Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

For the first time, archaeologists have found evidence that human civilisation thrived inside lava tubes to fight the heat in the deserts of northern Saudi Arabia.

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Lava tubes are caves which were formed in a volcanic eruption. The surface of a river of lava cooled down and solidified and the hot molten rock continued to flow under it. The lava eventually drained out of the tube and left behind a tunnel.

All about Saudi Arabia's biggest lava tube

Umm Jirsan is the biggest lava tube which runs across 1.5 kilometres in Saudi Arabia. Researcher Mathew Stewart, who works at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, excavated a trench inside Umm Jirsan along with his colleagues.

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In their excavation, the researchers found stone tools, animal bones and pottery which were estimated to be at least 7,000 years old.

For more than 15 years, Stewart and his team have been exploring the region and earlier found numerous stone structures on the surface which proved human habitation. 

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The organic material present in the region broke down due to the desert’s hot, arid climate, which has made it difficult to estimate its age.

The landscape on the surface is a “hot, dry and flat basalt desert”, said Stewart. “But when you are down in the lava tube, it’s much cooler. It’s very sheltered and it would have been a great place of refuge. It’s transforming our understanding of the prehistory of the Arabian peninsula,” he said, as reported by the New Scientist.

What did the researchers discover in the lava tube? 

The researchers, while excavating parts of the underground network at Umm Jirsan, discovered human bones. However, it is believed that they were dragged inside the cave by hyenas.

In a different lava tube, Stewart and his colleagues discovered rock art which included representational images of domestic sheep and goats which were likely carved by “cultural contemporaries” of the groups which used the lava tubes as a refuge, he said. 

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According to the analysis of the researchers, the humans were not living in the lava tube for long periods at one given point in time. 

"The lava tube does not appear to have served as a permanent habitation location, but rather as a site that likely lay on herding routes and that allowed access to shade and water for passing herders and their animals," wrote the authors in the study. 

"Prior to this, as well as during pastoral periods, the lava tube was likely also linked with hunting activities, which probably remained a cornerstone of local economies into the Bronze Age," they added.

(With inputs from agencies)