Study Pushes Neanderthal Range Into Saudi Arabia 55,000 Years Ago

Q: How did a brief green phase in today’s Nefud Desert open the door for Neanderthals to move farther south than expected?

A short humid interval likely turned part of the Nefud from a barrier into a corridor. Around 55,000 years ago, the area near Jebel Katefeh-1 was shifting from dry desert sands to lake sediments, showing that rainfall had increased, lakes were refilling, and vegetation was spreading across what is now a harsh desert. That mattered because greener conditions would have brought water, plant cover and grazing animals into the desert interior. Researchers and outside experts say Neanderthals probably followed those animal movements, using the temporary chain of livable spots around lakes and wetlands to move farther south than the modern desert would normally allow. The dating is central to that argument. The tools were found in the layer marking the onset of this wetter phase, and optically stimulated luminescence placed that occupation at about 55,000 years ago. At that time, Neanderthals were the only known human group in southwest Asia, strengthening the case that they were the toolmakers. The evidence remains indirect because no Neanderthal fossils or DNA have been found in Arabia. But the stone tools at JKF-1 and nearby ALM-3 statistically match Neanderthal technology more closely than Homo sapiens tools. Taken together, the climate shift, lake formation and tool evidence suggest that this brief “green” phase opened a temporary ecological window that let Neanderthals enter northern Arabia and adapt to more open, drier landscapes than once thought.

2 articles · Updated · Livescience.com · Aug 18

Stone tools from the Jebel Katefeh-1 site in Saudi Arabia’s Nefud Desert were most likely made by Neanderthals about 55,000 years ago, according to a new study.
Researchers reached that conclusion by statistically matching hundreds of stone-flake shapes to known Neanderthal tool traditions and by dating the layer with optically stimulated luminescence.
The tools sit at a shift from dry desert sand to younger lake sediment, suggesting Neanderthals entered the area as wetter conditions returned and grazing animals likely moved inland.
No Neanderthal bones or DNA have been found in Arabia, so the case remains circumstantial, though an outside archaeologist called the evidence for a northern Arabian presence compelling but not definitive.
If confirmed, the finding would extend Neanderthals’ known southern range beyond their traditional European and Middle Eastern footprint into Arabia’s open desert environments.