TY - JOUR
T1 - The Nubian complex of Dhofar, Oman
T2 - An African Middle Stone Age industry in Southern Arabia
AU - Rose, Jeffrey I.
AU - Usik, Vitaly I.
AU - Marks, Anthony E.
AU - Hilbert, Yamandu H.
AU - Galletti, Christopher S.
AU - Parton, Ash
AU - Geiling, Jean Marie
AU - Černý, Viktor
AU - Morley, Mike W.
AU - Roberts, Richard G.
PY - 2011/11/30
Y1 - 2011/11/30
N2 - Despite the numerous studies proposing early human population expansions from Africa into Arabia during the Late Pleistocene, no archaeological sites have yet been discovered in Arabia that resemble a specific African industry, which would indicate demographic exchange across the Red Sea. Here we report the discovery of a buried site and more than 100 new surface scatters in the Dhofar region of Oman belonging to a regionally-specific African lithic industry - the late Nubian Complex - known previously only from the northeast and Horn of Africa during Marine Isotope Stage 5, ~128,000 to 74,000 years ago. Two optically stimulated luminescence age estimates from the open-air site of Aybut Al Auwal in Oman place the Arabian Nubian Complex at ~106,000 years ago, providing archaeological evidence for the presence of a distinct northeast African Middle Stone Age technocomplex in southern Arabia sometime in the first half of Marine Isotope Stage 5.
AB - Despite the numerous studies proposing early human population expansions from Africa into Arabia during the Late Pleistocene, no archaeological sites have yet been discovered in Arabia that resemble a specific African industry, which would indicate demographic exchange across the Red Sea. Here we report the discovery of a buried site and more than 100 new surface scatters in the Dhofar region of Oman belonging to a regionally-specific African lithic industry - the late Nubian Complex - known previously only from the northeast and Horn of Africa during Marine Isotope Stage 5, ~128,000 to 74,000 years ago. Two optically stimulated luminescence age estimates from the open-air site of Aybut Al Auwal in Oman place the Arabian Nubian Complex at ~106,000 years ago, providing archaeological evidence for the presence of a distinct northeast African Middle Stone Age technocomplex in southern Arabia sometime in the first half of Marine Isotope Stage 5.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=82355161913&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0028239
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0028239
M3 - Article
C2 - 22140561
AN - SCOPUS:82355161913
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 6
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
IS - 11
M1 - e28239
ER -