Scientists unearth sites confirming early human migration into Arabia
Researchers have long postulated that early human populations expanded from Africa into Arabia during the Late Pleistocene, but they have never found an archaeological site in Arabia that resembles a specific African industry... until now. An international team of researchers sheds new light on the timing and identity of one of the first modern human groups to migrate out of Africa. The results challenge long-held beliefs about the timing and route of early human expansion out of Africa. The study is published in the journal PLoS ONE and brings together researchers from Australia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States. Researchers led by the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom have made a series of new archaeological discoveries in the Sultanate of Oman, located in the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. Working in tandem in the Oman-based Dhofar Mountains, archaeologists and geologists unearthed more than 100 new sites classified as 'Nubian Middle Stone Age (MSA)'. While Nubian MSA stone tools are recognised across the Nile Valley, it is the first time ever that such sites have been discovered outside of Africa. The proof from Oman offers a 'trail of stone breadcrumbs' left by early humans migrating across the Red Sea on their journey out of Africa. 'After a decade of searching in southern Arabia for some clue that might help us understand early human expansion, at long last we've found the smoking gun of their exit from Africa,' explains Dr Jeffrey Rose of the University of Birmingham and the first author of the paper. 'What makes this so exciting is that the answer is a scenario almost never considered.' The team used the sophisticated optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to date one of the sites in Oman. Based on their results, Nubian MSA toolmakers made their way into Arabia 106,000 years ago, maybe even earlier. This date is older than what geneticists have theorised as regards the modern human exodus from Africa - that the dispersal of the human species was triggered between 70,000 and 40,000 years ago. The study also shows how all the Nubian MSA sites were discovered inland rather than along the coast of southern Arabia. Commenting on the findings, co-author Professor Emeritus Anthony Marks of Southern Methodist University in the United States notes, 'Here we have an example of the disconnect between theoretical models versus real evidence on the ground. The coastal expansion hypothesis looks reasonable on paper, but there is simply no archaeological evidence to back it up. Genetics predict an expansion out of Africa after 70,000 years ago, yet we've seen three separate discoveries published this year with evidence for humans in Arabia thousands, if not tens of thousands of years prior to this date.' The Nubian MSA sites in Oman are associated with a wet period in Arabia's climatic history; lots of rain fell across the peninsula and changed the area's deserts to sprawling grasslands. 'For a while, South Arabia became a verdant paradise rich in resources - large game, plentiful freshwater, and high-quality flint with which to make stone tools,' Dr Rose says. The data suggest that early humans spreading from Africa into Arabia were opportunistic hunters who made their way along river networks. But more research is needed to determine if these pioneers survived in Arabia during the hyperarid conditions of the Last Ice Age.For more information, please visit:University of Birmingham:http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/index.aspxPLoS ONE:http://www.plosone.org/home.action
Countries
Australia, Czechia, Germany, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States