It's hard to imagine why humans would have chosen the achingly aridstone desert of Wadi Faynan for their first settlement. But water wouldhave been one important reason, says archaeologist Steven Mithen. WhenNeolithic men and women arrived 11,500 years ago, things were verydifferent: the climate was cooler and wetter; the landscape was covered invegetation including wild figs, legumes and cereals, and there would havebeen wild goats and ibex for meat.