Researchers analyzing stone tools from the Jebel Katefeh-1 site near Jubbah, Saudi Arabia, conclude that Neanderthals likely occupied the Nefud Desert around 55,000 years ago. The study, published in Quaternary Science Reviews, used statistical modeling to compare hundreds of stone flakes from the site with assemblages of known Neanderthal and Homo sapiens origin across Arabia, the Levant and northeast Africa.
No Neanderthal fossils or ancient DNA have been recovered from Arabia, so the identification rests on tool morphology. The team measured flakes struck from prepared cores at Jebel Katefeh-1 and a smaller nearby site, ALM-3, and found their shapes matched Neanderthal-associated industries more closely than those of modern humans.
Optically stimulated luminescence dating of sand grains from a new trench at Jebel Katefeh-1 narrowed the occupation window to approximately 55,000 years ago. The tools sit at a sedimentary transition from older desert sand to younger lake deposits, indicating people were present as the region shifted from arid to more humid conditions.
At that time, Neanderthals were the only known hominin group in southwest Asia, which the authors argue supports the attribution. The environmental shift would have refilled lakes and attracted grazing animals into the desert interior, potentially drawing Neanderthals southward from their better-documented ranges.
Independent archaeologist Knut Bretzke of the University of Tübingen called the evidence compelling but noted that several comparison sites in the model are surface scatters that may mix artifacts from multiple periods. He considers the conclusion plausible while emphasizing that fossil or genetic confirmation is still lacking.
Lead author Huw Groucutt of the University of Malta acknowledged that bones and DNA preserve poorly in Arabia's heat, making stone tools the primary archaeological window for now. Further fieldwork and refined chronological controls are needed to test whether the Neanderthal presence was sustained or episodic.
Neanderthals may have trekked through the Saudi Arabian desert 55,000 years ago, farther south than experts thought possible
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