July 25, 2013

Nubian complex site from central Arabia (Crassard & Hilbert 2013)

From the paper:
The palaeoclimatic record of Arabia indicates that three distinct wet phases occurred during MIS 5 [109]. The first of these wet phases occurred between 130 and 125 kya (MIS 5e) and precedes the presence of Nubian technology in Arabia. The two following wet phases, positioned around 100 kya (MIS 5c) and between 80 to 75 kya (MIS 5a) may be viewed as possible windows for the Nubian expansion into and across Arabia (Figure 11).
PLoS ONE 8(7): e69221. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069221

A Nubian Complex Site from Central Arabia: Implications for Levallois Taxonomy and Human Dispersals during the Upper Pleistocene

Rémy Crassard, Yamandú Hieronymus Hilbert

Archaeological survey undertaken in central Saudi Arabia has revealed 29 surface sites attributed to the Arabian Middle Paleolithic based on the presence of Levallois blank production methods. Technological analyses on cores retrieved from Al-Kharj 22 have revealed specific reduction modalities used to produce flakes with predetermined shapes. The identified modalities, which are anchored within the greater Levallois concept of core convexity preparation and exploitation, correspond with those utilized during the Middle Stone Age Nubian Complex of northeast Africa and southern Arabia. The discovery of Nubian technology at the Al-Kharj 22 site represents the first appearance of this blank production method in central Arabia. Here we demonstrate how a rigorous use of technological and taxonomic analysis may enable intra-regional comparisons across the Arabian Peninsula. The discovery of Al-Kharj 22 increases the complexity of the Arabian Middle Paleolithic archaeological record and suggests new dynamics of population movements between the southern and central regions of the Peninsula. This study also addresses the dichotomy within Nubian core typology (Types 1 and 2), which was originally defined for African assemblages.

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1 comment:

eurologist said...

The first of these wet phases occurred between 130 and 125 kya (MIS 5e) and precedes the presence of Nubian technology in Arabia. The two following wet phases, positioned around 100 kya (MIS 5c) and between 80 to 75 kya (MIS 5a) may be viewed as possible windows for the Nubian expansion into and across Arabia.

The first one clearly corresponds to the Levantine finds. So, it will be interesting to see if associated pre-Nubian tools (or better yet, skeletal remains) will eventually be found farther east. There is little reason why these people would not have expanded east, unless heidelbergensis got there (expanded there during favorable climate) first. And there is a second class of tools found in Northern Arabia...

Of the two proposed Nubian expansion dates, the second one seems too late to explain Chinese AMHs, but could be associated with a second expansion (e.g., DE vs. CF dichotomy, Denisovan admixture vs. none, etc.). And of course, the "Denisovan" admixture could have happened with heidelbergensis any non-tropical place in between...