Study Places Neanderthals in Arabia 60,000 Years Ago via Nefud Desert Tools

Q: What mysterious climate shift transformed the harsh Saudi desert into a lush oasis that lured Neanderthals south?

It was likely a natural humid phase in Arabia—part of the region’s recurring “Green Arabia” cycles—when stronger rainfall briefly turned parts of the Nefud Desert into a lake-dotted grassland. The new study places the stone tools at Jebel Katefeh-1 around 55,000 years ago, exactly at the transition from dry desert sands to younger lake sediments. Researchers say that means Neanderthals arrived as the area was becoming wetter, with an ancient lake refilling and the surrounding landscape turning greener and more hospitable. Scientists do not describe it as a single mysterious event so much as a climate swing driven by shifts in rainfall patterns. During these wetter intervals, monsoon-linked rains and broader climatic changes periodically pushed moisture farther into Arabia, creating temporary rivers, lakes and vegetation in what is now barren desert. That greener landscape would have attracted grazing animals into the interior, and archaeologists say Neanderthals likely followed them south. The finding matters because it suggests Neanderthals were not confined to cold northern habitats but could also exploit warmer environments when climate opened these short-lived ecological corridors. So the “shift” was a brief wet phase that transformed northern Saudi Arabia from arid desert into a habitable oasis-like landscape, making a Neanderthal move into Arabia possible about 55,000 years ago.

3 articles · Updated · Reader's Digest · Aug 24

Stone flakes found near an ancient lake in Saudi Arabia’s Nefud Desert strongly support a Neanderthal presence in Arabia about 60,000 years ago, according to a new study in Quaternary Science Reviews.
Researchers reached that conclusion by analyzing whether the tools were made by Neanderthals or Homo sapiens, arguing the artifacts fit a Neanderthal attribution even though no bones have been found there.
The finding pushes Neanderthal range beyond the colder northern European settings they were often associated with, suggesting they also moved south into the Arabian Peninsula.
That wider footprint could help scientists better map where Neanderthals and Homo sapiens overlapped and intermingled; around 2% of modern human DNA is estimated to come from Neanderthals.