Papers by Abdullah Alsharekh
Archaeological Research in Asia
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Feb 26, 2020
Antiquity
Among the rock art in Arabia, a little-known Neolithic tradition of large, naturalistic camel dep... more Among the rock art in Arabia, a little-known Neolithic tradition of large, naturalistic camel depictions stands out. Their geographic distribution and stylistic traits suggest close links with the Camel Site reliefs. Four newly documented panels appear to have been carved by the same individual (or group), tracing repeated movements over hundreds of kilometres.
SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:D198001 / BLDSC - British Library ... more SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:D198001 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2022
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Sep 27, 2022
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Sep 1, 2021
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
The Camel Site is in the north of Saudi Arabia in the province of al-Jawf. It is characterised by... more The Camel Site is in the north of Saudi Arabia in the province of al-Jawf. It is characterised by three decaying sandstone hillocks with life-sized 3D engravings (or reliefs) of camels and equids likely carved during later prehistory. A survey in the central area of the site identified clusters of flakes and other flintknapping remains in the lower areas between the sandstone spurs and larger silcrete tools directly underneath the animal depictions. Some of these tools presented abraded edges, possibly from prolonged contact with the soft and abrasive sandstone that constitutes the rock spurs where the animals were carved. Experiments were performed to test this hypothesis and have a reference collection for further traceological analysis. The chaine opératoire of the experimental engraving tools, from raw material procurement, tool manufacture and use, reuse and discard, was conducted with locally available materials comparable to the archaeological specimens. Specific experimental...
EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, Apr 1, 2018
Saudi Commisson for Tourism and National Heritage, Mar 23, 2018
Supplementary Information Files for article <br>The nature of human dispersals out of Afric... more Supplementary Information Files for article <br>The nature of human dispersals out of Africa has remained elusive because of the poor resolution of paleoecological data in direct association with remains of the earliest non-African people. Here, we report hominin and non-hominin mammalian tracks from an ancient lake deposit in the Arabian Peninsula, dated within the last interglacial. The findings, it is argued, likely represent the oldest securely dated evidence for Homo sapiens in Arabia. The paleoecological evidence indicates a well-watered semi-arid grassland setting during human movements into the Nefud Desert of Saudi Arabia. We conclude that visitation to the lake was transient, likely serving as a place to drink and to forage, and that late Pleistocene human and mammalian migrations and landscape use patterns in Arabia were inexorably linked.<br>
Supplemental material, Groucutt_et_al_SI_revised_without_track_changes for Monumental landscapes ... more Supplemental material, Groucutt_et_al_SI_revised_without_track_changes for Monumental landscapes of the Holocene humid period in Northern Arabia: The mustatil phenomenon by Huw S Groucutt, Paul S Breeze, Maria Guagnin, Mathew Stewart, Nick Drake, Ceri Shipton, Badr Zahrani, Abdulaziz Al Omarfi, Abdullah M Alsharekh and Michael D Petraglia in The Holocene
The land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula is one of the major routes proposed for hominin dis... more The land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula is one of the major routes proposed for hominin dispersal out of Africa for both Homo erectus and H. sapiens populations, and its neighbouring regions are, therefore, key to understanding these dispersals. Directly adjacent to the land bridge, the Saudi Arabian northern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba coastlines have, until now, been subject to only rapid survey for Palaeolithic archaeology in the 1970s-80s, locating a handful of Palaeolithic artefacts. A twelve-day reconnaissance survey was undertaken by a Saudi-UK team along the northern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba coast in February 2018 for Palaeolithic artefacts, the results of which are presented in this paper. Thirty-four locations were surveyed, across a range of landscape settings, the majority yielding Acheulean and prepared-core technology lithic artefacts, traditionally ascribed to Homo erectus and H. sapiens populations in Arabia respectively. These observations, while descriptive an...
Electa, 2019
I cammelli a grandezza naturale scolpiti con grande ricchezza di particolari a Camel Site presso ... more I cammelli a grandezza naturale scolpiti con grande ricchezza di particolari a Camel Site presso Sakaka (provincia di Jawf) sono un unicum nel Vicino Oriente (fig. 1). A oggi si conoscono dodici rilievi, che raf-figurano almeno dieci cammelli (Camelus dromedarius), tre equidi (probabilmente Equus africanus, Equus africanus asinus o Equus hemionus) e quattro animali non identificati 1. Malgrado l&#39;avanzato stato di erosione di tutti i riquadri, quanto si può ancora apprezzare nella resa delle narici, delle labbra e dei muscoli delle zampe evidenzia una grande attenzione ai dettagli. Il tempo e l&#39;impegno che gli scultori de-dicarono alla realizzazione di questi rilievi monumentali denotano l&#39;importanza che cammelli ed equidi ri-vestivano per le popolazioni preistoriche dell&#39;Arabia. Cammelli e asini addomesticati erano essenziali per la sopravvivenza in quelle regioni ostili e sterili, dove erano impiegati per il trasporto di carichi su lunghe distanze e come fonte di latte e di carne 2 ; dalle opere d&#39;arte rupestre sappiamo anche che i loro antena-ti selvatici erano oggetto di caccia 3. I rilievi del Camel Site raffigurano gli animali allo stato di natura; a tutt&#39;oggi non sono stati riscontrati segni di addomesticamento o di controllo umano, e la figura umana è del tutto assente. La straordinaria abilità nell&#39;uso dell&#39;alto e del basso rilievo e il naturalismo nella resa a grandezza na-turale dei cammelli e degli equidi non hanno eguali nella penisola arabica. Inoltre, considerando l&#39;ubica-zione del Camel Site in una regione culturalmente ricca durante tutta la preistoria, sorprendono la tota-le assenza di iscrizioni coeve e la scarsità di petroglifi di alto genere 4. La posizione e il carattere del sito sollevano alcuni interrogativi: Qual era la funzione o forse il significato simbolico del sito? Chi eseguì i rilievi, e perché non compaiono da nessun&#39;altra parte dell&#39;Arabia? Quali tecniche e quali strumenti furono utilizzati per scolpire questi maestosi animali? Quanto sono antichi i rilievi, e per quanto tempo fu utilizzato il sito? Un interesse particolare rivestono le condizioni attuali del sito, che è minacciato da un’erosione naturale estremamente rapida dell’arenaria: come possiamo mitigare un processo erosivo che sta provocando il distacco di frammenti e che di anno in anno può portare alla perdita di interi rilievi? Lo stato di conservazione è visibilmente precario, e il rischio che questo importante documento dell’arte rupestre vada perduto sul breve periodo è molto grave.
Under the Sea: Archaeology and Palaeolandscapes of the Continental Shelf, 2017
We report on a preliminary exploration of the submerged landscapes in the Saudi Arabian sector of... more We report on a preliminary exploration of the submerged landscapes in the Saudi Arabian sector of the southern Red Sea aboard the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) Research Vessel, AEGAEO, in May-June 2013. The survey sampled areas of the continental shelf down to the shelf margin at ~130 m depth in the vicinity of the Farasan Islands and combined high resolution acoustic techniques with sediment coring to reconstruct features of the now-submerged landscape of potential archaeological significance, including geological structure, topography, palaeoenvironment, and sea-level change. The region is currently of wide interest and significance: to archaeologists because it is currently regarded as one of the primary pathways of dispersal for early human populations expanding out of Africa during the Pleistocene, in which the extensive but now-submerged shelf region may have played a key role; and to marine geoscientists because the Red Sea offers unusual opportunities as a 'laboratory' for investigating Pleistocene sea-level change. Preliminary results
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2021
Studies of modern carnivore accumulations of bone (i.e., neo-taphonomy) are crucial for interpret... more Studies of modern carnivore accumulations of bone (i.e., neo-taphonomy) are crucial for interpreting fossil accumulations in the archaeological and paleontological records. Yet, studies in arid regions have been limited in both number and detailed taphonomic data, prohibiting our understanding of carnivore bone-accumulating and -modifying behavior in dry regions. Here, we present a taphonomic analysis of an impressive carnivore-accumulated bone assemblage from the Umm Jirsan lava tube in the Harrat Khaybar region, Saudi Arabia. The size and composition of the bone accumulation, as well as the presence of hyena skeletal remains and coprolites, suggest that the assemblage was primarily accumulated by striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena). Our findings (1) identify potentially useful criteria for distinguishing between accumulations generated by different species of hyenas; (2) emphasize the need for neo-taphonomic studies for capturing the full variation in carnivore bone-accumulating and mod...
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Papers by Abdullah Alsharekh