Monumental landscapes of the Holocene humid period in Northern Arabia: The mustatil phenomenon.

Autor:	Groucutt HS; Extreme Events Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.; Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany., Breeze PS; Department of Geography, Kings College London, London, UK., Guagnin M; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany., Stewart M; Extreme Events Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.; Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany., Drake N; Department of Geography, Kings College London, London, UK., Shipton C; Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Australia.; Institute of Archaeology, University College London, UK., Zahrani B; Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia., Omarfi AA; Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia., Alsharekh AM; Department of Archaeology, College of Tourism and Archaeology, King Saudi University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia., Petraglia MD; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.; Human Origins Program, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA.; School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	The Holocene [Holocene] 2020 Dec; Vol. 30 (12), pp. 1767-1779. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Aug 17.
DOI:	10.1177/0959683620950449
Abstrakt:	Between 10 and six thousand years ago the Arabian Peninsula saw the most recent of the 'Green Arabia' periods, when increased rainfall transformed this generally arid region. The transition to the Neolithic in Arabia occurred during this period of climatic amelioration. Various forms of stone structures are abundant in northern Arabia, and it has been speculated that some of these dated to the Neolithic, but there has been little research on their character and chronology. Here we report a study of 104 'mustatil' stone structures from the southern margins of the Nefud Desert in northern Arabia. We provide the first chronometric age estimate for this type of structure - a radiocarbon date of ca. 5000 BC - and describe their landscape positions, architecture and associated material culture and faunal remains. The structure we have dated is the oldest large-scale stone structure known from the Arabian Peninsula. The mustatil phenomenon represents a remarkable development of monumental architecture, as hundreds of these structures were built in northwest Arabia. This 'monumental landscape' represents one of the earliest large-scale forms of monumental stone structure construction anywhere in the world. Further research is needed to understand the function of these structures, but we hypothesise that they were related to rituals in the context of the adoption of pastoralism and resulting territoriality in the challenging environments of northern Arabia. (© The Author(s) 2020.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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