Ancient Humans Made Their Homes in Lava Tubes in the Arabian Desert

Archaeologists have discovered, for the first time, evidence of human habitation inside a lava tube in the desert of northern Saudi Arabia.

A lava tube is a cave formed during a volcanic eruption. The surface of the lava river cools and solidifies, but hot molten rock continues to flow beneath it. Eventually, the lava will drain out of the tube, leaving behind a tunnel.

Matthew Stewart He and his colleagues from Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, dug a trench inside Umm Jilsan. At 1.5 kilometers long, it is the largest lava tube in Saudi Arabia. Researchers found animal bones, stone tools and pottery dating back at least 7,000 years, and possibly 10,000 years.

Stewart and his team have been working in the area for more than 15 years and have uncovered numerous stone structures on the surface, confirming human habitation. However, the desert's hot and dry climate has degraded the organic material, making it difficult to determine its age.

The surface landscape is a “hot, dry, flat basalt desert,” Stewart said. “But when you're inside a lava tube, it's much cooler. It would have been a great refuge because it's so protected.”

“It's changing our understanding of the prehistory of the Arabian Peninsula,” he says.

Researchers also found human bones in parts of Umm Jilsan's underground network, which are believed to have been dragged in by hyenas.

Stewart and colleagues found rock art at other nearby lava tubes, including depictions of domesticated sheep and goats, that would have been made by “cultural contemporaries” of the group who used the tubes as shelters. he says, he discovered.

mike morley Researchers at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, describe lava tubes as like “prefabricated activity spaces.”

“As a scientist who works primarily in caves, I'm excited to see that there is another type of cave system used by humans in the past,” Morley says. “These discoveries represent a treasure trove of archaeological information in Arabia, a vast region whose prehistoric archeology has only recently been systematically investigated.”

It has also been suggested that lava tubes could be a place for humans to take refuge on the Moon or Mars.