The vegetation and climate history of southern Yemen
Abstract of presentation given at the 86 Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, page 86, Scientific Program, 2001.
Holocene paleoenvironments of the southern Arabian highlands reconstructed using
fossil hyrax middens.
Kenneth Cole1, Joy McCorriston2, Anthony Miller3.
USGS FRESC Colorado Plateau Research Station, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA
1, The
Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA 2, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Scotland, UK 3
ABSTRACT- Deposits left in caves by the rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) were used to reconstruct the
paleoenvironments of a remote desert area in the Hadamawt region of southern Yemen. Six hyrax middens
have been dated thus far between 2159 and 5239 yr B.P. making this the oldest hyrax midden series yet
found. Each deposit contains abundant plant macrofossils and pollen, with an assortment of insects, bones,
and snails. One midden, dated to 2159 yr B.P., contains linen cloth, hand-carved amber beads, and a human
finger bone suggesting that a burial was in the cave. The most abundant shrubs at this site in the Wadi
Sana now are: Ziziphus leucodermis, Acacia hamulosa, and A.
ehrenbergiana. While the first two have
been present since 5239, the third was not found until 2159 yr B.P. This late Holocene appearance of
Acacia ehrenbergiana, widespread throughout Yemen today, could indicate a return to moister climates
following an extremely arid late-middle Holocene. When considered with the geophysical and
archaeological results from this site of a moist early-to-middle Holocene, these midden deposits suggest that
the period of maximum Holocene aridity in southern Arabian highlands may have been between 5000 and
2500 yr B.P., during which time archaeological evidence also suggests that people abandoned the area.
Rock hyrax is not found at this locality today, and the landscape is barren, possibly due to recent browsing
by goats and camels.
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