Assessment of the Southern Dispersal: GIS-Based Analyses of Potential Routes at Oxygen Isotopic Stage 4

Field, Julie S.; Lahr, Marta Mirazón

doi:10.1007/s10963-005-9000-6

Cited by 104 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…Palaeohydrology is key to understanding the dispersal of hominins into the Arabian Peninsula during the Quaternary, and for exploring hypotheses relating to the expansion and contraction of Palaeolithic populations both within Arabia and between regional refugia (Petraglia and Alsharekh, 2003;Field and Lahr, 2006;Rose and Petraglia, 2009;Armitage et al, 2011;Petraglia et al, 2011Petraglia et al, , 2012Delagnes et al, 2012;Petraglia, 2012, 2014;Crassard et al, 2013aCrassard et al, , 2013bScerri et al, 2014b). Surface freshwater availability, mediated by periodic incursions of increased rainfall, is likely to have been a critical control on the timing and routeways of hominin migrations across the mid-latitude SaharoArabian desert belt.…”

Section: Palaeohydrology and Hominin Dispersals In The Arabian Peninsulamentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote sensing and GIS techniques for reconstructing Arabian palaeohydrology and identifying archaeological sites

Breeze

Drake

Groucutt

et al. 2015

Quaternary International

107

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a b s t r a c tFreshwater availability is critical for human survival, and in the Saharo-Arabian desert belt repeated fluctuations between aridity and humidity over the Quaternary mean the distribution of freshwater was likely a primary control upon routes and opportunities for hominin dispersals. However, our knowledge of the spatio-temporal distribution of palaeohydrological resources within Arabia during MideLate Pleistocene episodes of climatic amelioration remains limited. In this paper we outline a combined method for remotely mapping the location of palaeodrainage and palaeolakes in currently arid regions that were formerly subject to more humid conditions. We demonstrate the potential of this approach by mapping palaeochannels across the whole Arabian Peninsula, and palaeolakes and marshes for select regions covering c. 10% of its surface. Our palaeodrainage mapping is based upon quantitative thresholding of HydroSHEDs data, which applies flow routing to Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data, while our palaeolake mapping uses an innovative method where spectral classification of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery is used to detect palaeolake deposits within endorheic (closed) basins, before modelling maximum lake extents by flooding the basin to the level of the elevation of the highest detected deposit. Field survey in the Nefud desert and the Dawadmi and Shuwaymis regions of Saudi Arabia indicates accuracies of 86% for palaeodrainage mapping, and 96% for identifying former palaeolake basins (73% accuracy of classification of individual deposits). The palaeolake mapping method has also demonstrated potential for identifying surface and stratified archaeological site locations, with 76% of the surveyed palaeolake basins containing archaeological material, including stratified Palaeolithic archaeology. Initial examination of palaeodrainage in relation to archaeological sites indicates a relationship between mapped features and previously recorded Palaeolithic sites. An example of the application of these data for period-specific regional palaeohydrological and archaeological reconstructions is presented for a region of Northern Saudi Arabia covering the southern Nefud desert and adjacent lava fields.

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Section: Palaeohydrology and Hominin Dispersals In The Arabian Peninsulamentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote sensing and GIS techniques for reconstructing Arabian palaeohydrology and identifying archaeological sites

Breeze

Drake

Groucutt

et al. 2015

Quaternary International

107

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“…Walter et al, 2000;Mannino and Thomas, 2002;Oppenheimer, 2003;Bulbeck, 2007;Marean et al, 2007;Turner and O'Regan, 2007), but the evidence in its support is at best weak (Bailey et al 2007a;Bailey in press), and raises a number of unresolved questions. Examination of potential routes between Northeast Africa and the Indian subcontinent (Field and Lahr 2005;Field et al 2006) suggests that there are a number of significant barriers along the coastal corridor that would have required long diversions inland, although the question of what constitutes a barrier, especially under paleogeographic and environmental conditions unlike those of today, remains to be explored in more detail. Crossing the southern end of the Red Sea during periods of high sea level as at present would certainly require seaworthy boats, but less obviously so during periods of low sea level.…”

Section: Geographical Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Red Sea, Coastal Landscapes, and Hominin Dispersals

Bailey

2009

The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia

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“…In this way, it should be possible to produce roughness maps of the submerged continental shelf to complement those that we can produce for the present-day land surface from satellite data, together with palaeoenvironmental data from sediment cores, and possibly archaeological material. With the development of such underwater surveys, it should then be possible to complement, extend and refine the modelling techniques that have been recently applied to assess patterns of human dispersal in Arabia and adjacent regions (Field and Lahr, 2005;Field et al, 2007).…”

Section: The Submerged Landscapementioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic landscapes and human dispersal patterns: tectonics, coastlines, and the reconstruction of human habitats

Bailey

King

2011

Quaternary Science Reviews

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Studies of the impact of physical environment on human evolution usually focus on climate as the main external forcing agent of evolutionary and cultural change. In this paper we focus on changes in the physical character of the landscape driven by geophysical processes as an equally potent factor. Most of the landscapes where finds of early human fossils and artefacts are concentrated are ones that have been subjected to high levels of geological instability, either because of especially active tectonic processes associated with faulting and volcanic activity or because of proximity to coastlines subject to dramatic changes of geographical position and physical character by changes of relative sea level. These processes can have both beneficial effects, creating ecologically attractive conditions for human settlement, and deleterious or disruptive ones, creating barriers to movement, disruption of ecological conditions, or hazards to survival. Both positive and negative factors can have powerful selective effects on human behaviour and patterns of settlement and dispersal. We consider both these aspects of the interaction, develop a framework for the reconstruction and comparison of landscapes and landscape change at a variety of scales, and illustrate this with selected examples drawn from Africa and Arabia.

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Assessment of the Southern Dispersal: GIS-Based Analyses of Potential Routes at Oxygen Isotopic Stage 4

Cited by 104 publications

References 75 publications

Remote sensing and GIS techniques for reconstructing Arabian palaeohydrology and identifying archaeological sites

Remote sensing and GIS techniques for reconstructing Arabian palaeohydrology and identifying archaeological sites

The Red Sea, Coastal Landscapes, and Hominin Dispersals

Dynamic landscapes and human dispersal patterns: tectonics, coastlines, and the reconstruction of human habitats

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