Tristan Hughes

Pierre, I know you've done a lot of work around this as well.

Can you tell us how they relate to those early groups of Homo sapiens going into Arabia?

And then, as you mentioned, they ultimately sometimes retreat back into Africa.

But can you explain how DNA is making us rethink the nature of those migrations into Arabia at that time?

The reason I ask also is that because I know, as you mentioned, no remains before 7,000 years ago, so it is much more tricky in Arabia.

But I've got on my notes things like the Gate of Tears and how with early successful migrations of humans out of Africa, that it seems likely that they went along the Arabian coast.

Although it wasn't enduring there because ultimately they have to leave Arabia when the climate gets much worse, as you mentioned some 23,000 years ago.

Because of that, I mean, do we therefore have any sense, any idea of how those early communities lived in Arabia and how they got to Arabia?

Just anything about their lives.

And as I said- Sorry, that is where?

Where is that?

This is Yemen.

And do we see, and so the people are coming at that time, they're coming from many different places, including the Levant, do we think?

Thank you for letting me ask so many questions about the pre-7000 years ago.

I do appreciate it, but I love exploring that kind of deep ice age story of it all.

But does it therefore seem that by 8000, 7000 years ago, there is quite a population boom in Arabia at that time?

Yes, what do we know about the environment at that time?

So I was actually going to ask my next question was, when do we think that the people who then populate Arabia, of course, massive landmass, I mean, when do they become more sedentary?

I mean, do they bring farming with them?

But it doesn't seem like it's a straightforward answer to that.