Rock art provides new evidence on the biogeography of kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis), wild dromedary, aurochs (Bos primigenius) and African wild ass (Equus africanus) in the early and middle Holocene of north‐western Arabia

Abstract

Aim Our knowledge of the prehistoric distribution of animal species is so far largely dependent on the location of excavated archaeological and palaeontological sites. In the absence of excavated faunal remains, many species that were present in the Levant and North Africa have been assumed to have been absent on the Arabian Peninsula. Here, we explore representations of four species that were identifiable in the rock art, but had not previously been reported in north‐western Arabia. Location Jubbah and Shuwaymis UNESCO world heritage rock art sites in Ha'il province, north‐western Saudi Arabia. Methods In total, the rock art panels surveyed and recorded in Jubbah and Shuwaymis contain 6,618 individual animal depictions. Species were identified based on diagnostic features of the anatomy. The resulting dataset was then compared to the faunal spectrum reported in the (archaeo)zoological literature. Results The rock art dataset provides evidence that the distributions of lesser kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis), wild camel and African wild ass (Equus africanus) extended into the north‐west of Arabia and that the engravers may have had knowledge of aurochs (Bos primigenius). Main conclusions The presence of previously undocumented mammal species in Arabia provides new information regarding their distribution, as well as the types of habitat and vegetation that were available in prehistoric landscapes. Moreover, the presence of kudu on the Arabian Peninsula indicates that the identification of palaeo‐distributions based exclusively on faunal remains may miss key species in the Afro‐Eurasian faunal exchange.

Pre-Neolithic evidence for dog-assisted hunting strategies in Arabia

“…These scenes are frequently directly overlain by depictions of Neolithic cattle herding. In Jubbah, the Pre-Neolithic rock art is preceded by an even earlier phase of rock art production from which only a small number of representations of curvaceous women and life-sized depictions of wild camel and aurochs are currently known (Guagnin et al 2017b;2017c; Figure 2). While the regional transition to the Neolithic remains undated, the stratigraphy of the rock art allows us to attribute the majority of the depictions of hunting dogs to the Pre-Neolithic period.…”

“…The species spectrum depicted in the rock art of Shuwaymis is extremely narrow, with only four wild ungulate prey species (oryx, ibex, gazelle and equid) (Guagnin et al 2016). In Jubbah, three further species (kudu, aurochs, and wild camel) have recently been identified in Pre-Neolithic rock art (Guagnin et al 2017c). To date, the Pre-Neolithic rock art dataset only shows the use of dogs with ibex, gazelles and equid; oryx are only shown with dogs in Bronze Age rock art, where they are a recurrent motif (Guagnin et al 2017b).…”

Monumental landscapes of the Holocene humid period in Northern Arabia: The mustatil phenomenon

“…The Arabian oryx ( O. leucoryx ) was common in the region until relatively recently, and although only known from a few prehistoric sites, its range appears to have stretched from Jordan to eastern Arabia ( Uerpmann, 1987 ). As the only suitably sized bovid known from the region (but see Harrison and Bates, 1991 and Guagnin et al, 2018 ), we tentatively assign the remains to this endemic species. The recovery of two right distal femur fragments and a juvenile (unfused) distal femur epiphysis, as well as evidence for Bos , indicate the presence of at least four individual bovids at the site.…”

Marking the sacral landscape of a north Arabian oasis: a sixth-millennium BC monumental stone platform and surrounding burials

“…Groucutt & Petraglia 2012;Crassard & Drechsler 2013;Magee 2014), research has focused predominantly on lithic technology, rock art, palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental conditions and infrequently encountered stratified seasonal campsites (e.g. Gebel 2013Gebel , 2016Jennings et al 2013;Guagnin et al 2017Guagnin et al , 2018Guagnin et al , 2020Scerri et al 2018;Zielhofer et al 2018). The lack of focus on stone monuments is due mostly to the relatively late exploration of the region, the first surveys dating to the 1970s (Adams et al 1977;Parr et al 1978;Zarins et al 1979).…”