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Humans and their livestock have sheltered in this Saudi Arabian cave for 10,000 years

Saudi herders have travelled the same routes for millennia, cave discovery suggests.
  1. Gillian Dohrn
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Four people standing in a tunnel with an arch-shaped roof made of basalt.

Inside the Umm Jirsan lava-tube cave, researchers have found evidence of human occupation dating back 10,000 years. Credit: Green Arabia Project

A first-of-its-kind study in northwestern Saudi Arabia suggests that humans and their livestock have been using a cave for shelter sporadically for up to 10,000 years. The finding1 offers insight into the region’s history and ecology.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01131-3

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 18 April 2024: An earlier version of this story attributed a statement about funding Saudi archaeological research to Ahmed Nassr. This attribution was incorrect and the statement has been removed.

References

  1. Stewart, M. et al. PLoS ONE 19, e0299292 (2024).

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  2. Groucutt, H. S. et al. Nature Ecol. Evol. 2, 800–809 (2018).

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  3. Stewart, M. et al. Sci. Adv. 6, eaba8940 (2020).

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