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

A survey conducted between 2007–2010 in the Najrān region by the Saudi-French Project aimed to reinvestigate in a systematic way several archae- ological and epigraphical sites mentioned in for- mer archaeological studies (Philby – Ryckmans – Lippens, Zarins, and Kawatoko expeditions). Areas located to the north of the Najrān oasis were tar- geted in particular: these were the Jabal Kawkab and Taṯlīṯ, as well as the wādī Najrān. Five sur- vey seasons led to reevaluations of previously pub- lished works and new first-rate discoveries, which are detailed in the following paper.

Results of four seasons of survey in the Province of Najrān (Saudi Arabia) – 2007-2010

L'actuel site de Ma'in, l'antique Qarnâ, fait l'objet ces dernieres annees de pillage et de destruction. En 2006, un temple intra-muros a ete fouille clandestinement sur ce site de Qarnâ. Ce temple fut entoure d'une enceinte et comporte 15 piliers inscrits repartis en trois rangees. Tous les textes ont ete graves durant le regne d'Abiyada' Yafash fils de Nabat'il, contemporain du souverain sabeen Yada''il, probablement fils du celebre mukarrib sabeen Karib'il Watâr, fils de Dhamar'ali Dhârih. Cette nouvelle decouverte confirme la date d'apparition du royaume de Ma'in, au debut du VIIe s. avant J.-C.

https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00660448/document

La découverte du temple intra‐muros de Nakraḥ à Maʿîn, l’antique Qarnâ

En 2006, une visite du site de Jabal Riyām, dans le gouvernorat de Sanaa, Yemen fut realisee sur les ruines d’un temple antique dedie a la divinite Taʾlab ayant fait l’objet d’un recent pillage. Vingt-six inscriptions provenant de ces fouilles clandestines avaient ete reunies dans la cour d’une maison du village de Riyām. Parmi elles, seize textes dates des VIIe-IVe siecles av. J. C. d’apres leur graphie ont fait l’objet d’une publication recente. Un second ensemble comprenant dix textes non publies est date des trois premiers siecles de l’ere chretienne. Parmi ces textes, une inscription presente un contenu tout-a-fait inedit et eclairant d’un jour nouveau l’histoire des tribus du royaume de Sabaʾ, les pratiques diplomatiques sabeennes et la geographie historique de la peninsule Arabique. Cette inscription dite Jabal Riyām 2006-17 fait l’objet de cette note d’information.

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De la diplomatie et de l’aristocratie tribale du royaume de Sabaʾ d’après une inscription du IIIe siècle de l’ère chrétienne

This book is the third volume of the collection of epigraphic and archaeological artifacts from the Jawf valley, kept at the National Museum of Sanaa. It is devoted to a collection of 437 funerary stelae dating from the 8th to the 1st century BC. Together with the catalogue, the authors propose a stylistic analysis, a synthesis on onomastics and comparisons with other Arabian productions.

Mounir Arbach

Papers

Results of four seasons of survey in the Province of Najrān (Saudi Arabia) – 2007-2010

La découverte du temple intra‐muros de Nakraḥ à Maʿîn, l’antique Qarnâ

De la diplomatie et de l’aristocratie tribale du royaume de Sabaʾ d’après une inscription du IIIe siècle de l’ère chrétienne

Collection of Funerary Stelae from the Jawf valley

From city-state to kingdom: History and chronology of Ma'in between the VIII and the VI centuries BC (Tab. XLIX-LVI)