At https://phys.org/news/2022-02-early-human-settlement-arabian-peninsula.html …. evidence that Palaeolithic people repeatedly occupied a rock shelter in southern Arabia has been found, dating back 210,000 to 120,000 years ago. The humans in the region were living in the cave under an unexpected range of climatic conditions, from green and wet to very dry and arid. Assuming of course the raft of climate change during that period is fully understood. Previously, it had been considered Arabia was a no go place to live and thrive during dry climate phases and people only lived there during the more pleasant episodes. The new findings of continuous and frequent occupation of the rock shelter is said to completely contradict this idea. It was of course an idea put forward by earlier researchers as a green Arabia would have attracted and sustained greater numbers of people. We are now told, humans are adaptable. For example, it is thought there were extremely dry conditions in Arabia 170,000 years ago. Perhaps this requires a re-analysis rather than just saying humans can adapt.
At https://phys.org/news/2022-02-unexpected-evidence-year-old-settlement-un… … staying in Arabia, we fast track forward to just 3,600 years ago. In a search for underground water resources in eastern Arabia they accidentally discovered a settlement in the desert of what is now Qatar. The population had a sophisticated knowledge of how to use ground water. Not only that the settlement must have existed for a long time prior to 3,600 years ago. The deep aquifers were tapped for crop irrigation as well as domestic use.