Once green, prehistoric Arabia drew early humans from Africa

WASHINGTON (AP) — Huw Groucutt passes rolling sand dunes as far as his eye can see when traveling to archaeological sites in norrn Arabian Peninsula. But same desert regions were once intermittently lush and green, attracting early humans and large animals such as hippopotamuses migrating out of Africa to linger at ancient lakes, new evidence suggests.

Until a dece ago, Arabian Peninsula was a blank spot on map for scientists trying to reconstruct story of early human evolution and movements out of Africa. Much more is known about early human settlements in Levant region — modern-day Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and parts of Syria — where extensive archaeological research has been carried out for more than a century.

But Arabian Peninsula may have also played an important role as a bridge between Africa and Eurasia, a study published Wednesday in journal Nature suggests.

“Arabia has not been part of story of early human migration because so little work was done re before,” said co-author Michael Petraglia, a paleolithic archaeologist at Max Planck Institute for Science of Human History in Jena, Germany. research team included scientists from Germany, Saudi Arabia, Australia, United Kingdom and elsewhere.

impetus to look closely for archeological remains in region came from satellite imagery that revealed traces of prehistoric lakes in now-arid regions. “We noticed color patterns me by ancient lakes — sand dunes are kind of orange-colored, while ancient lakes are tinted white or gray,” said Groucutt, who is also based at Max Planck Institute.

Extensive excavations over a dece revealed stone tools from multiple periods of prehistoric settlement by early human groups, oldest 400,000 years ago. Analysis of sediment samples from ancient lakes and remains from hippos and or animals revealed that during several periods in distant past, peninsula hosted year-round lakes and grasslands.

During se windows of hospitable climate, early humans and animals moved from norast Africa into Arabian Peninsula, researchers say.

“Flowing rivers and lakes, surrounded by grasslands and savannah, would have attracted animals and n early humans that were in pursuit of m,” said Petraglia. Hippos require year-round water bodies several yards (meters) deep to live. Remains of or animals, including ostriches and antelopes, indicate “a strong biological connection to norast Africa,” he said.

1. “What this research group has done is really exquisitely combine archaeology and climate records going back 400,000 years to show that early humans moved across this landscape when climate changed,” said paleoanthropologist Rick Potts, who directs Human Origins Program at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

“ episodic presence and absence of populations in Arabian Peninsula was in tune with climate oscillations,” said Potts, who was not involved in new study.

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Follow Christina Larson on Twitter: @larsonchristina

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