Earliest evidence of humans in Arabia possibily discovered in 7 footprints

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A set of seven footprints made at a lake about 120,000 years ago have been hailed as the earliest evidence of modern humans on the Arabian Peninsula – a discovery experts say could shed light on the spread of our species out of Africa.

“This is a story about the expansion of Homo sapiens into the heart of Arabia at an early date,” said Prof Michael Petraglia of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, a co-author of the research. “It is not a story of coastal migrations, which has been the hypothesised route [modern humans took].”

Writing in the journal Science Advances, an international team of researchers report how they found the footprints in an ancient lake deposit in the Nefund Desert, with dating of sediment above and below the prints revealing them to be between 112,000 and 121,000 years old. The sizes and spacing of four of the prints, they add, suggest they were made by at least two individuals.

The team argue that the size of the prints, the absence of evidence for Neanderthals in the area at the time and the evidence that Homo sapiens were in Arabia almost 90,000 years ago, suggest the impressions were most likely made by modern humans.

The team also found a plethora of animal prints at the site, including those from ancient elephants and camels – but the animal bones showed no signs of butchery, and no stone tools were found. Taken together, the researchers say the findings suggest that the party made only a brief pit-stop at the lake.

“At the time that humans were moving through this landscape, the area wouldn’t have been hyper-arid,” said Richard Clark-Wilson, a co-author of the research from Royal Holloway, University of London. Instead, he said, at that time – and various other periods in the past – it would have been a grassy savannah with bodies of water, offering opportunities for human migration. “Human movements, and animal movements, tend to be linked to fresh water availability,” he said.

Source: The Guardian

[StarstruckIllusion 53,580]

Science... love ha to bits

[Bonkers 30,860]

My reaction to this is looking forward to being dead for 120,000 years and not knowing what I left behind for future generations. 

[Reginald 13,841]

6 minutes ago, Bonkers said:

My reaction to this is looking forward to being dead for 120,000 years and not knowing what I left behind for future generations. 

 ARTPOP foil edition

[Bonkers 30,860]

16 minutes ago, Reginald said:

 ARTPOP foil edition

omg, I actually have one.  How did you know this? 

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Me predicting 911's Middle Eastern aesthetic and imagery !?  Insider realness, me thinks.