Believe it or not, the Arabian Peninsula was a green paradise full of forests and weeds

2015-08-01 2015-08-01T12:34:20Z

ArabiaWeather.com - All we think about Arabia; The first thing that comes to our mind: sand dunes, blazing sun, and scarcity of water; But in the recent past, the Arabian Peninsula was green meadows and forests irrigated by heavy rains. Perhaps this discovery helps to know when and how the first humans left the continent of Africa. Where the human race evolved; If the Arabian Peninsula is fertile and green; This means that it was the appropriate place to which man migrated. According to the BBC website.

Oxford University study

"There were more chances for humans to leave Africa than previously thought," says Ash Barton, a professor at Britain's Oxford University.

And Barton adds that "our ancestors - who were living on the fishing craft - could not have lived in different places in the Arabian Peninsula, if it were as it is now."

Currently, the Indian Ocean extends on the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and the monsoon climate prevails there; while the rest of the peninsula is desert; With some oases.

Rainy season every 23 thousand years

A research team under the supervision of "Barton" believes that the rainy season reaches the Arabian Peninsula every 23 thousand years. This is to allow room for plant and animal life to flourish.

The team has published its findings in The Journal of Geology.

Modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago. After that, some people left for Europe and Asia.. and from there they spread to the rest of the world.

But it is not known when man left Africa specifically, and what path did he take when leaving it?

Early migrations from Africa

the most acceptable idea; Is that these humans left Africa about 60 thousand years ago, and made their way through the coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and from there to Asia.

This means that they stayed in Africa about 140 thousand years. A number of other archaeologists believe that the first human migration from Africa was 130,000 years ago.

"We have evidence that humans were able to spread out of Africa into the Middle East 130,000 years ago, but many people believed that this expansion was stopped by the Arabian desert," says Patron.

Patron says that he and his colleagues concluded that the Arabian Peninsula passed through different periods of rainy ages. This led to the emergence of tall plants and dense forests, which made it an acceptable place to live. Which supports the idea of early migration.

Rivers of Arabia

Patron studied dry riverbeds in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula, and found traces of mud and stones from the river bed dating back 160,000 years.

Geologists have found evidence of five rainy periods that this region went through, during which rivers flowed and washed away these stones and gravel with them. While these stones settled when the rivers dried up and their waters receded.

The first of these rainy stages occurred between 160,000 and 150,000 years ago, and the most recent was about 55,000 years ago. Each wet stage represented an opportunity during which humans moved from Africa to Asia.

migration across the island

Previous studies had shown that precipitation increased during these periods. However, these studies did not show how much rain was in those periods.

In a scorching desert, a little rain makes little difference; But the new study shows that the increase in rainfall was so great that it altered nature.

Patron says, "The environmental record that I have is completely consistent with the record of existing antiquities. These records indicate the presence of human migration and displacement movements to the Arabian Peninsula."