AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (AAAS)—New sediment analyses from southern Jordan offer new insights into the environmental conditions and chronology of human migration out of Africa during the last interglacial period. Mahmoud Abbas and colleagues’ findings support growing evidence that the region, now a desert, was once a wetland suitable for human passage. Additionally, stone flakes that the researchers dated to around 84,000 years ago suggest that migrants were taking this northern route earlier than previously believed. “Our findings support the growing consensus for a well-watered Jordan Rift Valley that funneled migrants into western Asia and northern Arabia,” the authors write. Homo sapiens are thought to have migrated out of Africa in multiple waves, including during the last major interglacial period, sometime between around 129,000 and 71,000 years ago. Fossil evidence shows that humans were present in Arabia during this period, but researchers have been unable to piece together the routes and chronologies of their dispersals. One theory is that humans traveled through Arabia into Asia via a southern route, crossing the Bab-el-Mandeb strait and dispersing along the southern coast. Another is that they took a northern passage through the Sinai Peninsula and Jordan Rift Valley. Recent analyses of sediments from central and southern Jordan suggest that this region may have been a wetland during the last interglacial. Extending these analyses, Abbas et al. collected and dated sediments from three sites along the Jordan River Valley: Wadi Hasa, Gregra, and Wadi Gharandal. The sediments contained organic matter, muddy sands, and marl – a silty carbonate material associated with water bodies – and some contained small rocks indicative of flash flooding and a landslide. Wadi Gharandal sediments also contained three stone tools, including two Levallois flakes dated to around 84,000 years ago – suggesting that human passage through the region happened much earlier than previous records imply.
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Wadi Rum, in southern Jordan. ChiemSeherin, Pixabay
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Article Source: AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (AAAS) news release.
*“Human dispersals out of Africa via the Levant” by Mahmoud Abbas in (CN) , Zhongping Lai in (CN) , Hua Tu in (CN) , Xiaolin Xu in (CN) , Mohammad Alqudah in (JO) , John Jansen in (CZ) , Xianjiao Ou in (CN) , Bety Saqarat in (JO) , Mu’ayyad Al Hseinat in (JO) , Michael Petraglia in University of Queensland (AU) in Griffith University (AU) in Smithsonian (US) , Paul Carling in University of Southampton (GB), Science Advances, 4-Oct-2023. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adi6838
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