[ti:Prehistoric Arabia Brought Early Humans from Africa]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]New evidence suggests
[00:02.56]that the desert of the Arabian Peninsula
[00:06.96]once had water and plants that brought
[00:10.96]early humans and large animals from Africa.
[00:16.72]Until 10 years ago, scientists trying
[00:21.60]to rebuild the story of early human movements
[00:26.20]out of Africa knew little about the Arabian Peninsula.
[00:33.92]Much more is known about early human settlements
[00:38.88]in the Levant region.
[00:42.84]The Levant is the area that includes modern-day Israel,
[00:49.28]Jordan, Lebanon and parts of Syria.
[00:55.24]Archaeological research has been carried out there
[01:00.32]for more than one hundred years.
[01:04.60]But a recent study published in Nature suggests
[01:09.28]that the Arabian Peninsula may have served
[01:13.68]as a bridge between Africa and Eurasia.
[01:19.28]Michael Petraglia is one of the writers of the study.
[01:26.00]He is an archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute
[01:30.00]for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany.
[01:38.08]The research team included scientists from Germany,
[01:43.44]Saudi Arabia, Australia, Britain and other countries.
[01:50.92]He said, "Arabia has not been part
[01:54.76]of the story of early human migration
[01:58.72]because so little work was done there before."
[02:04.04]Huw Groucutt is also based at the Max Planck Institute.
[02:10.64]He travels to archaeological places in the northern Arabian Peninsula
[02:18.04]where rolling sand dunes, or hills, extend as far as the eye can see.
[02:26.44]Scientists started to look closely for archeological remains
[02:32.64]in the region after satellite images showed signs of
[02:38.08]prehistoric lakes in the areas that are now desert.
[02:44.12]"We noticed color patterns made by ancient lakes
[02:49.80]— sand dunes are kind of orange-colored,
[02:53.52]while ancient lakes are tinted white or gray," said Groucutt.
[03:00.80]Over the past 10 years, archeologists
[03:05.64]have found stone tools from several periods of
[03:10.56]prehistoric settlement by early human groups.
[03:15.92]The oldest was from 400,000 years ago.
[03:22.32]Researchers found that, during several periods in the past,
[03:28.04]the region had lakes and was covered with grassland, or savannah.
[03:34.96]Study of rocks and soil from the ancient lakes
[03:40.16]and remains of animals like hippopotamuses,
[03:45.28]or hippos, suggest water was available.
[03:50.84]The researchers said early humans and animals
[03:55.24]moved from northeast Africa into the Arabian Peninsula
[04:01.44]during these windows of welcoming climate.
[04:06.28]Petraglia said, "flowing rivers and lakes, surrounded
[04:11.60]by grasslands and savannah, would have attracted animals
[04:16.80]and then the early humans that were in pursuit of them."
[04:23.24]Hippos require bodies of water several meters deep to live.
[04:30.40]Remains of other animals, including ostriches and antelopes,
[04:36.84]show "a strong biological connection to northeast Africa," he said.
[04:45.64]Rick Potts directs the Human Origins Program
[04:50.28]at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
[04:59.28]He said the research has combined archaeology
[05:03.76]and climate records going back 400,000 years.
[05:10.36]It showed that early humans moved
[05:13.36]across the land when the climate changed.
[05:18.68]Potts was not involved in the new study.
[05:23.40]But he said the periods in which there were and were not
[05:28.52]humans in the area followed changes in climate.
[05:34.32]I'm Gregory Stachel.
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