Most of what we know about the innate chronicle of the Arabian Peninsula come from skeletal remains , however , these are few and far between in the huge dust plains of present - mean solar day Saudi Arabia . Thankfully , a caboodle of ancient hunters left some clues about the prehistorical animal roaming over their homeland , hidden in their rock art .
Archaeologists from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany have late been busybodied studying the thousands of ancient artworks atJubbah and Shuwaymis , a UNESCO world heritage rock ‘n’ roll fine art site in Ha’il responsibility , magnetic north - western Saudi Arabia . Some of the rock music nontextual matter at this site is think to be around 10,000 years onetime and spans through the middle and early Holocene .
The new work of the site can be incur in theJournal of Biogeography .
Looking through the 6,618 individual animal delineation , the researchers saw an animal that bore an uncanny semblance to the less koudou , a big antelope with astonishing spiraled horn and distinctive vertical grade insignia . Nowadays , this beast can only be notice in East Africa and there has n’t been much evidence to advise it ever leave Africa at all , until now .
The rock art also seems to show an auroch , a vast ancient ancestor to idle Bos taurus that inhabited Europe and North Africa . They also found illustrations of fantastic camel and African unwarranted asses , two species not wide believe to be native to this particular sphere .
“ The presence of less kudu , wild camel , and African tempestuous ass shows that the Jubbah oasis was a focal point for creature from dissimilar habitats , ” the study authors note . “ Carnivores identify in the rock art include lions , leopards , and hyaena . These carnivores were likely attracted to the Jubbah haven by the rich available prey biomass . ”
The researcher admit that it ’s hard to tell whether the depiction of brute at Jubbah is the outcome of human or creature mobility . However , there is evidence that indicate that northern Arabia during part of the Holocene was not the sandy dusty place we know , but a relatively lush plain of grasslands and lakes . This means that north - west share of the Arabian peninsula would be absolutely capable of supporting a rich array of expectant mammals .
" The front of big and intermediate - sized ungulate , such as kudu , onager , African wild ass , and Bos primigenius , reflects the extent to which the botany and rain regimes of the Holocene humid period opened up corridors across northern Arabia that enabled the movement of humans and animals . " the authors explained .
