But scientists behind the latest study argue that the people who made tools at Jebel Faya 125, 000 years ago are ancestral to humans living outside Africa today.

BBC: Humans 'left Africa much earlier'

The researchers say the toolmakers at Jebel Faya may have reached the Arabian Peninsula at a time when changes in the climate were transforming it from arid desert into a grassland habitat with lakes and rivers.

BBC: Humans 'left Africa much earlier'

Professor Stringer said the fact that the tools found at Jebel Faya did not resemble those associated with modern humans at Qafzeh and Skhul hinted at "yet more complexity in the exodus of modern humans from Africa".

BBC: Humans 'left Africa much earlier'