干旱区生态环境知识资源中心(Arid): Prehistory and palaeoenvironments of the western Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia

Arid

DOI	10.1016/j.ara.2017.02.002
	Prehistory and palaeoenvironments of the western Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia
	Breeze, Paul S.; Groucutt, Huw S.; Drake, Nick A.; Louys, Julien; Scerri, Eleanor M. L.; Armitage, Simon J.; Zalmout, Iyad S. A.; Memesh, Abdullah M.; Haptari, Mohammed A.; Soubhi, Saleh A.; Matari, Adel H.; Zahir, Muhammad; Al-Omari, Abdulaziz; Alsharekh, Abdullah M.; Petraglia, Michael D.
来源期刊	ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN ASIA
ISSN	2352-2267
EISSN	2352-2275
出版年	2017
卷号	10 页码:1-16
英文摘要	Mid-latitude dune fields offer significant records of human occupations in southwest Asia, reflecting human responses to past climate changes. Currently arid, but episodically wetter in the past, the Nefud desert of northern Saudi Arabia provides numerous examples of human-environment interactions and population movements in the desert belt. Here we describe results from interdisciplinary surveys in the western Nefud that targeted palaeolake deposits identified using satellite imagery. Surveys indicate the presence of thousands of discrete palaeolakes and palaeowetlands, providing valuable palaeoenvironmental records, and numerous archaeological and palaeontological assemblages. Geomorphological investigations suggest that many further deposits remain buried. Forty-six prehistoric archaeological sites have been identified in association with freshwater deposits, spanning the Lower Palaeolithic to the pre-Islamic Holocene. Lower Palaeolithic sites appear concentrated close to raw material sources near the Nefud fringe, despite the presence of freshwater and fauna deeper in the dune field. Middle Palaeolithic occupations extend more broadly, and by the early Holocene humans were at least periodically occupying areas deep in the desert. We present the first records of Neolithic sites in this dune field, including substantial hearth complexes distributed relatively deep within the dunes, potentially indicating increased mobility during this period. Later Holocene sites with stone structures are present around the dune fringes. Our results indicate that, during wet periods of the Pleistocene and Holocene, water in the western Nefud may have been more readily available than elsewhere in northern Arabia due to the high density of depressions where wetlands can form. The high frequency of lakes or marshes appears to have facilitated human occupations and dispersal through the region. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
英文关键词	Palaeolakes Nefud Desert Saudi Arabia Prehistory Palaeontology Palaeoenvironments
类型	Article
语种	英语
收录类别	AHCI
WOS记录号	WOS:000413145300001
WOS关键词	NAFUD DESERT ; PLEISTOCENE ; MIDDLE ; OCCUPATION ; DISPERSALS ; PALAEOLAKE ; PENINSULA
WOS类目	Archaeology
WOS研究方向	Archaeology
资源类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/361718
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Breeze, Paul S.,Groucutt, Huw S.,Drake, Nick A.,et al. Prehistory and palaeoenvironments of the western Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia[J],2017,10:1-16.
APA	Breeze, Paul S..,Groucutt, Huw S..,Drake, Nick A..,Louys, Julien.,Scerri, Eleanor M. L..,...&Petraglia, Michael D..(2017).Prehistory and palaeoenvironments of the western Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia.ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN ASIA,10,1-16.
MLA	Breeze, Paul S.,et al."Prehistory and palaeoenvironments of the western Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia".ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN ASIA 10(2017):1-16.