In the Summer 2018 issue of Popular Archaeology, two stories relate the recent efforts by scientists to investigate the presence of early humans in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The first (Olorgesailie) details the recent findings in the Olorgesailie Basin in the East African Rift Valley that may be shedding new light on the early emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa. The second (One Small Arabian Finger Bone) details a new discovery by scientists in the Nefud Desert of Saudi Arabia that says something about the unfolding story of how, when and why early humans dispersed out of Africa through an otherwise inhospitable environment. Both articles also show how these recent discoveries have added to the latest thinking about how early humans coped with their ancient environments and how those environments shaped the emergence of our own species.
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