Evidence from Buhais Rockshelter for human settlement in Arabia between 60,000 and 16,000 years ago

Abstract Several significant milestones in human evolution date to the period between 70,000 and 12,000 years ago, including the replacement of archaic humans, the global dispersal of Homo sapiens and the introduction of Upper Palaeolithic traditions. The Arabian Peninsula provides only sparse records illuminating this period. We introduce here the Buhais Rockshelter archaeological sequence and paleoenvironmental records from the Faya Palaeolandscape in the Emirate of Sharjah (UAE). Buhais Rockshelter provides stratified stone artifact assemblages reflecting habitation phases around 125,000, 59,000, 35,000 and 16,000 years ago. Palaeoenvironmental fieldwork further shows that settlement at Buhais Rockshelter is contemporaneous with increased water availability in the landscape at these times. Our results contradict the prevailing view of human absence in Arabia at the end of the Pleistocene and call for reassessing the inhabitability of southern Arabia during the last glacial period. Results from Buhais Rockshelter extend known records from Jebel Faya and demonstrate repeated occupation of the region between 210,000 and 16,000 years ago. Together, this contributes data for a critical timeframe in human evolution providing an empirical foundation for testing anthropological models about human adaptation to and dispersal through the desert landscapes of southern Arabia.