The PalaeoEnvironments and ARchaeological Landscapes (PEARL) project: Recent findings from Neolithic sites in Northern Oman
About: This article is published in Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy.The article was published on 2020-01-14. It has received 2 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Pearl & Excavation.
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TL;DR: The Geocultural Database of Southeast Arabia as discussed by the authors is an open-access database on Quaternary palaeoenvironmental (QP) sites in this region, created as a comprehensive inventory of regional QP sites and a tool to analyse QP records and archaeological records.
Abstract: Quaternary palaeoenvironmental (QP) sites in Southeast Arabia are important not only to understand the history of global climate change but also to study how ancient humans adapted to a changing natural environment. These sites, however, are currently missing from conservation frameworks despite reports of destroyed sites and sites under imminent threat. This study presents the Geocultural Database of Southeast Arabia, the first open-access database on QP sites in this region, created as a comprehensive inventory of regional QP sites and a tool to analyse QP records and archaeological records. The endangerment assessment of QP sites in this database reveals that 13% of QP sites have already been destroyed and 15% of them are under imminent threat of destruction, primarily due to urban development and infrastructure development. Chronological and spatial analyses of QP and archaeological sites and records highlight the intricate relationship between palaeoenvironment and archaeology and emphasise the need for sub-regional-scale studies to understand the variation of climatic conditions within the region, especially to study changes in the ancient human demography. This database illustrates the potential of a geocultural approach that combines archaeological heritage with Quaternary geoheritage as a way forward for the conservation of QP sites at risk.
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TL;DR: In this article , a study of sediment-filled karst-depressions with lithic scatters at the inner side of the Jebel Kawr on the southern slope of the mountain chain (Kawr Exotic) is presented.
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TL;DR: In this article, high-resolution oxygen isotope (δ18O) profiles of Holocene stalagmites from four caves in Northern and Southern Oman and Yemen (Socotra) provide detailed information on fluctuations in precipitation along a latitudinal transect from 12°N to 23°N.
885 citations
TL;DR: The Semail ophiolite in the Oman Mountains is the world-9s largest and best preserved thrust sheet of oceanic crust and upper mantle (>10 000 km 2, ∼550 km long, ∼150 km wide); it was emplaced onto the Arabian continental margin during Late Cretaceous time.
Abstract: The Semail ophiolite in the Oman Mountains is the world9s largest and best preserved thrust sheet of oceanic crust and upper mantle (>10 000 km 2 , ∼550 km long, ∼150 km wide); it was emplaced onto the Arabian continental margin during Late Cretaceous time. The ophiolite originated 96–94 Ma at a spreading center above a northeast-dipping subduction zone associated with initiation of immature island-arc tholeiitic lavas (Lasail arc) at the highest levels of the ophiolite. Simultaneous underthrusting of Triassic (and Jurassic[?]) mid-oceanic-ridge basalt and alkalic volcanic rocks beneath >12 km of upper mantle depleted harzburgites produced garnet + clinopyroxene amphibolites formed at temperatures of ∼850 °C, dated as 95–93 Ma. Subduction cannot have been initiated at a mid-oceanic ridge, otherwise the protolith of the amphibolites in the metamorphic sole would be the same age and composition as the ophiolite volcanic rocks above. In the northern part of the Oman Mountains in the Bani Hamid area, United Arab Emirates, ∼870 m of granulite facies rocks (enstatite + spinel ± diopside quartzites, garnet + diopside + wollastonite calc-silicate marbles, clinopyroxene-bearing amphibolites) were formed at temperatures similar to those of the garnet + diopside amphibolites of the Oman sole, 800–850 °C, but at slightly higher pressures, as much as 9 kbar. They are interpreted as deeper level metamorphosed continental margin sedimentary rocks exhumed by out-of-sequence thrusting placing granulites over mantle sequence harzburgites during the later stages of obduction. Subduction of the Arabian continental crust beneath the obducting Semail ophiolite to ∼78–90 km depth has been proven by thermobarometry of the As Sifah eclogites (to 20–23 kbar) in the eastern sector. In the United Arab Emirates the subducted continental crust began to partially melt, producing unusual biotite ± muscovite ± garnet ± tourmaline ± cordierite ± andalusite–bearing granites that intrude the uppermost mantle sequence harzburgites and lowermost crustal sequence cumulate gabbros of the ophiolite. We suggest that the entire leading (northeast) edge of the Arabian plate was subducted beneath the ophiolite during the final stages of obduction leading to eclogitization of the crustal rocks. Higher temperatures and pressures in the United Arab Emirates sector, possibly due to a thicker or double-thickness ophiolite section, led to blueschist, amphibolite, and granulite facies conditions in the metamorphic sole, and crustal melting in the subophiolite basement produced leucocratic granites that intruded up as dikes through the obducted ophiolite. A model for ophiolite obduction is presented, which accounts for all the structural and metamorphic conditions reported from the Oman Mountains.
407 citations
TL;DR: Lacustrine sediments from southeastern Arabia reveal variations in lake level corresponding to changes in the strength and duration of Indian Ocean Monsoon (IOM) summer rainfall and winter cyclonic rainfall as discussed by the authors.
227 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the characteristics of rainfall in the Sultanate of Oman using data recorded between 1977 and 2003, and divided the data into six geomorphic compartments to represent the various topographic regions in Oman.
Abstract: Analysis of variation of rainfall in space, time and amounts, and its attendant effect on the ecosystem is vital in arid and semi-arid environments where the resource is scare, highly variable and unpredictable. In this study, we analyse the characteristics of rainfall in the Sultanate of Oman using data recorded between 1977 and 2003. The data is divided into six geomorphic compartments to represent the various topographic regions in Oman. The average yearly rainfall varies from a low of 76.9 mm in the interior region to a high of 181.9 mm in the Dhofar Mountains, with an average of 117.4 mm for the whole country. Mann–Kendall statistics show a negative but insignificant rainfall trends for the datasets. In northern Oman, the main rainfall season occurs between December and April and that accounts for 57.8–82.9% of the annual rainfall. February and March record the highest rainfall accounting for 35.3 to 42% of the yearly rainfall. The Dhofar Mountains and surrounding areas in southern Oman are dominated by the khareef season in July–August, which produces 44.3 to 67.5% of the rainfall in that area. The number of days of light rainfall ( 100 mm rainfall per day) approximately every 50 years. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society
201 citations
01 Jul 2010
TL;DR: Paleohydrological and archaeological evidence from the Southern and South Eastern Arabian Peninsula reveal strong relations between phases of human settlements and climate change linked to the Indian monsoon system as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Paleohydrological and archaeological evidence from the Southern and SouthEastern Arabian Peninsula reveal strong relations between phases of human settlements and climate change linked to the Indian monsoon system. During the early to mid-Holocene, large freshwater lakes extended in the lowland deserts of Ramlat as-Sab'atayn (Yemen) and Wahiba Sands (Oman), which were very similar to those occurring in the North, in the Rub' al-Khali (Saudi Arabia), at that time. Many archaeological sites, characterized by scattered stone artefacts, ostrich-eggshells and bones around hearths, are related to this lacustrine phase, which culminated around 10 000–8000 cal yr B.P. in the lowland deserts before the lakes progressively dried up. The last record of freshwater bodies' extensions date back 7300 cal yr B.P. at Shabwa (Yemen) and 7500 cal yr B.P. at al-Haid (Oman). Then, freshwater was probably available only from seasonal runoff from adjacent highlands, where paleolakes persisted into the late Holocene. Dry climate conditions in the inland desert of Yemen during the late Holocene coincide with a phase of intensive human inhabitation as testified by development of irrigation in the piedmontane areas, numerous necropolises of built collective burials and houses.
68 citations