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Holocene Obsidian Exchange in the Red Sea Region

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The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia

Part of the book series: Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology ((VERT))

Abstract

Arabia holds a particularly interesting geographic position for our knowledge of population dispersals and exchanges. It occupies the southern end of a peninsula with access to two of the most heavily exploited maritime channels in antiquity as well as to desert routes linking it to the Near East. In addition it is close to the African continent and thus to the birthplace of our human ancestors. Due to its central geographic position, Arabia must be considered as a migration route during different periods of early human prehistory. In the same light, Arabia also cannot be ignored as a major crossroads of inter-continental Holocene human interaction and movement.

Unfortunately, knowledge of the Paleolithic record of Arabia is still in its infancy, as the Pleistocene human fossil record is non-existent and stratified sites are scant as a result of poor preservation, taphonomic processes, and relatively poor research coverage (Amirkhanov, 1997; Petraglia, 2003; Crassard, 2007). These issues are by no means limited to Pleistocene remains, but also affect those of the Early and Middle Holocene which have, in southwest Arabia in particular, suffered a similar fate (Crassard and Khalidi, 2005). As in many regions of the world with a recent history of archaeological investigation, the field of Arabian archaeology is fueled by what is most visible: ancient monuments, the complex societies who built and inscribed them, and the classical texts which evoke them. It is for this reason that one must often tread backward in time to reconstruct the choices that were made by prehistoric people but affecting those very pathways that made ancient history memorable. It is those prehistoric pathways and, particularly, the conduits provided by the Red Sea that will be considered in this chapter from the perspective of obsidian exploitation in the region.

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Acknowledgments

The Central Tihamah Coastal Survey was financed by a Fulbright IIE grant. It is thanks to the Yemeni General Organization for Antiquities and Museums (GOAM), Dr. Krista Lewis, Ahmed al Mosabi and Essam Hamana as well as the logistical support offered by the American Institute for Yemeni Studies, that this fieldwork was made possible. The results presented in this paper would not have been possible without the analysis carried out by Dr. Francaviglia of the CNR-Rome, and the intellectual support and advice of M.-L. Inizan, E. Keall, T. Wilkinson and R. Crassard. Finally, I would like to thank the Centre Français d’Archéologie et de Sciences Sociales de Sana’a (CEFAS), the Centre d’Etudes Préhistoire, Antiquité et Moyen Age (CEPAM-UNSA), the Fyssen Foundation, Dr. C. Oppenheimer, Dr. B. Gratuze, Dr. F. Marshall, and Dr. K. Lewis for their contributions and investment in the future of this project.

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  1. Centre d’Études Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen Age, UMR 6130-CNRS Université de Nice, Sophia Antipolis, 250, rue Albert Einstein, Sophia-Antipolis, F.-06560, Valbonne, France

    Lamya Khalidi

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  1. Leverhulme Centre for Human, University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street 13A, Cambridge, CB2 1QH, United Kingdom

    Michael D. Petraglia

  2. Dept. Anthropology & Geography, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3 0BP, United Kingdom

    Jeffrey I. Rose

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Khalidi, L. (2010). Holocene Obsidian Exchange in the Red Sea Region. In: Petraglia, M., Rose, J. (eds) The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2719-1_19

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