TY - CHAP
T1 - Africa-Arabia Connections and Geo-Archaeological Exploration in the Southern Red Sea
T2 - Preliminary results and wider significance
AU - Bailey, Geoffrey N.
AU - Sakellariou, Dimitris
AU - Alsharekh, Abdullah
AU - Al Nomani, Salem
AU - Devès, Maud
AU - Georgiou, Panos
AU - Kallergis, Manolis
AU - Kalogirou, Stefanos
AU - Manousakis, Leonidas
AU - Mantopoulos, Prokopis
AU - Meredith-Williams, Matt
AU - Momber, Garry
AU - Morfis, Ioannis
AU - Pampidis, Ioannis
AU - Panagiotopoulos, Ioannis
AU - Renieris, Panagiotis
AU - Rousakis, Grigoris
AU - Stasinos, Vasilis
AU - Stavrakakis, Spyros
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - We report on a preliminary exploration of the submerged landscapes in the Saudi Arabian sector of the southern Red Sea aboard the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) Research Vessel, AEGAEO, in May–June 2013. The survey sampled areas of the continental shelf down to the shelf margin at ~130 m depth in the vicinity of the Farasan Islands and combined high resolution acoustic techniques with sediment coring to reconstruct features of the now-submerged landscape of potential archaeological significance, including geological structure, topography, palaeoenvironment, and sea-level change. The region is currently of wide interest and significance: to archaeologists because it is currently regarded as one of the primary pathways of dispersal for early human populations expanding out of Africa during the Pleistocene, in which the extensive but now-submerged shelf region may have played a key role; and to marine geoscientists because the Red Sea offers unusual opportunities as a ‘laboratory’ for investigating Pleistocene sea-level change. Preliminary results indicate that the submerged landscape was characterised by a complex topography with fault-bounded valleys and deep basins, some of which may have hosted, at least intermittently, fresh water during periods of lowered sea level.
AB - We report on a preliminary exploration of the submerged landscapes in the Saudi Arabian sector of the southern Red Sea aboard the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) Research Vessel, AEGAEO, in May–June 2013. The survey sampled areas of the continental shelf down to the shelf margin at ~130 m depth in the vicinity of the Farasan Islands and combined high resolution acoustic techniques with sediment coring to reconstruct features of the now-submerged landscape of potential archaeological significance, including geological structure, topography, palaeoenvironment, and sea-level change. The region is currently of wide interest and significance: to archaeologists because it is currently regarded as one of the primary pathways of dispersal for early human populations expanding out of Africa during the Pleistocene, in which the extensive but now-submerged shelf region may have played a key role; and to marine geoscientists because the Red Sea offers unusual opportunities as a ‘laboratory’ for investigating Pleistocene sea-level change. Preliminary results indicate that the submerged landscape was characterised by a complex topography with fault-bounded valleys and deep basins, some of which may have hosted, at least intermittently, fresh water during periods of lowered sea level.
KW - Farasan Islands
KW - Continental Shelf
KW - Evaporites
KW - Last Glacial Maximum
KW - Sea-Level Rise
KW - Acoustic Survey
KW - Homo sapiens
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85061881693&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-319-53160-1_23
DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-53160-1_23
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85061881693
SN - 978-3-319-53158-8
T3 - Coastal Research Library
SP - 361
EP - 373
BT - Under the Sea
A2 - Bailey, Geoffrey N.
A2 - Sakellariou, Dimitris
A2 - Harff, Jan
PB - Springer
CY - Cham
ER -