13,500-year-old human settlement in Saudi Arabia linked to Nufian culture

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Key facts

• Sa Sahut archaeological site located on southern edge of Nefood Desert between Anan and Al-Nisma Mountains
• Researchers report people occupied the site around 13,500 years ago during Epipaleolithic period
• Study published in Nature by Saudi Arabia's Heritage Commission
• Discovery shows ancient communities lived in deserts of northern Arabia during late Ice Age
• Stone tools closely resemble artifacts from Nufian culture of eastern Mediterranean (15,000-11,500 years ago)
• Helwan bladelets found - small stone tools used as arrowheads or hunting weapon components
• Discovery challenges assumptions that northern Arabia's deserts had limited prehistoric human occupation
• Nufian culture previously known primarily from the Levant

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