At www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2014/140403_1.html … a team led by the University of Oxford in collaboration with the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities has discovered a giant tusk from an extinct elephant – out in the desert. The species is known as Palaeoloxoden and was twice the size of modern elephants – but most Pleistocene animals were much larger than their Holocene descendants. It has been dated 325,000 years ago (by the geology in which it was found). Elephants consume a significant amount of roots, grasses, fruit and tree bark in order to survive – and lots of water. Satellite imagery has revealed a network of ancient rivers and lakes across the Arabian peninsular but do they date that far back? Previous studies have suggested it was wetter during the first half of the Holocene (as in the Sahara).
Other animal remains include an extinct kind of jaguar and a member of the horse family, as well as oryx antelopes (which survive into the modern world). The thrust of the news release is the emphasis on the fact that Arabia was green and verdant 300,000 years ago – but apparently ignores the fact it may have been quite pleasant up to 5000 years ago. Gary Gilligan sent in the link and he pointed out a paper by the AGU (1999) on just this subject and which included the statement, ' …one of the most striking climate changes of the past 11,000 years caused the abrupt desertification of the Sahara and Arabian regions midway through that period.' Arabia is virtually an archaeological blank – as a result of strict religious protocols. This research might suggest this attitude might be changing – but don't hold your breath.