Early Humans Needed More than Access to Water to Settle Ancient Arabian Deserts
Researchers say prehistoric settlements depended on workable stone as well as water, and an open-source model could improve site predictions in arid regions.
4 Articles
4 Articles
Stone was as important as water for prehistoric desert settlement, study finds
Access to freshwater alone was not enough for prehistoric humans to permanently settle desert landscapes, according to a new study which suggests that suitable stone for making tools was an equally important resource. This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com - © 2023 - HeritageDaily
Early humans needed more than access to water to settle ancient Arabian deserts
Models of early population migrations assume people moved to places with easy access to water. But this assumption has left us with a fascinating mystery in ancient Arabia. Despite evidence that monsoon rains once filled lakes and supported grasslands in the vast sandy interior, evidence of early human occupation is concentrated almost entirely around the desert margins.
In prehistoric times, the availability of water was not the only condition that determined whether people could live in the desert. Equally important was the availability of stone suitable for making tools. An international team of scientists, including Czech archaeologists, has therefore created a freely available model that predicts where prehistoric people could have lived in the desert regions of the world. They also verified it using data f…
Lakes in the middle of today's sand desert: During humid climates, there was plenty of fresh water inside Arabia. However, a new investigation provides a reason why there apparently hardly developed permanent settlements there. Suitable rock for stone tools was missing, and only the combination of both resources explained the well-known sites better. Prague (Czech Republic). Where today miles of dune fields lie, glittering [...] The contribution…
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