534 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1963 



any of the separate collections examined — was seen there. A few of 

 the trOiedral rods wore found in scattered localities. One low-lying 

 spur in Wadi Bin Selman had these associated with several bifacial 

 foliate points. Crudely trimmed large bifacial foliates were rarely 

 found. 



At one of the Rub' al-Khali sites, arrowheads were found associated 

 with a hearth. Charcoal recovered from it has given a Carbon 14 

 date of 3,131 ±200 B.C. (Field, 1960 b). Caton Thompson (1934, p. 

 93) has advanced a slightly earlier date (ca. 5,000-4,000 B.C.) for 

 those Fayum industries which are comparable with that of Habarut. 

 Thus it would seem that hunting groups, if they were not actually 

 living in the Hadhramaut, at least visited it on occasion during the 

 first few millemiia B.C. and doubtless were still doing so at the time 

 of the appearance of potterymaking town dwellers. 



Apart from the possibility of people employing Acheulian tech- 

 niques of implement manufacture having lived in the Hadhramaut, 

 the typological affiliations of the older industry so abimdantly repre- 

 sented in this area would seem to be to that complex of industries in 

 the Near East and North Africa referred to as the "Middle Paleo- 

 lithic." In Africa, the similarities are with the "Middle Stone Age" 

 (more is involved than mere Anglicizations, see Malan, 1957). In- 

 sofar as can be told from tlie Hadhramaut material, "Upper Paleo- 

 lithic" industries do not occur. It has been suggested that a similar 

 situation exists in North Africa (Forde- Johnston, 1959, p. 15). As- 

 suming continuous occupation of the area during Upper Pleistocene 

 and Post Pleistocene time, it would appear that a "Levalloiso-Mous- 

 terian" industry persisted until quite late. Industries of "Bedoin 

 Microlithic" and "Desert Neolithic" type seem to appear on the scene, 

 rather than develop from the earlier tradition. No Aterian-type in- 

 dustries are known here. Even should subsequent analysis reveal 

 a possible transitional industry, the fact that all material is from 

 the surface will always allow for the possibility, or probability that 

 mixed assortments are involved. 



The above remarks, it should be remembered, are based on a casual 

 examination of only a small part of the material collected from the 

 Hadhramaut, although more careful study of material from certain 

 Rub' al-Khali fringe sites and from Habarut has been possible. A 

 detailed accoimt of the collected material awaits careful study, after 

 which it may be possible to suggest more precise affiliations of the 

 early Hadhramaut cultures with those of the Near East and Africa. 



PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD 



In the absence of a fixed nomenclature for the archeological periods 

 in South Arabia, the t^rm "pre-Islamic" is used here to denote the 

 period from the end of the Prehistoric period to the coming of Islam 



