English
 
Privacy Policy Disclaimer
  Advanced SearchBrowse

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT
Add to Basket
  Local TagsRelease HistoryDetailsSummary

Released
Journal Article

The Holocene humid period in the Nefud Desert: Hunters and herders in the Jebel Oraf palaeolake basin, Saudi Arabia

Authors

Guagnin,  Maria
External Organizations;

Breeze,  Paul
External Organizations;

Shipton,  Ceri
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/ottflo

Ott,  F.
4.3 Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, 4.0 Geosystems, Departments, GFZ Publication Database, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

Stewart,  Mathew
External Organizations;

Bateman,  Mark
External Organizations;

Martin,  Louise
External Organizations;

Graham,  Lisa
External Organizations;

el-Dossary,  Sarah
External Organizations;

Kingwell-Banham,  Eleanor
External Organizations;

Zahrani,  Badr
External Organizations;

al-Omari,  Abdulaziz
External Organizations;

Alsharekh,  Abdullah M.
External Organizations;

Petraglia,  Michael
External Organizations;

External Ressource
No external resources are shared
Fulltext (public)
There are no public fulltexts stored in GFZpublic
Supplementary Material (public)
There is no public supplementary material available
Citation

Guagnin, M., Breeze, P., Shipton, C., Ott, F., Stewart, M., Bateman, M., Martin, L., Graham, L., el-Dossary, S., Kingwell-Banham, E., Zahrani, B., al-Omari, A., Alsharekh, A. M., Petraglia, M. (2020): The Holocene humid period in the Nefud Desert: Hunters and herders in the Jebel Oraf palaeolake basin, Saudi Arabia. - Journal of Arid Environments, 178, 104146.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2020.104146


Cite as: https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5001653
Abstract
Archaeological surveys and excavations in the Jebel Oraf palaeolake basin, north-western Saudi Arabia, have identified a well-preserved early- to mid-Holocene landscape. Two types of occupation site can be distinguished: nine small and ephemeral scatters from single occupation phases on the slopes of sand dunes and three hearth sites indicative of repeated occupation on palaeolake shorelines. In addition, 245 rock art panels, 81 cairns, and 15 stone structures were recorded. This diverse dataset provides an opportunity to reconstruct occupation patterns and changes in landscape use. A particularly important site, Jebel Oraf 2, documents two episodes of lake high stands at ca. 6500 BC and 5300 BC, flooding parts of the locality. Neolithic pastoralists likely occupied the site after the end of the wet season, when the terrain was dry. Earlier sites are located in dune embayments some 7–14 m above the shore of the palaeolake. These locations are consistent with hunting strategies identifiable in the rock art that suggest wildlife was ambushed at watering places. Later rock art at Jebel Oraf also documents the hunting of wild camel in the Iron Age. The lithic industries documented in the Jebel Oraf basin support arguments of repeated contact with Levantine populations.