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Neolithic pastoralism in marginal environments during the Holocene Humid Period, northern Saudi Arabia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 October 2018

Eleanor M.L. Scerri Open the ORCID record for Eleanor M.L. Scerri [Opens in a new window] ,
Maria Guagnin ,
Huw S. Groucutt ,
Simon J. Armitage ,
Luke E. Parker ,
Nick Drake ,
Julien Louys ,
Paul S. Breeze ,
Muhammad Zahir  and
Abdullah Alsharekh
...Show all authors
Eleanor M.L. Scerri*
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, 36 Beaumont Street, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, D-07745 Jena, Germany
Maria Guagnin
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, D-07745 Jena, Germany Freie Universität Berlin, TOPOI Excellence Cluster, Hittorfstraße 18, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Huw S. Groucutt
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, 36 Beaumont Street, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, D-07745 Jena, Germany
Simon J. Armitage
Affiliation:
Centre for Quaternary Research, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, P.O. Box 7805, Bergen 5020, Norway
Luke E. Parker
Affiliation:
Centre for Quaternary Research, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK
Nick Drake
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, King’s College London, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UK
Julien Louys
Affiliation:
Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Brisbane, Qld 4111, Australia
Paul S. Breeze
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, King’s College London, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UK
Muhammad Zahir
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Hazara University, Mansehra 21300, Pakistan
Abdullah Alsharekh
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Michael D. Petraglia
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, D-07745 Jena, Germany
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: eleanor.scerri@rlaha.ox.ac.uk)
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Abstract

The origins of agriculture in South-west Asia is a topic of continued archaeological debate. Of particular interest is how agricultural populations and practices spread inter-regionally. Was the Arabian Neolithic, for example, spread through the movement of pastoral groups, or did ideas perhaps develop independently? Here, the authors report on recent excavations at Alshabah, one of the first Neolithic sites discovered in Northern Arabia. The site’s material culture, environmental context and chronology provide evidence suggesting that well-adapted, seasonally mobile, pastoralist groups played a key role in the Neolithisation of the Arabian Peninsula.

Keywords

Arabian PeninsulaNeolithicHolocene Wet Phasegrindstone toolslithic technology
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 92 , Issue 365 , October 2018 , pp. 1180 - 1194
Copyright
© Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2018 

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