"The recovery at Shi’bat Dihya 1 (SD1) of a dense Middle Paleolithic human occupation dated to 55... more "The recovery at Shi’bat Dihya 1 (SD1) of a dense Middle Paleolithic human occupation dated to 55 ka BP sheds new light on the role of the Arabian Peninsula at the time of the alleged expansion of modern humans out of Africa. SD1 is part of a complex of Middle Paleolithic sites cut by the Wadi Surdud and
interstratified within an alluvial sedimentary basin in the foothills that connect the Yemeni highlands with the Tihama coastal plain. A number of environmental proxies indicate arid conditions throughout a sequence that extends between 63 and 42 ka BP. The lithic industry is geared toward the production of a variety of end products: blades, pointed blades, pointed flakes and Levallois-like flakes with long unmodified cutting edges, made from locally available rhyolite. The occasional exploitation of other local raw materials, that fulfill distinct complementary needs, highlights the multi-functional nature of the occupation. The slightly younger Shi’bat Dihya 2 (SD2) site is characterized by a less elaborate production of flakes, together with some elements (blades and pointed flakes) similar to those found at SD1, and may indicate a cultural continuity between the two sites. The technological behaviors of the SD1 toolmakers present similarities with those documented from a number of nearly contemporaneous assemblages from southern Arabia, the Levant, the Horn of Africa and North Africa. However, they do not directly conform to any of the techno-complexes typical of the late Middle Paleolithic or late Middle Stone Age from these regions. This period would have witnessed the development of local Middle Paleolithic traditions in the Arabian Peninsula, which suggests more complex settlement dynamics and possible
population interactions than commonly inferred by the current models of modern human expansion out of Africa."
"The Arabian Peninsula has long been considered as a region devoid of long-term human settlement ... more "The Arabian Peninsula has long been considered as a region devoid of long-term human settlement until
the Holocene period, as a result of drastic climatic changes throughout the Pleistocene. It might be
expected that the area was deserted during hyper-arid and arid periods, and populated by new migrant
groups during humid events, according to a “push and pull” phenomenon. Although this scenario may be
perfectly valid for a large part of the Peninsula, a set of recent data points to the persistence of populations
in several regions, which may have served as refugia for human groups who developed their
own technological traditions. Such a scenario is suggested by:
(1) The succession of dense human occupations under arid conditions between ca. 60 and 50 ka, in the
Wadi Surdud basin, a small sedimentary basin in the foothills of the Yemeni Western Highlands. This
archaeological site complex encompasses several successive human settlements characterized by
a Middle Paleolithic tradition which significantly differs from the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone
Age contemporaneous traditions from neighboring regions;
(2) The regional diversity of the Middle Paleolithic throughout the Saharo-Arabian arid belt duringMIS
3, expressed by an array of local techno-typological facies that likely relate to distant and disconnected
source regions where populations contracted when climate worsened.
Together with a set of high-resolution archaeological contexts recently discovered in the Arabian
Peninsula and dated to MIS 5, these data suggest that the major human expansion waves which occurred
in the region during the Upper Pleistocene are correlated with the wet phases of MIS 5, while populations
probably contracted into a few refugia areas at the beginning of MIS 3."
"The recovery at Shi’bat Dihya 1 (SD1) of a dense Middle Paleolithic human occupation dated to 55... more "The recovery at Shi’bat Dihya 1 (SD1) of a dense Middle Paleolithic human occupation dated to 55 ka BP sheds new light on the role of the Arabian Peninsula at the time of the alleged expansion of modern humans out of Africa. SD1 is part of a complex of Middle Paleolithic sites cut by the Wadi Surdud and
interstratified within an alluvial sedimentary basin in the foothills that connect the Yemeni highlands with the Tihama coastal plain. A number of environmental proxies indicate arid conditions throughout a sequence that extends between 63 and 42 ka BP. The lithic industry is geared toward the production of a variety of end products: blades, pointed blades, pointed flakes and Levallois-like flakes with long unmodified cutting edges, made from locally available rhyolite. The occasional exploitation of other local raw materials, that fulfill distinct complementary needs, highlights the multi-functional nature of the occupation. The slightly younger Shi’bat Dihya 2 (SD2) site is characterized by a less elaborate production of flakes, together with some elements (blades and pointed flakes) similar to those found at SD1, and may indicate a cultural continuity between the two sites. The technological behaviors of the SD1 toolmakers present similarities with those documented from a number of nearly contemporaneous assemblages from southern Arabia, the Levant, the Horn of Africa and North Africa. However, they do not directly conform to any of the techno-complexes typical of the late Middle Paleolithic or late Middle Stone Age from these regions. This period would have witnessed the development of local Middle Paleolithic traditions in the Arabian Peninsula, which suggests more complex settlement dynamics and possible
population interactions than commonly inferred by the current models of modern human expansion out of Africa."
"The Arabian Peninsula has long been considered as a region devoid of long-term human settlement ... more "The Arabian Peninsula has long been considered as a region devoid of long-term human settlement until
the Holocene period, as a result of drastic climatic changes throughout the Pleistocene. It might be
expected that the area was deserted during hyper-arid and arid periods, and populated by new migrant
groups during humid events, according to a “push and pull” phenomenon. Although this scenario may be
perfectly valid for a large part of the Peninsula, a set of recent data points to the persistence of populations
in several regions, which may have served as refugia for human groups who developed their
own technological traditions. Such a scenario is suggested by:
(1) The succession of dense human occupations under arid conditions between ca. 60 and 50 ka, in the
Wadi Surdud basin, a small sedimentary basin in the foothills of the Yemeni Western Highlands. This
archaeological site complex encompasses several successive human settlements characterized by
a Middle Paleolithic tradition which significantly differs from the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone
Age contemporaneous traditions from neighboring regions;
(2) The regional diversity of the Middle Paleolithic throughout the Saharo-Arabian arid belt duringMIS
3, expressed by an array of local techno-typological facies that likely relate to distant and disconnected
source regions where populations contracted when climate worsened.
Together with a set of high-resolution archaeological contexts recently discovered in the Arabian
Peninsula and dated to MIS 5, these data suggest that the major human expansion waves which occurred
in the region during the Upper Pleistocene are correlated with the wet phases of MIS 5, while populations
probably contracted into a few refugia areas at the beginning of MIS 3."
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interstratified within an alluvial sedimentary basin in the foothills that connect the Yemeni highlands with the Tihama coastal plain. A number of environmental proxies indicate arid conditions throughout a sequence that extends between 63 and 42 ka BP. The lithic industry is geared toward the production of a variety of end products: blades, pointed blades, pointed flakes and Levallois-like flakes with long unmodified cutting edges, made from locally available rhyolite. The occasional exploitation of other local raw materials, that fulfill distinct complementary needs, highlights the multi-functional nature of the occupation. The slightly younger Shi’bat Dihya 2 (SD2) site is characterized by a less elaborate production of flakes, together with some elements (blades and pointed flakes) similar to those found at SD1, and may indicate a cultural continuity between the two sites. The technological behaviors of the SD1 toolmakers present similarities with those documented from a number of nearly contemporaneous assemblages from southern Arabia, the Levant, the Horn of Africa and North Africa. However, they do not directly conform to any of the techno-complexes typical of the late Middle Paleolithic or late Middle Stone Age from these regions. This period would have witnessed the development of local Middle Paleolithic traditions in the Arabian Peninsula, which suggests more complex settlement dynamics and possible
population interactions than commonly inferred by the current models of modern human expansion out of Africa."
the Holocene period, as a result of drastic climatic changes throughout the Pleistocene. It might be
expected that the area was deserted during hyper-arid and arid periods, and populated by new migrant
groups during humid events, according to a “push and pull” phenomenon. Although this scenario may be
perfectly valid for a large part of the Peninsula, a set of recent data points to the persistence of populations
in several regions, which may have served as refugia for human groups who developed their
own technological traditions. Such a scenario is suggested by:
(1) The succession of dense human occupations under arid conditions between ca. 60 and 50 ka, in the
Wadi Surdud basin, a small sedimentary basin in the foothills of the Yemeni Western Highlands. This
archaeological site complex encompasses several successive human settlements characterized by
a Middle Paleolithic tradition which significantly differs from the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone
Age contemporaneous traditions from neighboring regions;
(2) The regional diversity of the Middle Paleolithic throughout the Saharo-Arabian arid belt duringMIS
3, expressed by an array of local techno-typological facies that likely relate to distant and disconnected
source regions where populations contracted when climate worsened.
Together with a set of high-resolution archaeological contexts recently discovered in the Arabian
Peninsula and dated to MIS 5, these data suggest that the major human expansion waves which occurred
in the region during the Upper Pleistocene are correlated with the wet phases of MIS 5, while populations
probably contracted into a few refugia areas at the beginning of MIS 3."
interstratified within an alluvial sedimentary basin in the foothills that connect the Yemeni highlands with the Tihama coastal plain. A number of environmental proxies indicate arid conditions throughout a sequence that extends between 63 and 42 ka BP. The lithic industry is geared toward the production of a variety of end products: blades, pointed blades, pointed flakes and Levallois-like flakes with long unmodified cutting edges, made from locally available rhyolite. The occasional exploitation of other local raw materials, that fulfill distinct complementary needs, highlights the multi-functional nature of the occupation. The slightly younger Shi’bat Dihya 2 (SD2) site is characterized by a less elaborate production of flakes, together with some elements (blades and pointed flakes) similar to those found at SD1, and may indicate a cultural continuity between the two sites. The technological behaviors of the SD1 toolmakers present similarities with those documented from a number of nearly contemporaneous assemblages from southern Arabia, the Levant, the Horn of Africa and North Africa. However, they do not directly conform to any of the techno-complexes typical of the late Middle Paleolithic or late Middle Stone Age from these regions. This period would have witnessed the development of local Middle Paleolithic traditions in the Arabian Peninsula, which suggests more complex settlement dynamics and possible
population interactions than commonly inferred by the current models of modern human expansion out of Africa."
the Holocene period, as a result of drastic climatic changes throughout the Pleistocene. It might be
expected that the area was deserted during hyper-arid and arid periods, and populated by new migrant
groups during humid events, according to a “push and pull” phenomenon. Although this scenario may be
perfectly valid for a large part of the Peninsula, a set of recent data points to the persistence of populations
in several regions, which may have served as refugia for human groups who developed their
own technological traditions. Such a scenario is suggested by:
(1) The succession of dense human occupations under arid conditions between ca. 60 and 50 ka, in the
Wadi Surdud basin, a small sedimentary basin in the foothills of the Yemeni Western Highlands. This
archaeological site complex encompasses several successive human settlements characterized by
a Middle Paleolithic tradition which significantly differs from the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone
Age contemporaneous traditions from neighboring regions;
(2) The regional diversity of the Middle Paleolithic throughout the Saharo-Arabian arid belt duringMIS
3, expressed by an array of local techno-typological facies that likely relate to distant and disconnected
source regions where populations contracted when climate worsened.
Together with a set of high-resolution archaeological contexts recently discovered in the Arabian
Peninsula and dated to MIS 5, these data suggest that the major human expansion waves which occurred
in the region during the Upper Pleistocene are correlated with the wet phases of MIS 5, while populations
probably contracted into a few refugia areas at the beginning of MIS 3."