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The “Upper Paleolithic” of South Arabia

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Book cover The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia

Part of the book series: Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology ((VERT))

Abstract

The practice of assigning names to archaeological periods in Arabia is inherently problematic. Just as the Arabian subcontinent is the geographic bridge between Africa and Eurasia; similarly, it is wedged between the bifurcation of Eurasian and African taxonomic schema. This distinction represents separate evolutionary trajectories as expressed in the development of regional lithic technologies. For instance, if we refer to the Arabian “Middle Paleolithic” (MP), we are using a Eurasian name and insinuating closer affinities to this part of the world between 250 and 40 ka, whereas the Arabian “Middle Stone Age” (MSA) presumes a connection to sub-Saharan Africa during a similar interval. This distinction is critical for evaluating the origin and expansion of early modern humans, which predicts linked stone tool technologies on either side of the Red Sea during the Middle and/or Late Stone Age (LSA).

Hence, our use of the term Upper Paleolithic (UP) in reference to South Arabia is no accident. It is a deliberate attempt to highlight closer archaeological affinities with lithic industries found in North Africa and Southwest Asia, rather than sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, a similar connection has already been made based upon Middle and Upper Paleolithic discoveries in Yemen (Delagnes et al., 2008; Crassard, 2009) and the United Arab Emirates (Marks, 2009). For the purposes of this chapter, “Upper Paleolithic” should be considered an archaeological phase, however, since there is so little evidence from this period in Arabia, we cannot presume a temporal range. The apparently wide range of blade technologies in South Arabia (Amirkhanov, 1994, 2006; Delagnes et al., 2008; Crassard, 2009; Marks, 2009) suggests a long-term tradition of linked laminar technologies that spans at least MIS 4 through early MIS 1 (~75–8 ka).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For the purposes of this paper, we define “laminar” as a simple, unidirectional mode of core reduction utilizing one or more working surfaces, with unidirectional-convergent or unidirectional-parallel flakes often removed from an elongated longitudinal axis of the core. This is not necessarily a true prismatic blade technology in the sense of volumetric cores, crested blade production, core maintenance, rejuvenation, etc.

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Acknowledgments

Financial and logistical support for the COPR project comes from the US National Science Foundation and Ministry of Heritage and Culture in Oman. We are particularly grateful to Biubwa al-Sabri, Khamis al-Asmi, and Ali al-Mahrouqi for their invaluable assistance during our fieldwork. Finally, we wish to thank the reviewers of this chapter for their thoughtful and insightful comments.

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  1. Department of Anthropology and Geography, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK

    Jeffrey I. Rose

  2. Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Science, B. Khmelnitsky Street 15, 01030, Kiev-30, Ukraine

    Vitaly I. Usik

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  1. Leverhulme Centre for Human, University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street 13A, Cambridge, CB2 1QH, United Kingdom

    Michael D. Petraglia

  2. Dept. Anthropology & Geography, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3 0BP, United Kingdom

    Jeffrey I. Rose

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Rose, J.I., Usik, V.I. (2010). The “Upper Paleolithic” of South Arabia. In: Petraglia, M., Rose, J. (eds) The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2719-1_13

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