The spread of Lower Palaeolithic material in theArabian peninsula includes the southwest,
near the Bab el-Mandab (Petraglia, 2003). This was an arid region, in the late Pliocene and
early Pleistocene, as it is today. While there are unstratified finds of Oldowan appearance,
they may be significantly younger (Petraglia, 2003, p. 148). Artefacts classified on formal
grounds as Acheulian have been found in the Arabian peninsula, without absolute dating,
and there is as yet no firm evidence of early Homo or of Lower Pleistocene cultural material