Discovery of an ancient human habitation: The discovery of a 125,000-year-old settlement in the rocky area of ​​Al-Buhais in Sharjah | World News –

For years, a site thought to have remained largely uninhabited between 60,000 and 12,000 years ago has been reassessed, as new research uncovers evidence of repeated human occupation at the Rockshelter Al Buhais archaeological site in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

The findings challenge long-standing assumptions about human settlement in southeastern Arabia and provide a clearer picture of how early populations adapted to changing environments. The study was published on Monday, March 23 in Nature CommunicationsIt was headed by Issa Yousef, Director General of the Sharjah Antiquities Authority, and Dr. Sabah Jassim, Advisor to the Authority. It was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Knut Bretzke from Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Professor Adrian Parker from Oxford Brookes University, along with researchers from the Universities of Tübingen and Freiburg in Germany. Titled: Evidence from the rock shelter at Buhais for human settlement in the Arabian Peninsula between 60,000 and 16,000 years ago.The research identifies multiple phases of human presence at the site, dating to approximately 125,000, 59,000, 35,000 and 16,000 years ago.

“The publication of this study represents a major step in advancing our understanding of early human history in this region,” Yousef said. “The evidence from Al-Buhais demonstrates that southeastern Arabia was not just a corridor for early humans, but a landscape to which they returned, adapted, and continued to survive through changing environmental conditions.”

The findings are based on large-scale archaeological excavations at the rock shelter at Buhais, located within the Faya Paleolandscape area in Sharjah, a UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 2025.

The findings add an important new chapter to the history of early settlement in the Arabian Peninsula, and extend the archaeological sequence of Jebel Faya to a previously undocumented time frame.

For decades, it was widely believed that southeastern Arabia was largely uninhabited between 60,000 and 12,000 years ago, due to severe drought during the last glacial period. The new study directly challenges this assumption.

Rather than a prolonged absence of human activity, evidence points to repeated occupation during different periods, suggesting that early humans were able to survive and return despite harsh climatic conditions. Rather than representing a single phase of habitation, the research confirms multiple phases of recurring human activity at the site. While evidence of human presence dating back to about 125,000 years ago is already known, the identification of three additional phases from about 59,000, 35,000 and 16,000 years ago fills critical gaps in the archaeological record of the region.

These findings provide a more continuous timeline for human presence in southeastern Arabia than previously known. The study also builds on additional paleoenvironmental research conducted within the Vaia paleolandscape. These data show that periods of human occupation coincided with phases of increased rainfall and water availability. These environmental improvements would have supported vegetation and created conditions suitable for human life, providing a clear explanation for the frequent return of residents to the site. This represents the first clear evidence in the Arabian Peninsula linking human settlement during this time frame to specific environmental conditions. The results suggest that early populations were not only passing through the region as part of migration routes, but were able to adapt to changing climates and sustain life over long periods. The rock shelter at Buhais played a crucial role in preserving this record.

Its limestone composition has provided a natural shelter, allowing layers of sediment to build up over thousands of years. These layers, up to about 1.7 meters deep, have preserved stone tools and artefacts in a stratigraphic sequence, providing valuable insights into human activity across different periods. Using fluorescence dating techniques, the researchers were able to determine when these sedimentary layers were last exposed to sunlight.

This method enabled them to reconstruct a detailed timeline of both human presence and environmental change, providing a rare and well-preserved record of life in arid landscapes over tens of thousands of years. Southeastern Arabia has long been considered a major corridor of early human movement from Africa to Asia. The new findings provide experimental evidence that this region was not just a transit route but also a place of repeated settlement during multiple stages of human evolution.

This places the region at the center of ongoing scientific debates about global human migration and early population formation in Southwest Asia. Together with the nearby discoveries at Jebel Faya, which document human activity in the area dating back more than 200,000 years, the study reinforces the broader importance of the ancient Faya landscape. The site is now recognized as one of the most important continuous records of early human occupation in arid environments. The research also reflects decades of work led by the Sharjah Antiquities Authority in cooperation with international institutions. This long-term partnership has combined scientific expertise with a shared commitment to preserving and interpreting humankind’s early history. The growing body of evidence from sites such as Al Buhais and Jebel Al Faya continues to highlight the contribution of the UAE and Sharjah to the global narrative of human evolution, adaptation and migration.