Current fossil, genetic, and archeological data indicate that Homo sapiens originated in Africa in the late Middle Pleistocene. By the end of the Late Pleistocene, our species was distributed across every continent except Antarctica, setting the foundations for the subsequent demographic and cultural changes of the Holocene. The intervening processes remain intensely debated and a key theme in hominin evolutionary studies. We review archeological, fossil, environmental, and genetic data to evaluate the current state of knowledge on the dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa. The emerging picture of the dispersal process suggests dynamic behavioral variability, complex interactions between populations, and an intricate genetic and cultural legacy. This evolutionary and historical complexity challenges simple narratives and suggests that hybrid models and the testing of explicit hypotheses are required to understand the expansion of Homo sapiens into Eurasia.

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Rethinking the dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa.

Palaeohydrological corridors for hominin dispersals in the Middle East ∼250–70,000 years ago

The greening of Arabia: Multiple opportunities for human occupation of the Arabian Peninsula during the Late Pleistocene inferred from an ensemble of climate model simulations

Remote sensing and GIS techniques for reconstructing Arabian palaeohydrology and identifying archaeological sites

A dramatic increase in regional summer rainfall amount has been proposed for the Arabian Peninsula during the middle Holocene (ca. 9-5 ka BP) based on lacustrine sediments, inferred lake levels, speleothems, and pollen. This rainfall increase is considered primarily the result of an intensified Indian summer monsoon as part of the insolation-driven, northward shift of the boreal summer position of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) to over the deserts of North Africa, Arabia, and northwest India. We examine the basis for the proposed drastic climate change in Arabia and the shifts in the summer monsoon rains, by reviewing paleohydrologic lacustrine records from Arabia. We evaluate and reinterpret individual lake-basin status regarding their lacustrine-like deposits, physiography, shorelines, fauna and flora, and conclude that these basins were not occupied by lakes, but by shallow marsh environments. Rainfall increase required to support such restricted wetlands is much smaller than needed to form and maintain highly evaporating lakes and we suggest that rainfall changes occurred primarily at the elevated edges of southwestern, southern, and southeastern Arabian Peninsula. These relatively small changes in rainfall amounts and local are also supported by pollen and speleothems from the region. The changes do not require a northward shift of the Northern Hemisphere summer ITCZ and intensification of the Indian monsoon rainfall. We propose that (a) latitudinal and slight inland expansion of the North African summer monsoon rains across the Red Sea, and (b) uplifted moist air of this monsoon to southwestern Arabia highlands, rather than rains associated with intensification of Indian summer monsoon, as proposed before, increased rains in that region; these African monsoon rains produced the modest paleo-wetlands in downstream hyperarid basins. Furthermore, we postulate that as in present-day, the ITCZ in the Indian Ocean remained at or near the equator all year round, and the Indian summer monsoon, through dynamically induced air subsidence, can reduce rather than enhance summer rainfall in the Levant and neighboring deserts, including Arabia. Our summary suggests a widening to the north of the latitudinal range of the rainfall associated with the North African summer monsoon moisture crossing the Red Sea to the east. We discuss other mechanisms that could have potentially contributed to the formation and maintaining of the modest paleo-wetlands.

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The middle Holocene climatic records from Arabia: Reassessing lacustrine environments, shift of ITCZ in Arabian Sea, and impacts of the southwest Indian and African monsoons

The Arabian Peninsula is a key region for understanding climate change and human occupation history in a marginal environment. The Mundafan palaeolake is situated in southern Saudi Arabia, in the Rub' al-Khali (the 'Empty Quarter'), the world's largest sand desert. Here we report the first discoveries of Middle Palaeolithic and Neolithic archaeological sites in association with the palaeolake. We associate the human occupations with new geochronological data, and suggest the archaeological sites date to the wet periods of Marine Isotope Stage 5 and the Early Holocene. The archaeological sites indicate that humans repeatedly penetrated the ameliorated environments of the Rub' al-Khali. The sites probably represent short-term occupations, with the Neolithic sites focused on hunting, as indicated by points and weaponry. Middle Palaeolithic assemblages at Mundafan support a lacustrine adaptive focus in Arabia. Provenancing of obsidian artifacts indicates that Neolithic groups at Mundafan had a wide wandering range, with transport of artifacts from distant sources.

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Middle Palaeolithic and Neolithic occupations around Mundafan Palaeolake, Saudi Arabia: Implications for climate change and human dispersals

An inscription in Sabaic recently discovered on the site of Jabal Riyām (Yemen) gives an account of a journey — probably a diplomatic mission — carried out by a Sabaean dignitary on behalf of the rulers of the tribe of Ḥumlān. He listed the territories he passed through in western and northern Arabia and in the Middle East, up to Palmyra and Mesopotamia. This text, assumed to date back to the 3rd century AD (more probably c.260–280), provides a unique picture of the political forces in the area and throws new light on the regional map of the time.

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The political map of Arabia and the Middle East in the third century AD revealed by a Sabaean inscription

L’Arabie meridionale fut marquee par de profonds changements au Ier siecle av. J.-C. Plusieurs tribus autrefois affiliees au royaume de Qatabān firent secession pour s’eriger en principautes independantes (Awsān, Radmān-et-Khawlān) ou pour faire acte d’allegeance a la dynastie de dhū-Raydān et constituer le royaume de Ḥimyar. Le royaume du Ḥaḍramawt renforca son controle des territoires meridionaux et orientaux, developpant les ports de Qanīʾ et Sumhuram. Face a l’emergence de ces nouveaux pouvoirs, plusieurs villes majeures de la region du Jawf furent desertees (Kaminahū, Yathill, Qarnā). Le royaume de Maʿīn, autrefois acteur majeur du commerce caravanier, periclita.
Cette periode se caracterise egalement par la premiere intrusion d’une expedition militaire etrangere dans les royaumes d’Arabie du Sud, l’expedition d’AElius Gallus, prefet de la province romaine d’Egypte, que l’on peut dater de 26-25 av. J.-C. . Les motivations de cette expedition — economiques, politiques, securitaires, d’exploration ou d’expansion territoriale — font l’objet d’un debat qui reste ouvert . Elle permit quoi qu’il en soit d’etablir une description geographique fiable de l’Arabie meridionale.
Les consequences de cet evenement sont difficiles a mesurer. Pour certains, l’expedition d’AElius Gallus fut un evenement sans grande consequence ; pour d’autres, elle est a l’origine de la disparition de plusieurs villes et cites-Etats du Jawf ; d’aucuns y ont vu un evenement fondateur marquant l’an 1 d’un calendrier qatabānite ; les plus audacieux y voient le debut d’une domination romaine de l’Arabie du Sud .
Cette divergence des points de vue tient notamment au fait que l’expedition romaine en Arabie du Sud est documentee par plusieurs sources grecques et latines, qui offrent le point de vue du conquerant, mais que, etonnement, aucune source peninsulaire ne semble s’y rapporter.
Ce vide documentaire est comble par la decouverte d’une inscription faite en 2002 sur le site de Tamnaʿ, capitale du royaume de Qatabān, et restee inedite jusqu’ici : l’inscription T.02.B 22. Sa lecture nous permet par ailleurs de reinterpreter l’inscription Ja 772 provenant du grand temple d’Almaqah a Maʾrib, le temple Awām (auj. Maḥram Bilqīs), qui semble elle aussi mentionner l’expedition d’AElius Gallus.
Notre propos sera de rappeler brievement la succession des evenements relatifs a cette expedition, telle que rapportee dans les sources classiques, puis de presenter les rares textes qui avaient ete associes a cet evenement sans toutefois emporter l’adhesion generale. Nous presenterons ensuite les deux inscriptions sudarabiques qui font, selon nous, echo a cette expedition et montrerons comment cette identification aide, en retour, a preciser la chronologie des royaumes sudarabiques dans la seconde moitie du Ie siecle av. J.-C.

Premiers échos de l'expédition romaine d'Aelius Gallus dans la documentation sudarabique

Presentation d'inscriptions, autels, ceramiques et anthropomorphes de la vallee du Jawf (Yemen) conserves au musee national de Sanaa

Mounir Arbach

Papers

Middle Palaeolithic and Neolithic occupations around Mundafan Palaeolake, Saudi Arabia: Implications for climate change and human dispersals

The political map of Arabia and the Middle East in the third century AD revealed by a Sabaean inscription

Premiers échos de l'expédition romaine d'Aelius Gallus dans la documentation sudarabique

Catalogue des pièces archéologiques et épigraphiques du Jawf au Musée National de Sana'a

Authentication and conservation of corroded archaeological Qatabanian and Himyarite silver coins