Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK.
Science. 2011 Jan 28;331(6016):453-6. doi: 10.1126/science.1199113.
The timing of the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) out of Africa is a fundamental question in human evolutionary studies. Existing data suggest a rapid coastal exodus via the Indian Ocean rim around 60,000 years ago. We present evidence from Jebel Faya, United Arab Emirates, demonstrating human presence in eastern Arabia during the last interglacial. The tool kit found at Jebel Faya has affinities to the late Middle Stone Age in northeast Africa, indicating that technological innovation was not necessary to facilitate migration into Arabia. Instead, we propose that low eustatic sea level and increased rainfall during the transition between marine isotope stages 6 and 5 allowed humans to populate Arabia. This evidence implies that AMH may have been present in South Asia before the Toba eruption.
现代人（AMH）从非洲扩散的时间是人类进化研究中的一个基本问题。现有数据表明，大约在 6 万年前，他们通过印度洋边缘快速沿海迁徙。我们提供了来自阿拉伯联合酋长国 Jebel Faya 的证据，证明在上一个间冰期人类曾在阿拉伯东部存在。在 Jebel Faya 发现的工具套件与非洲东北部的中石器时代晚期有亲缘关系，这表明技术创新并不是迁移到阿拉伯的必要条件。相反，我们提出海平面下降和在海相同位素 6 期和 5 期之间的过渡期间降雨量增加，使得人类得以在阿拉伯地区定居。这一证据表明，在多巴火山爆发之前，现代人可能已经存在于南亚。
