Climate Change - Stone Age-style

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Satellite images reveal that a network of ancient rivers once coursed their way through the arid sand of the Arabian Desert. The images are the starting point for major research project led by the University of Oxford into human evolutionary heritage, with a research team investigating how long-term climate change affected early humans and animals who settled or passed through the area.

They will also try to determine if early humans in the area survived or died out. Until now this part of the world has been largely ignored by scholars despite its critical location as a bridge between Africa and Eurasia.Over the course of five years the researchers will study the landscape features and excavate sites of likely archaeological interest, using the network of water courses as a map.

They will use the latest dating techniques to pinpoint the ages of fossils of animals, plants and different stone tool technologies and compare the similarities and differences displayed in the region’s rock art. Rock art in the region (such as this display in Najran, Saudi Arabia) suggests that humanity has a rich heritage in the area The team's main focus will be the Arabian Desert, but the work will also cover the wider Peninsula. One key question they will attempt to answer is when the first early modern humans are likely to have first arrived in the Arabian Peninsula from Africa and perhaps surrounding regions.

They will also look for evidence that suggests how early modern humans were able to survive, or not, in arid and extreme conditions. The presence of water is an accurate indicator of where early humans and animals migrated to or settled. [Eddi Wren]