Middle Paleolithic

Study: Lack of toolmaking stone, not water, kept Stone Age humans out of Rub' al Khali interior

Researchers surveying 55 ancient lake sites across the central Rub' al Khali desert found no stone tools from the Middle Palaeolithic/Middle Stone Age, despite abundant freshwater lakes and nearby human occupation at the desert margins. They attribute this absence to the region's carbonate and evaporite geology, which lacks the fine-grained silicate rock needed to make stone tools, rather than to any lack of water or population capability.

nature.com · 2026-10-28

Traceological study finds possible arrow points at Obi-Rakhmat, Uzbekistan, dated to 80,000 years ago

Researchers analyzing lithic tools from the oldest layers of the Obi-Rakhmat rock shelter in Uzbekistan identified 20 pieces that appear to be projectile weapon heads, including retouched points, bladelets, and previously overlooked unretouched triangular micropoints. Based on hunting-weapon design principles, the micropoints are argued to be too narrow for anything but arrow-like shafts, suggesting a sophisticated projectile technology roughly 80,000 years ago that resembles finds from a much later Sapiens site in France's Rhône Valley.

journals.plos.org · 2026-09-18