The expansion of later Acheulean hominins into the Arabian Peninsula

Eleanor M L Scerri,Jean-Luc Schwenninger,Laine Clark-Balzan,James Blinkhorn,Richard Jennings,Paul S Breeze,Michael D Petraglia,Ash Parton,Huw S Groucutt,Nick A Drake,Patrick Cuthbertson,Abdulaziz Al Omari,Marine Frouin,Abdullah M Alsharekh,Ceri Shipton

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-35242-5

Abstract

The Acheulean is the longest lasting cultural–technological tradition in human evolutionary history. However, considerable gaps remain in understanding the chronology and geographical distribution of Acheulean hominins. We present the first chronometrically dated Acheulean site from the Arabian Peninsula, a vast and poorly known region that forms more than half of Southwest Asia. Results show that Acheulean hominin occupation expanded along hydrological networks into the heart of Arabia from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 7 until at least ~190 ka ̶ the youngest documented Acheulean in Southwest Asia. The site of Saffaqah features Acheulean technology, characterized by large flakes, handaxes and cleavers, similar to Acheulean assemblages in Africa. These findings reveal a climatically-mediated later Acheulean expansion into a poorly known region, amplifying the documented diversity of Middle Pleistocene hominin behaviour across the Old World and elaborating the terminal archaic landscape encountered by our species as they dispersed out of Africa.

Highlights

The Acheulean represents a key stage in hominin evolution, characterized by the production of large cutting tools such as handaxes for over ~1.5 million years[1,2,3,4,5]
Our systematic survey revealed that Saffaqah is the largest Acheulean site yet documented in Arabia and is surrounded by a dense Acheulean landscape[10,15]
Our results demonstrate an Acheulean presence in the Arabian Peninsula during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 7, and illustrate how hominins moved into marginal areas with the onset of environmental amelioration

Summary

Introduction

The Acheulean represents a key stage in hominin evolution, characterized by the production of large cutting tools such as handaxes for over ~1.5 million years[1,2,3,4,5]. Given the rarity of hominin fossils, mapping the chronological and geographic spread of the Acheulean is critical for reconstructing patterns of hominin expansion and evolution in different regions of the Old World. It is crucial for defining the terminal Acheulean landscape encountered by hominins using Middle Palaeolithic technology, including Homo sapiens. Whalen and colleagues[11] did not discuss the stratigraphy nor artefact distributions within the excavations in any detail They observed calcrete in Trench 1 from 30 cm downwards, while sterile sediment was reached www.nature.com/scientificreports/.

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