The Middle Paleolithic of Arabia

The study focuses on the origin and evolution of the Middle Paleolithic in the Arabian Peninsula, a major crossroads of human and animal migrations connecting Africa with Eurasia in the Late Middle and Early Upper Pleistocene. Middle Paleolithic human dispersal in Arabia was caused by intermittent environmental changes and related fl uctuations of the Bab-el-Mandeb level. A key role in the African Middle Paleolithic was played by Afro-Arabian Nubian lithic industries showing characteristically Levallois features and associated with anatomically modern humans who had migrated from Africa. Arabian fi nds are discussed with reference to the Out-of-Africa and Multiregional models of human evolution. Based on the totality of cranial, archaeological, and paleogenetic data, it is proposed that modern humankind emerged from the admixture of at least four related taxa that had evolved in Africa and Eurasia. A hypothesis about the migration of Homo sapiens from Africa across Arabia to Southeast Asia and Sahul 70–50 ka BP is discussed.