Monumental rock art: humans thrived in Arab. Desert during Pleistocene-Holocene (nature.com)

Absolutely fascinating. I'm surprised by the quality. Indicative of both a keen eye and a fine skill for art.

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Was the climate different back then? How can one thrive in the desert

I've read/heard that the Sahara was a rainforest around 6,000 BCE (or at least the area around the Great Pyramids was).

Why do we believe that what is now Saudi Arabia was a desert in 11,000 BCE?

The panels at Jeba Misa caught me for a second - they reminded me of graffiti on high buildings and overpasses and the like.

As an anthropology aficionado, I’m supposed to say we don’t know the purpose of these artifacts and any attempt to guess would be cultural projection, but privately I’m taking some comfort in the human connection.