Early humans developed sophisticated hunting technologies and exploited diverse plant and animal resources while living in the Arabian interior, according to a new study of a 125,000-year-old archaeological site in Saudi Arabia. The findings offer new evidence of how prehistoric populations adapted to the region's changing environments during periods of increased rainfall. During the Pleistocene, the Arabian Peninsula served as an important corridor for human migration between Africa and Asia, as alternating periods of aridity and increased rainfall periodically transformed its otherwise inhospitable landscapes into habitable environments. Fossil and archaeological evidence indicates that Homo sapiens occupied the region during these wetter intervals when changing environments created viable routes through the interior. However, these favorable conditions were unevenly distributed, with freshwater and food resources concentrated in localized habitats that may have determined where people could settle and travel.
To better understand these dynamic environments and how early humans adapted to them, Chris Clarkson and colleagues investigated archaeological and environmental evidence from 'Uruq Aljelibah, a roughly 125,000-year-old paleolakeshore site at Mundafan in southern Saudi Arabia. According to the findings, the ancient lake supported a rich ecological landscape, attracting animals such as hippopotamuses and other large herbivores, as well as diverse plant resources, including palms and reeds. Analysis of the more than 5,500 stone artifacts, animal fossils, and preserved organic residues suggests that the early humans that lived on this landscape engaged in a sophisticated range of activities, from hunting and animal processing to woodworking and plant-fiber production. Particularly striking is evidence that some stone points were hafted with plant-based adhesives and bindings, with chemical traces suggesting that potentially toxic plants may have been incorporated into hunting weapons. Clarkson et al. argue that early human survival on the Arabian Peninsula depended on far more than access to freshwater and food. The finding that people developed complex technological systems and used a diverse array of local resources shows that humid periods in Arabia created not only migration corridors between Africa and Asia, but productive environments capable of sustaining repeated human occupation as well.
