Early-Holocene environments in the Wadi Faynan, Jordan

Hunt, C. Elrishi, H. Gilbertson, D. Grattan, J. McLaren, S. Pyatt, B. Rushworth, G. Barker, G. Early-Holocene environments in the Wadi Faynan, Jordan. The Holocene. 2004. 14,6 pp 921-930

Evidence for early-Holocene environemnts in the Wadi Faynan in the rift-margin in southern Jordan is described. The Early Holocene of Jordan is not well known and palynology, plant microfossils and molluscs from Wadi Faynan provide evidence for a much more humid forest-steppe and steppe environemnt than the present stony desert and highly degraded steppe. The early Holocene fluvial sediments in the Faynan catchment are predominantly fine grained, epsilon crossbedded and highly fossiliferous. They provid convincing evidence for meandering perennial rivers before 6000 cal. BP. It is probable that this early Holocene landscape was disrupted by the impact of early Farmers and by climate hange- the 8.1 ka event appears to be marked by desiccation. By the Chalcolithic, environmental degradation was well advanced.

Peer reviewed