Early-holocene environments in the Wadi Faynan, Jordan

Evidence for early-Holocene environments 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 macrofossils and molluscs from Wadi Faynan provide evidence for a much more humid - forest-steppe and steppe - environment 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 provide 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 change - the 8.1 ka event appears to be marked by desiccation. By the Chalcolithic, environmental degradation was well advanced.