About the Authors

Huw S. Groucutt

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – original draft

huw.groucutt@um.edu.mt (HSG); mathew.stewart@griffith.edu.au (MS); m.petraglia@griffith.edu.au (MDP)

Affiliations Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta, Msida, Malta, Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Mathew Stewart

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

huw.groucutt@um.edu.mt (HSG); mathew.stewart@griffith.edu.au (MS); m.petraglia@griffith.edu.au (MDP)

Affiliation Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia

Faisal Al-Jibreen

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Project administration, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Heritage commission, Ministry of Culture, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Mesfer Al-Qahtani

Roles Investigation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Heritage commission, Ministry of Culture, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Mahmoud Al-Shanti

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Geotourism Department, Saudi Geological Survey, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Eric Andrieux

Roles Investigation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Archaeology, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom

James Blinkhorn

Roles Investigation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Human Origins Research Group, Department of Archaeology, Classics, and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom, Human Palaeosystems Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany

Nicole Boivin

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia

Paul S. Breeze

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Geography, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom

Nick Drake

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Geography, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom

Abdullah Memesh

Roles Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Survey and Exploration Centre, Geological Programs, Saudi Geological Survey, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Yahya Mufarreh

Roles Investigation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Geotourism Department, Saudi Geological Survey, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Gilbert Price

Roles Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation School of The Environment, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Eleanor M. L. Scerri

Roles Investigation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Human Palaeosystems Group, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany, Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta, Msida, Malta, Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Nils Vanwezer

Roles Investigation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, Jena, Germany, State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

Hubert Vonhof

Roles Investigation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Climate Geochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany

Iyad Zalmout

Roles Investigation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Survey and Exploration Centre, Geological Programs, Saudi Geological Survey, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abdullah M. Alsharekh

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Archaeology, College of Tourism and Archaeology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Michael D. Petraglia

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Writing – review & editing

huw.groucutt@um.edu.mt (HSG); mathew.stewart@griffith.edu.au (MS); m.petraglia@griffith.edu.au (MDP)

Affiliations Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America.

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.