Archaeological remains of coastal occupation in the form of shell middens are commonly found on today's shorelines, and evidence for shellfish as a food source goes back 164,000 years. Within this time frame, sea-levels changed dramatically and shorelines moved on the scale of kilometers.
Farasan shell middens along palaeo shoreline [Credit: Niklas Hausmann]
The current study, published in PLOS ONE, reveals that this movement of coastlines impacted the majority of shell middens by causing shells to wash away or to currently be underwater, and thus has skewed our understanding of past coastal subsistence around the world.
Shells as food waste are a common find in archaeological coastal sites of the last 164,000 years - but many may now be hidden from view
In this study, an international team of researchers quantified patterns that were first described by renowned Australian archaeologist and anthropologist Betty Meehan in the 1970s. Meehan described how modern-day coastal foragers of the Australian coast processed most of their shellfish on the direct shoreline to decrease transport weight and only carried some shells that still contained meat further inland to their main habitation site to be processed there.
The researchers theorized that if prehistoric people at a particular site used the same strategy, and if sea-levels rose dramatically since that time, archaeologists today would no longer find evidence of large shell middens related to that population. If only a few shells were found close to the habitation site, researchers might assume that the population did not rely heavily on shellfish for subsistence - and this would of course be incorrect.
Using a large cluster of over 3,000 prehistoric shell midden sites on the Farasan Islands in the Arabian Red Sea, the researchers assessed their spatial and temporal patterns in the context of long-term sea-level change. A selection of sites was radiocarbon dated to 7,500 to 4,700 years ago. During this period, the sea-level of the southern Red Sea was still rising as a result of melting glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age. The rise came to a stop around 6,000 years ago and the sea level was slightly higher (2-3 m) than today. This was followed by a gradual drop over ~2,000 years to our current sea levels, excepting the rise of recent decades.
Coastal exploitation of shellfish changed little during this period, and rates of shell accumulation based on radiocarbon dates indicate that 10 times more shells were deposited at the direct shoreline than at 'post-shore' locations, mirroring Meehan's ethnological research. However, despite their larger size, no shore-line sites are preserved that date to before 6,000 years ago, closely following the sea-level change in this region and pointing toward a large number of sites that must have been lost to the sea since the beginning of coastal subsistence.
Usually well preserved at archaeological sites, shells are easily washed away by rising sea levels
"We already knew that coastal sites are in a precarious situation and we often rely on sites along steep cliffs or a few hundred meters inland to study the collection of shellfish dating to before today's sea-levels," explains first author Niklas Hausmann of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. "Now we know that not only a little bit was left at the beach, but the bulk of the shell material, which really undermines our idea of how much shellfish was eaten at sites even slightly inland."
"With our study, we have shown that a lot more shellfish meat was eaten in times of lower sea-levels than we previously thought, and we have to get away from the simplified 'shell equals shellfish meat' attitude," explains Hausmann.
Shellfish are often over-represented in the assessment of past coastal subsistence due to their hard shells preserving better than plants or even bones. However, the meat they contain is archaeologically invisible and could have been eaten anywhere. This study shows that the potential use of beach-side processing sites connected to habitational areas cannot be discounted, especially when such coastal processing sites may now be under water.
In a remote northern corner of Saudi Arabia sit the relics of an ancient civilisation, which the kingdom hopes to turn into a global tourism destination as it tries to open up to the world and diversify its economy away from oil.
Credit: Faisal Al Nasser/Reuters
Backed by billions of dollars in state-led investment and a French cultural partnership, the authorities expect Al Ula and its majestic rock-hewn tombs of Madain Saleh could eventually attract millions of visitors, local and foreign alike.
That is generating excitement in the kingdom, while upending a superstition among many Saudis — and long-backed by religious edicts — that the area is haunted by jinn, the malevolent spirits of the Koran and Arabian mythology, and must be avoided.
Al Ula's development is part of a push to preserve pre-Islamic heritage sites in order to attract non-Muslim tourists, strengthen national identity and temper the austere strain of Sunni Islam that has dominated Saudi Arabia for decades.
Madain Saleh, a UNESCO World Heritage site located there, is a 2,000-year-old city carved into desert rocks by the Nabateans, the pre-Islamic Arab people that also built Petra in neighbouring Jordan.
Credit: Faisal Al Nasser/Reuters
Elaborately carved multistorey facades with epigraphs inscribed into the red sandstone give way to internal chambers where bodies were once laid to rest. At night, stars twinkle in the vast desert sky.
Superstition about the site can be traced back to a Hadith, or saying attributed to the Prophet Mohammad, warning Muslims not to enter ‘‘unless you are crying... lest you suffer the affliction’’ of its people, said to have perished for their sins.
While interpretation of that passage is nowadays contested, Saudi state-backed clerics had referenced it for years. In 2012, one of them ruled that Al Ula should be opened to the public, but even years later a school in the area was temporarily closed after students sighted jinn, local media reported.
During a media tour, residents refused to speak about the area's reputation for being jinxed, instead focusing on opportunities to make money and welcome visitors.
Credit: Faisal Al Nasser/Reuters
Locals are planning to open restaurants and shops, and a few hundred young people have been sent abroad to study hospitality. As conservative Saudi Arabia loosens social restrictions, some of the tour guides in Al Ula will be women.
‘‘The local community is peaceful, educated and hospitable,’’ said resident Talal Al Faqir. ‘‘The crown prince... has paved the way for the entire world to visit us and see the huge civilisations in our region. We are just getting started.’’
In Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman's headlong push to transform Saudi Arabia's economy and society, Al Ula has gained prominence.
He has ridden dune buggies through its sands and invited Western investors and celebrities for helicopter tours of the area, which abuts NEOM, the $500-billion mega-city he wants to build along the Red Sea.
Credit: Faisal Al Nasser/Reuters
Plans to admit tourists to Saudi Arabia have been discussed for years but have not come to fruition due to sluggish bureaucracy and concern over conservative sentiment.
International outcry over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents last October may give some potential tourists pause, but calls for Western performers to boycott the kingdom have not caught on.
Many of the visitors to Al Ula during an ongoing winter music festival are VIPs or well-heeled guests, with ticket prices reaching several thousand dollars. Visas were arranged on an ad hoc basis.
Riyadh native Dana Daham visited last month with friends, taking a train from Jeddah to Medina and then a 300km car ride.
Credit: Faisal Al Nasser/Reuters
‘‘We didn't expect it to be this magnificent. We keep hearing stories from people but this is way more than we thought it would be,’’ she said. ‘‘It's amazing, it's beautiful. So much history, so much going on.’’
The weekend she visited featured a concert by the hologram of the late Egyptian diva Umm Kulthum. Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli performed a few days later and Greek singer Yanni is also expected, alongside Arab stars such as Kadim Al Saher and Mohamed Abdo.
More than four decades ago, the Arabian oryx was extinct in the wild. But today, thanks to efforts spearheaded by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, experts are citing the swell in its numbers as one of the world’s biggest conservation success stories.
There are now an estimated 1,220 wild oryx across the Arabian Peninsula [Credit: Shutterstock]
In the early 1970s, the antelope was considered all but vanished due to hunting and poaching. Now it is not only back from the brink, but in 2011 the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reclassified it to “vulnerable” from “endangered,” the first time a species that was once “extinct in the wild” improved in status by three full categories out of six on its Red List of Threatened Species.
There are now an estimated 1,220 wild oryx across the Arabian Peninsula, in addition to between 6,000 and 7,000 in semi-captivity.
Experts at the IUCN have revealed to Arab News that the Arabian oryx could be upgraded to another level on its list within years, to “near-threatened,” thanks to regional breeding programs and reintroduction initiatives in the Kingdom, the UAE and the wider Gulf.
“About 40 years or so ago, the Arabian oryx was extinct in the wild formally, which meant there were none of these animals left in the wild, just those in captivity or in private collections,” said David Mallon, co-chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Antelope Specialist Group.
“Unfortunately, we don’t really have very much detailed information on the past. We’ve just got plenty of anecdotal reports of oryx around, and as far as we know the species was very widespread across the whole of the Arabian Peninsula. In the north it went as far as Iraq and Kuwait, Syria in the northwest and then Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE in the south,” he added.
“But as soon as motor vehicles and modern weapons arrived, the destructive potential of hunting rapidly increased. Before, if you were on a camel and you had a single shot, by the time you had another bullet in the gun the oryx would’ve run off. But when motor vehicles and more modern, reloadable rifles were introduced — you can wear oryx out through exhaustion — hunting became a lot easier.”
Their numbers rapidly declined, and by 1950 the northern population had disappeared.
“This just left the southern population based around the Empty Quarter, southeast Saudi Arabia and the border of the UAE and Oman. Then by the 1960s, it went down and down and down,” Mallon said.
Oryx, which included the World Wildlife Fund and Phoenix Zoo in the US, was set up to establish a herd in captivity to prepare to reintroduce them into the wild.
“They caught a few of them from the southern population in Yemen on the border with Oman and took them back to London Zoo. Then there were a couple donated from the ruler of Saudi Arabia at the time, and they were taken to Phoenix Zoo in Arizona, which has a similar desert climate, and they built up this world herd,” Mallon said, adding that this provided hope for the desert animal.
The first reintroduction of 10 animals was in 1982 at the Omani Central Desert and Coastal Hills in the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary.
It was subsequently extended to Saudi Arabia at the Mahazat Al-Sayd Protected Area.
Releases in this fenced area began in 1990.
Credit: Arab News
In 1995, a secondary release site was established in Uruq Bani Ma’arid in the southern part of the Kingdom.
In 1997, said Mallon, oryx were released in three sites in northern Israel, and were introduced to the UAE a few years later in the oryx reserve in Abu Dhabi.
Other sites have since been established, and reintroductions in “semi-captive” sites — vast fenced areas to protect them from poachers — have also been made in Jordan and Bahrain, while reintroductions in Kuwait, Iraq and Syria have been proposed, according to the IUCN.
Successful population growth and releases, in addition to the estimated millions of dollars being spent across the Gulf annually on conservation, have driven the population numbers to current levels.
Mallon said it is a major feat to have brought the Arabian oryx back from the brink of extinction, and one that the IUCN hopes will be repeated for other threatened species.
“The Arabian oryx was ‘extinct’ on the Red List, then they became ‘critically endangered.’ Once the population increased they moved to ‘endangered,’ and then moved to a level where they could be called ‘vulnerable.’ It’s a really good conservation story. The next target they have to get to is ‘near-threatened,’ and that’s not far off,” he added.
The IUCN formally categorizes numbers of a species that are at reproductive age.
“We only count the mature individuals, so we don’t count the young ones. We have about 1,220 now, including the young ones, and we’d say about 850 are mature,” Mallon said.
“For the oryx to move to the ‘near-threatened’ category, we’d need to get figures to about 1,400 of these animals, so about half as many again. Considering where we were and where we are now, this is an achievable feat.”
The main populations of the species today are in Saudi Arabia, where there are about 600 in the wild, and the UAE, where there are more than 400 by official numbers, although Mallon said there may be significantly more.
Many more are in semi-captivity.
There are about 110 in the wild in Israel.
Despite a promising start in Oman, few of the species remain in the country due to poaching.
The IUCN estimates that there are just 10 left in the wild in Oman, with a couple of hundred more in semi-captivity.
Mallon said there are few conservation stories as successful as the Arabian oryx, and it was the foresight of Saudi and Emirati rulers, and bodies that established large breeding sites across the Arab world, that have saved the animal from extinction.
Coordination between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries — such as the General Secretariat for the Conservation of the Arabian Oryx, which was established in 2001 as a landmark regional initiative aimed at coordinating and unifying conservation efforts in the Arabian Peninsula — has also helped.
“This helps to vary the genetics as much as possible, and ensures the longevity of the species,” said Mallon.
“There has been a huge amount of genetic sampling of all the herds to establish which ones are the most diverse. They’re genetically well-managed, and the animals are very carefully looked after.”
Conservation of endangered animals is a growing trend in the Kingdom. In the study “Conservation in Saudi Arabia: Moving from Strategy to Practice,” published in the Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences in 2018, authors noted that there are “marked conservation successes” in the Kingdom of not only the Arabian oryx, but two other endangered species: The sand gazelle and the Arabian gazelle.
The report added that the Saudi Wildlife Authority, established in 1986, has introduced several measures, with more on the way, to deter poachers and other factors that negatively affect populations of endangered species.
But Mallon said challenges for the Arabian oryx remain: “What’s needed is to continue with the captive breeding efforts to continue breeding animals, to continue the existing reintroduction sites and maintaining regional efforts and collaboration across the Arabian Peninsula. This is vital to maximize genetic diversity and reduce the risk of inbreeding.”
He added: “A massive Arabia Peninsula-wide education program on not shooting and hunting, and confiscation of weapons and a massive license system, would also help.”
Mallon said: “Without conservation, these species probably wouldn’t survive. Yet the Arabian oryx is an important part of Arabian biodiversity. It’s the one animal that’s adapted to hyper-arid deserts.”
He added: “It’s an exemplar to a species that has adapted to these conditions, which will be very useful in the future in terms of climate change. It also has its natural role, and serves as a flagship for the desert ecosystem, and also has huge cultural value. So it’s almost the duty of people to preserve it.”
Mallon said efforts thus far deserve worldwide commendation.
“It has been a huge conservation success story of its time. At the time, it was an absolute flagship project. It was a real exemplar of what can be done,” he added.
“A crucial part of conservation success stories is to have government support, funding and long-term commitment. That’s what we’ve seen in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the wider GCC.”
Beginning more than 1.5 million years ago, early humans made stone handaxes in a style known as the Acheulean -- the longest lasting tool-making tradition in prehistory. New research led by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage has documented an Acheulean presence in the Arabian Peninsula dating to less than 190,000 years ago, revealing that the Arabian Acheulean ended just before or at the same time as the earliest Homo sapiens dispersals into the region.
Handaxes from the site of Saffaqah, Saudi Arabia [Credit: Palaeodeserts/Ian R. Cartwright]
Much attention has been given to understanding the spread of our own species, Homo sapiens, first within Africa and then beyond. However, less attention has been given to where diverse groups of close evolutionary cousins lived in Eurasia immediately prior to the arrival of Homo sapiens. Understanding this is critical because the spatial and temporal characteristics of such groups reveal the human and cultural landscape first encountered by our species on leaving Africa.
The youngest Acheulean site in Southwest Asia
In a paper published in Scientific Reports, an international team of researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage reports the first ever dates obtained from an Acheulean site in Arabia, the site of Saffaqah, situated in Central Saudi Arabia. Saffaqah is the first stratified Acheulean site to be reported in the Arabian Peninsula and the dates reveal that early humans occupied the site until at least 190,000 years ago. These dates are surprisingly recent for a region known to feature among the oldest examples of such technology outside Africa. For example, dates from the Levant document an ancient Acheulean presence from 1.5 million years ago. Conversely the site of Saffaqah features the youngest Acheulean tools yet found in southwest Asia.
Researcher Eleanor Scerri with giant Acheulean core from which flakes were struck to create the handaxes [Credit: Palaeodeserts]
Over 500 stone tools, including handaxes and other artefacts known as cleavers, were recovered from the occupation levels. Some of the stone flakes used to make handaxes were in such fresh condition that they were recovered still resting on the stone nodules from which they had been detached. These and other artefacts show that the early humans responsible for making them were manufacturing stone tools at this site.
"It is not surprising that early humans came here to make stone tools," says Dr. Eleanor Scerri of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, the lead author of the study. "The site is located on a prominent andesite dyke that rises above the surrounding plain. The spot was both a source of raw material as well as a prime location to survey a landscape that, back then, sat between two major river systems." This choice location also seems to have continued to be attractive to early humans at an even later date than those recorded by the researchers in this study. Layers containing identical stone handaxes are also found above the dense occupation layers that were dated, raising the possibility that Saffaqah is among the youngest Acheulean sites documented anywhere.
Hominins living at the edge
The new dating results both record the late persistence of the Acheulean in the Peninsula and also show that as yet unidentified hominin populations were using networks of now extinct rivers to disperse into the heart of Arabia during a time of increased rainfall in the region. This suggests that these hominins were able to live on the margins of habitable zones and take advantage of relatively brief "greening" episodes in a generally arid area. The dispersal of these hominins into the heart of Arabia may also help to explain the surprisingly late persistence of the Acheulean, as it suggests a degree of isolation.
Archaeologists excavating the site of Saffaqah, Saudi Arabia [Credit: Palaeodeserts]
"These hominins were resourceful and intelligent," adds Dr. Scerri, "They dispersed across a challenging landscape using technology commonly seen as reflecting a lack of inventiveness and creativity. Instead of perceiving the Acheulean this way, we should really be struck by how flexible, versatile and successful this technology was."
Cutting edge science
To date the sediments from the site of Saffaqah, the researchers used a combination of dating techniques known as luminescence methods, including a newly developed infrared-radiofluorescence (IR-RF) dating protocol for potassium rich feldspars. The method relies on the ability of such minerals to store energy induced by natural radioactivity and to release this energy in the form of light. "The application of IR-RF dating allowed us to obtain age estimates from sediments that were previously difficult to reliably date," explains Marine Frouin of the University of Oxford, one of the researchers involved in the dating program.
These discoveries and methods are already leading to new research. "One of the biggest questions we have is whether any of our evolutionary ancestors and close cousins met up with Homo sapiens, and if this could have happened somewhere in Saudi Arabia. Future field work will be dedicated to understanding possible cultural and biological exchanges at this critical time period," says Professor Michael Petraglia of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, the director of the project which led to the discoveries at Saffaqah.
While often equated with ‘humans’, the term hominin refers to a variety of genera and species, including Ardipithecus ramidus, Australopithecus afarensis, Homo erectus, as well as our own species Homo sapiens, all of which exhibit some form of adaptation to bipedal walking on the ground. When considering what makes us ‘human’, we would argue that we have to ask what makes us Homo sapiens, a species that evolved in Africa sometime between 300 and 200,000 years ago distinct from these other hominin groups.
Some of the excavation team uncovering animal fossils at the site of Ti's al Ghadah, Saudi Arabia in back in 2013. A large extinct elephant tusk (Palaeoloxodon) is clearly visible in the sands. The map showing the site can be found inside the main paper [Credit: Palaeodeserts Project/Huw Groucutt]
It has recently been argued that Homo sapiens occupied a diversity of extreme environments, including deserts, tropical rainforests, arctic, and high-altitude settings, around the world. By contrast, other earlier and contemporaneous hominin species, such as Neanderthals and the recently discovered Homo naledi, appear to be associated with generalized use of different forest and grassland mosaics.
Often hominin fossils, and indeed hominin genomes, have been described without associated information relating to past vegetation or precipitation, making it difficult to systematically test the hypothesis that our species is ecologically unique. At the site of Ti’s al Ghadah in northern Saudi Arabia, we uncovered the earliest remains of hominin activity on the Arabian Peninsula in the form of buried stone tools and possible cut marks on animal bones dated to between 500 and 300,000 years ago.
Furthermore, these archaeological remains were directly associated with a variety of fossil animals, including extinct elephants (Palaeoloxodon recki), large jaguar-like felines (Panthera gombaszoegensis), hartebeest (Hippotragus gigas) and horses (Equus sp.). While some animals, such as waterfowl, indicated the past presence of reliable water in what is today a desert, arid-adapted animals such as camel (Camelus sp.) and oryx (Oryx sp.) implied a more complicated picture.
The current desert environment surrounding Ti's al Ghadah. Two researchers can be seen standing atop the ancient lake deposit. Was it the same in the past? [Credit: Palaeodeserts Project/Huw Groucutt]
Stable carbon isotope analysis of fossil herbivore tooth enamel has been shown to document the types of vegetation being consumed by an individual. Meanwhile, stable oxygen isotope analysis of different types of animals, and specifically by comparing animals that are required to drink water with those that are not, can provide insights into how arid a region was in the past.
By taking multiple samples from a single tooth we can also gain insights into how these environments fluctuated on monthly to yearly scales. Importantly, in the case of Ti’s al Ghadah, we could undertake these studies in a way that would allow us to link the resulting information directly with some of the earliest recorded hominin populations arriving in the Arabian Peninsula, allowing us to test the degree to which our relatives were forced to adapt to new conditions in what is today a highly challenging place for human occupation.
The stable isotope findings demonstrate that animals were feeding almost exclusively on grasses, and that aridity levels were somewhat similar to those found in East Africa ‘savanna’ settings today. This indicates the availability of significant amounts of water at certain points in time, which is consistent with the fossil animals recovered from the site, and a potential connection between numerous lake systems.
An example of a fossil animal found at the site. This here is a molar of an extinct elephant (Palaeoloxodon), a species that went extinct sometime during the middle Pleistocene [Credit: Palaeodeserts Project/Huw Groucutt]
The information from Ti’s al Ghadah and elsewhere indicate that early dispersing hominin populations would have been able to extend not only into the Levant, but deep into the Arabian Peninsula, alongside various African and Eurasian mammals in similar grassland habitats. While these early hominin populations may have possessed significant cultural capacities, their movement into this part of the world would not have required adaptations to harsh, arid deserts.
By contrast, while also requiring the formation of a ‘Green Arabia’ to some extent, our own species, Homo sapiens, appears to have had a wider geographic spread in Arabia than these earlier hominins, and lived under much harsher conditions than their predecessors. Recent research in the Kalahari and Namib Deserts of southern Africa have also found that Homo sapiens adapted to limited water availability in these arid regions.
More detailed study of past environments, closely associated with different forms of hominin species in different parts of the world, should allow continued testing as to whether our species was unique in its ecological flexibility. In turn, comparable environmental datasets, alongside traditional focus on cultural artefacts and fossil remains, can begin to trace the point at which we became ‘human’ and developed the current diverse ecological niche that has taken us across the world’s continents and even begun to modify them beyond all recognition.
Four of the stone tool flakes recovered at the site and examples of possible cut marks on an ungulate rib (bottom) and long bone shaft (right) [Credit: Roberts et al. 2018, Palaeodeserts Project/Mathew Stewart]
This work would not have been possible without a diverse international consortium of researchers headed by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, in partnership with HRH Prince Sultan bin Salman and the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage. Additional partners include the Saudi Geological Survey, King Saud University and other key institutions in the United Kingdom and Australia.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi opened Roads of Arabia: Archaeological Treasures of Saudi Arabia, the second international exhibition of the museum’s cultural season. The exhibition explores the rich history of the Arabian Peninsula through archaeological and cultural artefacts, including a selection of rare pieces from the United Arab Emirates.
The exhibition explores five chapters in the history of the Arabian Peninsula, spanning early prehistoric settlements; maritime exploration; caravan trading routes that linked the region with Asia, Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean; routes of holy pilgrimage emerging in the 7th century CE; and the social and economic developments between the 14th and 16th centuries that set the stage for the modern day region.
Fourteen acclaimed editions of the show have toured throughout Europe, the USA and Asia before now coming back to the region at Louvre Abu Dhabi, where it is enriched by selected pieces from the UAE. The exhibition was conceived through cooperation between SCTH and the Musee du Louvre in Paris, where it was first presented in 2010.
“Roads of Arabia: Archaeological Treasures of Saudi Arabia forms the centrepiece of our latest cultural season at Louvre Abu Dhabi. The exhibition embodies a significant friendship and convergence between the UAE, Saudi Arabia and France. With the museum located at one of Abu Dhabi’s gateways to the Arabian Peninsula, I can’t think of a more appropriate exhibition to present on the occasion of this institution’s first anniversary.” said H.E. Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi.
The expanded exhibition displayed at Louvre Abu Dhabi is co-curated by Jamal S. Omar, Vice President of Antiquities and Museums Department at STCH, Dr. Souraya Noujaim, Scientific, Curatorial and Collection Management Director at Louvre Abu Dhabi, and Noemi Dauce, Chief Curator for Archaeology at Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Manuel Rabate, Director of Louvre Abu Dhabi, said: “Over the past year, Louvre Abu Dhabi has been telling the world’s universal story through its international exhibitions and innovative programming. Louvre Abu Dhabi’s ambition is to celebrate cross-cultural connections and highlight bridges between civilisations. We launch the exhibition’s programme in our anniversary week with On the Roads of Arabia, a world first showcasing more than 80 talented musicians and their respective cultures from across the ancient trade routes of Arabia.”
Dr. Noujaim added: “Louvre Abu Dhabi’s international exhibitions are always an extension of the artworks and stories we present in our permanent galleries. As part of our season, Worlds of Exchanges, our latest exhibition Roads of Arabia tells the story of this region and offers a closer look at its interconnected history and heritage, across roads weaved throughout the peninsula.
The important archaeological pieces from the UAE include a pearl found in Umm Al Quwain dating from 5500-5300 BCE (loaned by Umm Al Quwain Museum); a stone decorated with a wild camel from the late 3rd millennium BCE (loaned by Al Ain Museum), and objects from Julfar (loaned by the National Museum of Ras Al Khaimah).
These are being displayed alongside significant artefacts from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including outstanding funerary Neolithic stela, a 3rd-century BCE bronze statue head (loaned by the Department of Archaeology at King Saud University); a 1st-century BCE gold funerary mask from Eastern Province (loaned by the National Museum in Riyadh), 9th-century engraved steles (loaned by King Fahad National Library); 4th-millennium BCE Anthropomorphic stele (loaned by the National Museum in Riyadh); a door of the Kaaba dating to 1355 (loaned by the National Museum in Riyadh) and a key of the Kaaba (loaned by the Department of Islamic Art at the Musee du Louvre).
A new study, led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, suggests that early hominin dispersals beyond Africa did not involve adaptations to environmental extremes, such as to arid and harsh deserts. The discovery of stone tools and cut-marks on fossil animal remains at the site of Ti's al Ghadah provides definitive evidence for hominins in Saudi Arabia at least 100,000 years earlier than previously known.
Excavation of mammal fossils at the Ti's al Ghadah site, Saudi Arabia [Credit: Palaeodeserts Project/Michael Petraglia]
Stable isotope analysis of the fossil fauna indicates a dominance of grassland vegetation, with aridity levels similar to those found in open savanna settings in eastern Africa today. The stable isotope data indicates that early dispersals of our archaic ancestors were part of a range expansion rather than a result of novel adaptations to new environmental contexts outside Africa.
Studies of early and late dispersals of hominin populations beyond Africa are important for understanding the course of global human evolution and what it means to be human. Although the species that make up the genus Homo are often termed 'human' in academic and public discourse, this evolutionary group (or genus), which emerged in Africa around 3 million years ago, is highly diverse. Indeed, there is continuing debate as to what extent our own species Homo sapiens, which emerged in Africa around 300,000 years ago, showed unique ecological plasticity in adapting to novel environments compared to other hominin members in the genus Homo.
Distinguishing ecological settings for members of the genus Homo outside Africa
It has recently been argued that early Homo sapiens occupied a diversity of extreme environments, including deserts, tropical rainforests, arctic, and high-altitude settings, around the world. By contrast, the dispersals of other earlier and contemporaneous species of Homo, such as Neanderthals, appear to be associated with generalized use of different forest and grassland mosaics in and among river and lake settings. A lack of palaeoenvironmental information has made it difficult to systematically test this idea and indeed a number of researchers maintain that non-Homo sapiens species demonstrate cultural and ecological adaptive flexibility.
Sand dune in the Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia [Credit: Palaeodeserts Project/Klint Janulis]
'Green Arabia' and early human migrations
In spite of its crucial geographic position at the crossroads between Africa and Eurasia, the Arabian Peninsula has been astoundingly absent from discussions about early human expansions until recently. However, recent analysis of climate models, cave records, lake records, and animal fossils have shown that at certain points in the past, the harsh, hyper-arid deserts that cover much of Arabia today were replaced by 'greener' conditions that would have represented an attractive setting for various hominin populations.
Following the 'savanna'? Direct environmental evidence for first steps 'Out of Africa'
In the current paper, the researchers undertook renewed archaeological excavations and analysis of fossil fauna found at the site of Ti's al Ghadah, in the Nefud Desert of northern Saudi Arabia. As one of the lead authors, Mathew Stewart says, "Ti's al Ghadah is one of the most important palaeontological sites in the Arabian Peninsula and it currently represents the only dated collection of middle Pleistocene fossil animals in this part of the world, and includes animals such as elephant, jaguar and water birds." Until now, however, the absence of stone tools has made linking these animals with early hominin presence uncertain.
Significantly, the research team found stone tools alongside evidence for the butchery of animals on bones, confirming a hominin presence in association with these animals 500,000 to 300,000 years ago. Michael Petraglia, the principal archaeologist of the project and a co-author on the paper says, "This makes Ti's al Ghadah the first, early hominin-associated fossil assemblage from the Arabian Peninsula, demonstrating that our ancestors were exploiting a variety of animals as they wandered into the green interior."
Mammal fossil recovered from the Ti's al Ghadah site, Saudi Arabia [Credit: Palaeodeserts Project/Ian R. Cartwright]
The authors were also able to innovatively apply geochemical methods to fossil animal tooth enamel to determine vegetation and aridity conditions associated with the movements of our ancestors into this region. The stable isotope findings highlight the presence of an abundance of grass in all animal diets, as well aridity levels somewhat similar to those found in East Africa 'savanna' settings today. This information fits with analysis of the types of animals found on site, and indicates the availability of significant amounts of water at certain points in time.
Implications for our understanding of changing human adaptive capacities
"While these early hominin populations may have possessed significant cultural capacities, their movement into this part of the world would not have required adaptations to harsh and arid deserts," Dr. Patrick Roberts, the lead author of the paper, explains. "Indeed, the isotope evidence suggests that this expansion is more characteristic of a range expansion similar to that seen among other mammals moving between Africa, the Levant, and Eurasia at this time." More detailed study of past environments, closely associated with different forms of hominin species in the Arabian Peninsula and elsewhere should enable more refined testing as to whether our species is uniquely flexible in terms of its adaptations to varying environments.
A joint Saudi-French mission to explore archaeological sites within Saudi international missions being supervised by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage has revealed sites dating back to about 100,000 years in a number of mountains, south of Riyadh, specifically in Governorate of Al-Kharj.
The field survey of the mission included the hills surrounding Al-Kharj Mountains overlooking Wadi Nisah, part of the hills overlooking the Mawan valley, Ein Farzane and the hills overlooking the town of Al-Shadidah [Credit: SPA]
The field survey of the mission included the mountains surrounding Al-Kharj Mountains overlooking Wadi Nisah, part of the mountains overlooking the Mawan valley, Ein Farzane and the mountains overlooking the town of Al-Shadidah. The sites are dating back to the Paleolithic period about 100,000 years. It is the first time that sites from the Paleolithic period were discovered in Al-Kharj Governorate, as well as sites dating back to the Upper Paleolithic period.
The mission includes 18 members of the Saudi and French scientists and specialists in the field of archaeological excavations under the supervision of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage.
The joint Saudi-French mission works within the framework of the agreement signed between the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage and the French side on September 21, 2011 for archaeological excavations in Al-Kharj governorate in Riyadh region.
Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, President of Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage received at the headquarters of the Commission in Riyadh the team of the joint Saudi-French mission to explore the site of Yamama in Al-Kharj.
He expressed his appreciation for the efforts of the mission, stressing the importance of preparing the site for visitors to link citizens with their country's history.
Saudi archaeologists have discovered underground aqueducts dating back to early Islamic period. They were found during an excavation in the historic city of Fayd, in Hail, along with bakery ovens, wash basins and a large number of architectural sites.
Habitation area outside the walls of Fayd Fortress [Credit: Florent Egal]
“The archaeologists, who work under the supervision of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), found traces of the underground aqueducts in the archaeological city in Hail,” Majed Alshadeed, a SCTH spokesman, told Arab News on Monday.
The breakthrough discoveries were made outside the fort in Hail, with a second site uncovered in the area between the two walls of the southern side of the fort. A third site was found at Al-Qalqah citadel.
The sites included an ancient mosque dating back to the early Islamic era, in addition to architectural units with several rooms, and architectural details buried between the exterior and interior walls of the fort.
The archaeological action plan included detecting, preparing and cleaning old wells in the traditional city. The wells are connected to the underground aqueducts, Alshadeed said.
Mosque dating back to the early Islamic era [Credit: Arab News]
A service site for the ancient fort was also uncovered, with bakery ovens and wash basins found in channels that pass through the last underground square. Pottery utensils, and glass, stone and metal pieces were also retrieved.
The city of Fayd is a major archaeological and historical site, located 120 kilometers east of the city of Hail. It is the third city of the old pilgrimage route “Darb Zubaidah” — after Kufa and Basra — and the largest station on the pilgrimage route used by millions of pilgrims for their once-in-a-lifetime Hajj journey to the holy city of Makkah.
Foundations located in the northern part of the fort were built in regular forms using volcanic stones commonly found in the city. Some architectural forms and objects such as basins were also carved from volcanic rock.
The presence of iron residues showed the objects may have been in the manufacture of glass and iron.
New archaeological research from The Australian National University (ANU) has found that Homo erectus, an extinct species of primitive humans, went extinct in part because they were 'lazy'.
A new study claims that Homo erectus used a single tool with a sharp edge for most jobs and did not plan ahead [Credit: WikiCommons]
An archaeological excavation of ancient human populations in the Arabian Peninsula during the Early Stone Age, found that Homo erectus used 'least-effort strategies' for tool making and collecting resources.
This 'laziness' paired with an inability to adapt to a changing climate likely played a role in the species going extinct, according to lead researcher Dr Ceri Shipton of the ANU School of Culture, History and Language.
"They really don't seem to have been pushing themselves," Dr Shipton said.
"I don't get the sense they were explorers looking over the horizon. They didn't have that same sense of wonder that we have."
Dr Ceri Shipton on site at Saffaqah in central Saudi Arabia [Credit: ANU]
Dr Shipton said this was evident in the way the species made their stone tools and collected resources.
"To make their stone tools they would use whatever rocks they could find lying around their camp, which were mostly of comparatively low quality to what later stone tool makers used," he said.
"At the site we looked at there was a big rocky outcrop of quality stone just a short distance away up a small hill.
"But rather than walk up the hill they would just use whatever bits had rolled down and were lying at the bottom.
The site at Saffaqah in central Saudi Arabia [Credit: ANU]
"When we looked at the rocky outcrop there were no signs of any activity, no artefacts and no quarrying of the stone.
"They knew it was there, but because they had enough adequate resources they seem to have thought, 'why bother?'."
This is in contrast to the stone tool makers of later periods, including early Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, who were climbing mountains to find good quality stone and transporting it over long distances.
Dr Shipton said a failure to progress technologically, as their environment dried out into a desert, also contributed to the population's demise.
Dr Seri Shipton in the Arabian Peninsula [Credit: ANU]
"Not only were they lazy, but they were also very conservative," Dr Shipton said.
"The sediment samples showed the environment around them was changing, but they were doing the exact same things with their tools.
"There was no progression at all, and their tools are never very far from these now dry river beds. I think in the end the environment just got too dry for them."
The excavation and survey work was undertaken in 2014 at the site of Saffaqah near Dawadmi in central Saudi Arabia.
The research has been published in a paper for the PLoS One scientific journal.
Human footprints dating back to about 85,000 years have been discovered on the banks of an ancient lake in the Nefud Desert in Tabuk region, Prince Sultan Bin Salman, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), announced in Tokyo on Thursday.
Credit: Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Ministry of Culture and Information, Saudi Arabia
This amazing and rare discovery points to a new understanding of how our species came out of Africa en route to colonizing the world.
Prince Sultan’s announcement came on the sidelines of his visit on Thursday to the exhibition entitled “Trade routes in the Arabian Peninsula – the magnificent antiquities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia throughout the ages.” The exhibition, organized by the SCTH in the Japanese National Museum in Tokyo, is scheduled to end on Sunday.
A joint Saudi international team discovered traces of several adults who were scattered on a muddy land in an old lake — each heading to a different destination — in the northwest of Saudi Arabia, Prince Sultan said, according to a Saudi Press Agency (SPA) report on Friday.
Credit: Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Ministry of Culture and Information, Saudi Arabia
The research team included the Saudi Geological Survey, the SCTH, King Saud University, the Max Planck Foundation for Human History, Oxford University, Cambridge University, Australia National, and the University of New South Wales in Australia.
Prince Sultan said the age of the footprints coincides with the fossil of the finger of an adult person recently found near the central site in the province of Taima.
The finger, whose discovery was announced last month, is considered to belong to an adult of the early migrants in recent times to the Arabian Peninsula via the Nefud Desert, which then was a green pasture replete with rivers, lakes, freshwater and abundant animals – a source of food for humans.
Prince Sultan said the SCTH is working side-by-side with archaeologists at the Max Planck Institute that has started work with the commission for several years. The objective is to study these footprints in detail. The archaeological and scientific exploratory works are still going on in international laboratories.
