Late prehistoric fuel use and environment in central Oman - Lucas Proctor

Archaeobotanical perspectives on late prehistoric fuel use and environment in central Oman
Dr. Lucas Proctor, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
15th May 2024
16.00 CET (Rome, Paris, Berlin / GMT+2)
17.00 (İstanbul, Athens / GMT+3)
10.00 (New York / GMT-4)
The mutually co-determining relationship between plants and people has an important role to play in the resilience and transformation of societies over the longue dureé. Understanding this relationship is especially important in southeastern Arabia, where low rates of annual precipitation place significant ecological constraints on both humans and plants. This presentation will explore preserved archaeobotanical remnants of fuel use activities at several sites in central Oman during the 6th-3rd millennia BCE and what these remains can tell us about changing environmental conditions and their relationship to the development of metal working, oasis cultivation, and pastoralism. By considering charcoal remains over the course of several millennia, archaeobotanists can track changes in vegetation communities related to human activity, and trace the degree to which these activities may contribute to wood scarcity in an already non-forested landscape.