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The Prehistoric Fishers and Gatherers of the Northern and Western Coasts of the Arabian Sea

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The Arabian Seas: Biodiversity, Environmental Challenges and Conservation Measures

Abstract

This chapter is a review of the prehistory of the fisher-gatherers who settled along the coasts of the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman. Previous research and studies have been centred mainly on the western coasts of the Indian Ocean. They have presented and discussed the general patterns and chronological frame of the coastal human adaptation since the early Holocene, and the recurrent presence of shell middens located close to mangrove environments. More recent research has been focussed on the northern shores of the Arabian Sea. From this region we have new evidence of the presence of fisher-gatherers communities that seasonally settled along the ancient coastline and islands of south-western Sindh and Las Bela (Balochistan) since the end of the eighth millennium BP indicating that early navigation already took place in that period. According to the archaeological evidence, the subsistence activities of these human groups were varied though seasonally based mainly on fishing and shellfish gathering. Broadly speaking marine and mangrove resources were widespread exploited along the two coasts of the Arabian Sea during favourable, well-defined periods of coastal adaptation following the varied environmental conditions and sea-level changes that took place since the beginning of the Holocene.

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Acknowledgements

This chapter has been written with the aid of an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) grant, with thanks. The authors are very grateful to all the colleagues and students who took part in the Italian Archaeological Missions in the Sultanate of Oman and Sindh and Las Bela (Pakistan) since the mid-1980s.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Asian and North African Studies, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy

    Paolo Biagi & Renato Nisbet

  2. Department of Civilizations and Forms of Knowledge, Pisa University, Pisa, Italy

    Elisabetta Starnini

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  1. Paolo Biagi
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  2. Renato Nisbet
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  3. Elisabetta Starnini
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Correspondence to Paolo Biagi .

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    Laith A. Jawad

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Biagi, P., Nisbet, R., Starnini, E. (2021). The Prehistoric Fishers and Gatherers of the Northern and Western Coasts of the Arabian Sea. In: Jawad, L.A. (eds) The Arabian Seas: Biodiversity, Environmental Challenges and Conservation Measures. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51506-5_3

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