Groundbreaking Discovery Challenges Long-Held Beliefs About Human Settlement in Arabia
For decades, southeastern Arabia was widely considered to have been largely uninhabited between 60,000 and 12,000 years ago, due to extreme aridity during the last glacial period. However, a new study published in Nature Communications on Monday, March 23, has dramatically re-evaluated this assumption. The research, led by Eisa Yousif, Director-General of the Sharjah Archaeology Authority, and Dr. Sabah Jasim, Advisor to the Authority, reveals compelling evidence of repeated human occupation at Buhais Rockshelter in Sharjah, UAE.
Uncovering a Continuous Timeline of Human Presence
The study, titled Evidence from Buhais Rockshelter for human settlement in Arabia between 60,000 and 16,000 years ago, identifies multiple phases of human activity at the site. Previously, evidence of human presence dating back to around 125,000 years ago was known, but the new findings fill critical gaps with additional phases at approximately 59,000, 35,000, and 16,000 years ago. This provides a more continuous timeline than previously understood, suggesting that early humans not only passed through the region but also returned and adapted over millennia.
Yousif emphasized the significance of this discovery, stating, "The publication of this study marks a major step in advancing our understanding of early human history in this region. The evidence from Buhais demonstrates that southeastern Arabia was not simply a passage for early humans, but a landscape where they returned, adapted, and sustained life across changing environmental conditions."
Methodology and Environmental Insights
The findings are based on extensive archaeological excavations at Buhais Rockshelter, located within Sharjah’s Faya Palaeolandscape, a UNESCO World Heritage site inscribed in 2025. The limestone formation of the rockshelter provided natural shelter, allowing sediment layers to build up to depths of around 1.7 meters. These layers preserved stone tools and artefacts in a stratified sequence, offering valuable insights into human activity across different periods.
Using luminescence dating techniques, researchers determined when these sediment layers were last exposed to sunlight, enabling them to reconstruct a detailed timeline of both human presence and environmental change. The study also draws on palaeoenvironmental research, showing that periods of human occupation coincided with phases of increased rainfall and water availability. This environmental data offers a clear explanation for the repeated return of populations to the site, marking the first clear evidence in Arabia linking human settlement during this timeframe with specific conditions.
Implications for Global Human Migration
Southeastern Arabia has long been regarded as a key corridor for early human movement out of Africa and into Asia. The new findings provide empirical evidence that this region was not only a route of passage but also a place of repeated settlement during multiple stages of human evolution. This positions the region at the center of ongoing scientific discussions on global human migration and the formation of early populations in Southwest Asia.
Together with nearby discoveries at Jebel Faya, which document human activity dating back over 200,000 years, the study reinforces the broader significance of the Faya Palaeolandscape. The site is now recognized as one of the most important and continuous records of early human occupation in arid environments.
Collaborative Efforts and Future Research
The research was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Knut Bretzke of Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Professor Adrian Parker of Oxford Brookes University, alongside researchers from the universities of Tübingen and Freiburg in Germany. This long-term partnership reflects decades of work led by the Sharjah Archaeology Authority, combining scientific expertise with a commitment to preserving early human history.
The growing body of evidence from sites like Buhais and Jebel Faya continues to highlight the UAE’s and Sharjah’s contribution to the global narrative of human evolution, adaptation, and migration. As Yousif noted, this study adds a significant new chapter to the early settlement history of the Arabian Peninsula, challenging old assumptions and opening new avenues for exploration into how early populations thrived in challenging climates.
