Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-glrdx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-30T15:16:09.592Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Record of Holocene Climate Change from Lake Geochemical Analyses in Southeastern Arabia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Adrian G. Parker ,
Andrew S. Goudie ,
Stephen Stokes ,
Kevin White ,
Martin J. Hodson ,
Michelle Manning  and
Derek Kennet
Adrian G. Parker*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Oxford Brookes University, Headington, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK
Andrew S. Goudie
Affiliation:
School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TB, UK
Stephen Stokes
Affiliation:
School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TB, UK
Kevin White
Affiliation:
Landscape and Landform Research Group, Department of Geography, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AB, UK
Martin J. Hodson
Affiliation:
School of Biological and Molecular Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Headington, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK
Michelle Manning
Affiliation:
School of Biological and Molecular Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Headington, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK
Derek Kennet
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: +44 1865 483937. E-mail address:agparker@brookes.ac.uk (A.G. Parker).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

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. The late glacial/Holocene transition of the region was characterised by the development of mega-linear dunes. These dunes became stabilised and vegetated during the early Holocene and interdunal lakes formed in response to the incursion of the IOM at approximately 8500 cal yr BP with the development of C3 dominated savanna grasslands. The IOM weakened ca. 6000 cal yr BP with the onset of regional aridity, aeolian sedimentation and dune reactivation and accretion. Despite this reduction in precipitation, the lake was maintained by winter dominated rainfall. There was a shift to drier adapted C4 grasslands across the dune field. Lake sediment geochemical analyses record precipitation minima at 8200, 5000 and 4200 cal yr BP that coincide with Bond events in the North Atlantic. A number of these events correspond with changes in cultural periods, suggesting that climate was a key mechanism affecting human occupation and exploitation of this region.

Keywords

ArabiaArchaeologyGeochemistryHoloceneLake levelsAbrupt climate change

Information

Type
Special Issue Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 66 , Issue 3 , November 2006 , pp. 465 - 476
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Alley, R.E., Mayewski, P.A., Sowers, T., Stuiver, M., Taylor, K.C., and Clark, P.U. Holocene climate instability: a prominent, widespread event 8200 yr ago. Geology 25, (1997). 483–486.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arz, H.W., Lamy, F., Pätzold, J., Müller, P.J., and Prins, M. Mediterranean moisture source for an early-Holocene humid period in the northern Red Sea. Science 300, (2003). 118–121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bar-Matthews, M., Ayalon, A., and Kaufman, A. Late Quaternary paleoclimate in the eastern Mediterranean region from stable isotope analysis of speleothems at Soreq Cave, Israel. Quaternary Research 47, (1997). 155–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, G., Showers, W., Cheseby, M., Lotti, R., Almasi, P., deMenocal, P., Priore, P., Cullen, H., Hadjas, I., and Bonani, G. A pervasive millennial-scale cycle in North Atlantic Holocene and glacial climates. Science 278, (1997). 1257–1265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boucharlet, R., and Lombard, P. The Oasis of Al Ain in the Iron Age: excavations at Rumeilah 1981–1983. Survey at Hili 14. Archaeology in the United Arab Emirates 4, (1985). 44–73.Google Scholar
Boucharlet, R., Dalongeville, R., Hesse, A., and Millet, M. Occupation humaine et environment au 5e et au 4e millenie sur la Côte Sharjah-Umm al Qaiwain (UAE). Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 2, (1991). 93–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bray, H.E., and Stokes, S. Chronologies for Late Quaternary barchan dune reactivation in the southeastern Arabian Peninsula. Quaternary Science Reviews 22, (2003). 1027–1033.Google Scholar
Burns, S.J., Matter, A., Frank, N., and Mangini, A. Speleothem-based palaeoclimate record from northern Oman. Geology 26, (1998). 499–502.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, R. The Wadi Suq Period in Southeast Arabia: a reappraisal in the light of excavations at Kalba, U.A.E. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 27, (1997). 87–98.Google Scholar
Cleuziou, S. Oman in the early second millennium BC. Härtl, H. South Asian Archaeology 1979. Papers from the 5th International Conference of the Association of South Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe. Berlin (1981). 279–293.Google Scholar
Cleuziou, S. Excavations at Hili 8: a preliminary report on the 4th to 7th campaigns. Archaeology in the United Arab Emirates 5, (1989). 61–87.Google Scholar
Cullen, H.M., deMenocal, P.B., Hemming, S., Hemming, G., Brown, F.H., Guilderson, T., and Sirocko, F. Climate change and the collapse of the Akkadian Empire: evidence from the deep-sea. Geology 28, (2000). 379–382.Google Scholar
Dalongeville, R., de Medwecki, V., and Sanlaville, P. Évolution du piédmont occidental de l'Oman depuis le Pléistocène supérieur. 116e Cong. Nat. Soc. Sav. vol. 252, (1991). PICG, Chambrey, Déserts. 93–115.Google Scholar
deMenocal, P., Ortiz, J., Guilderson, T., Sarnthein, M., Baker, L., and Yarunsinsky, M. Abrupt onset and termination of the African Humid Period: rapid climate responses to gradual insolation forcing. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, (2000). 347–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enzel, Y., Ely, L.L., Mishra, S., Ramesh, R., Amit, R., Lazar, B., Rajaguru, S.N., Baker, V.R., and Sandler, A. High-resolution Holocene environmental changes in the Thar desert, northwestern India. Science 284, (1999). 125–128.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Enzel, Y., Bookman, R., Sharon, D., Haim, G., Dayan, U., Ziv, B., and Stein, M. Late Holocene climates of the Near East deduced from Dead Sea level variations and modern regional winter rainfall. Quaternary Research 60, (2003). 263–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eugster, H.P., and Hardie, L.A. Saline Lakes. Lerman, A. Lakes; Chemistry, Geology, Physics. (1978). Springer-Verlag, New York, NY. 237–293.Google Scholar
Fleitman, D., Burns, S.J., Mudelsee, M., Neff, U., Kramers, J., Mangini, A., and Matter, A. Holocene forcing of the Indian monsoon recorded in a stalactite from southern Oman. Science 300, (2003). 1737–1739.Google Scholar
Garcia Antón, M., and Sainz Ollero, H. Étude palynologique menée dans le secteur de Mleiha. Mouton, M. Mleiha I: Environments, stratégies de subsistence et artisanats. (1999). Travaux de la maison de L'Orient Méditerranéan No 29, Lyon. 83–87.Google Scholar
Gasse, F., and Van Campo, E. Abrupt post-glacial climatic events in West Africa and North Africa monsoon domains. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 126, (1994). 435–456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gebel, H.G., Hanss, C., Liebau, A., and Raehle, W. The Late Quaternary environments of ‘Ain al-Faidha/Al-‘Ain, Abu Dhabi Emirate. Archaeology in the United Arab Emirates 5, (1989). 9–48.Google Scholar
Goudie, A.S., Parker, A.G., White, K., Al-Farraj, A., and Bull, P. Desert Loess in Ras al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. Journal of Arid Environments 46, (2000). 123–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goudie, A., Parker, A., and Al-Farraj, A. Coastal change in Ras al Khaimah (United Arab Emirates): a cartographic analysis. Geographical Journal 166, (2000). 14–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goudie, A.S., Colls, A., Stokes, S., Parker, A.G., White, K., and Al-Farraj, A. Latest Pleistocene dune construction at the north-eastern edge of the Rub al Khali, United Arab Emirates. Sedimentology 47, (2000). 1011–1021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gupta, A., Anderson, D.M., and Overpeck, J.T. Abrupt changes in the Asian southwest monsoon during the Holocene and their links to the North Atlantic Ocean. Nature 421, (2003). 354–356.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hadley, D.G., Brouwers, E.M., and Bown, T.M. Quaternary paleodunes, Arabian Gulf coast, Abu Dhabi Emirate: age and palaeoenvironmental evolution. Alshahan, A.S., Glennie, K.W., Whittle, G.L., and Kendall, G.G.St.C. Quaternary Deserts and Climatic Change. (1998). Balkema, Rotterdam. 123–139.Google Scholar
Ishida, S., Parker, A.G., Kennet, D., and Hodson, M.J. Phytolith analysis from the archaeological site of Kush, Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. Quaternary Research 59, (2003). 310–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennet, D. Kush: a Sasanian and Islamic-period archaeological tell in Ras al Khaimah (U.A.E.). Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 8, (1997). 284–302.Google Scholar
Lambeck, K. Shoreline reconstructions for the Persian Gulf since the last glacial maximum. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 142, (1996). 43–57.Google Scholar
Lemcke, G., and Sturm, M. δ 18O and trace element measurements as proxy for the reconstruction of climate changes at Lake Van (Turkey): preliminary results. Dalfes, N., Kukla, G., and Weiss, H. Third Millennium BC Climate Change and Old World Collapse. (1997). Berlin, Springer. 653–678.Google Scholar
Leuschner, D.C., and Sirocko, F. Orbital insolation forcing of the Indian Monsoon—A motor for global climate change?. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 197, (2003). 83–95.Google Scholar
Lézine, A., Saliège, J., Robert, C., Wertz, F., and Inizan, M. Holocene lakes from Ramlat as-Sab'atayn (Yemen) illustrate the impact of monsoon activity in southern Arabia. Quaternary Research 50, (1998). 290–299.Google Scholar
Lückge, A., Doose-Rolinski, H., Khan, A.A., Schulz, H., and Von Rad, U. Monsoonal variability in the northeastern Arabian Sea during the past 5000 years: geochemical evidence from laminated sediments. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 167, (2001). 273–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magee, P. The chronology of the southeast Arabian Iron Age. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 7, (1996). 240–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magee, P. Settlement patterns, polities and regional complexity in the southeast Arabian Iron Age. Paléorient 24, (1999). 49–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magee, P. New chronometric data defining the Iron Age II in south-eastern Arabia. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 33, (2003). 1–10.Google Scholar
Magee, P. The impact of southeast Arabian intra-regional trade on settlement location and organization during the Iron Age II period. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 15, (2004). 24–42.Google Scholar
Magee, P., and Carter, R. Agglomeration and diversification: Southeastern Arabia between 1400 and 1100 BC. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 10, (1999). 161–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magee, P., Thompson, E., Mackay, A., Kottaras, P., and Weeks, L. Further evidence of desert settlement complexity: report on the 2001 excavations at the Iron Age site of Muweilah, Emirate of Sharjah UAE. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 13, (2002). 133–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClure, H.A. Radiocarbon chronology of late Quaternary lakes in the Arabian desert. Nature 263, (1976). 755 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neff, U., Burns, S.J., Mangini, A., Mudelsee, M., Fleitmann, D., and Matter, A. Strong coherence between solar variability and the monsoon in Oman between 9 and 6 kyr ago. Nature 411, (2001). 290–293.Google Scholar
Parker, A.G., (1995). Late Quaternary Environmental change in the Upper Thames basin, Central-southern England.. Unpublished D.Phil thesis, University of Oxford, .Google Scholar
Parker, A.G., Eckersley, L., Smith, M.M., Goudie, A.S., Stokes, S., White, K., and Hodson, M.J. Holocene vegetation dynamics in the northeastern Rub' al-Khali desert, Arabian Peninsula: a pollen, phytolith and carbon isotope study. Journal of Quaternary Science 19, (2004). 665–676.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petraglia, M.D., and Alsharekh, A. The Middle Palaeolithic in Arabia: implications for modern human origins, behaviour and dispersals. Antiquity 77, (2003). 671–684.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Potts, D. The Arabian Gulf in Antiquity, vol. 1. From Prehistory to the Fall of the Achaemenid Empire. (1990). Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Potts, D.T. The Arabian Gulf in Antiquity. (1990). Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Potts, D. The late prehistoric, protohistoric, and early historic periods in eastern Arabia (ca. 5000–1200 BC). Journal of World Prehistory 7, (1993). 163–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, J. The question of Upper Pleistocene connections between East Africa and South Arabia. Current Anthropology 45, (2004). 551–555.Google Scholar
Rose, J. New evidence for the expansion of an Upper Pleistocene population out of East Africa. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 14, (2004). 205–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, J., (2006). Among Arabian sands: defining the Palaeolithic of South Arabia.. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Southern Methodist University, Dallas.Google Scholar
Schultz, E., and Whitney, J.W. Upper Pleistocene and Holocene lakes in the An Nafud, Saudi Arabia. Hydrobiologia 143, (1986). 175–190.Google Scholar
Sinha, R., and Smykatz-Kloss, W. Thermal characterization of lacustrine dolomites from the Sambhar Lake playa, Thar desert, India. Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry 71, (2003). 739–750.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Staubwasser, M., Sirocko, F., Grootes, P.M., and Erlenkeuser, H. South Asian monsoon climate change and radiocarbon in the Arabian Sea during the early and mid Holocene. Paleoceanography 17, (2002). 1063 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/200PA000608Google Scholar
Staubwasser, M., Sirocko, F., Grootes, P.M., and Segl, M. Climate change at the 4.2 ka BP termination of the Indus valley civilisation and Holocene south Asian monsoon variability. Geophysical Research Letters 30, (2003). 1425 1029/2002GLO016822 Google Scholar
Staubwasser, M., in press. An Overview of Holocene South Asian Monsoon Records—Monsoon Domains and Regional Contrasts. Journal of the Geological Society of India, .Google Scholar
Thompson, R., and Oldfield, F. Environmental Magnetism. (1986). Allen and Unwin, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Totland, M., Jarvis, I., and Jarvis, K.E. Assessment of dissolution techniques for the analysis of geological samples by plasma spectrometry. Chemical Geology 95, (1992). 35–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uerpmann, M. Structuring the Late Stone Age of southeastern Arabia. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 3, (1992). 65–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uerpmann, M. The Dark Millennium—Remarks on the final Stone Age in the Emirates and Oman. Potts, D., al-Naboodah, H., Hellyer, P. Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Archaeology of the U.A.E. London (2002). 74–81.Google Scholar
Uerpmann, M., and Uerpmann, H.P. Ubaid pottery in the eastern Gulf—New evidence from Umm al-Qaiwain (UAE). Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 7, (1996). 125–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Velde, C. Wadi Suq and Late Bronze age in the Oman Peninsula. Potts, D., al-Naboodah, H., Hellyer, P. Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates Proceedings of the first International Conference on the Archaeology of the U.A.E. London (2003). 102–113.Google Scholar
Vogt, B. In search for coastal sites in prehistoric Makkan: mid-Holocene “shell eaters” in the coastal desert of Ras al Khaimah, UAE. Kenoyer, J.M. From Summer to Meluhha. Wisconsin Archaeological report No. 3. (1994). 113–128.Google Scholar
Von Rad, U., Schaaf, M., Michels, K.H., Schulz, H., Berger, W.H., and Sirocko, F. A 5000-yr record of climate change in varved sediments from the oxygen minimum zone off Pakistan, Northeastern Arabian Sea. Quaternary Research 51, (1999). 39–53.Google Scholar
Walden, J., Smith, J.P., and Dackcombe, R.V. Mineral magnetic analyses as a means of lithostratigraphic correlation and provenance indication of glacial diamicts: intra- and inter- unit variation. Journal of Quaternary Science 7, (1992). 257–270.Google Scholar
Weeks, L. Early Metallurgy of the Persian Gulf: Technology, Trade, and the Bronze Age World. American School of Prehistoric Research Monograph Series. (2004). Brill Academic Publishers, Google Scholar
White, K., Goudie, A.S., Parker, A.G., and al-Farraj, A. Mapping the geochemistry of the northern Rub′ al Khali using multispectral remote sensing techniques. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 26, (2001). 735–748.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, G.M., and Nesbitt, H.W. Processes controlling the distribution of Ti and Al in weathering profiles, siliclastic sediments and sedimentary rocks. Journal of Sedimentary Research 63, (1998). 448–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar