Middle Pleistocene subsistence in the Azraq Oasis, Jordan: Protein residue and other proxies

Nowell, April; Walker, C. A.; Córdova, Carlos E.; Ames, Christopher; Pokines, James T.; Stueber, Dan; DeWitt, Regina; al-Souliman, A.S.A.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2016.07.013

Cited by 38 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…The scarcity of fossils may be the result of the destructive forces of arid environments, conditions for which camels are particularly well-adapted. During the Middle Pleistocene, camels were abundant in the Levant (Guérin et al, 1993;Tchernov et al, 1994;Reynaud Savioz and Morel, 2005;Nowell et al, 2016). Palearctic remains of Camelus thomasi have been identified in Syria at Nadaouiyeh Aïn Askar (Reynaud Savioz and Morel, 2005) and as far east as Lakhuti-2 (Sotnikova et al, 1997), while remains from Africa have been reported from Tighenif in Algeria (Geraads et al, 1986;Geraads, 2012), and Bir Tarfawi in Egypt (Wendorf et al, 1993).…”

Section: Camelidaementioning

confidence: 99%

“…are known from the Upper Siwaliks in Pakistan (Dennell et al, 2005b;Siddiq et al, 2014). In the eastern Saharo-Arabian region, Bos primigenius is known from numerous sites but appears restricted to the Levant (Marder et al, 1999;Reynaud Savioz and Morel, 2005;Rabinovich et al, 2012;Nowell et al, 2016). Numerous specimens of a large bovid were reported by Thomas et al (1998), although from which locality remains unclear.…”

Section: Bovinaementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both species are ubiquitous throughout the Levantine Middle Pleistocene and the primitive S. etruscus was found at 'Ubeidiya, Israel (Tchernov et al, 1994), and Akhalkalaki, Georgia (Hemmer et al, 2001). The only eastern Saharo-Arabian remains are that of Dicerorhinus hemitoechus from Nadaouiyeh Aïn Askar (Reynaud Savioz and Morel, 2005) and tentatively assigned remains at Shishan Marsh (Nowell et al, 2016).…”

Section: Rhinocerotidaementioning

confidence: 99%

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Middle and Late Pleistocene mammal fossils of Arabia and surrounding regions: Implications for biogeography and hominin dispersals

Stewart

Louys

Price

et al. 2019

Quaternary International

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Plio-Pleistocene faunal turnovers and their implications for hominin dispersals have recently received considerable attention. Exploration and palaeontological study of faunal exchanges has traditionally centred on East Africa, North Africa and the Levant in Southwest Asia. Despite this attention, considerable debate surrounding the timings, rates, and directions of hominin dispersals remain. Notwithstanding its close geographical proximity to these regions and a landmass of over 3 million km2, the Arabian Peninsula has largely been excluded from these discussions, mostly owing to the paucity of its Pleistocene vertebrate record. However, recent palaeoenvironmental studies have demonstrated that Arabia experienced periods of climatic amelioration during the Pleistocene, resulting in the establishment of large, perennial water sources and open-grasslands; conditions vastly different than today. This interpretation is further underpinned by archaeological and palaeontological data, and it is now clear this region is important for understanding faunal and hominin movements between Africa and Eurasia. Examination of the Arabian Middle to Late Pleistocene fossil record in a biogeographical context indicates the composite nature of the Arabian faunal record, with Eurasian and African intrusions present in addition to well-established endemics. Open grassland habitats and taxonomic similarities between Pleistocene Arabia on the one hand, and the Levant and Africa on the other, suggests that hominin dispersal into Arabia did not require significant behavioural and/or technological innovations, while subsequent climatic deterioration likely resulted in hominin retreat/extirpation

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Section: Camelidaementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Bovinaementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rhinocerotidaementioning

confidence: 99%

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Middle and Late Pleistocene mammal fossils of Arabia and surrounding regions: Implications for biogeography and hominin dispersals

Stewart

Louys

Price

et al. 2019

Quaternary International

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“…There certainly are challenges to addressing these unmet desires, not the least being that while Paleo proponents tend to want specific, actionable dietary recommendations, 37 current evidence offers only limited reconstructions 38 of what was on the Paleolithic menu, with available reconstructions being quite specific as to time and place. 39 However, even if we cannot answer such specific questions, explaining what we do know and how we know it would increase public understanding of evolutionary science, and this is by far the more critical objective. Recent surveys suggest that 42% of Americans hold creationist views of human origins, with a further 31% believing that evolution has occurred, but only under the guidance of a supreme being.…”

Section: A Missed Opportunity?mentioning

confidence: 99%

How to make stone soup: Is the “Paleo diet” a missed opportunity for anthropologists?

Chang¹,

Nowell²

2016

Evolutionary Anthropology

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For the past few years, people everywhere have been "going Paleo." Websites and social media touting the benefits of eating a "Paleo diet" and following a "Paleolithic life style" serve as calls to arms for health-conscious individuals seeking information about the latest health and fitness trends. Many of these people participate in programs such as Crossfit, which involve major social and life-style modification components and therefore facilitate the dissemination of dietary fads. The PALEOf(x) conference, which bills itself as "the world's premier holistic wellness event," has attracted sellout crowds of thousands of attendees for the last four years. Consumers can wear Paleo clothing, download Paleo shopping and exercise apps to their smartphones, order prepackaged Paleo food, prepare it using Paleo cooking implements, or expediently buy Paleo convenience foods from Paleodiet™ vending machines and "Cultured Caveman" food trucks. The Paleo diet is touted by movie stars, reality TV personalities, and professional athletes, including LeBron James and the entire Miami Dolphins NFL team. Books with titles such as The Primal Blueprint, Cavewomen Don't Get Fat, and Paleo Perfected (the latter by the stodgy America's Test Kitchen) are legion, and many are bestsellers.

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“…The goal of the Azraq Marshes Archaeological and Paleoecological Project (AMAPP) is to examine how the fluctuating Azraq wetlands and surrounding Azraq Basin environment have been exploited by hominins during the middle (781–126 ka) and late (126–12 ka) Pleistocene. One particular focus of the project is to examine the role of the wetlands as a desert refugium during times of increased regional aridity, as well as how changing climates affected local ecology, lithic technology, and hominin occupations around the wetlands (Cordova et al, 2009, 2013; Ames, 2014; Ames and Cordova, 2014, 2015; Ames et al, 2014a, 2014b; Bisson et al, 2014; Nowell, 2014; Pokines et al, 2014; Nowell et al, 2016; Walker, 2017). AMAPP also aims to situate these results within the larger patterns of Pleistocene biogeography in Jordan and southwest Asia in general (Pokines and Ames, 2015a).…”

Section: Introduction and Site Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Faunal remains from recent excavations at Shishan Marsh 1 (SM1), a Late Lower Paleolithic open-air site in the Azraq Basin, Jordan

Pokines

Lister²,

Ames

et al. 2019

Quat. res.

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Excavations from 2013 to 2015 at the site of Shishan Marsh 1 (SM1) in the Azraq Basin of eastern Jordan have yielded substantial late middle Pleistocene lithic assemblages in association with faunal remains. Faunal preservation is poor, but multiple taxa have been identified, including cf. Panthera leo, Gazella sp., Bos cf. primigenius, Camelus sp., Equus spp., cf. Stephanorhinus hemitoechus, Palaeoloxodon cf. recki, and Elephas cf. hysudricus. The overall Azraq habitat may have been most similar to a savanna ecosystem, with a mixture of open grassland/shrub habitats and more closed vegetation along the wetlands margins. These taxa were drawn to the relatively lush oasis environment, where they were a dietary resource of the hominin groups exploiting the wetlands resources.

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Middle Pleistocene subsistence in the Azraq Oasis, Jordan: Protein residue and other proxies

Cited by 38 publications

References 44 publications

Middle and Late Pleistocene mammal fossils of Arabia and surrounding regions: Implications for biogeography and hominin dispersals

Middle and Late Pleistocene mammal fossils of Arabia and surrounding regions: Implications for biogeography and hominin dispersals

How to make stone soup: Is the “Paleo diet” a missed opportunity for anthropologists?

Faunal remains from recent excavations at Shishan Marsh 1 (SM1), a Late Lower Paleolithic open-air site in the Azraq Basin, Jordan

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