southwest asia
Recently Published Documents


TOTAL DOCUMENTS

482
(FIVE YEARS 109)

H-INDEX

39
(FIVE YEARS 6)

Nature ◽  
2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huw S. Groucutt ◽  
Tom S. White ◽  
Eleanor M. L. Scerri ◽  
Eric Andrieux ◽  
Richard Clark-Wilson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

Quaternary ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Emily Tilby ◽  
Preston Miracle ◽  
Graeme Barker

Shanidar Cave, Iraqi Kurdistan, is one of the most important Palaeolithic sites in Southwest Asia. This is due to the long sequence of hominin occupation of the cave and the discovery of multiple Neanderthal individuals from the original Solecki excavations (1951–1960) and recent excavations (2014 to present). Preliminary taphonomic analyses of the microvertebrate assemblage were undertaken to understand the factors affecting assemblage formation and accumulation, and this paper presents the first results of these analyses. All contexts display a high proportion of fragmentation, with a slight decrease in breakage towards the base of the sequence. Black staining and root etching were observed in a similar pattern, present in most contexts but with an increase in the lower levels. A significant proportion of the microvertebrate remains examined displayed light traces of digestion, indicating some contribution to the assemblage by predators. The results are consistent with wider palaeoecological records that indicate relatively warm, wet conditions at the base of the sequence and cooler, drier conditions at the top.


Caryologia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 77-89
Author(s):  
Songpo Liu ◽  
Yuxuan Wang ◽  
Yuwei Song ◽  
Majid Khayatnezhad ◽  
Amir Abbas Minaeifar

The genus Salvia includes an enormous assemblage of nearly 1000 species dispersed around the World. Iran having 19 endemic species out of 61 is regarded as one of the important regions for Salvia diversity in Southwest Asia. Salvia species are herbaceous, rarely biennial or annual, often strongly aromatic. These species are of medicinal, commercial and horticultural value. Due to the importance of these plant species, we performed a combination of morphological and molecular data for this species. For this study, we used 145 randomly collected plants from 30 species in 18 provinces. Amplification of genomic DNA using 10 primers produced 134 bands, of which 129 were polymorphic (97.78%). The obtained high average PIC and MI values revealed high capacity of SCoT primers to detect polymorphic loci among Salvia species. The genetic similarities of 30 collections were estimated from 0.61 to 0.93. According to the SCoT markers analysis, S. tebesana and S. verticillata had the lowest similarity and the species of S. eremophila and S. santolinifolia had the highest similarity. The aims of present study are: 1) can SCoT markers identify Salvia species, 2) what is the genetic structure of these taxa in Iran, and 3) to investigate the species inter-relationship? The present study revealed that SCoT markers can identify the species. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 5119
Author(s):  
Elise Jakoby Laugier ◽  
Jesse Casana

Satellite remote sensing is well demonstrated to be a powerful tool for investigating ancient land use in Southwest Asia. However, few regional studies have systematically integrated satellite-based observations with more intensive remote sensing technologies, such as drone-deployed multispectral sensors and ground-based geophysics, to explore off-site areas. Here, we integrate remote sensing data from a variety of sources and scales including historic aerial photographs, modern satellite imagery, drone-deployed sensors, and ground-based geophysics to explore pre-modern land use along the Upper Diyala/Sirwan River in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Our analysis reveals an incredible diversity of land use features, including canals, qanats, trackways, and field systems, most of which likely date to the first millennium CE, and demonstrate the potential of more intensive remote sensing methods to resolve land use features. Our results align with broader trends across ancient Southwest Asia that document the most intensive land use in the first millennium BCE through the first millennium CE. Land use features dating to the earlier Bronze Age (fourth through second millennium BCE) remain elusive and will likely require other investigative approaches.


2021 ◽  
pp. 367-386
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Leake
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sapna Rana

<p>Central Southwest Asia (CSWA; 20°–47°N, 40°–85°E) is a water-scarce and a societally vulnerable region, prone to significant variations in precipitation during the winter months of November–April. Wintertime precipitation variations have a direct impact on CSWA's water resources, agricultural productivity, energy use, and human society. Because of the close relationship between climate and human well-being, an improved understanding of winter season precipitation and its variability over CSWA is of critical importance. However, due to multiple regional challenges (e.g. socio-political instability, extreme topographical heterogeneity, poor coverage of in situ stations, and others) analysis of precipitation in this region has been limited.  In an attempt to bridge the existing knowledge gap, this thesis aims to advance our understanding of CSWA's wintertime precipitation climate through three separate, but inter-related studies on 1) evaluation of multi-source gridded precipitation dataset, 2) investigation of spatial and temporal patterns of precipitation and its links with large-scale modes of climate variability, 3) development of a statistical forecast model. Additionally, precipitation evaluation is also relevant to the overlapping and important region of the Indian subcontinent; a detailed seasonal analysis for which is also presented.  First, the performance of several commonly used gridded precipitation products from multiple sources: gauge-based, satellite-derived, and reanalysis is analysed for all four seasons over the Indian Subcontinent. Results show that the degree of uncertainty in all precipitation estimates varies by region (e.g. topographic relief) and the type of precipitation (e.g. convective, orographic). At the seasonal scale, satellite-products perform better, while reanalyses generally overestimate precipitation. Greater discrepancies occur in areas with low gauge densities, owing to which a complete understanding of the accuracy and limitations of precipitation estimates is hampered for the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent.  In an extension study, ten multi-source precipitation products are evaluated against an ensemble of four gauge-only datasets. This analysis is carried out for CSWA, which also includes the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Spatial and temporal analysis of results shows that GPCC is a suitable observational dataset for studying long-term wintertime precipitation variations over CSWA. The satellite-derived TRMM 3B42-V7 is a potentially reliable alternative to gauge measurements, while the performance of MERRA reanalysis is satisfactory.  Further, the spatial-temporal patterns of wintertime precipitation variability over CSWA are explored. Three leading patterns are identified by empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, and the associated time series are related to global SST and other large-scale atmospheric circulation fields. The leading patterns of winter precipitation are significantly linked with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO); East Atlantic–Western Russia (EA-WR); Siberian High; North Pacific Oscillation (NPO); Scandinavian pattern; and the long-term warming of the Indian Ocean SST. The inter-decadal change of relationship between the first-mode of winter precipitation and ENSO is also investigated, which shows that CSWA precipitation variability was closely related to the extratropical EA-WR (tropical ENSO) teleconnection before (after) the 1980's.  Finally, the level and origin of seasonal forecast skill of wintertime precipitation anomalies over CSWA are examined using the statistical method of canonical correlation analysis (CCA). The preceding months’ (September–October) SST is used as predictors, and CCA experiments are performed for two sets of time periods, 1950/51–2014/15 and 1980/81–2014/15. For both prediction periods, the potential source of predictability originates largely from SST variations related to ENSO and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). A higher (lower) correlation skill of 0.71 (0.38) is obtained between observations and cross-validated precipitation forecasts for the period 1980/81–2014/15 (1950/51–2014/15); which shows that ENSO played a dominant role in creating skillful predictions for CSWA wintertime precipitation in recent years.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sapna Rana

<p>Central Southwest Asia (CSWA; 20°–47°N, 40°–85°E) is a water-scarce and a societally vulnerable region, prone to significant variations in precipitation during the winter months of November–April. Wintertime precipitation variations have a direct impact on CSWA's water resources, agricultural productivity, energy use, and human society. Because of the close relationship between climate and human well-being, an improved understanding of winter season precipitation and its variability over CSWA is of critical importance. However, due to multiple regional challenges (e.g. socio-political instability, extreme topographical heterogeneity, poor coverage of in situ stations, and others) analysis of precipitation in this region has been limited.  In an attempt to bridge the existing knowledge gap, this thesis aims to advance our understanding of CSWA's wintertime precipitation climate through three separate, but inter-related studies on 1) evaluation of multi-source gridded precipitation dataset, 2) investigation of spatial and temporal patterns of precipitation and its links with large-scale modes of climate variability, 3) development of a statistical forecast model. Additionally, precipitation evaluation is also relevant to the overlapping and important region of the Indian subcontinent; a detailed seasonal analysis for which is also presented.  First, the performance of several commonly used gridded precipitation products from multiple sources: gauge-based, satellite-derived, and reanalysis is analysed for all four seasons over the Indian Subcontinent. Results show that the degree of uncertainty in all precipitation estimates varies by region (e.g. topographic relief) and the type of precipitation (e.g. convective, orographic). At the seasonal scale, satellite-products perform better, while reanalyses generally overestimate precipitation. Greater discrepancies occur in areas with low gauge densities, owing to which a complete understanding of the accuracy and limitations of precipitation estimates is hampered for the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent.  In an extension study, ten multi-source precipitation products are evaluated against an ensemble of four gauge-only datasets. This analysis is carried out for CSWA, which also includes the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Spatial and temporal analysis of results shows that GPCC is a suitable observational dataset for studying long-term wintertime precipitation variations over CSWA. The satellite-derived TRMM 3B42-V7 is a potentially reliable alternative to gauge measurements, while the performance of MERRA reanalysis is satisfactory.  Further, the spatial-temporal patterns of wintertime precipitation variability over CSWA are explored. Three leading patterns are identified by empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, and the associated time series are related to global SST and other large-scale atmospheric circulation fields. The leading patterns of winter precipitation are significantly linked with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO); East Atlantic–Western Russia (EA-WR); Siberian High; North Pacific Oscillation (NPO); Scandinavian pattern; and the long-term warming of the Indian Ocean SST. The inter-decadal change of relationship between the first-mode of winter precipitation and ENSO is also investigated, which shows that CSWA precipitation variability was closely related to the extratropical EA-WR (tropical ENSO) teleconnection before (after) the 1980's.  Finally, the level and origin of seasonal forecast skill of wintertime precipitation anomalies over CSWA are examined using the statistical method of canonical correlation analysis (CCA). The preceding months’ (September–October) SST is used as predictors, and CCA experiments are performed for two sets of time periods, 1950/51–2014/15 and 1980/81–2014/15. For both prediction periods, the potential source of predictability originates largely from SST variations related to ENSO and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). A higher (lower) correlation skill of 0.71 (0.38) is obtained between observations and cross-validated precipitation forecasts for the period 1980/81–2014/15 (1950/51–2014/15); which shows that ENSO played a dominant role in creating skillful predictions for CSWA wintertime precipitation in recent years.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 705-722
Author(s):  
Massimo Vidale ◽  
Nasir Eskandari ◽  
Mojgan Shafiee ◽  
Irene Caldana ◽  
Francois Desset

A fragmentary large chlorite vessel of the Halil Rud valley civilization (Kerman, Iran, mid third millennium bc), found in unknown circumstances and recently recovered by the police forces of Iran, is discussed in the wider scenario of coeval animal iconographies of middle and southwest Asia. Beginning from the imagery carved in the two superimposed friezes of the reassembled fragments, we review the different theoretical approaches in interpretation of similar animal iconography. The figuration of the vessel is interpreted as a scene of the scavenging of bovine carcasses by three different animal actors: lions and birds of prey/vultures, but also hyenas—a subject previously unknown in the art of the reference regions. Following a review of the interrelations of these species in scavenging and with humans, particularly in the coeval context of domestic animal exploitation and developing urban settlement, we investigate the potential semantic implications of the iconography in terms of the symbolism and ideology in the social context.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document