在阿拉伯半岛周围，证实了次大陆在现代人的进化和扩张中发挥了关键作用。一些学者甚至记录了人类向非洲扩张的痕迹，表明这条路径是人口流动的双向通道。半岛促进了人口的周期性扩张也就不足为奇了。上更新世剧烈波动的古气候偶尔会将阿拉伯极度干旱的沙漠内陆变成被常年河流和普拉湖切割的大草原。低迷的海平面也极大地改变了地形，暴露了红海沿岸和阿拉伯-波斯湾盆地内的大陆架，总共暴露了100多万平方公里的土地。此外，海平面下降引发淡水涌入这些新出现的地貌，为阿拉伯史前居民创造了稳定的避难所。鉴于这一周期性的改善和干化过程，假设阿拉伯在有利时期通过吸引狩猎-采集者来充当人口泵；相反，在干旱化开始时，使他们回到地理上应征的避难所。具有挑战性的气候条件造成了负反馈循环，因为环境干旱降低了土地承载能力，并对阿拉伯牧民施加了压力。本研究项目将调查这样一个环境避难所：阿曼南部的多法尔山脉。即使在目前的干旱气候条件下，每年的季风雨在夏季几个月的降雨量也高达400毫米。因此，多法尔被认为是气候低迷时期的一个重要的人口撤退地。这一点得到了来自多法尔的al-Hatab岩石避难所的新证据的支持，在那里发现了更新世晚期人类占领的证据--这是一个极度干旱的阶段，当时半岛被认为不适合居住。多法尔的研究允许探索一个潜在的重要避难所，以确定当地人类占领的记录，以及在波动的古气候背景下发展的适应行为(如果有的话)。PI在整个地区进行的一系列初步调查记录了密集和无处不在的岩石面散布在景观中，通常与古代湖泊盆地和残留的排水系统有关。对两个就地掩埋的考古遗址进行了测试(al-Hatab岩石掩体和Ras An Noor)，还有其他几个矿床需要进行测试(见目视证据中的图1、图2和图3)。将地质景观调查与考古发掘和辐射测年相结合，我们将开始重建多法尔上更新世的占领序列，以阐明与这一生态位相关的狩猎-采集社区的扩张和收缩。

项目成果

Südarabien während dem Spätpleistozän und Frühholozän: Archäologie, Paläogenetik und Populationsdynamik

Südarabien während dem Spätpleistozán und Frühholozän：考古学、古发生学和人口动力学

• 发表时间: 2014
• 期刊: Archäologiesche Information
• 作者: Hilbert YH

Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene archaeology and stratigraphy of the southern Nejd, Oman

阿曼内志南部的更新世末期和全新世早期考古学和地层学

• DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.02.053
• 发表时间: 2015
• 期刊: Quaternary International
• 影响因子: 2.2
• 作者: Hilbert Y

Tabula rasa or refugia? Using genetic data to assess the peopling of Arabia

白板还是避难所？

• DOI: 10.1111/aae.12017
• 发表时间: 2013
• 期刊: Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy
• 影响因子: 0.5
• 作者: Rose J

New Palaeolithic sites in the southern Rub' al Khali desert, Oman

阿曼鲁卜哈利沙漠南部的新旧石器时代遗址

• 发表时间: 2014
• 期刊: Antiquity
• 影响因子: 1.8
• 作者: Rose JI

The Nubian Complex of Dhofar, Oman: an African middle stone age industry in Southern Arabia.

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0028239
• 发表时间: 2011
• 期刊: PloS one
• 影响因子: 3.7
• 作者: Rose JI;Usik VI;Marks AE;Hilbert YH;Galletti CS;Parton A;Geiling JM;Cerný V;Morley MW;Roberts RG
• 通讯作者: Roberts RG