there is evidence that human habitation in the arabian peninsula dates back to about 125,000 years ago. a 2011 study found that the first modern humans to spread east across asia left africa about 75,000 years ago across the bab-el-mandeb connecting the horn of africa and arabia. the arabian peninsula is regarded as a central figure in the understanding of hominin evolution and dispersals. arabia underwent an extreme environmental fluctuation in the quaternary that led to profound evolutionary and demographic changes. arabia has a rich lower paleolithic record, and the quantity of oldowan-like sites in the region indicate a significant role that arabia had played in the early hominin colonization of eurasia.