Tristan Hughes

I mean, how do we think the whole region was ultimately populated?

What do we know about that?

The fertile crescent.

It's a very complex topic, and you've highlighted the wider region there, of course, and I'm guessing it also filters into Arabian populations as well?

I'm presuming then you've also looked at DNA from people who live in Arabia today.

Do you notice significant differences in the genetic, is it the ancestry, I guess, of people, let's say, from Yemen compared to Oman and so on?

Is that also an interesting component to look at?

And that's descended from those prehistoric migrations to Arabia thousands of years ago.

You could see them.

That's an amazing line then, right down to the present day.

Yeah.

Lots of this science sometimes goes over my head, but you've explained lots of it brilliantly in understanding the story of this early populating of such an important, crucial region of Southwest Asia.

Is there anything else you'd like to highlight that we really should talk about with these earliest populations in Arabia, and I guess, if you want, the wider region that we should think about when looking at ancient DNA and other fields today?

And then... Axum, a bit of Axum as well, Ethiopia in Yemen, yeah?

Oh, sorry, the Levant, okay.

It's so interesting going back to those three groups that you highlighted earlier that they stem from.

I guess that's also in the case with the famous Arabian kingdoms like the Nabataeans or the Sabaeans in Yemen.

They also have their links to those three from earlier.

My last question must also be about Semitic languages.

Can ancient DNA and your studies help us learn about the spread of Semitic languages into the Arabian Peninsula?