Prof. Pierre Zalloua

The problem with Arabia is that we see some evidence of human presence 130,000 years ago, maybe 210,000 years ago.

But then because of the climate, because of the shift in climate, then the area was no longer inhabitable.

So people actually escaped.

And when they escape, either they move long distances, went back to Africa, or they went up north, or they live in refugia.

And usually these refugia, from what we know today, have been around the Gulf area, so close to Africa.

Okay, so like the Gulf of Aden or the Persian Gulf today?

The Persian Gulf today, yes, exactly.

So basically, we know that people move to these areas and they shrink.

I mean, these areas, livable areas, they shrink so much because of the climate.

And of course, we have the, you know, glacial...

I mean, the last glaciation that happened 25,000 years ago to 18,000 years ago, this is the last glacial maximum that you talk about, was also a major player and we'll talk about this.

Because during that period, Arabia was not a place where you can actually sustain life.

So these fluctuations that happen, so if we talk about, let's go back to 130 to 110,000 years ago, and then for a long period of time, Arabia was not populated because people cannot live there.

And then perhaps...

you know, around, I would say, 65,000 to 50,000, there has been a cooling area in there, more humid, and we have evidence that some people may have lived there.

Okay.

But then soon after that came the last glacial maximum, and then the entire population disappeared up until, I would say, 6,000 years ago, where we call it the African humid period, which actually, you know, anywhere between 14 to 6,000 years,

That's when Arabia was mostly populated, I would say around 7,000 prior to today.

We see, I would say, the largest number of people moved into Arabia based on the archaeological evidence that we have.

So if we're going to talk about when was Arabia populated,