How “African” was the early human dispersal out of Africa?

Situated at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, actual Kazakhstan represents a strong scientific interest in understanding of the early human migrations “Out-of-Africa” to the Far East. During the whole Pleistocene, the arid conditions of this geographic area hindered the sediment accumulative deposits and the formation of stratified Paleolithic sites. Only studies of lithic industries from the sites with a surface cultural horizon seem possible. These analyses are based on a deflation degree of artefacts and on their technological and typological study followed by a comparison with other lithic collections from stratified and dated sites from surrounding grounds. This paper presents the morphological, technological and typological study of handaxes from the surface sites discovered in the Mugalzhar mountains and in the Aral Sea region. The goal of the study is to reconstitute the operational procedure (chaîne opératoire) in handaxe manufacture with the following comparison study between the handaxe samples. The lithic collection (20 artifacts) is housed at the A. Kh. Margulan Institute of Archaeology (Almaty, Kazakhstan). The analysis of data allows seeing the stark technological difference in the handaxe manufacture from the Mugalzhary mountains and from the Aral Sea region sites. As regards the typological analysis, the great majority of these handaxes from the Mugalzhary sites are characterized by fairly elongated and massive forms. Only on is of discoidal morphology and rather thin in thickness. The other are represented by one amygdaloidal, seven ovate, two lanceolate and two naviform (spear-shaped) handaxes. Any cordiform or triangular handanxes are not determined. Between the handaxes from the Aral Sea region sites, the majority is caracterised by elongated and rather thickened forms. Only one cordiform handaxe from the sample is thin. The elongated handaxes are represented by one amygdaloidal and by three lanceolate objects. It is expected that the handaxes from the Mugalzhary sites belong to more ancient period than the collection from the Aral Sea region sites. The predominance of both lanceolate handaxes and limandes is a typical dance of the Acheulean period, in particular, of its middle phase. The knapping technology used for handaxe manufacturing processes from the Aral Sea region sites and their typology (cordiform handaxes) are representative of the Middle Paleolithic.

Download Full-text

Luminescence dating Hajar Mountain alluvial fan systems, northern Oman

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-2325 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sam Woor ◽

Julie Durcan ◽

Ash Parton ◽

David Thomas

Keyword(s):

Late Quaternary ◽

Alluvial Fan ◽

Luminescence Dating ◽

Modern Humans ◽

Temporal Complexity ◽

Human Dispersal ◽

Palaeoenvironmental Change ◽

Anatomically Modern Humans ◽

Out Of Africa ◽

Scale Data

The alluvial/fluvial fan systems of northern Oman act as sensitive geoproxy records of Late Quaternary palaeohydrology and past landscape evolution, offering records of palaeoenvironmental change which cannot be reconstructed from nearby speleothem records alone (Parton et al., 2013). These systems also provide evidence for the important link between the changing abundance of freshwater in the Arabian interior and the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMHs) out of Africa (Rosenberg et al., 2012). Limited previous luminescence dating analyses have reported fan activation west of the Hajar during insolation maxima and monsoon intensification throughout the Late Quaternary (Parton et al., 2015). However, there are currently no studies to date which present chronologies for the fan systems to the east of the Hajar Mountains.We present the first luminescence based chronology for the fan systems to the east of the Hajar Mountains, providing landform scale data on fan behaviour, including spatial-temporal complexity and variability. This facilitates comparison of the temporal response of fans east and west of the mountains, including differential responses to external forcing. Ages will also be compared with regional palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic records, to inform landscape reconstructions in northern Oman during the late Quaternary.ReferencesRosenberg, T.M., Preusser, F., Blechschmidt, I., Fleitmann, D., Jagher, R. and Matter, A., 2012. Late Pleistocene palaeolake in the interior of Oman: a potential key area for the dispersal of anatomically modern humans out&#8208;of&#8208;Africa?.&#160;Journal of Quaternary Science,&#160;27(1), pp.13-16.Parton, A., Farrant, A.R., Leng, M.J., Schwenninger, J.L., Rose, J.I., Uerpmann, H.P. and Parker, A.G., 2013. An early MIS 3 pluvial phase in Southeast Arabia: climatic and archaeological implications.&#160;Quaternary International,&#160;300, pp.62-74.Parton, A., Farrant, A.R., Leng, M.J., Telfer, M.W., Groucutt, H.S., Petraglia, M.D. and Parker, A.G., 2015. Alluvial fan records from southeast Arabia reveal multiple windows for human dispersal.&#160;Geology,&#160;43(4), pp.295-298.&#160;

Download Full-text

The Middle Palaeolithic of Arabia: Implications for modern human origins, behaviour and dispersals

Antiquity ◽

10.1017/s0003598x00061639 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 77 (298) ◽

pp. 671-684 ◽

Cited By ~ 85

Author(s):

Michael D. Petraglia ◽

Abdullah Alsharekh

Keyword(s):

Coming Out ◽

Arabian Peninsula ◽

Modern Human ◽

Middle Palaeolithic ◽

Human Origins ◽

Archaeological Evidence ◽

Modern Human Origins ◽

Human Dispersal ◽

Out Of Africa

The Middle Palaeolithic record of the Arabian Peninsula can provide crucial evidence for understanding human dispersal. The authors summarise the archaeological evidence and suggest some of the routes taken by the earliest humans coming out of Africa, including one implying the use of boats. Early populations adapted to a hospitable environment, but had later to adapt to the advance of the desert.

Download Full-text