Vincent Charpentier
Biographic Data
| ID | 135966 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Vincent Charpentier |
| GIVEN NAMES | Vincent |
| FAMILY NAME | Charpentier |
| SIGNATURE | CHARPENTIER V |
| AFFILIATIONS | Archéologies et Sciences de l’Antiquité |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8133-5931 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 35 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 169 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 35 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1991 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Shell tool technology and new insights into techno-cultural strategies during the Neolithic in Eastern Arabia. An initial case study from Umm al-Quwain (United Arab Emirates)
Backed pieces at Sharbithat SHA-10 (Sultanate of Oman): Technological issues and chronological assessment
Sharbithat 10 (SHA-10) was discovered in 2017 during the first extensive survey of the northern part of the Dhofar region. Located on a vast mesa surrounded by wadi deltaic branches and abundant sources of flint, SHA-10 is characterized by flint scatters, dwellings, and cairns. Initial test trenches revealed a single period stratification sequence, highlighting a rich marine faunal composition and intense flintknapping activity. The fishing equip…
Neolithic stone tool and shell bead production from Maṣīrah and Al‐Ḥallāniyah islands (Oman)
In Oman, many coastal sites dated to the Neolithic have yielded material culture related to ornament manufacture. These sites are the remnants of fishermen occupations, developing an economy mainly based on maritime and mangrove resources. The Omani islands of Maṣīrah and Al‐Ḥallāniyah are both situated in the Arabian Sea. Today, Maṣīrah is located about 20 km from the continent, while Al‐Ḥallāniyah is part of the Khurīyā Murīyā archipelago off t…
Challenging the Late Neolithic cultural horizon of Southern Arabia: The case of Sharbithat 10 (Dhofar, Sultanate of Oman)
Twelve years of the ‘Arabian Seashores’ project: How the extensive investigation of coastal Oman changed the paradigm of the Arabian Neolithic
For over a decade, the French mission ‘Archaeology of the Arabian Seashores’ has been exploring the evolution of the Omani coastline, from hunter–gatherers to the rise of complex societies during the crucial passages from the culmination of the Pleistocene to the Early Bronze Age, passing through the Neolithic. The team extensively surveyed the land spreading from the eastern head of Arabia, Ra's al‐Hadd and Ra's al‐Jinz, to the last villages of …
The latest Neolithic conquest of “new territories” in the Arabian Sea: The Al-Hallaniyat Archipelago (Kuria Muria, Sultanate of Oman)
In southern and south-eastern Arabia, the Neolithic developed between 6500 and 3100 BCE. In the Sultanate of Oman, occupation occurred along wadi banks, around paleolakes, and at large shell-middens accumulated on the shores of the Arabian Sea. Nevertheless, the origins and development of human occupation on the Arabian Sea islands are poorly known, if not totally undocumented. After exploring the archaeological potential of the large island of M…
First dating of a rock painting in Ẓufār (Sultanate of Oman): Low energy plasma oxidation radiocarbon sampling
We successfully measured four radiocarbon dates on two specimens of a black geometric rock painting with a fragment in jeopardy of naturally spalling off in the wall of a rock shelter in the Ẓufār region, in the south of the Sultanate of Oman. Extraction of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) for radiocarbon dating of the binder in the black pigment of the rock painting specimen was conducted in the plasma oxidation laboratory at the Office of Archeological S…
Neolithic long-distance exchanges in Southern Arabia: A supposed road for the ‘Jade’ axes
Intensive exploitation of marine crabs and sea urchins during the middle holocene in the eastern Arabian peninsula offers new perspectives on ancient maritime adaptations
Maritime adaptation is a key component of the Neolithization process in Eastern Arabia. It is expressed by the development of diversified fishing techniques, the exploitation of hard marine animal materials (e.g., seashells, shark teeth, stingray's barbs, etc.) for both tools and personal adornments production, advanced seafaring, and colonization of offshore islands. Although a diet based mainly on the consumption of marine fish and mollusks, th…
Geomorphology of the Jebel Qara and coastal plain of Salalah (Dhofar, southern Sultanate of Oman)
We present the results of the geomorphological mapping of a region of the Dhofar (Sultanate of Oman) including two contrasting physiographic units sharing a common drainage system into the Arabian Sea: the Jebel Qara limestone massif and the coastal plain of Salalah. Neogene to Quaternary tectonic activity controlled the formation of an extensive system of faults and caused the uplift of the Jebel Qara, forming structural escarpments. The massif …
OSL chronology of socio-ecological systems during the mid-Holocene in the eastern coast of the Sultanate of Oman (Arabian Peninsula)
The tooth of a giant sea creature Otodus ( Megaselachus ) in the material culture of Neolithic maritime hunter‐gatherers at Sharbithat (Sultanate of Oman)
A mega‐tooth belonging to a Miocene fossil shark was discovered along the shores of the Arabian Sea inside one of the Neolithic domestic settlements at Sharbithat (SHA‐10) (Sultanate of Oman). Attributed to a representative of the extinct genus Otodus ( Megaselachus ), this tooth is the first ever discovered in the Arabian Peninsula. In the field, research permitted the localization and study, a few kilometres away, of the palaeontological deposi…
The Prehistoric Fisheries of Akab Island (United Arab Emirates): New Insights into Coastal Subsistence during Neolithic in Eastern Arabia
The Neolithic period in Eastern Arabia (especially from 5500 to 3100 BC) is better understood due to recent excavations of stratified sites stretching from Kuwait to the Sultanate of Oman. When oasis agriculture developed from the Bronze Age onwards, herding, shellfish gathering, and fishing became the primary modes of subsistence, and despite strong regional aridity, coastal shell middens provide the best preservation conditions in the Persian G…
A quantitative approach to the study of Neolithic projectile points from south‐eastern Arabia
Lithic projectile points always had an important diagnostic value for documenting the development and expansion of Arabian Neolithic material culture (c. eighth–fourth millennium BC) and subsistence strategies due to the remarkable abundance of surface assemblages. Given the limitations of traditional arrowhead typology for analysing the increasing variability emerging from archaeological research in the region, we propose here a new systematic d…
Sharks in the lagoon? Fishing exploitation at the Neolithic site of Suwayh 1 (Ash Sharqiyah region, Arabian Sea, Sultanate of Oman)
The study of the fish bones from the Neolithic shell midden of Suwayh 1, excavated in the 2000s, identified a total of 1060 identifiable fish bones, from 23 families, 33 genera and 28 different species. Radiocarbon dating demonstrates that the sites date to the early 6th to mid 5th millennium BC. The results follow an eight‐phase chronology highlighted by an earlier malacological study. The most important taxa were the Carcharhinidae (requiem sha…
A Neolithic innovation in eastern Arabia: Haematite axes and adzes
Well before metallurgy, Neolithic societies in the Gulf were engaging in a very peculiar form of metal object production, particularly of axes and adzes made from haematite. In the heart of the Neolithic Middle East, this innovation was specific to Arabian shores between the Musandam and Qatar peninsulas. Quite infrequent among Neolithic lithic assemblages from Arabia, axes and adzes were mostly collected on the surface of domestic settlements. O…
Carnelian, agate, and other types of chalcedony: The prehistory of Jebel al‐Ma'taradh and its semi‐precious stones, Emirate of Ra's al‐Khaimah
The Jebel al‐Ma'taradh and its surroundings contain exceptional deposits of lithic raw materials, including flint and chert, but especially chalcedony, agate, carnelian, and chrysoprase. These deposits were intensively exploited during the Neolithic, and some of the artefacts produced entered the trade network that included settlements on the coast and inland, sometimes as far as 300 km. During earlier periods, probably as early as the Pleistocen…
A multi-proxy analysis of the Holocene humid phase from the United Arab Emirates and its implications for southeast Arabia's Neolithic populations
Early–Middle Holocene environmental changes and pre-Neolithic human occupations as recorded in the cavities of Jebel Qara (Dhofar, southern Sultanate of Oman)
New insights on the first Neolithic societies in the Horn of Africa: The site of Wakrita, Djibouti
The site of Wakrita is a small Neolithic establishment located on a wadi in the tectonic depression of Gobaad in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. The 2005 excavations yielded abundant ceramics that enabled us to define one Neolithic cultural facies of this region, which was also identified at the nearby site of Asa Koma. The faunal remains confirm the importance of fishing in Neolithic settlements close to Lake Abbé, but also the importance of bov…
Archéologie de l’extermination à Sobibor: Dialogue entre deux préhistoriens
Cet entretien développe celui que nous avons amorcé lors d’un épisode du « Salon noir » sur France-Culture. On s’interroge sur les enjeux conservatoires, mémoriels et scientifiques d’une archéologie de la Shoah. On y décèle aussi des fondements émotionnels concernant tous les archéologues dans leur pratique : voilà pourquoi nous témoignons
Games on the seashore of Salalah: The discovery of mancala games in Dhofar, Sultanate of Oman
During the 2013 fieldwork of the French archaeological mission along the shores of the Arabian Sea, mancala games were discovered on the seashore of Salalah at the site of Ad-Dahariz. They are cup-hole carvings made directly into rock slabs and distributed in six distinct zones of the site. They usually consist of fourteen cup-holes aligned in two lines of seven, two supplementary holes being sometimes present on each side. They are the first of …
Back to Fasad… and the PPNB controversy. Questioning a Levantine origin for Arabian Early Holocene projectile points technology
For decades, so‐called Fasad points have been discovered in Oman and the UAE . These lithic projectile points have been until now fossiles directeurs (or defining artefacts) for Early Holocene human occupation prior to the development of the Arabian Neolithic. It appears that many different types of points are described in the literature as Fasad points, but the actual variability of the archaeological discoveries leads to the necessity for reass…
Neolithic material cultures of Oman and the Gulf seashores from 5500–4500 BCE
The coastal sites of the UAE and the Sultanate of Oman in the sixth–fifth millennia BCE share a number of features in their material culture. In addition to lithic techniques, the populations shared particular technologies, such as architecture using load‐bearing pots or the production of specific fishing material and ornaments in shell and mother‐of‐pearl. This corresponds to populations that were already Neolithic, with domestic animals and pra…
The dynamics of mangrove ecosystems, changes in sea level and the strategies of Neolithic settlements along the coast of Oman (6000–3000 cal. BC)
The dynamics of mangrove ecosystems, changes in sea level and the strategies of Neolithic settlements along the coast of Oman (6000–3000 cal. BC)
First evidence of shell fish‐hook technology in the Gulf
The technology of shell fish‐hooks and line fishing is well attested in the coastal areas of the Indian Ocean during the Neolithic period (fifth–fourth millennium BC). Their presence in the coastal area of the Arabian Gulf is now confirmed by new findings from Akab (Umm al‐Qaiwain) and Shimal (Ra's al‐Khaimah) in the United Arab Emirates
Évolution paléogéographique du Ja'alan (Oman) à l'Holocène moyen: Impact Sur l'Évolution Des Paléomilieux Littoraux Et Les Stratégies d'Adaptation Des Communautés Humaines
Les fluctuations climatiques, eustatiques et tectoniques qui ont caractérisé la côte orientale de l'Arabie à l'Holocène moyen ont régulièrement modifié les équilibres entre les populations néolithiques et le milieu littoral. Le bilan des données géoarchéologiques de la région orientale du Ja 'alan (Sultanat d'Oman) indique de nombreuses variations dans la dynamique des écosystèmes côtiers (mer, lagunes, mangroves). Elles nécessitent de la part de…
Sharks in the lagoon? Fishing exploitation at the Neolithic site of Suwayh 1 (Ash Sharqiyah region, Arabian Sea, Sultanate of Oman)
The study of the fish bones from the Neolithic shell midden of Suwayh 1, excavated in the 2000s, identified a total of 1060 identifiable fish bones, from 23 families, 33 genera and 28 different species. Radiocarbon dating demonstrates that the sites date to the early 6th to mid 5th millennium BC. The results follow an eight‐phase chronology highlighted by an earlier malacological study. The most important taxa were the Carcharhinidae (requiem sha…
Un chef est un requin qui voyage par terre »: Fonctions et statuts des armatures de projectile en dent de Carcharhinus leucas et aiguillon caudal de raie dans l’Arabie des VIe‐IIIe millénaires av. not…
During the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, many teeth of large sharks ( Carcharhinus leucas ) and stingray spines were transformed into projectile points in south‐eastern Arabia. These points were probably used for fishing. Deriving from dangerous and/or toxic animals, shark teeth and stingray spines were certainly markers of prestige
Neolithic material cultures of Oman and the Gulf seashores from 5500–4500 BCE
The coastal sites of the UAE and the Sultanate of Oman in the sixth–fifth millennia BCE share a number of features in their material culture. In addition to lithic techniques, the populations shared particular technologies, such as architecture using load‐bearing pots or the production of specific fishing material and ornaments in shell and mother‐of‐pearl. This corresponds to populations that were already Neolithic, with domestic animals and pra…
Hameçons en nacre et limes en pierre d'Océanie et de l'Océan Indien: Analyse d'une tendance
Charpentier Vincent, Méry Sophie. Hameçons en nacre et limes en pierre d'Océanie et de l'Océan Indien : analyse d'une tendance. In: Journal de la Société des océanistes, 105, 1997-2. pp. 147-156
The Prehistoric Fisheries of Akab Island (United Arab Emirates): New Insights into Coastal Subsistence during Neolithic in Eastern Arabia
The Neolithic period in Eastern Arabia (especially from 5500 to 3100 BC) is better understood due to recent excavations of stratified sites stretching from Kuwait to the Sultanate of Oman. When oasis agriculture developed from the Bronze Age onwards, herding, shellfish gathering, and fishing became the primary modes of subsistence, and despite strong regional aridity, coastal shell middens provide the best preservation conditions in the Persian G…
Mangroves of Oman during the late Holocene; climatic implications and impact on human settlements
New insights on the first Neolithic societies in the Horn of Africa: The site of Wakrita, Djibouti
The site of Wakrita is a small Neolithic establishment located on a wadi in the tectonic depression of Gobaad in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. The 2005 excavations yielded abundant ceramics that enabled us to define one Neolithic cultural facies of this region, which was also identified at the nearby site of Asa Koma. The faunal remains confirm the importance of fishing in Neolithic settlements close to Lake Abbé, but also the importance of bov…
A quantitative approach to the study of Neolithic projectile points from south‐eastern Arabia
Lithic projectile points always had an important diagnostic value for documenting the development and expansion of Arabian Neolithic material culture (c. eighth–fourth millennium BC) and subsistence strategies due to the remarkable abundance of surface assemblages. Given the limitations of traditional arrowhead typology for analysing the increasing variability emerging from archaeological research in the region, we propose here a new systematic d…
Twelve years of the ‘Arabian Seashores’ project: How the extensive investigation of coastal Oman changed the paradigm of the Arabian Neolithic
For over a decade, the French mission ‘Archaeology of the Arabian Seashores’ has been exploring the evolution of the Omani coastline, from hunter–gatherers to the rise of complex societies during the crucial passages from the culmination of the Pleistocene to the Early Bronze Age, passing through the Neolithic. The team extensively surveyed the land spreading from the eastern head of Arabia, Ra's al‐Hadd and Ra's al‐Jinz, to the last villages of …
La fouille du campement préhistorique de Ra's al Junayz 37, (RJ 37) - Sultanat d'Oman
La fouille du site préhistorique de RJ37 a révélé deux structures : la première a servi d'aire d'activité technique, la seconde a probablement servi d'aire d'activité domestique. L'outillage lithique, façonné sur des matériaux variés, présente des parallèles étroits avec les industries mises au jour dans le désert des Wahiba
The latest Neolithic conquest of “new territories” in the Arabian Sea: The Al-Hallaniyat Archipelago (Kuria Muria, Sultanate of Oman)
In southern and south-eastern Arabia, the Neolithic developed between 6500 and 3100 BCE. In the Sultanate of Oman, occupation occurred along wadi banks, around paleolakes, and at large shell-middens accumulated on the shores of the Arabian Sea. Nevertheless, the origins and development of human occupation on the Arabian Sea islands are poorly known, if not totally undocumented. After exploring the archaeological potential of the large island of M…
Carnelian, agate, and other types of chalcedony: The prehistory of Jebel al‐Ma'taradh and its semi‐precious stones, Emirate of Ra's al‐Khaimah
The Jebel al‐Ma'taradh and its surroundings contain exceptional deposits of lithic raw materials, including flint and chert, but especially chalcedony, agate, carnelian, and chrysoprase. These deposits were intensively exploited during the Neolithic, and some of the artefacts produced entered the trade network that included settlements on the coast and inland, sometimes as far as 300 km. During earlier periods, probably as early as the Pleistocen…
Pearl fishing in the ancient world: 7500 Bp
The oldest pearl in the world was found in the United Arab Emirates and dates from 7500 BP . Gemmologists and jewellers have popularised the idea that the oldest pearl in the world is the 5000‐year‐old Jomon pearl from Japan. Discoveries made on the shores of south‐eastern Arabia show this to be untrue, as the archaeological pearls that have been found are 2500 years older. In this region, pearls still hold an important place. Indeed, today they …
Intensive exploitation of marine crabs and sea urchins during the middle holocene in the eastern Arabian peninsula offers new perspectives on ancient maritime adaptations
Maritime adaptation is a key component of the Neolithization process in Eastern Arabia. It is expressed by the development of diversified fishing techniques, the exploitation of hard marine animal materials (e.g., seashells, shark teeth, stingray's barbs, etc.) for both tools and personal adornments production, advanced seafaring, and colonization of offshore islands. Although a diet based mainly on the consumption of marine fish and mollusks, th…
Games on the seashore of Salalah: The discovery of mancala games in Dhofar, Sultanate of Oman
During the 2013 fieldwork of the French archaeological mission along the shores of the Arabian Sea, mancala games were discovered on the seashore of Salalah at the site of Ad-Dahariz. They are cup-hole carvings made directly into rock slabs and distributed in six distinct zones of the site. They usually consist of fourteen cup-holes aligned in two lines of seven, two supplementary holes being sometimes present on each side. They are the first of …
A dugong bone mound: The Neolithic ritual site on Akab in Umm al-Quwain, United Arab Emirates
The authors present a remarkable site with a remarkable interpretation: a structured platform of dugong bones, containing skulls laid in parallel and ribs in sets, together with artefacts of the Neolithic period. They propose that the bones have been symbolically arranged and the mound as a whole had a ritual purpose - an interpretation endorsed by analogy with dugong platforms noted in the Torres Strait in recent times
Neolithic long-distance exchanges in Southern Arabia: A supposed road for the ‘Jade’ axes
The tooth of a giant sea creature Otodus ( Megaselachus ) in the material culture of Neolithic maritime hunter‐gatherers at Sharbithat (Sultanate of Oman)
A mega‐tooth belonging to a Miocene fossil shark was discovered along the shores of the Arabian Sea inside one of the Neolithic domestic settlements at Sharbithat (SHA‐10) (Sultanate of Oman). Attributed to a representative of the extinct genus Otodus ( Megaselachus ), this tooth is the first ever discovered in the Arabian Peninsula. In the field, research permitted the localization and study, a few kilometres away, of the palaeontological deposi…
A Neolithic innovation in eastern Arabia: Haematite axes and adzes
Well before metallurgy, Neolithic societies in the Gulf were engaging in a very peculiar form of metal object production, particularly of axes and adzes made from haematite. In the heart of the Neolithic Middle East, this innovation was specific to Arabian shores between the Musandam and Qatar peninsulas. Quite infrequent among Neolithic lithic assemblages from Arabia, axes and adzes were mostly collected on the surface of domestic settlements. O…
Fluting in the Old World: The Neolithic Projectile Points of Arabia
Fluting is a technical process used to thin bifacial projectile points. This operation, which requires a high level of skill, was until now considered as exclusively characteristic of American prehistoric industries, where it nearly always applies to the base of the projectile. The occurrence of this process has recently been documented in the Old World, on certain Neolithic points of Arabia (Oman Sultanate and Yemen). In this region, fluting bea…
La fouille du campement préhistorique de Ra's al Junayz 37, (RJ 37) - Sultanat d'Oman
La fouille du site préhistorique de RJ37 a révélé deux structures : la première a servi d'aire d'activité technique, la seconde a probablement servi d'aire d'activité domestique. L'outillage lithique, façonné sur des matériaux variés, présente des parallèles étroits avec les industries mises au jour dans le désert des Wahiba
Hameçons en nacre et limes en pierre d'Océanie et de l'Océan Indien: Analyse d'une tendance
Charpentier Vincent, Méry Sophie. Hameçons en nacre et limes en pierre d'Océanie et de l'Océan Indien : analyse d'une tendance. In: Journal de la Société des océanistes, 105, 1997-2. pp. 147-156
Mangroves of Oman during the late Holocene; climatic implications and impact on human settlements
Fluting in the Old World: The Neolithic Projectile Points of Arabia
Fluting is a technical process used to thin bifacial projectile points. This operation, which requires a high level of skill, was until now considered as exclusively characteristic of American prehistoric industries, where it nearly always applies to the base of the projectile. The occurrence of this process has recently been documented in the Old World, on certain Neolithic points of Arabia (Oman Sultanate and Yemen). In this region, fluting bea…
Des coquillages… outillages des Ichtyophages? Mise en évidence d'industries sur Veneridae, du Néolithique à l’âge du Fer (Yémen, Oman, E.A.U.)
From Yemen to the Arabian/Persian Gulf the coastal societies of Arabia developed an industry utilising bivalve shells (Veneridae). From the Neolithic to the Iron Age these shells were transformed into knives or scrapers, the latter sometimes having a characteristic notch. The majority of these tools are manufactured from the left valve, probably selected by right‐handed people. The shell tools are very standardised and did not replace stone tools…
Évolution paléogéographique du Ja'alan (Oman) à l'Holocène moyen: Impact Sur l'Évolution Des Paléomilieux Littoraux Et Les Stratégies d'Adaptation Des Communautés Humaines
Les fluctuations climatiques, eustatiques et tectoniques qui ont caractérisé la côte orientale de l'Arabie à l'Holocène moyen ont régulièrement modifié les équilibres entre les populations néolithiques et le milieu littoral. Le bilan des données géoarchéologiques de la région orientale du Ja 'alan (Sultanat d'Oman) indique de nombreuses variations dans la dynamique des écosystèmes côtiers (mer, lagunes, mangroves). Elles nécessitent de la part de…
First evidence of shell fish‐hook technology in the Gulf
The technology of shell fish‐hooks and line fishing is well attested in the coastal areas of the Indian Ocean during the Neolithic period (fifth–fourth millennium BC). Their presence in the coastal area of the Arabian Gulf is now confirmed by new findings from Akab (Umm al‐Qaiwain) and Shimal (Ra's al‐Khaimah) in the United Arab Emirates
Un chef est un requin qui voyage par terre »: Fonctions et statuts des armatures de projectile en dent de Carcharhinus leucas et aiguillon caudal de raie dans l’Arabie des VIe‐IIIe millénaires av. not…
During the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, many teeth of large sharks ( Carcharhinus leucas ) and stingray spines were transformed into projectile points in south‐eastern Arabia. These points were probably used for fishing. Deriving from dangerous and/or toxic animals, shark teeth and stingray spines were certainly markers of prestige
A dugong bone mound: The Neolithic ritual site on Akab in Umm al-Quwain, United Arab Emirates
The authors present a remarkable site with a remarkable interpretation: a structured platform of dugong bones, containing skulls laid in parallel and ribs in sets, together with artefacts of the Neolithic period. They propose that the bones have been symbolically arranged and the mound as a whole had a ritual purpose - an interpretation endorsed by analogy with dugong platforms noted in the Torres Strait in recent times
Pearl fishing in the ancient world: 7500 Bp
The oldest pearl in the world was found in the United Arab Emirates and dates from 7500 BP . Gemmologists and jewellers have popularised the idea that the oldest pearl in the world is the 5000‐year‐old Jomon pearl from Japan. Discoveries made on the shores of south‐eastern Arabia show this to be untrue, as the archaeological pearls that have been found are 2500 years older. In this region, pearls still hold an important place. Indeed, today they …
Back to Fasad… and the PPNB controversy. Questioning a Levantine origin for Arabian Early Holocene projectile points technology
For decades, so‐called Fasad points have been discovered in Oman and the UAE . These lithic projectile points have been until now fossiles directeurs (or defining artefacts) for Early Holocene human occupation prior to the development of the Arabian Neolithic. It appears that many different types of points are described in the literature as Fasad points, but the actual variability of the archaeological discoveries leads to the necessity for reass…
Neolithic material cultures of Oman and the Gulf seashores from 5500–4500 BCE
The coastal sites of the UAE and the Sultanate of Oman in the sixth–fifth millennia BCE share a number of features in their material culture. In addition to lithic techniques, the populations shared particular technologies, such as architecture using load‐bearing pots or the production of specific fishing material and ornaments in shell and mother‐of‐pearl. This corresponds to populations that were already Neolithic, with domestic animals and pra…
The dynamics of mangrove ecosystems, changes in sea level and the strategies of Neolithic settlements along the coast of Oman (6000–3000 cal. BC)
Archéologie de l’extermination à Sobibor: Dialogue entre deux préhistoriens
Cet entretien développe celui que nous avons amorcé lors d’un épisode du « Salon noir » sur France-Culture. On s’interroge sur les enjeux conservatoires, mémoriels et scientifiques d’une archéologie de la Shoah. On y décèle aussi des fondements émotionnels concernant tous les archéologues dans leur pratique : voilà pourquoi nous témoignons
Games on the seashore of Salalah: The discovery of mancala games in Dhofar, Sultanate of Oman
During the 2013 fieldwork of the French archaeological mission along the shores of the Arabian Sea, mancala games were discovered on the seashore of Salalah at the site of Ad-Dahariz. They are cup-hole carvings made directly into rock slabs and distributed in six distinct zones of the site. They usually consist of fourteen cup-holes aligned in two lines of seven, two supplementary holes being sometimes present on each side. They are the first of …
A multi-proxy analysis of the Holocene humid phase from the United Arab Emirates and its implications for southeast Arabia's Neolithic populations
Early–Middle Holocene environmental changes and pre-Neolithic human occupations as recorded in the cavities of Jebel Qara (Dhofar, southern Sultanate of Oman)
New insights on the first Neolithic societies in the Horn of Africa: The site of Wakrita, Djibouti
The site of Wakrita is a small Neolithic establishment located on a wadi in the tectonic depression of Gobaad in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. The 2005 excavations yielded abundant ceramics that enabled us to define one Neolithic cultural facies of this region, which was also identified at the nearby site of Asa Koma. The faunal remains confirm the importance of fishing in Neolithic settlements close to Lake Abbé, but also the importance of bov…
Carnelian, agate, and other types of chalcedony: The prehistory of Jebel al‐Ma'taradh and its semi‐precious stones, Emirate of Ra's al‐Khaimah
The Jebel al‐Ma'taradh and its surroundings contain exceptional deposits of lithic raw materials, including flint and chert, but especially chalcedony, agate, carnelian, and chrysoprase. These deposits were intensively exploited during the Neolithic, and some of the artefacts produced entered the trade network that included settlements on the coast and inland, sometimes as far as 300 km. During earlier periods, probably as early as the Pleistocen…
The Prehistoric Fisheries of Akab Island (United Arab Emirates): New Insights into Coastal Subsistence during Neolithic in Eastern Arabia
The Neolithic period in Eastern Arabia (especially from 5500 to 3100 BC) is better understood due to recent excavations of stratified sites stretching from Kuwait to the Sultanate of Oman. When oasis agriculture developed from the Bronze Age onwards, herding, shellfish gathering, and fishing became the primary modes of subsistence, and despite strong regional aridity, coastal shell middens provide the best preservation conditions in the Persian G…
A quantitative approach to the study of Neolithic projectile points from south‐eastern Arabia
Lithic projectile points always had an important diagnostic value for documenting the development and expansion of Arabian Neolithic material culture (c. eighth–fourth millennium BC) and subsistence strategies due to the remarkable abundance of surface assemblages. Given the limitations of traditional arrowhead typology for analysing the increasing variability emerging from archaeological research in the region, we propose here a new systematic d…
Sharks in the lagoon? Fishing exploitation at the Neolithic site of Suwayh 1 (Ash Sharqiyah region, Arabian Sea, Sultanate of Oman)
The study of the fish bones from the Neolithic shell midden of Suwayh 1, excavated in the 2000s, identified a total of 1060 identifiable fish bones, from 23 families, 33 genera and 28 different species. Radiocarbon dating demonstrates that the sites date to the early 6th to mid 5th millennium BC. The results follow an eight‐phase chronology highlighted by an earlier malacological study. The most important taxa were the Carcharhinidae (requiem sha…
A Neolithic innovation in eastern Arabia: Haematite axes and adzes
Well before metallurgy, Neolithic societies in the Gulf were engaging in a very peculiar form of metal object production, particularly of axes and adzes made from haematite. In the heart of the Neolithic Middle East, this innovation was specific to Arabian shores between the Musandam and Qatar peninsulas. Quite infrequent among Neolithic lithic assemblages from Arabia, axes and adzes were mostly collected on the surface of domestic settlements. O…
Geomorphology of the Jebel Qara and coastal plain of Salalah (Dhofar, southern Sultanate of Oman)
We present the results of the geomorphological mapping of a region of the Dhofar (Sultanate of Oman) including two contrasting physiographic units sharing a common drainage system into the Arabian Sea: the Jebel Qara limestone massif and the coastal plain of Salalah. Neogene to Quaternary tectonic activity controlled the formation of an extensive system of faults and caused the uplift of the Jebel Qara, forming structural escarpments. The massif …
OSL chronology of socio-ecological systems during the mid-Holocene in the eastern coast of the Sultanate of Oman (Arabian Peninsula)
Geography (31 works) · Archaeology (30 works) · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology (21 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (18 works) · Geology (18 works) · History (13 works) · Ancient history (11 works) · Biology (11 works) · Fishery (10 works) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (10 works)