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The antiquity and nature of coastal resource procurement is central to understanding human evolution and adaptations to complex environments. It has become increasingly apparent in global archaeological studies that the timing, characteristics, and trajectories of coastal resource use are highly variable. Within Africa, discussions of these issues have largely been based on the archaeological record from the south and northeast of the continent, with little evidence from eastern coastal areas leaving significant spatial and temporal gaps in our knowledge. Here, we present data from Panga ya Saidi, a limestone cave complex located 15 km from the modern Kenyan coast, which represents the first long-term sequence of coastal engagement from eastern Africa. Rather than attempting to distinguish between coastal resource use and coastal adaptations, we focus on coastal engagement as a means of characterising human relationships with marine environments and resources from this inland location. We use aquatic mollusc data spanning the past 67,000 years to document shifts in the acquisition, transportation, and discard of these materials, to better understand long-term trends in coastal engagement. Our results show pulses of coastal engagement beginning with low-intensity symbolism, and culminating in the consistent low-level transport of marine and freshwater food resources, emphasising a diverse relationship through time. Panga ya Saidi has the oldest stratified evidence of marine engagement in eastern Africa, and is the only site in Africa which documents coastal resources from the Late Pleistocene through the Holocene, highlighting the potential archaeological importance of peri-coastal sites to debates about marine resource relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5, ~ 130 to 71 thousand years ago, was a key period for the geographic expansion of Homo sapiens, including engagement with new landscapes within Africa and dispersal into Asia. Occupation of the Levant by Homo sapiens in MIS 5 is well established, while recent research has documented complementary evidence in Arabia. Here, we undertake the first detailed comparison of Levallois core technology from eastern Africa, Arabia, and the Levant during MIS 5, including multiple sites associated with Homo sapiens fossils. We employ quantitative comparisons of individual artefacts that provides a detailed appraisal of Levallois reduction activity in MIS 5, thereby enabling assessment of intra- and inter-assemblage variability for the first time. Our results demonstrate a pattern of geographically structured variability embedded within a shared focus on centripetal Levallois reduction schemes and overlapping core morphologies. We reveal directional changes in core shaping and flake production from eastern Africa to Arabia and the Levant that are independent of differences in geographic or environmental parameters. These results are consistent with a common cultural inheritance between these regions, potentially stemming from a shared late Middle Pleistocene source in eastern Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arabian Peninsula is a critical geographic landmass situated between Africa and the rest of Eurasia. Climatic shifts across the Pleistocene periodically produced wetter conditions in Arabia, dramatically altering the spatial distribution of hominins both within and between continents. This is particularly true of Acheulean hominins, who appear to have been more tethered to water sources than Middle Palaeolithic hominins. However, until recently, chrono-cultural knowledge of the Acheulean of Arabia has been limited to one dated site, which indicated a hominin presence in Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 7–6. Here, we report the first dated Acheulean site from the Nefud Desert of northern Saudi Arabia, together with palaeoecological evidence for an associated deep, probably fresh-water, lake. The site of An Nasim features varied and often finely flaked façonnage handaxes. Luminescence ages together with geomorphological and palaeoecological evidence indicates that the associated artefacts date to MIS 9. At present, An Nasim represents the oldest yet documented Acheulean sites in Arabia, and adds to a growing picture of regionally diverse stone tool assemblages used by Middle Pleistocene hominins, and likely indicative of repeated population re-entry into the peninsula in wet 'Green Arabia' phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite occupying a central geographic position, investigations of hominin populations in the Arabian Peninsula during the Lower Palaeolithic period are rare. The colonization of Eurasia below 55 degrees latitude indicates the success of the genus Homo in the Early and Middle Pleistocene, but the extent to which these hominins were capable of innovative and novel behavioural adaptations to engage with mid-latitude environments is unclear. Here we describe new field investigations at the Saffaqah locality (206–76) near Dawadmi, in central Arabia that aim to establish how hominins adapted to this region. The site is located in the interior of Arabia over 500 km from both the Red Sea and the Gulf, and at the headwaters of two major extinct river systems that were likely used by Acheulean hominins to cross the Peninsula. Saffaqah is one of the largest Acheulean sites in Arabia with nearly a million artefacts estimated to occur on the surface, and it is also the first to yield stratified deposits containing abundant artefacts. It is situated in the unusual setting of a dense and well-preserved landscape of Acheulean localities, with sites and isolated artefacts occurring regularly for tens of kilometres in every direction. We describe both previous and recent excavations at Saffaqah and its large lithic assemblage. We analyse thousands of artefacts from excavated and surface contexts, including giant andesite cores and flakes, smaller cores and retouched artefacts, as well as handaxes and cleavers. Technological assessment of stratified lithics and those from systematic survey, enable the reconstruction of stone tool life histories. The Acheulean hominins at Dawadmi were strong and skilful, with their adaptation evidently successful for some time. However, these biface-makers were also technologically conservative, and used least-effort strategies of resource procurement and tool transport. Ultimately, central Arabia was depopulated, likely in the face of environmental deterioration in the form of increasing aridity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: Climate change is frequently highlighted as a key driver of biological evolution and cultural innovation in our species. It is often seen as influencing behavioural plasticity and the development of buffering mechanisms, for example in the form of more efficient technology and subsistence strategies. However, such hypotheses are yet to be studied in detail in South Asia, despite improving Late Pleistocene palaeoenvironmental records in this region and its crucial position in human dispersals beyond Africa. Here, we review evidence for technological and behavioural innovation across three regions of South Asia: the Thar Desert (north‐west India), the Jurreru River Valley (south‐east India), and the lowland Wet Zone of Sri Lanka. Together these areas form an ecotone from hyper‐arid desert to humid rainforest that show different dynamics in the Late Pleistocene, and particularly during the Last Glacial Maximum. The archaeological records from each of these areas demonstrate a distinct nature and tempo of cultural change, probably reflecting, to some extent, the influence of climate change on forming heterogeneous local environments. Overall, however, the mosaic environments of South Asia made it an attractive region for the persistence of our species and their gradual uptake of cultural innovations during the Late Pleistocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indian subcontinent lies on a key east-west corridor for hominin expansions across Asia, which has led to it playing a prominent role in debate surrounding the dispersal of modern humans. The current geography and ecology of the region consists of a diverse array of habitats. An examination of changes in monsoonal intensity indicates that geographic reconfiguration of ecological diversity occurred, but at a regional level, South Asia is shown to provide suitable environments for hominin occupations throughout the Late Pleistocene. Unfortunately, the fossil record of South Asia remains poor, preventing decisive resolution of modern human dispersal debates. However, in the past decade new interdisciplinary approaches to the archaeological record have overhauled the framework for understanding behavioral change during the Late Pleistocene. While the nature of the Late Acheulean to Middle Paleolithic transition remains to be resolved, it is now clear that it appears significantly later than in other Old World regions and may coincide with the expansion of modern humans across Asia. Mounting evidence supports a gradual rather than abrupt transition from Middle to Late Paleolithic technologies, which does not easily reconcile with arguments for the introduction of microlithic tool kits by the earliest expansions of modern humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The origin and evolution of modern humans continues to be of great interest to the scientific and public communities alike; the field has long been dominated by findings from Europe and Africa. With new discoveries of hominin fossils and archaeological sites, in addition to the application of recent genomic and paleoclimate modeling studies, findings from Asia are serving to revolutionize the field of modern human origins. The identification of Neanderthals and Denisovans in Siberia, for example, along with growing fossil and archaeological evidence for the presence of early modern humans in East and Southeast Asia, much earlier than originally thought, places the spotlight on the evolutionary history of our species in Asia over the last 125,000 years. Exciting and unanticipated new discoveries call for a need to critically reexamine the Asian record. Taking a multidisciplinary perspective, a group of active researchers participated in a week-long Wenner-Gren symposium titled "Human Colonization of Asia in the Late Pleistocene" (#153) in March 2016. Here we review the major themes and findings emerging from the symposium and discuss avenues to move the field forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Donggutuo (DGT) is one of the richest archaeological localities in the Nihewan Basin of North China, thereby providing key information about the technological behaviours of early hominins in eastern Asia. Although DGT has been subject of multiple excavations and technological studies over the past several decades, few detailed studies on the lithic assemblages have been published. Here we summarize and describe the DGT lithic assemblages, examining stone tool reduction methods and technological skills. DGT dates to ca. 1.1 Ma, close to the onset of the mid-Pleistocene climate transition (MPT), indicating that occupations at DGT coincided with increased environmental instability. During this time interval, the DGT knappers began to apply innovative flaking methods, using free hand hard hammer percussion (FHHP) to manufacture pre-determined core shapes, small flakes and finely retouched tools, while occasionally using the bipolar technique, in contrast to the earlier and nearby Nihewan site of Xiaochangliang (XCL). Evidence for some degree of planning and predetermination in lithic reduction at DGT parallels technological developments in African Oldowan sites, suggesting that innovations in early industries may be situational, sometimes corresponding with adaptations to changes in environments and local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The Lesser Khingan Mountains of north-eastern China are heavily forested, making archaeological site identification difficult owing to poor ground surface visibility. Nevertheless, several prehistoric archaeological site discoveries have been made in recent years and a limited number of excavations have been initiated. One of the most important sites to emerge is Taoshan, which has yielded stratified stone tool assemblages dating from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the mid-Holocene. Pollen profiles indicate significant changes in vegetation, fluctuating from steppe conditions during the LGM to forested conditions in the Bølling-Allerød interstadial (B-A) and the mid-Holocene. The stone tool assemblages from Taoshan were primarily produced from varieties of volcanic tuff, rhyolite, hornfels and agate. Geological prospecting and petrological analyses were performed to document procurement sources and changes in raw material exploitation strategies. During the LGM, the predominant raw material was vitric tuff, available from a source ca. 5-10 km from Taoshan. In the B-A and mid-Holocene layers, emphasis was on the exploitation of raw materials in gravel bars, although stone tool reduction techniques and raw material preferences changed considerably during this time interval. Diachronic changes in raw materials and exploitation strategies correspond to changes in vegetation and human adaptations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Xiaochangliang (XCL), located in the Nihewan Basin of North China, is a key archaeological locality for understanding the behavioural evolution of early humans. XCL dates to ca. 1.36 Ma, making it one of the earliest sites in Northeast Asia. Although XCL represents the first excavation of an Early Pleistocene site in the Nihewan Basin, identified and excavated in the 1970’s, the lithic assemblages have never been published in full detail. Here we describe the lithic assemblages from XCL, providing information on stone tool reduction techniques and the influence of raw materials on artefact manufacture. The XCL hominins used both bipolar and freehand reduction techniques to manufacture small flakes, some of which show retouch. Bipolar reduction methods at XCL were used more frequently than previously recognized. Comparison of XCL with other Early Pleistocene sites in the Nihewan Basin indicates the variable use of bipolar and freehand reduction methods, thereby indicating a flexible approach in the utilization of raw materials. The stone tools from XCL and the Nihewan sites are classifiable as Mode I lithic assemblages, readily distinguished from bifacial industries manufactured by hominins in Eastern Asia by ca. 800 ka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pleistocene archaeological record of the Arabian Peninsula is increasingly recognized as being of great importance for resolving some of the major debates in hominin evolutionary studies. Though there has been an acceleration in the rate of fieldwork and discovery of archaeological sites in recent years, little is known about hominin occupations in the Pleistocene over vast areas of Arabia. Here we report on the identification of five new Middle Palaeolithic sites from the Nejd of central Arabia and the southern margins of the Nefud Desert to the north. The importance of these sites centers on their diversity in terms of landscape positions, raw materials used for lithic manufacture, and core reduction methods. Our findings indicate multiple hominin dispersals into Arabia and complex subsequent patterns of behavior and demography. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

• Environmental variations across the Iranian plateau affected hominin distributions. • Acheulean assemblages are present, indicating the presence of archaic hominins. • Late Pleistocene records indicate the presence of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. • Chronological gaps are documented across multiple Paleolithic locations. • Terrestrial routes are supported as opposed to coastal corridors. The biological and cultural evolution of hominins in Asia is a central topic of paleoanthropology. Yet, the Paleolithic archaeology of key regions of Asia, including the Iranian plateau, have not been integrated into human evolutionary studies. Here, we examine the prehistory of the Iranian plateau with a focus on Iran, one of the largest and archaeologically best-known countries in the region. After approximately eight decades of professional fieldwork on the Paleolithic in Iran, a broad outline of the occupation history of the region has been achieved, though significant gaps remain in understanding the evolution and behavior of hominins in the region. Here we examine the history of Paleolithic investigations, synthesizing key archaeological information from the Lower Paleolithic to the EpiPaleolithic, placing emphasis on archaeological sites with stratified deposits and dated finds. We collect and summarize information on site locations, chronologies, rare hominin fossils, the more common lithic assemblages, and scarce worked items and symbolic objects. Our study documents considerable chronological and archaeological gaps in the Lower Paleolithic record, although Acheulean sites with characteristic lithics are present signaling the early colonization of the region by early hominin ancestors. The early Middle Paleolithic is poorly known owing to dating lacunae, although more abundant evidence is available from younger sites after 50,000 years ago (ka), spanning the late Middle Paleolithic, the Upper Paleolithic and the EpiPaleolithic. The fossil and archaeological evidence indicates the presence of Neanderthals in the Iranian plateau and later, Homo sapiens. The distribution of Lower to EpiPaleolithic sites are examined here, indicating both overlaps and divergences in the use of geographic areas, while pointing to large-scale research gaps in archaeological coverage. Key dispersal models are summarized, illustrating alternative views on the routes of human expansions in the Late Pleistocene, and how the Iranian plateau situates relative to the Levant, Arabia and Central Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on archaeological findings to observe Homo sapiens' dispersal around Asia through collection of ancient DNA from hominin fossils. Topics discussed include investigation on population contact and interbreeding, understanding evolution on basis of other environmental factors, and details on the Late Pleistocene Asian paleoanthropology.

Sri Lanka has yielded some of the earliest dated fossil evidence for Homo sapiens ( ∼ 38-35,000 cal. years BP [calibrated years before present]) in South Asia, within a region that is today covered by tropical rainforest. Archaeozoological and archaeobotanical evidence indicates that these hunter-gatherers exploited tropical forest resources, yet the contribution of these resources to their overall subsistence strategies has, as in other Late Pleistocene rainforest settings, remained relatively unexplored. We build on previous work in this tropical region by applying both bulk and sequential stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis to human and faunal tooth enamel from the sites of Batadomba-lena, Fa Hien-lena, and Balangoda Kuragala. Tooth enamel preservation was assessed by means of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. We use these data to produce a detailed stable isotope ecology for Late Pleistocene–Holocene foragers in Sri Lanka from ∼ 36-29,000 to 3000 cal. years BP, allowing us to test the degree of human tropical forest resource reliance over a considerable time period. Given that non-human primates dominate the mammalian assemblages at these sites, we also focus on the stable isotope composition of three monkey species in order to study their ecological preferences and, indirectly, human hunting strategies. The results confirm a strong human reliance on tropical forest resources from ∼ 36-29,000 cal. years BP until the Iron Age ∼ 3 cal. years BP, while sequential tooth data show that forest resources were exploited year-round. This strategy was maintained through periods of evident environmental change at the Last Glacial Maximum and upon the arrival of agriculture. Long-term tropical forest reliance was supported by the specialised capture of non-human primates, although the isotopic data revealed no evidence for niche distinction between the hunted species. We conclude that humans rapidly developed a specialisation in the exploitation of South Asia's tropical forests following their arrival in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The timing and extent of palaeoenvironmental connections between northeast Africa, the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula during the Middle and Late Pleistocene are critical to debates surrounding dispersals of hominins, including movements of Homo sapiens out of Africa. Although there is evidence that synchronous episodes of climatic amelioration during the late Middle and Late Pleistocene may have allowed connections to form between northern Africa and western Asia, a number of palaeoclimate models indicate the continued existence of an arid barrier between northern Arabia and the Levant. Here we evaluate the palaeoenvironmental setting for hominin dispersals between, and within, northeast Africa and southwest Asia during Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 7–5 using reconstructions of surface freshwater availability as an environmental proxy. We use remotely sensed data to map palaeohydrological features (lakes, wetlands and rivers) across the presently hyper-arid areas of northern Arabia and surrounding regions, integrating these results with palaeoclimate models, palaeoenvironmental proxy data and absolute dating to determine when these features were active. Our analyses suggest limited potential for dispersals during MIS 7 and 6, but indicate the formation of a palaeohydrological corridor (the ‘Tabuk Corridor’) between the Levant and the Arabian interior during the MIS 6-5e glacial–interglacial transition and during MIS 5e. A recurrence of this corridor, following a slightly different route, also occurred during MIS 5a. These palaeohydrological and terrestrial data can be used to establish when proposed routes for hominin dispersals became viable. Furthermore, the distribution of Arabian archaeological sites with affinities to Levantine assemblages, some of which are associated with Homo sapiens fossils, and the relative density of Middle Palaeolithic assemblages within the Tabuk Corridor, are consistent with it being utilised for dispersals at various times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paucity of Pleistocene vertebrate records from the Arabian Peninsula – a landmass of over 3 million km 2 – is a significant gap in our knowledge of the Quaternary. Such data are critical lines of contextual evidence for considering animal and hominin dispersals between Africa and Eurasia generally, and hominin palaeoecology in the Pleistocene landscapes of the Arabian interior specifically. Here, we describe an important contribution to the record and report stratigraphically-constrained fossils of mammals, birds and reptiles from recent excavations at Ti’s al Ghadah in the southwestern Nefud Desert. Combined U-series and ESR analyses of Oryx sp. teeth indicate that the assemblage is Middle Pleistocene in age and dates to ca. 500 ka. The identified fauna is a biogeographical admixture that consists of likely endemics and taxa of African and Eurasian affinity and includes extinct and extant (or related Pleistocene forms of) mammals ( Palaeoloxodon cf. recki , Panthera cf. gombaszogenis , Equus hemionus , cf. Crocuta crocuta , Vulpes sp., Canis anthus, Oryx sp.), the first Pleistocene records of birds from the Arabian Peninsula ( Struthio sp., Neophron percnopterus , Milvus cf. migrans , Tachybaptus sp. Anas sp., Pterocles orientalis , Motacilla cf. alba ) and reptiles (Varanidae/ Uromastyx sp.). We infer that the assemblage reflects mortality in populations of herbivorous animals and their predators and scavengers that were attracted to freshwater and plant resources in the inter-dune basin. At present, there is no evidence to suggest hominin agency in the accumulation of the bone assemblages. The inferred ecological characteristics of the taxa recovered indicate the presence, at least periodically, of substantial water-bodies and open grassland habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent archaeological discoveries indicate that the Arabian Peninsula played an important role in Late Pleistocene hominin dispersals. The presence of Middle Palaeolithic archaeological sites in the Nefud Desert of northern Saudi Arabia demonstrates that hominins moved far inland, probably following networks of ancient lakes and rivers deep into the Arabian interior. These Middle Palaeolithic sites, located close to the spatial and temporal boundary between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens , are critical for our understanding of Late Pleistocene demographic processes and hominin behaviour. Here we present the first detailed analysis of a Middle Palaeolithic lithic assemblage from the north Arabian desert interior. The Late Pleistocene site of Jebel Katefeh-1 (JKF-1) is located beside a palaeolake at Jubbah in the Nefud Desert. The assemblage appears to reflect a relatively short-lived occupation. Reduction produced Levallois flakes of diverse morphologies as well as more expedient small flakes. Our results emphasise that factors such as differential reduction intensity and raw material characteristics need to be considered along with putatively cultural interpretations of Middle Palaeolithic variability. Consideration of assemblage affinities indicates similarities with both the African and Levantine Middle Palaeolithic, perhaps reflecting the location of Jubbah at a crossroads of the highlands of western Arabia, the Levant and the Euphrates/Tigris river system. JKF-1 demonstrates both the potential and the complexity of the Arabian Middle Palaeolithic record in debates on hominin dispersal and adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arabian Peninsula is situated at an important crossroads for the movement of Pleistocene human populations out of, and into, Africa. Although the timings, routes and frequencies of such dispersals have not yet been confirmed by genetic, fossil or archaeological evidence, expansion into Arabia would have been facilitated by humid periods driven by incursions of monsoon rainfall, potentially from both Indian Ocean and African monsoon systems. Here we synthesise terrestrial and marine core palaeoclimatic data in order to establish the spatial and temporal variability of humid periods in Arabia between late Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 7 and 3. Incursions of monsoon rainfall occurred during periods of insolation maxima at ca. 200–190, 170, 155, 130–120, 105–95, 85–75 and 60–55 ka, providing multiple ‘windows’ of favourable climatic conditions that could have facilitated demographic expansion through Arabia. Strong summer monsoons are generally associated with mid-high latitude interglacials, however, enhanced monsoon convection also brought rainfall into Arabia during global glacial phases, possibly due to a strengthened winter monsoon and a greater influence of southern hemispheric temperature changes. Key periods for dispersal into northern regions of Arabia correspond with the synchronous intensification of both eastern Mediterranean and monsoon rainfall systems at insolation maxima during MIS 7 and MIS 5, which may have facilitated demographic connectivity between the Levant and the Arabian interior. Environmental conditions throughout southern and southeast regions were also favourable to expansion during these times, although strong monsoons in these regions during MIS 6 and MIS 3 suggest further opportunities for demographic expansion and exchange. Terrestrial and marine evidence show that during early MIS 3 (ca. 60–50 ka), a strengthened monsoon led to the activation of interior drainage systems and increased productivity in coastal zones, indicating that favourable environmental conditions existed along both coastal and interior routes at that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Nefud Desert is crucial for resolving debates concerning hominin demography and behaviour in the Saharo-Arabian belt. Situated at the interface between the Mediterranean Westerlies and African Monsoonal climate systems, the Nefud lies at the centre of the arid zone crossed by Homo sapiens dispersing into Eurasia and the edges of the southernmost known extent of the Neanderthal range. In 2013, the Palaeodeserts Project conducted an intensive survey of the western Nefud, to: (1) evaluate Pleistocene population dynamics in this important region of the Saharo-Arabian belt and (2) contribute towards understanding early modern human range expansions and interactions between different hominin species. Thirteen Lower and Middle Palaeolithic sites were discovered in association with palaeolake basins. One of the sites, T'is al Ghadah, may feature the earliest Middle Palaeolithic assemblage of Arabia. Preliminary analyses show that the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic sites discovered display diverse technological characteristics, indicating that the Nefud was important for population turnovers and exchanges throughout the Pleistocene. Periodic environmental amelioration appears to have attracted hominin incursions into the region, and subsequent ephemeral occupations structured around lakes and, to a lesser extent, raw material sources. However, differences between the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic sites are indicative of greater mobility during the later Pleistocene. A rarity of formal tools, but strong similarities in lithic production techniques, are also suggestive of demographic affinities across the Nefud during the Pleistocene, and perhaps beyond. These preliminary results support the view that the Arabian Peninsula was a critically important region of southwest Asia during the Late Pleistocene, in which demographic responses to climatic amelioration may have structured connectivity across the Saharo-Arabian belt, the Levant and as far as India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa has been extensively researched across several disciplines. Here we review the evidence for spatial and temporal variability in lithic (stone tool) technologies relative to the predictions of two major hypotheses: 1) that a single successful dispersal occurred 60–50 thousand years ago (ka), marked by a trail of geometric/microlithic technologies, and 2) that multiple dispersals occurred, beginning much earlier (probably in Marine Isotope Stage [MIS] 5), associated with Middle Palaeolithic technology in its early phase. Our results show that Late Pleistocene geometric/microlithic technologies exhibit significant temporal and regional differences between each other. These differences suggest independent, convergent origins for these technologies, which are likely to have been repeatedly re-invented. In contrast, we identify similarities between East African lithic technologies from MIS 8 onwards and Middle Palaeolithic assemblages as far east as India by MIS 5. That this constellation of technological features – particularly an emphasis on centripetal Levallois reduction reflecting interchangeable preferential and recurrent methods, along with particular retouched forms such as points – transcends ecologies and raw material types suggests that it is unlikely to entirely reflect technological convergence (analogy). Our results indicate an early onset of multiple dispersals out of Africa. The hypothesis of an early onset to successful dispersal is entirely consistent with the possibility of further subsequent (post-MIS 5) dispersals out of Africa. Testing such hypotheses through quantified comparative lithic studies and interdisciplinary research is therefore likely to significantly advance understanding of the earliest H. sapiens dispersals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate models are potentially useful tools for addressing human dispersals and demographic change. The Arabian Peninsula is becoming increasingly significant in the story of human dispersals out of Africa during the Late Pleistocene. Although characterised largely by arid environments today, emerging climate records indicate that the peninsula was wetter many times in the past, suggesting that the region may have been inhabited considerably more than hitherto thought. Explaining the origins and spatial distribution of increased rainfall is challenging because palaeoenvironmental research in the region is in an early developmental stage. We address environmental oscillations by assembling and analysing an ensemble of five global climate models (CCSM3, COSMOS, HadCM3, KCM, and NorESM). We focus on precipitation, as the variable is key for the development of lakes, rivers and savannas. The climate models generated here were compared with published palaeoenvironmental data such as palaeolakes, speleothems and alluvial fan records as a means of validation. All five models showed, to varying degrees, that the Arabia Peninsula was significantly wetter than today during the Last Interglacial (130 ka and 126/125 ka timeslices), and that the main source of increased rainfall was from the North African summer monsoon rather than the Indian Ocean monsoon or from Mediterranean climate patterns. Where available, 104 ka (MIS 5c), 56 ka (early MIS 3) and 21 ka (LGM) timeslices showed rainfall was present but not as extensive as during the Last Interglacial. The results favour the hypothesis that humans potentially moved out of Africa and into Arabia on multiple occasions during pluvial phases of the Late Pleistocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reconstruction of Pleistocene faunas and environments of the Arabian Peninsula is critical to understanding faunal exchange and dispersal between Africa and Eurasia. However, the documented Quaternary vertebrate record of the Peninsula is currently sparse and poorly understood. Small collections have provided a rare insight into the Pleistocene vertebrate communities of northern Arabia, but the chronostratigraphic context of these collections is not clear. Resolving the taxonomic and chronostratigraphic affinities of this fauna is critical to emerging Quaternary frameworks. Here, we summarise recent investigations of the fossiliferous locality of Ti's al Ghadah in the southwestern Nefud. Excavations yielded well-preserved fossil bones in a secure stratigraphic context, establishing the potential of this site to make a significant contribution to our understanding of vertebrate diversity and biogeography in the Pleistocene of Arabia. We describe the site and report our preliminary observations of newly-recovered stratified vertebrate remains, at present dated to the Middle Pleistocene, which include oryx ( Oryx sp.), fox ( Vulpes sp.), and notably stratified remains of the Elephantidae and a grebe ( Tachybaptus sp.). Here, we give special attention to post-cranial evidence that confirms the presence of a jaguar-sized pantherine, which we refer to the Eurasian jaguar ( Panthera cf. gombaszogensis ). The occurrence of this taxon during the Middle Pleistocene has important implications for existing biostratigraphical and biogeographical models and for palaeoecological reconstructions of the southern Nefud at that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Empty Quarter (or Rub' al Khali) of the Arabian Peninsula is the largest continuous sandy desert in the world. It has been known for several decades that Late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits, representing phases of wetter climate, are preserved there. These sequences have yielded palaeontological evidence in the form of a variety of vertebrate and invertebrate fossils and have been dated using various radiometric techniques. However, evidence for human presence during these wetter phases has until now been ephemeral. Here, we report on the first stratified and dated archaeology from the Empty Quarter, recovered from the site of Mundafan Al-Buhayrah (MDF-61). Human occupation at the site, represented by stone tools, has been dated to the later part of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 using multiple luminescence dating techniques (multigrain and single grain OSL, TT-OSL). The sequence consists primarily of lacustrine and palustrine sediments, from which evidence for changing local environmental conditions has been obtained through analysis of fossil assemblages (phytoliths and non-marine molluscs and ostracods). The discovery of securely-dated archaeological material at ∼100 to 80 ka in the Empty Quarter has important implications for hypotheses concerning the timing and routes of dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa, which have been much debated. Consequently, the data presented here fill a crucial gap in palaeoenvironmental and archaeological understanding of the southern Arabian interior. Fossils of H . sapiens in the Levant, also dated to MIS 5, together with Middle Palaeolithic archaeological sites in Arabia and India are thought to represent the earliest dispersal of our species out of Africa. We suggest that the widespread occurrence of similar lithic technologies across southern Asia, coupled with a growing body of evidence for environmental amelioration across the Saharo-Arabian belt, indicates that occupation of the Levant by H . sapiens during MIS 5 may not have been a brief, localized ‘failed dispersal’, but part of a wider demographic expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dispersal of human populations out of Africa into Arabia was most likely linked to episodes of climatic amelioration, when increased monsoon rainfall led to the activation of drainage systems, improved freshwater availability, and the development of regional vegetation. Here we present the first dated terrestrial record from southeast Arabia that provides evidence for increased rainfall and the expansion of vegetation during both glacial and interglacial periods. Findings from extensive alluvial fan deposits indicate that drainage system activation occurred during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 (ca. 160-150 ka), MIS 5 (ca. 130-75 ka), and during early MIS 3 (ca. 55 ka). The development of active freshwater systems during these periods corresponds with monsoon intensity increases during insolation maxima, suggesting that humid periods in Arabia were not confined to eccentricity-paced deglaciations, and providing paleoenvironmental support for multiple windows of opportunity for dispersal out of Africa during the late Pleistocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role and significance of the Arabian Peninsula in modern human dispersals out of Africa is currently contentious. While qualitative observations of similarities between Arabian Middle Palaeolithic and African Middle Stone Age (MSA) assemblages have been made, these inferences remain untested and often situated within overly broad dichotomies (e.g., ‘Africa’ versus the ‘Levant’), which distort concepts of geographic scale and subsume local variability. Here, we quantitatively test the hypothesis that assemblages from Jubbah, in the Nefud Desert of northern Saudi Arabia are similar to MSA industries from northeast Africa. Based on the quantitative analysis of a suite of metric and morphological data describing lithic reduction sequences, our results show that early and late core reduction at Jubbah is distinct from equivalent northeast African strategies, perhaps as a result of raw material factors. However, specific techniques of core shaping, preparation and preferential flake production at Jubbah draw from a number of methods also present in the northeast African MSA. While two Jubbah lithic assemblages (JKF-1 and JKF-12) display both similarities and differences with the northeast African assemblages, a third locality (JSM-1) was significantly different to both the other Arabian and African assemblages, indicating an unexpected diversity of assemblages in the Jubbah basin during Marine Isotope Stage 5 (MIS 5, ∼125–70,000 years ago, or ka). Along with evidence from southern Arabia and the Levant, our results add quantitative support to arguments that MIS 5 hominin demography at the interface between Africa and Asia was complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from the Terminal Pleistocene to the Early Holocene is poorly represented in the geological and archaeological records of northern Arabia, and the climatic conditions that prevailed in the region during that period are unclear. Here, we present a new record from the site of Al-Rabyah, in the Jubbah basin (southern Nefud desert, Saudi Arabia), where a sequence of fossiliferous lacustrine and palustrine deposits containing an archaeological assemblage is preserved. Sedimentological and palaeoenvironmental investigations, both at Al-Rabyah and elsewhere in the Jubbah area, indicate phases of humid conditions, during which shallow lakes developed in the basin, separated by drier periods. At Al-Rabyah, the end of a Terminal Pleistocene phase of lake expansion has been dated to ∼12.2 ka using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), with a mid-Holocene humid phase dated to after ∼6.6 ka. Palaeoecological reconstructions based primarily on non-marine molluscs and ostracods from the younger lacustrine deposits indicate a relatively shallow body of freshwater surrounded by moist, well-vegetated environments. A lithic assemblage characterized by bladelets and geometric microliths was excavated from sediments attributed to a drier climatic phase dated to ∼10.1 ka. The lithic artefact types exhibit similarities to Epipalaeolithic industries of the Levant, and their occurrence well beyond the ‘core region’ of such assemblages (and at a significantly later date) has important implications for understanding interactions between Levantine and Arabian populations during the Terminal Pleistocene–Early Holocene. We suggest that the presence of foraging populations in the southern Nefud during periods of drier climate is due to the prolonged presence of a freshwater oasis in the Jubbah Basin during the Terminal Pleistocene–Early Holocene, which enabled them to subsist in the region when neighbouring areas of northern Arabia and the Levant were increasingly hostile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The initial out of Africa dispersal of Homo sapiens, which saw anatomically modern humans reach the Levant in Marine Isotope Stage 5, is generally regarded as a ‘failed dispersal’. Fossil, archaeological and genetic findings are seen to converge around a consensus view that a single population of H. sapiens exited Africa sometime around 60 thousand years ago (ka), and rapidly reached Australia by following a coastal dispersal corridor. We challenge the notion that current evidence supports this straightforward model. We argue that the fossil and archaeological records are too incomplete, the coastal route too problematic, and recent genomic evidence too incompatible for researchers not to remain fully open to other hypotheses. We specifically explore the possibility of a sustained exit by anatomically modern humans, drawing in particular upon palaeoenvironmental data across southern Asia to demonstrate its feasibility. Current archaeological, genetic and fossil data are not incompatible with the model presented, and appear to increasingly favour a more complex out of Africa scenario involving multiple exits, varying terrestrial routes, a sub-divided African source population, slower progress to Australia, and a degree of interbreeding with archaic varieties of Homo. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The geographic and ecological background behind the development and spread of microblade technologies in Asia is a topic of considerable research interest. Microblade technologies are geographically widespread, and present in southern Siberia, the Russian Far East, Mongolia, northern China, the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago. Here we examine microblade sites of Northeast China which date to from ~28,000 years ago to the end of the Pleistocene. Though microblade assemblages in Northeast China are found to share a number of technological traits, regional divergences are identifiable on account of raw material differences. Technological changes through time correspond with climatic and environmental shifts during Marine Isotope Stage 2 (MIS 2). Microblade technology has its root in southern Siberia on the basis of early age ranges, and thereafter, these assemblages diffused widely, both southward and eastward into China. Microblade industries subsequently underwent a standardization process in Northeast China, leading to the formation of pressure flaking microblade technology on typical wedge-shaped cores of the Northern Microblade Industry (NMI). The NMI appears to have then diffused relatively rapidly across northern and eastern Asia, perhaps representing population movements and cultural interactions. • An up-to-date examination of microblade assemblages of Northeastern China. • The distribution, availability and size of raw materials influenced lithic assemblages. • The development of microblade industries is related to climatic shifts in MIS 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]