Neanderthals are largely associated with colder climates across Eurasia. But researchers know that both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals moved through nearby Southwest Asia between about 100,000 and 50,000 years ago, and Arabia was a crossroads between Africa, Europe and Asia during the Ice Age.

Although no Neanderthal bones have ever been found in Arabia, a new study on stone tools in Arabia suggests Neanderthals roamed this warmer region 60,000 to 50,000 years ago. The study, published in Quaternary Science Reviews, links Neanderthal tool-flaking methods to tools from a site called Jebel Katefeh-1 (JKF-1), near an ancient lake in Saudi Arabia's Nefud Desert