The Upper Paleolithic in Southeast Arabia – A case study from Buhais Rockshelter, United Arab Emirates

旧石器时代晚期距今约45,000年至12,000年前，是人类进化的关键时期。重要的事态发展，如现代人类群体在全球范围内的扩散，尼安德特人和其他人类物种的更替，以及新的狩猎技术、象征性行为、具象艺术和乐器等证据的出现，是世界许多地区这一时期的特点。鉴于非洲是现代人的地理起源，而阿拉伯在地理上连接非洲和欧亚大陆，阿拉伯的更新世考古记录应该为旧石器时代晚期的人类进化提供重要证据。然而，令人惊讶的是，在阿拉伯发现的考古证据几乎没有可靠地追溯到那个时期。因此，我们对这一重要时期的行为和文化演变的了解在阿拉伯是非常零散的。这一跨学科项目将提供新的旧石器时代晚期在东南阿拉伯的分层和年代证据，从而有助于填补这一空白。位于(阿拉伯联合酋长国)沙迦酋长国中部地区的布哈伊斯岩石掩体的旧石器时代中期至晚期层序将在该项目中作为个案研究加以研究。该项目旨在为考古组合及其基本的打字技术和原材料经济特征提供可靠的年代学、攻击学和古环境背景。Buhais的结果将与该地区的关键遗址Jebel Faya的旧石器时代中期记录的结果进行对比，以第一次洞察当地中旧石器时代和旧石器时代晚期之间的潜在差异。

The Upper Paleolithic between about 45,000 and 12,000 years ago, is a key period in human evolution. Important developments such as global dispersals of modern human groups and the replacement of Neanderthals and other human species as well as the occurrence of evidence for example for new hunting technologies, symbolic behavior, figurative art and music instruments characterizes this period in many parts of the world. Given Africa being the geographic origin of modern humans and Arabia geographically connecting Africa and Eurasia, the Pleistocene archaeological record of Arabia should provide important evidence for human evolution during the Upper Paleolithic period. However, surprisingly little archaeological evidence is found in Arabia securely dating to that time period. Hence our knowledge about behavioral and cultural evolution during this important period is highly fragmentary in Arabia. This interdisciplinary project will contribute to the filling of this gap by providing new stratified and dated evidence from the Upper Paleolithic period in Southeast Arabia. The Middle to Upper Paleolithic sequence from Buhais Rockshelter, located in the central region of the Emirate of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates), will be examined in this project as a case study. This project aims at providing solid chronological, taphonomic and paleoenvironmental contexts for the archaeological assemblages and their fundamental typo-technological as well as raw material economic characteristics. Results from Buhais will be contrasted with results from the Middle Paleolithic records from Jebel Faya, the key site of the region, to gain first insight into potential differences between the local Middle and Upper Paleolithic.