30 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

350,000-Year-Old Human Settlement have been Discovered on the Arabian Peninsula

One of the world’s oldest Acheulean sites was found in the northern region of Hail in Saudi Arabia.

Al Nasim contains paleoenvironmental evidence for freshwater lakes and channels, as well as geomorphological characteristics consistent with Middle Pleistocene products.

The discovery of the oldest human settlement in the Arabian Peninsula was published in an article in Nature Scientific Report.

The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage began paleoenvironmental and archaeological surveys of the Green Arabian Project more than 10 years ago in partnership with the German Max Planck Society, the University of Oxford, the Saudi Geological Survey, and King Saudi University in Riyadh.

The survey, reveals that the Arabian Peninsula had wetter conditions and a rainy climate in the central region. This led to the formation of lakes, rivers, valleys, and vegetation that contributed to a better way of living for human beings and altered the spatial distribution of hominins within and between continents.

Saudi Arabia discovers
Different handaxe forms from An Nasim. Photo: Ian Cartwright,
Scientific Reports

Archaeological studies also suggest that the earliest living man inhabited South-West Asia and that the Acheulean civilization had one of the longest-lasting tool-making traditions. The artifacts discovered included hand axes and stone tools, which provided information about the inhabitants’ way of life.

“Al Nasim represents one of the oldest documented Acheulean sites in Saudi Arabia, revealing regionally diverse stone tool assemblages used by Middle Pleistocene man, which further indicates a pattern of repeated entry of inhabitants into the peninsula during the wet ‘Green Arabia’ phase,” the SPA reported.

The site consists of a deep, narrow basin where many Palaeolithic artifacts, similar to those previously discovered at Acheulean sites in the Nefud Desert, were retrieved. The similarity between the Acheulean discoveries in Al Nasim and those in the Nefud Desert indicates that the paleolakes of this region provided an important corridor for humans to travel and meet others.

The discovery has been published in Scientific Reports.

Source: The National News 

Related Articles

Archaeologists made a remarkable discovery in Kosovo: Evidence that the great Byzantine Emperor was of Dardanian origin

19 August 2023

19 August 2023

A mixed team of international and local experts led by Professor Christophe J. Goddard has unearthed a monumental inscription of...

The latest discovery at the villa Civita Giuliana, north of Pompeii, the remains of a slave room

7 November 2021

7 November 2021

Ella IDE Pompeii archaeologists announced Saturday the discovery of the remnants of a “slave room” in an exceedingly unusual find...

4000-year-old boat salvaged near the ancient city of Uruk one of the most important cities in ancient Mesopotamia

6 April 2022

6 April 2022

A team of archaeologists from the Iraqi German Mission of the State Board of Antiquities and the Orient Department of...

9,000-Year-Old Rock Art Suggests Early Humans Interacted with Dinosaur Footprints

22 February 2025

22 February 2025

In Brazil, researchers have made an extraordinary discovery of ancient rock art dating back over 9,000 years, found alongside dinosaur...

A Giant Stone Panel Discovered in Mexico Reveals the Name of a Previously Unknown Maya King’s

14 August 2024

14 August 2024

Archaeologists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have discovered a fascinating panel containing an extensive Maya hieroglyphic...

A Roman sarcophagus containing two skeletons was found in Bath, England

29 June 2021

29 June 2021

Stone walls, a Roman sarcophagus, and a cremation burial have been unearthed in a renovation project at the Bathwick Roman...

More than 56400 Cultural Goods Seized in Operation Pandora V

11 May 2021

11 May 2021

Operation Pandora V, aimed at preventing the illegal trade of cultural goods, has been one of the most successful operations...

An Urartian fortress was discovered at an altitude of 3,300 meters in eastern Turkey

2 July 2022

2 July 2022

In the Gürpınar district of Van, located in eastern Turkey, a fortress ruin, which is considered to be used by...

1900-year-old Child’s Nightgown with intriguing knots found in the Cave of Letters in the Judean Desert

5 October 2023

5 October 2023

The Cave of Letters in Israel is one such site that has yielded a large number of papyrus letters and...

3,500-year-old perfectly preserved ancient frozen bear found in Siberian

28 February 2023

28 February 2023

As the permafrost on Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island in eastern Siberia melted, a mummified brown bear that lived more than three...

Stonehenge could be a solar calendar, according to a new study

2 March 2022

2 March 2022

A new study posits that the Stonehenge circles served as a calendar that tracks the solar year of 365.25 days,...

When the waters receded, the mounds of Pulur Sakyol and Yeniköy, bearing the traces of Kura-Aras Culture, came to light

8 December 2021

8 December 2021

The important cultural areas of Pulur Sakyol and Yeniköy mounds, which bear the traces of Kura-Aras Culture, represented by kurgans...

An 1800-year-old geometric patterned mosaic was discovered in Turkey’s ancient city of Bergama

17 June 2022

17 June 2022

During excavations surrounding the Red Basilica at Pergamon, an ancient city in western Turkey that is a UNESCO World Heritage...

A Rare Ancient Saber Discovered in Kyrgyzstan

5 August 2023

5 August 2023

An ancient saber (heavy military sword with a long cutting edge and, often, a curved blade) was found by three...

Mummy of Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep ‘unwrapped’ for the first time in 3,500 years!

30 December 2021

30 December 2021

Egyptian scientists have digitally unwrapped the 3,500-year-old mummy of pharaoh Amenhotep I. For the first time, a team in Egypt...