Arabian Migration: Remote sensing data shows impact of sea level on Gulf

Submitted by coldrum on Sunday, 25 April 2010 Page Views: 1028

The Qatar Natural History Group went on a trip into the remote past on Wednesday evening. Dr Richard Cuttler (University of Birmingham), now working with the Qatar Museums Authority on a project using remote sensing data, demonstrated how much the Gulf region has changed since early man first came into the area, and its impact on human life.

Cuttler said the earliest migrations from Africa took place around 115,000 and 85,000 years ago, and that Qatar was central to the second of these, as hunter gatherers moved gradually across what is now the Gulf region and into Arabia.
Here in the Gulf region, at the time of the last Ice Age so much water was locked up in the ice sheets that what is now the peninsula of Qatar was part of a vast plain stretching to Iran, broken by two large fresh-water lakes known as the central and western basins. The plain was watered by ancient rivers whose courses have been mapped by the team using remote sensing equipment. Around 12,000 years ago it is thought that the central basins flooded with sea water, and what we now know as the Arabian Gulf was formed.
When in the 1930s the first archaeologists began working on the Arabian peninsula they found concentrations of stone age tools in areas that are now uninhabitable. They realised that only climate change could account for this. Rock carvings in remote, arid areas of the Sahara desert which depicted trees, and animals such as giraffes and crocodiles, showed how great the change had been.
The archaeologists are using geophysical data to create three-dimensional images of former landscapes in the Gulf. Out at sea they take core samples from the sea bed, which yield a wealth of data. Carbon dating can be obtained, and pollen counts give clues as to what plants were flourishing in the region many thousands of years ago, which is an indication of climate.
This mass of information will all form part of the Qatar National Historic Environment Record. Qatar is pioneering this kind of advanced research, and when it is complete every archaeological and cultural site, both on land and under water, will be recorded. Even the maskar, the traditional stone fish traps found around the coastline, are mapped. This is vital, said Dr Cuttler, when the country is developing so rapidly and new buildings and infrastructure, especially along the coast, will obliterate many ancient sites. In this way every site can be researched and recorded before the area is developed.

For more on the Stone Age cultures of Qatar, see Gulf Times.

Note: In the last Ice Age so much water was locked up in the ice sheets that what is now the peninsula of Qatar was part of a vast plain stretching to Iran.

Contributor Bio for coldrum: Based in Milkyway, contributing since 2002. Favourite site: Avebury.

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