Archaeologists dig up Middle East’s oldest middle finger

In joint Saudi-UK project, excavations in Arabian desert uncover human bone believed to be some 90,000 years old

By ToI Staff 19 August 2016, 6:40 am

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Human bones from a middle finger dating back 90,000 years found in Saudi Arabia, according to an announcement August 17, 2016 by the country's Commission for Tourism and National Heritage.

Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia have dug up the oldest human bone ever found in the country, discovering part of a middle finger believed to be some 90,000 years old.

The discovery, part of a joint project by scientists from Saudi Arabia and Oxford University in the UK, was announced Wednesday by the head of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, Ali Ghabban.

The joint project, called Green Arabia, began in 2012 and studies how various phases of climate change in the region have affected human migration and settlement.

“The Green Arabia project has studied sites at ancient lakes in the Nafud desert,” Ghabban said, in reference to an area in the northern Arabian Peninsula, according to the Middle East Eye.

The bone was discovered during a dig at the Taas al-Ghadha site, close to the northwestern city of Tayma.