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A mile-long lava tube where humans sheltered for thousands of years
A mile-long lava tube in Saudi Arabia was full of life, as new archaeological research shows.
The new study, published today in the journal PLoS One, examined faunal remains and rock art in the region and adds to a growing body of research into the system. “The findings at Umm Jirsan provide a new type of archaeological site in the region, and one where organic material like bone and deeply layered sediments are much better preserved,” said Mathew Stewart, a zooarchaeologist at Griffith University in Australia and the study’s lead author, in an email to Gizmodo. Based on human use of the surrounding area—evinced by nearby rock art and other faunal records—the team posited that the lava tube “was situated along a pastoral route linking key oases.” So you can think of Umm Jirsan more as an ancient truck stop than a place of residence.
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