Surprising as it may seem, a quarry near Al Ain has brought scientists closer to answering one of history’s most fascinating questions: when did people first leave Africa?
Modern humans are thought to have sprung from Africa about 200,000 years ago, with their earliest traces in the fossil record coming from what are now Ethiopia and Kenya, in the east of the continent.
Until now, different researchers have held widely divergent views on when these early humans left the continent.
According to one scenario, it was only within the past 60,000 years that people travelled into Arabia, from where they continued on to South Asia.
From here, some continued on to South-east Asia and Australia, while other populations colonised Europe.
A competing hypothesis suggests people left Africa as far back as 130,000 years ago.
A major new study, published in the journal Geology and based on fieldwork carried out at the Al Sibetah quarry, 15 minutes' drive north-west of Al Ain, favours the second hypothesis by indicating that Arabia at this time had a much more benign climate than it does today.
“People could have migrated across the landscape because it was wet. If you have rivers, it’s more vegetated and there’s more fauna,” says Professor Adrian Parker of Oxford Brookes University, one of the authors of the study.
It is, he says, part of a “growing body of evidence” that favours the earlier dates.
The evidence comes in the form of what the study’s lead author, Dr Ash Parton, a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Oxford’s School of Archaeology, describes as “an extraordinary sedimentary sequence of ancient river gravels and soil”.
Typically, the harsh climate of the UAE erodes softer sediments or buries them beneath sand. But in this case, the sediments – located within a large area of the UAE and Oman featuring material deposited from the Hajar Mountains – had recently been exposed by quarrying.
Measuring tens of metres in height, the sequence was analysed in painstaking detail: every few centimetres, Dr Parton and Prof Parker collected samples of material, which were sent back to laboratories in Oxford and Nottingham in the United Kingdom so a complex series of chemical, magnetic and other tests could be carried out.
Analyses of carbon in the samples indicated when vegetation was growing in the area, while certain types of sediment pointed to the presence of active river systems.
“You can have silt [that is] very fine grained, or some more wind blown, and gravels, which means there’s been quite a big river there. It’s studying through time. The different sediments tell you what the climate was like,” says Prof Parker.
The climate fluctuated dramatically, partly due to changes associated with glacial periods and interglacials. However, superimposed upon these fluctuations, there are thought to have been several periods since 155,000 years ago when there would have been rivers and vegetation in the area. The wetter conditions were due to rains from the Indian summer monsoon, which today touches Arabia only in southern Oman’s coastal areas around Salalah.
Previous studies suggested, according to Dr Parton, that for much of the past, the landscape of Arabia had mostly been too harsh to support human populations and that potential “windows of opportunity” to expand across the peninsula occurred only every 100,000 years.
“Our findings have shown that this happened far more frequently and that, approximately every 23,000 years a vast river network extended from the Hajar/Oman mountains towards the Gulf coast,” he says.
“These active wadis would have been surrounded by a lush green landscape of savannah grasslands and trees.”
Dr Parton has been visiting the UAE, and other parts of Arabia, for the past eight years, typically conducting fieldwork during winter months. The potential of the Al Sibetah site, which has been used for waste disposal, was identified by chance by experts from the British Geological Survey carrying out mapping in the area.
There are no traces of ancient human activity at the site but the environmental findings tie in with archaeological evidence from elsewhere in the Arabian Peninsula, in particular the Jebel Faya rock shelter site in Sharjah. Four years ago, in the journal Science, a group of researchers announced the discovery at this location of stone tools thought to date from about 125,000 years ago.
“At that site there’s very strongly dated evidence for human occupation,” says Prof Parker, who was a co-author also of the ground-breaking Science paper.
He says that the Al Sibetah study provides “a framework from climate and environment against which the archaeology can be set”.
The researchers are continuing to work at other sites in Arabia, hoping to uncover further evidence, both archaeological and environmental, about the first movements of people out of Africa.
“In the past, the trouble would be that there’s one site that’s the environmental site and the other site that’s archaeological, and it’s hard to correlate them. We’re trying to look at sites from multiple disciplines,” says Dr Huw Groucutt, another author of the study on Al Sibetah, and, like Dr Parton, a postdoctoral research assistant in the University of Oxford’s School of Archaeology.
Particular areas of interest in the Arabian Peninsula include the An Nafud desert, in northern Saudi Arabia, and parts of the Empty Quarter. Some of the places being analysed, especially those in the An Nafud desert, are much more remote than the Al Sibetah site, and to reach them researchers must drive for several hours across large sand dunes.
“It’s a very big project; we have sites all over the place. It’s a huge area and almost nothing was known about it until the past few years,” Dr Groucutt says.
“In terms of studying climate and archaeology, it’s one of the most exciting areas to be involved in.
“It’s really pioneering-stage research. It’s been fantastic.”
So, in the years to come, Arabia is likely to yield more clues about the movements of early humans – and perhaps the results will further strengthen the conclusions to have come out of a humble quarry near Al Ain.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
The specs
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Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
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if you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct to Kolkata from Dh1,504 and Dh1,450 return including taxes, respectively. The flight takes four hours 30 minutes outbound and 5 hours 30 minute returning.
The trains
Numerous trains link Kolkata and Murshidabad but the daily early morning Hazarduari Express (3’ 52”) is the fastest and most convenient; this service also stops in Plassey. The return train departs Murshidabad late afternoon. Though just about feasible as a day trip, staying overnight is recommended.
The hotels
Mursidabad’s hotels are less than modest but Berhampore, 11km south, offers more accommodation and facilities (and the Hazarduari Express also pauses here). Try Hotel The Fame, with an array of rooms from doubles at Rs1,596/Dh90 to a ‘grand presidential suite’ at Rs7,854/Dh443.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
TERMINAL HIGH ALTITUDE AREA DEFENCE (THAAD)
What is THAAD?
It is considered to be the US's most superior missile defence system.
Production:
It was created in 2008.
Speed:
THAAD missiles can travel at over Mach 8, so fast that it is hypersonic.
Abilities:
THAAD is designed to take out ballistic missiles as they are on their downward trajectory towards their target, otherwise known as the "terminal phase".
Purpose:
To protect high-value strategic sites, such as airfields or population centres.
Range:
THAAD can target projectiles inside and outside the Earth's atmosphere, at an altitude of 150 kilometres above the Earth's surface.
Creators:
Lockheed Martin was originally granted the contract to develop the system in 1992. Defence company Raytheon sub-contracts to develop other major parts of the system, such as ground-based radar.
UAE and THAAD:
In 2011, the UAE became the first country outside of the US to buy two THAAD missile defence systems. It then stationed them in 2016, becoming the first Gulf country to do so.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8
Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm
Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km
Price: Dh380,000
On sale: now
Company profile
Company name: Suraasa
Started: 2018
Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker
Based: India, UAE and the UK
Industry: EdTech
Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Who is Allegra Stratton?
- Previously worked at The Guardian, BBC’s Newsnight programme and ITV News
- Took up a public relations role for Chancellor Rishi Sunak in April 2020
- In October 2020 she was hired to lead No 10’s planned daily televised press briefings
- The idea was later scrapped and she was appointed spokeswoman for Cop26
- Ms Stratton, 41, is married to James Forsyth, the political editor of The Spectator
- She has strong connections to the Conservative establishment
- Mr Sunak served as best man at her 2011 wedding to Mr Forsyth
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
more from Janine di Giovanni
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Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face
The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.
The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.
Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.
"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.
Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.
The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.
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Fixtures
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EWednesday%2C%20April%203%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EArsenal%20v%20Luton%20Town%2C%2010.30pm%20(UAE)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EManchester%20City%20v%20Aston%20Villa%2C%2011.15pm%20(UAE)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EThursday%2C%20April%204%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ELiverpool%20v%20Sheffield%20United%2C%2010.30pm%20(UAE)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Freedom Artist
By Ben Okri (Head of Zeus)
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
