Hominin responses to Pleistocene environmental change in Arabia and South Asia

Abstract

Palaeoanthropologists typically outline human evolution within a framework of Pleistocene environmental change. Environmental change occurring across the Early-Middle Pleistocene transition is examined relative to patterns of hominin dispersal, ecological adaptations, cognitive advances and behavioural flexibility. Although climatic information has been used as the backdrop to human evolution, major lacunae exist in our understanding of the ecological settings where hominins evolved. Data from investigations conducted in the Arabian peninsula and the Indian subcontinent are reviewed, indicating the nature of Palaeolithic localities and their physical settings. Although much information remains to be obtained from these terrestrial records, significant changes are recognized in the environmental and archaeological record. The Early-Middle Pleistocene transition shows some conservative trends in hominin adaptations and technology, yet it is also an interval that evidences an increasing ability to transcend environmental controls through a greater level of behavioural flexibility and innovation.

Settlement history in the eastern Rub al‐Khali: Preliminary Report of the Dubai Desert Survey (2006–2007)

“…Potts 2001), it has recently come to light that the region possesses a rich record of Palaeolithic occupation, dating back to the Lower Palaeolithic (Petraglia 2005;Rose 2004; see also a collection of papers in Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 38 [2008]). Potts 2001), it has recently come to light that the region possesses a rich record of Palaeolithic occupation, dating back to the Lower Palaeolithic (Petraglia 2005;Rose 2004; see also a collection of papers in Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 38 [2008]).…”

“…While past reviews of archaeology in south-eastern Arabia cite little or no Palaeolithic materials (e.g. Potts 2001), it has recently come to light that the region possesses a rich record of Palaeolithic occupation, dating back to the Lower Palaeolithic (Petraglia 2005;Rose 2004; see also a collection of papers in Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 38 [2008]). Palaeolithic artefacts are now being identified across the Arabian Peninsula, from Yemen, near the point of entry for modern humans at the Bab al-Mendab Strait (Petraglia & Alsharekeh 2006;Rose 2004;Whalen & Schatte 1997) to recent excavations at a rockshelter in the Jebel Faya of Sharjah, where a long history of prehistoric settlement dating back to the Middle Palaeolithic has been discovered (Uerpmann et al 2007;Scott-Jackson et al 2007, 2008.…”

Inland human settlement in southern Arabia 55,000 years ago. New evidence from the Wadi Surdud Middle Paleolithic site complex, western Yemen

“…The Arabian Peninsula is routinely considered as the corridor where migrating East African populations would have passed during a single or multiple dispersal events (Clark, 1989;Foley, 1994, 1998;Stringer, 2000;Derricourt, 2005;Beyin, 2006;Mellars, 2006aMellars, , 2006bRose, 2007a;Marks, 2008;Shea, 2008;. These episodes of demographic expansion are thought to correspond with wet phases, whereas Arabia would have been deserted during arid and hyper-arid events (Rose, 2004b;Petraglia, 2005;Rose, 2007b;Carto et al, 2009;Parker, 2009). This seems at odds with the fact that during Pleistocene glacial maxima, correlated with periods of Red Sea level lowstand, narrow channels less than 4e5 km wide would have favored sea crossings between Africa and southern Arabia (Winney et al, 2004;Lambeck et al, 2011;but see;Fernandes et al, 2006).…”

The geology and geochronology of Al Wahbah maar crater, Harrat Kishb, Saudi Arabia

“…Palaeolithic stone tool industry sites are known throughout the region, most notably from the margins of modern deserts (see Petraglia, 2005 for review). They may be contemporaneous with Homo erectus occupation and Achuelian assemblages in the Ethiopian depression and southern Red Sea at around 1 million years ago (Asfaw et al 2002;Schick and Clark, 2003).…”