Archaeologists discover oldest Homo sapiens footprints in Arabian Peninsula

14 articles · Updated · Earth.com · Apr 28

Seven 120,000-year-old human footprints were found at Alathar Lake in Saudi Arabia’s western Nefud Desert, alongside prehistoric animal tracks.
The footprints, attributed to early Homo sapiens, provide the earliest evidence of our species in Arabia and indicate brief visits to the lake for water during a lush climatic period.
These findings reveal that early humans traversed the Arabian interior, not just coastal routes, and coexisted with elephants, camels, and antelopes in a once-green landscape before the Ice Age.

Could these 120,000-year-old footprints rewrite our entire 'Out of Africa' story?

If our ancestors left no tools, how did they survive among prehistoric elephants?

What other lost worlds lie buried beneath the sands of the Arabian Peninsula?

Were strong social networks the secret weapon for humanity's earliest global expansion?

What climate event transformed the lush 'Green Arabia' into today's vast desert?