Open Quaternary Journal

Lay summary We used machine learning to reconstruct the past ranges of 65 plant species that were used by prehistoric societies in West Asia around 10,000 years ago, including the ancestors of the first crops. Our results suggest that under the cold, arid conditions of that time these were much less widespread than they are now, and that they became even scarcer just before the emergence of agriculture.

Collection:Human-Environment Interactions in Ancient Arabia Research paper Maria Pia Maiorano Eugenio Bortolini The Early and Middle Holocene (10,000–3,000 BCE) in Southern Arabia witnessed significant climate change and variation in material culture across space and time. This study investigates the potential impact of 1) shifts in population density and 2) climatic fluctuations on the primary drivers of social development and technological innovation in this key timeframe.

Lay Summary In the distant past, the Arabian Peninsula repeatedly experienced climate phases with more rainfall during which lakes and grasslands formed. This allowed mobile, prehistoric groups to ‘walk’ landscapes of the interior that now form deserts as we know them. When at other times the rainfall diminished, the settlers had little choice but to give up their residences, leaving behind traces (stone tools, ceramic sherds, fireplaces etc.).

Research paper Akkaneewut Jirapinyakul Dissaya Sukaudom Chawalit Charoenpong Penjai Sompongchaikul Paramita Punwong Kweku Afrifa Yamoah The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is a key reference point for understanding past climate, but its complexity can lead to ambiguities in scope and interpretation. In this study, we applied a suite of geochemical techniques -XRF, grain size, and pollen analysis- to a well-dated sedimentary sequence from the lower central plain of Thailand.

Introduction This paper explores the role of resource constraints in shaping industrial cycles by assessing the woody biomass carrying capacity of the Northern Omani interior, specifically focusing on Wadi Raki, and the availability of raw materials necessary to sustain copper production. This analysis is based on archaeological evidence from slag heaps, which provide data on the scale and periodicity of past production.

It is not possible, in the present paper, to consider all the metrical data collected, also available in other published works, on the osteological remains belonging to Neolithic, Umm an Naar and Hafit period on the coast, because they are not statistically sufficient.

Introduction Continental sedimentological records are crucial to study the palaeoenvironment and the palaeoclimate of any selected region. In arid environments, continuous sedimentological records (especially of fine sediments) are hard to find because of denudation processes, flash floods and aeolian dynamics which often lead either to the erosion and/or deep burial of ancient soils and sediments.

Introduction Water management is a central issue in the study of human settlements and urban development throughout the ages. Its significance becomes even more pronounced in arid and semi-arid environments. Traditionally, qanats are known throughout the Islamic world from North Africa to the Near and Middle East and are still in operation in many regions.

Collection:Human-Environment Interactions in Ancient Arabia Research paper Hervé Monchot Anaïs Marrast Agata Strzelecka-Misonne The excavations undertaken on the site of Dadan have recovered a very important bone assemblage (more than 167,696 remains), allowing us to reconstruct and better understand the subsistence strategies of the inhabitants in a central part of the al-‘Ula (AlUla) oasis for at least three thousand years.

1. Introduction The ancient oasis of Salūt and Bisya, located near Bahla in central Sultanate of Oman (Figure 1), boasts a remarkable palimpsest of archaeological remains, spanning Southeast (SE) Arabian protohistory from the EBA (c. 2500 BC) to the late pre-Islamic period (pre-Islamic recent = PIR, c. 100 AD) (Degli Esposti 2015; Degli Esposti et al. 2019).