The Evolution of human populations in Arabia: paleoenvironments, prehistory and genetics

The romantic landscapes and exotic cultures of Arabia have long captured the inter- ests of both academics and the general public alike. The wide array and incredible variety of environments found across the Arabian peninsula are truly dramatic; tropi- cal coastal plains are found bordering up against barren sandy deserts, high mountain plateaus are deeply incised by ancient river courses. As the birthplace of Islam, the recent history of the region is well documented and thoroughly studied. However, legendary explorers such as T.E. Lawrence, Wilfred Thesiger, and St. John Philby discovered hints of a much deeper past during their travels across the subcontinent. Drawn to Arabia by the magnificent solitude of its vast sand seas, these intrepid adventurers learned from the Bedouin how to penetrate its deserts and returned with stirring accounts of lost civilizations among the wind-swept dunes. We now know that, prior to recorded history, Arabia housed countless peoples living a variety of lifestyles, including some of the world's earliest pastoralists, com- munities of incipient farmers, fishermen dubbed the "Ichthyophagi" by ancient Greek geographers, and Paleolithic big-game hunters who were among the first humans to depart their ancestral homeland in Africa. In fact, some archaeological investigations indicate that Arabia was inhabited by early hominins extending far back into the Early Pleistocene, perhaps even into the Late Pliocene. The extraordinarily rich cultural record of the region is set against a tapestry that can only be described as one of the hottest and most inhospitable deserts in the world. Yet, geologists have discovered that the bleak Arabian environment swung many times in the past between hyperarid and wet phases, which resulted in the formation of interior lakes, perennial rivers, coastal springs, mangrove swamps, and large estuaries. The archaeological record demonstrates that our ancestors thrived along these ancient waterways. This is why early explorers traversing the Empty Quarter consistently reported finding scatters of stone tools littering the surface, abundant evidence for prehistoric occupation. One wonders what happened to these populations at the onset of adverse arid periods; how rapid were these environmental changes across the peninsula; did they cause groups to contract, disperse, or die out? These are just some of the questions we have set out to answer in this book, given their bearing on past, contemporary, and future peoples in Arabia.