WASHINGTON (AP) – Huw Groucutt passes rolling sand dunes as far as he can see as he travels to archeological sites in the north of the Arabian Peninsula. But the desert regions themselves were formerly lush and green, and attracted the first humans and large animals such as hippos to migrate from Africa to stay in the ancient lakes, new evidence suggests.
Until a decade ago, the Arabian Peninsula was a blank spot on the map for scientists trying to reconstruct the history of early human evolution and movements outside Africa. Much more is known about the first human settlements in the Levant region (present-day Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and parts of Syria), where archaeological research has been conducted for more than a century.
But the Arabian Peninsula could also have played an important role as a bridge between Africa and Eurasia, a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature suggests.
“Arabia has not been part of the history of early human migrations because so little work was done before,” said co-author Michael Petraglia, a Paleolithic archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany. . The research team included scientists from Germany, Saudi Arabia, Australia, the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
The impetus to search closely for archaeological remains in the region comes from satellite images that revealed traces of prehistoric lakes in the now arid regions. “We observed color patterns made by ancient lakes: the sand dunes are orange, while the ancient lakes are dyed white or gray,” said Groucutt, who is also headquartered at the Max Planck Institute.
Extensive excavations over a decade revealed stone tools from multiple periods of prehistoric settlement by early human groups, the oldest 400,000 years ago. Analysis of sediment samples from ancient lakes and remains of hippos and other animals revealed that for several periods in the distant past, the peninsula hosted lakes and meadows throughout the year.
During these hospital climate windows, the first humans and animals moved from northeast Africa to the Arabian Peninsula, according to researchers.
“The flowing rivers and lakes, surrounded by pastures and savannah, would have attracted animals and then the first humans to chase them,” Petraglia said. Hippos require bodies of water all year round at several meters deep to live. The remains of other animals, including ostriches and antelopes, indicate “a strong biological connection with Northeast Africa,” he said.
1. “What this research group has done is to exquisitely combine archeology and climate records dating back 400,000 years to show that the first humans moved through this landscape when the climate changed,” said the paleoanthropologist. Rick Potts, who directs the Human Origins program at Smithsonian’s. National Museum of Natural History.
“The presence and episodic absence of populations on the Arabian Peninsula was in tune with climate fluctuations,” said Potts, who did not participate in the new study.
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