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Roots of Agriculture in Southern Arabia
Joy McCorriston, Ohio State University
Eric Oches, University of South Florida
The RASA (Roots of Agriculture in Southern Arabia) Project is an interdisciplinary
archaeology-paleoecology research effort exploring early human occupation and
activities in the southern mountains of Yemen (Hadramawt Governate) during the
early through middle-late Holocene (9000-2500 years ago). During this time, climate
change caused regional environmental changes, the local effects of which would have
significantly affected human decisions about foraging, farming, and herding. The
team has sought data on the timing, processes, and influences on the adoption of
domesticated plants and animals into indigenous foraging systems in southern Arabia.
The American-Yemeni RASA team includes archaeologist Joy McCorriston, geologist
Eric Oches, ethnographer Abdalaziz Bin 'Aqil (GOAMM, Mukalla), zooarchaeologist
Louise Martin, archaeologist Chris Edens, graduate students and Yemeni contributers.
In the next few years, the team will specifically examine whether Middle Holocene
climatic and environmental changes prompted highland southern Arabian foragers to
adopt new domesticates and commit themselves to food production. We have identified
and surveyed a well-preserved Neolithic landscape dated between 8,600-5,300 years
ago in the middle Wadi Sana drainage and have identified land clearance and water
management structures that show the earliest deliberate land management strategies
in this area. We will expand archaeological excavation and sediment studies to
better characterize this way of life. Further survey of Wadi Sana and middle Wadi
Idim will compare long-term occupation of two distinct drainages and test our
hypothesis that people largely abandoned arid regions to focus on permanent water
sources as rainfall diminished in the Middle Holocene. RASA also plans an
ethnoarchaeological study of the material expresions of tribal identity to provide
baseline models for social groupings in prehistory.
Project funding:
1996: Council for American Overseas Research Centers, the University of Minnesota;
1998: AIYS, the University of Minnesota, and the National Science Foundation;
2000: the National Science Foundation, the Ohio State University, Foundation for Exploration and Research on Cultural Origins;
2002-2006: AIYS, the National Science Foundation, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research
Generous logistical support in Hadramawt provided by Nexen Inc.
Major publications:
*McCorriston, J., E. Oches, D. Walter, & K. Cole (forthcoming) "Holocene Paleoecology and Prehistory in Highland Southern Arabia." Paléorient
*Harrower, M., J. McCorriston & E. Oches, 2002. "Mapping the Roots of Agriculture in
Southern Arabia: The Application of Remote Sensing (RS), Global Positioning System."
Prospection 9: 35-42.
*McCorriston, J. & E. Oches, 2001. "Two Ancient Checkdams from Southern Arabia." Antiquity
75:575-6.
*McCorriston, J., 2000. "Early Settlement in Hadramawt: Preliminary Report on
Prehistoric Occupation at Shi'b Munayder." Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy
11:129-153.
*Walter, D., J. McCorriston & E. Oches, 2000. "Shumlya GBS-An Arabian Bifacial
Tradition Assemblage from Hadramawt Province, Yemen." Neolithics 00/3:12-14.
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Visit the RASA project website.
Online publications
McCorriston, J., 2001,
Ancient Agricultural Practices in Hadramawt: New Insights from the RASA Project.
The Place of Ancient Agricultural Practices and Techniques in Yemen Today:
Problems and Perspectives. Sana'a 18-20, June 2000.
McCorriston, J., 2000, "RASA
98 -- Roots of Agriculture in South Arabia" University of Minnesota Archaeological Expedition in Yemen,
February-March 1998. Yemen Update 41 (1999) 2-6.
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