Ancient footprints found in Saudi Arabia shed light on human migration

According to its article, Earth.com features that a remarkable discovery on the Arabian Peninsula has provided archaeologists with a rare glimpse into human history. 

Picture yourself walking along a path that our ancestors once traversed, only to unexpectedly stumble upon human footprints preserved from around 115,000 years ago.

A group of archaeologists experienced exactly that when they uncovered the oldest-known human footprints on the Arabian Peninsula.

Found alongside the tracks of prehistoric animals, these imprints represent a pivotal find in understanding human migration and life before the Ice Age. The fossilized tracks were discovered in 2017 within a special lakebed area in northern Saudi Arabia, consisting of seven distinct footprints.

“Here, we report hominin and non-hominin mammal footprints and fossils from the Alathar lacustrine deposit in the western Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia,” the researchers stated.

“We argue that the footprints, dated to the last interglacial and therefore contemporaneous with an early H. sapiens out-of-Africa dispersal, most likely represent the earliest evidence of our species in the Arabian Peninsula.”

The link between early humans, Africa, and Arabia lies in the migration patterns that have shaped human history. Most scientists agree that modern humans, Homo sapiens, first evolved in Africa roughly 200,000 years ago. From there, they began to disperse across the world. Arabia played a critical role as a “gateway” for these early human migrations.

Positioned between Africa and Asia, the Arabian Peninsula served as a land bridge, facilitating the movement of humans from Africa to other regions.

Over time, Arabia’s diverse landscapes, ranging from deserts to coastal zones, provided essential resources that helped early humans survive and settle in the area.

As early humans traversed Arabia, they didn’t merely pass through—they made the region their home. Evidence suggests that humans adapted to the challenging desert environment, developed tools, and established communities.

However, as discussed here, theories regarding the precise timeline of H. sapiens’ arrival in Arabia continue to evolve.

The lakebed, referred to as “the trace” in Arabic, appears to have been a bustling location over 100,000 years ago. The scientists observed that the footprints, which were found in comparable states of preservation, were likely made within a very brief period.

“An experimental study of modern human footprints in mud flats found that fine details were lost within two days, and prints became unrecognizable within four. Similar observations have been made for other non-hominin mammal tracks,” the researchers explained.

Mud, it appears, serves as nature’s ideal medium to record history, despite the fact that impressions can fade quickly from the soft surface.

For instance, during the Burgess Shale event, organisms were perfectly preserved because they were trapped in a mudslide.

By Naila Huseynova