The Red Sea, Coastal Landscapes, and Hominin Dispersals

This chapter provides a critical assessment of environment, landscape and resources in the Red Sea region over the past five million years in relation to archaeological evidence of hominin settlement, and of current hypotheses about the role of the region as a pathway or obstacle to population dispersals between Africa and Asia and the possible significance of coastal colonization. The discussion assesses the impact of factors such as topography and the distribution of resources on land and on the seacoast, taking account of geographical variation and changes in geology, sea levels and palaeoclimate. The merits of northern and southern routes of movement at either end of the Red Sea are compared. All the evidence indicates that there has been no land connection at the southern end since the beginning of the Pliocene period, but that short sea crossings would have been possible at lowest sea-level stands with little or no technical aids. More important than the possibilities of crossing the southern channel is the nature of the resources available in the adjacent coastal zones. There were many climatic episodes wetter than today, and during these periods water draining from the Arabian escarpment provided productive conditions for large mammals and human populations in coastal regions and eastwards into the desert. During drier episodes the coastal region would have provided important refugia both in upland areas and on the emerged shelves exposed by lowered sea level, especially in the southern sector and on both sides of the Red Sea. Marine resources may have offered an added advantage in coastal areas, but evidence for their exploitation is very limited, and their role has been over-exaggerated in hypotheses of coastal colonization

Miocene coral reefs and reef corals of the south-western Gulf of Suez and north-western Red Sea: distribution, diversity and regional environmental controls

International audienceCoral reefs developed within the Gulf of Suez-northern Red Sea region during a relatively brief time interval corresponding to the maximum of the Middle Miocene worldwide marine transgression which was also associated with phase of a warm global climate. The reefs occur in mixed carbonate-siliciclastic sequences which belong to the marine Miocene syn-rift unit (Group B or Upper Rudeis-Kareem Formations) and possibly extend from Langhian to early Serravallian age. Studied reef locations extend along the western coast of the Gulf of Suez and north-western Red Sea from north of Hurghada to the Abu Ghusun-Ras Honkorab area. Reef distribution and development within the region appear to be highly controlled by the tectono-sedimentary regional setting of the early rift system. In particular, the structural framework strongly controlled the regional palaeotopography which in turn constrained the transport of siliciclastic sediments and the circulation of regional and local open-marine waters. Coral reefs typically occur both on structural and sedimentary palaeohighs (horsts and fronts of fan deltas, respectively), and preferentially developed on the north-east side of fault blocks facing the open-marine waters of the axial rift zone. Reef growth was generally favoured at locations sheltered from the main siliciclastic supply from the south-west rift shoulder, while transport of terrigenous material was concentrated within palaeo-depressions (half-graben and graben). Coral assemblages appear to be restricted to small-sized fringing reefs, thin biostromes, or shallow marine facies with scattered coral colonies. In most areas, the steep north-east facing footwall slopes seem to have limited reef progradation. The coral fauna shows an entirely Miocene Mediterranean affinity with no apparent faunal overlap with the Miocene reef coral fauna from the neighbouring Indo-Pacific. Material collected from the studied areas includes 16 genera and 27 species, a similar richness to Middle Miocene reef coral faunas from the western Mediterranean. Coral reefs and their coral fauna became definitively extinct within the Gulf of Suez - northern Red Sea region during the Serravallian, as a result of an increasing restriction of marine conditions which eventually led to evaporite sedimentation. This was directly related to the gradual closure of the Suez Isthmus, probably due to both eustatic and tectonic movements, which finally isolated the Gulf of Suez - Red Sea from the Mediterranean basin. Thus coral faunas became extinct in this region much earlier than in the Mediterranean generally, where reef corals occurred until the end of the Miocene

Radiochemical dates obtained by alpha spectrometry on fossil mollusk shell from the 5e Atlantic shoreline of the High Atlas, Morocco

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Reliability of sea level dating using Th/U method for mollusks from the west coast of the red sea and from the atlantic coast of the Moroccan high atlas

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Quaternary marine and continental sedimentation in the northern Red Sea and Gulf of Suez (Egyptian coast): influences of rift tectonics, climatic changes and sea-level fluctuations

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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

During the mid Holocene, climatic, eustatic and tectonic fluctuations characterised the east coast of Arabia. These had an effect upon the equilibrium between Neolithic peoples and the coastal environment. Geo-archaeological data from the eastern region of the Ja 'alan (Sultanate of Oman) indicate numerous variations in the dynamics of the coastal ecosystems (sea, lagoons and mangroves). These variations led the human communities to adapt to the new ecological conditions, as is reflected in the changes in the archaeological faunal spectra. Peoples of the 6th to 4th millennia mainly exploited coastal resources - collecting molluscs. The 3rd millennium Early Bronze Age cultures that followed responded to these ecological constraints by adopting a considerably more specialised marine economy - coastal and deep-sea exploitation - as well as an intensification of regional economic exchange related to the development ofpas- toralism and oasis agriculture in the foothills of the hinterland. In addition to temporary fishing settlements, there were also harbour sites that undertook long-distance exchange.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 des communautés humaines une adaptation aux nouvelles conditions écologiques, sensible notamment dans l'évolution des spectres de ressources animales identifiées sur les sites. Alors que les populations du VIe au IVe millénaire se concentrent sur et exploitent surtout le littoral (amas coquilliers), les cultures du Bronze ancien qui leur succèdent au IIIe millénaire répondent à ces contraintes par une spécialisation marine nettement plus affirmée (prédation littorale et hauturière) et une intensification des échanges économiques à l 'échelle régionale en relation avec le développement de l'élevage et d 'une agriculture d'oasis dans les piémonts de l 'arrière-pays. Aux stations temporaires spécialisées dans la pêche viennent s 'ajouter des sites portuaires tournés vers les échanges à longue distance.Berger Jean-François, Cleuziou S., Davtian G., Cattani M., Cavulli F., Charpentier Vincent, Cremaschi M., Giraud J., Marquis P., Martin Chloé, Mery Sophie, J.-C. Plaziat, Saliège J.-F. 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. In: Paléorient, 2005, vol. 31, n°1. Anciennes exploitations des mers et des cours d'eau en Asie du Sud-Ouest. Approches environnementales, sous la direction de Jean Desse et Nathalie Desse-Berset. pp. 46-63