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Radiocarbon‐Inferred Population Trajectories for Southeastern Arabia During the Bronze Age

Bibliographic Data

ID6415451
AuthorsJames Ted Mcdonald (Durham University, corresponding author), James R P McDonald (0009-0008-1320-8456, University of Durham Durham UK)
Year2025
Volume36
Issue1
Pages24-38
Publication date2025-09-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueArabian archaeology and epigraphy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0905-7196 • E-ISSN: 1600-0471
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/aae.70005
OpenAlexW4414218896
LanguageEN
References cited94

This paper builds on previous attempts to estimate radiocarbon‐inferred population trends—although in Arabia, these attempts are few. A probabilistic reconstruction of Bronze Age (3200–1300 cal BC ) demographic trends using a new data set of radiocarbon rates from across the Arabian Peninsula ( n = 1280) is presented and a subset of dates ( n = 288) from the Southeast (Oman and United Arab Emirates) is used. Using two different Bayesian modelling techniques to estimate growth rates, their changepoint and general fluctuations are assessed. The results from both models, although disagreeing about the magnitude of these trends, show clear evidence for steady and continual growth until the mid‐Early Bronze Age. This is followed by a decline before the end of the third millennium, then growth until a peak in the Middle Bronze Age, before significant decline in the Late Bronze Age. These results are interpreted and contextualised in relation to possible drivers, including adaptions to climate and environmental changes, shifts in subsistence economies, increasing maritime and terrestrial trade, and the combination of long‐term sedentary and mobile lifeways

Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

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