Scientists have discovered that modern humans may have migrated from Africa to Arabia much earlier than previously believed, up to 65,000 years earlier. This migration was likely due to environmental factors rather than advanced technology. The migrants are thought to have taken a direct route to the Arabian Peninsula from Africa, rather than traveling through the Nile Valley or the Near East as previously suggested. Researchers studied ancient tools found at the Jebel Faya archaeological site in the United Arab Emirates and used luminescence dating to determine that the tools were between 100,000 and 125,000 years old. Simon Armitage from the University of London, who was part of the study, believes these findings will lead to a reassessment of how modern humans spread globally. The research, led by Hans-Peter Uerpmann from Eberhard Karls University in Tuebingen, indicated that the tools found were not made in the Middle East but rather resembled those made by early humans in east Africa. This suggests that people were able to leave Africa without the need for significant cultural achievements. The study, published in Science, proposed that environmental factors such as sea levels played a more crucial role than technological advances in enabling migration. By analyzing sea-level and climate-change data from the last interglacial period around 130,000 years ago, researchers concluded that lower sea levels would have made the Bab al-Mandab strait between Arabia and the Horn of Africa narrower, creating a safe passage out of Africa during that time. Uerpmann suggested that the straits could have been crossed at low tide, allowing modern humans to walk or travel by rafts or boats. Earlier beliefs that the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula would have prevented an exodus from Africa are challenged by a new study indicating that Arabia was more hospitable during the last interglacial period, with increased water sources and vegetation. While the timing of modern humans leaving Africa has been a topic of contention, previous findings indicated they may have migrated along the Mediterranean Sea or Arabian coast approximately 60,000 years ago.