A new study suggests Neanderthals may have trekked far deeper into the Arabian Peninsula than scientists previously thought possible, reaching a lakeside site in what is now Saudi Arabia around 55,000 years ago. Researchers examined stone tools from Jebel Katefeh 1, a site beside an ancient lake near the city of Jubbah in the Nefud Desert. No Neanderthal bones or DNA have ever been found in Arabia, so the team relied on the shape of stone flakes to identify who made them. Using a statistical model built from sites with well-established toolmakers, researchers found the tools far more closely resembled those made by Neanderthals than by early Homo sapiens toolmakers nearby. New dating work narrowed the age of the site to about 55,000 years, a period when the desert was becoming wetter and greener, and Neanderthals were the only hominin group known to inhabit southwest Asia at that time. This groundbreaking research fundamentally challenges long-held assumptions about Neanderthal capabilities and mobility, suggesting our ancient relatives were far more adaptable and widely dispersed than previously imagined.
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