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In southern and south-eastern Arabia, the Neolithic developed between 6500 and 3100 BCE. In the Sultanate of Oman, occupation occurred along wadi banks, around paleolakes, and at large shellmiddens accumulated on the shores of the Arabian Sea. Nevertheless, the origins and development of human occupation on the Arabian Sea islands are poorly known, if not totally undocumented. After exploring the archaeological potential of the large island of Masirah, we focused our research on the small Al-Hallaniyat archipelago (formerly known as the Kuria Muria islands). A preliminary archaeological survey led us to test several sites belonging to different occupational phases on the island, and we explored the largest shell-midden at the HLY-4 site in 2014 and 2019. Radiocarbon dating results, along with lithic analysis, demonstrate that at around 4200-4000 BCE, a Neolithic community settled the largest island (Al-Hallaniyah). While goats and dogs had been introduced as livestock, fish and dolphins were regularly fished and captured as a main food resource together with marine turtles and nesting birds. At HLY-4, not only lithic and bone artifacts characterize the assemblage, as standardized discoid marine-shell beads were also manufactured. The Neolithic conquest of Masirah Island occurred early in the Neolithic (at the beginning of the sixth millennium BCE), while the settlements on the Farasan islands (in the Red Sea) are dated to around 4500 BCE, and thus the ones on the Al-Hallaniyat archipelago to the end of the fifth millennium BCE. In Arabia, their chronological assessment marks the final conquest of the insular areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maritime adaptation is a key component of the Neolithization process in Eastern Arabia. It is expressed by the development of diversified fishing techniques, the exploitation of hard marine animal materials (e.g., seashells, shark teeth, stingray's barbs, etc.) for both tools and personal adornments production, advanced seafaring, and colonization of offshore islands. Although a diet based mainly on the consumption of marine fish and mollusks, the importance of other seafood has been greatly underestimated in previous zooarchaeological studies. Large quantities of marine crabs (NISP = 10,619) and sea urchins (NISP = 2454) have been retrieved from newly excavated Neolithic sites in the United Arab Emirates. These data highlight local developments of interest for specific seafood and their intensive exploitation over several centuries of human occupation. This study focuses on methods for identifying the main edible marine crab and sea urchin species retrieved from archaeological sites in Eastern Arabia. Results from the Neolithic sites of Delma Island and the Umm al-Quwain lagoon are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Neolithic period in Eastern Arabia (especially from 5500 to 3100 BC) is better understood due to recent excavations of stratified sites stretching from Kuwait to the Sultanate of Oman. When oasis agriculture developed from the Bronze Age onwards, herding, shellfish gathering, and fishing became the primary modes of subsistence, and despite strong regional aridity, coastal shell middens provide the best preservation conditions in the Persian Gulf. Akab, one of the many Neolithic shell middens of the United Arab Emirates coastline, is situated in the Umm al-Quwain lagoon. This settlement is dated to the second part of the fifth millennium BC and has provided more than 37,000 fish remains, derived from over 50 fish species. Ichthyofaunal analysis underlines the predominance of coastal pelagics, such as kawakawas and trevallies, and the exploitation of several coastal fishes, mostly seabreams and emperors. Inhabitants fished over a wide aquatic territory, which included shallow-water biotopes, situated inside the lagoon, and the open sea. The associated fishing gear, composed of stone sinkers and shell fishhooks, indicates that nets and lines were used. Here, we review the seasonal organization of activities and mobility schemes from an archaeo-ichthyological perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]