The formation of deserts on the Arabian Peninsula had a decisive impact on the migration and evolution of large mammals and our human ancestors over millions of years. That is the conclusion of a new study by an international research team led by Professor Madelaine Böhme of the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen. The researchers reconstructed the climate history of the northern Arabian Peninsula from 12.5 to 2.5 million years ago using aridity-sensitive data obtained from rocks from Mesopotamia. This yielded new clues about the causes of animal migrations. The results have been published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.