Archaeologists have identified 120,000-year-old human footprints at the ancient lake site of Alathar in Saudi Arabia’s Nafud Desert. Ancient human artifacts discovered in the Nefud Desert show a long history of human habitation in the region. According to research published in Science Advances, the site includes 120,000-year-old human footprints found in Alather (an ancient lake), providing the oldest dated example of Homo sapiens on the Arabian Peninsula, pushing back the timeline of human migration from Africa. During the last interglacial, before the region became arid, it was called the ‘Green Arabia’, replete with large lakes and abundant plant and animal life. Many of the 120,000-year-old footprints were discovered collaboratively by 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 alongside prehistoric elephants and hippos for about 15,000 years, when climatic conditions allowed good living and good migration.
Alathar discovery: 120,000-year-old human footprints in Saudi Arabia
Researchers working at Alathar in the Nefud Desert have found ancient traces of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens). According to Science Advances (research journal), researchers from both the Max-Planck Institute and the Saudi Ministry of Culture used Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating to establish a chronology of 120,000 years. It represents the first evidence of the presence of modern humans in this part of the world, effectively filling a significant spatial and temporal gap in hominin dispersal models.
green billion incident
An article from the Max Planck Institute suggests that about 120,000 years ago, the Nefud Desert was a green and wet place, with many lakes and abundant grasslands. This time period is called the Last Interglacial Period and was characterized by a humid monsoon season, which transformed central Arabia into Green Arabia. These environmental changes created new and suitable migration routes, allowing humans and megafauna to exploit inland lake corridors in the peninsula.
Coexistence with prehistoric giants
At the Alather site there is evidence not only of humans, but also hundreds of traces of other species, including ancient elephants, ancient horses, and giant camels (now extinct Pleistocene megafauna). The fact that the Alathar site is devoid of stone tools tells us that humans used the lake as a ‘temporary water hole’; Therefore, Alather provides us with an extraordinary opportunity to see how early humans were living through an environment where they co-existed with enormous amounts of both Pleistocene and modern megafauna.
Challenging the ‘Out of Africa’ Model
The discovery changes the timeline we have for the early dispersal of modern humans. According to the Saudi Ministry of Culture, if modern humans were present in the interior of Arabia about 120,000 years ago, this suggests that Homo sapiens expansion out of Africa occurred earlier and more frequently than once thought. Furthermore, this exhibit proves that our ancestors not only traveled along coasts, but could also travel inland at times when there was enough water and food to sustain human life in an area.