Green Arabia : human prehistory at the crossroads of continents

Abstract

The Arabian Peninsula should play a central role in understanding the biological and cultural legacy of humanity, as the region is at the crossroads between Africa and Asia, thereby linking the landmasses of Northeast Africa and the Sinai in the northwest, the plains and river valleys of Jordan and Iraq to the north, and the uplands of the Iranian plateau in the northeast. Yet, many accounts concerning the geographic spread and biogeography of hominins continue to marginalize Arabia in favour of the Levant and regions to the north and west (e.g. Stewart and Stringer, 2012). Even if some migration models allow for a movement of human populations across southern Asia, most publications illustrate Arabia as a transit zone only to be side-stepped and briefly utilized along its southernmost periphery or coastal margin (e.g. Mellars et al., 2013). A set of new scholarly publications have attempted to rectify this situation, drawing attention to the entirety of the Arabian Peninsula as a key geographic zone where significant demographic processes unfolded (e.g. Petraglia and Rose, 2009; Magee, 2014). Although mainly concentrating on the Holocene record, the travelling “Roads of Arabia” exhibit and its accompanying book (Al-Ghabban et al., 2010) have also engendered greater scholarly and public awareness of the region's natural and cultural heritage and the place of Arabia in the wider world. [excerpt]