The Late Agricultural Development of Central Arabian Oases—Archaeobotanical and Archaeozoological Studies of the al‐Kharj Oasis

ABSTRACT While oasis settlements emerged during the Bronze Age in Eastern and Northern Arabia, the settlement process in Central Arabia was different. Excavations at al‐Yamāma—main ancient settlement of the al‐Kharj oasis (Riyadh Province, KSA)—suggest that the latter did not emerge before the second half of the first millennium BCE. This late appearance has also been documented at a regional scale in areas of Buraydah, Marāt, Laylà‐Aflaj and Qaryat al‐Fāw. Archaeozoological and archaeobotanical data carried out at al‐Yamāma suggest marginal evolutions in husbandry and crops patterns in the al‐Kharj oasis despite its long occupation (fifth cent. BCE–early nineteenth cent. CE), showing scant diversification of domesticated species, with a predominance through time of camel/caprine and date palm/cereals. It is not until the Late Islamic period that new species—chicken, cattle, sorghum and cotton—indicate a stronger diversification of the al‐Kharj agrarian economy in an era of greater integration into vast trade networks.