Archaeologists have identified 120,000-year-old human footprints at the site of the ancient Lake Athar in the Nafud Desert in Saudi Arabia. Ancient human artifacts discovered in the Nefud Desert show a long history of human settlement in the region.
According to research published in the journal Science Advances, the site includes 120,000-year-old human footprints found in the relic (an ancient lake), providing the oldest dated example of Homo sapiens in the Arabian Peninsula, pushing back the timeline of human migration from Africa. During the last ice age, before the area became barren, it was called “Green Arabia,” with large lakes and abundant plant and animal life.
Many 120,000-year-old footprints were discovered in collaboration with archaeologists from the Max Planck Institute and the Saudi Heritage Authority. These footprints provide evidence that early humans, who used inland lake systems as excellent habitat areas and migration corridors, lived and migrated with prehistoric elephants and hippopotamuses for approximately 15,000 years when climatic conditions allowed for good living and migration.
Archaeological discovery: 120,000-year-old human footprints in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Researchers working in archaeology in the Nefud Desert have discovered ancient traces of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens). According to Science Advances (a research journal), researchers from the Max Planck Institute and the Saudi Ministry of Culture used optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating to create a 120,000-year-old chronology. It represents the first evidence of modern humans in this part of the world, and effectively fills a major spatial and temporal gap in models of hominin dispersal.
The phenomenon of the green Arabian Peninsula
An article from the Max Planck Institute explains that about 120,000 years ago, the Nefud Desert was a green and humid place, with many lakes and abundant pastures. This time period is called the Last Glacial Period, and was marked by the wetter monsoon season, transforming central Arabia into green Arabia. These environmental changes created new and suitable migration routes, allowing humans and megafauna to exploit inland lake corridors across the peninsula.
Coexistence with prehistoric giants
Not only does the archaeological site contain evidence of humans, but there are hundreds of traces of other species as well, including ancient elephants, ancient horses and giant camelids (the now-extinct Pleistocene megafauna). The fact that the archaeological site is devoid of stone tools tells us that humans used the lake as a “temporary watering hole”; Therefore, the impact offers us an extraordinary opportunity to see how early humans moved through an environment coexisting with vast amounts of both Pleistocene and modern megafauna.
Challenging the “Out of Africa” model.
This discovery changes the timelines we have for the dispersal of early modern humans. According to the Saudi Ministry of Culture, if modern humans were present in the Arabian interior about 120,000 years ago, this suggests that Homo sapiens expanded out of Africa earlier, and more frequently, than previously thought. This exhibit also proves that our ancestors not only traveled along the coasts, but could also travel inland when there was enough water and food in an area to sustain human life.
