麻豆传媒

ELLA AL-SHAMAHI digs in disputed or unstable territories by choice. That means her quest to explore the origins of humanity occasionally involves dodging landmines or considering how best to explain to airport security that carrying a laser scanner does not make her a terrorist. If the day job is stressful, could her alter ego as a stand-up comedian provide light relief? With Yemeni and Syrian ancestry, Al-Shamahi introduces herself on stage as a 鈥渙ne-woman axis of evil鈥�. Though her work takes her to many troubled places, war-torn Yemen is her obsession.

You deliberately work in politically unstable territories. Why?

It鈥檚 because these are places that science has forgotten. Often, they鈥檝e forgotten science too, or the people living there simply have more pressing concerns. Yemen is virtually virgin territory, scientifically speaking. It just hasn鈥檛 been explored in the way that other parts of the planet have.

What draws you to Yemen specifically?

The thing about Yemen is its deep civilisation. The capital, for being the oldest continuously inhabited city on earth and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I鈥檓 from Birmingham, UK, which has beautiful people, but isn鈥檛 the most beautiful city. I drop down in Yemen and I鈥檓, like, oh God. Because it鈥檚 .

How is the situation in Yemen for your family?

I have cousins there, and some went into hiding because they were political and human rights activists. But their Facebook and Twitter updates were full of ridiculous, funny stuff. My uncle鈥檚 house was getting raided and I鈥檇 be freaking out, while my cousins were laughing about leaving strange things out for the rebels, just to confuse them. Humour in these circumstances is clearly a coping strategy, but it鈥檚 also a way of choosing to view the world.

In terms of the humanitarian situation, it鈥檚 absolutely dire. A quarter of my extended family have left the country 鈥� they鈥檙e refugees. I get messages from cousins who are still there. They work in the public sector and haven鈥檛 been paid in many months. So even when food gets through the blockades they can鈥檛 afford it.

[video_player id=鈥滽a5eMePi鈥� access_level=鈥漵ubscriber鈥漖

For work, why not just stick to safe places?

Because I think Yemen could be a key part of the story of human evolution and migration. The thing is, we have never found a human fossil anywhere on the Arabian peninsula. Not one. Loads of stone tools, but no Homo species, except for very recent Homo sapiens. That鈥檚 partly because the area has barely seen any palaeoanthropological work.

Look at Kenya. It鈥檚 no accident that so many fossils have come out of East Africa. It鈥檚 because the Leakey family was based there. With Yemen, instability and war is in the way, but the rest of Arabia has another problem. There is a lot of desert, and it鈥檚 hard to preserve bone in desert.

And you genuinely think Yemen is key for human evolution and migration?

Yes, and it鈥檚 not because my family comes from there. There are certain clues that you go by; it鈥檚 a detective thing. Firstly, Yemen is mountainous, it was 鈥� and still is 鈥� massively green and it鈥檚 full of caves, which are perfect for preserving bones. It鈥檚 an area steeped in human history 鈥� who knows how far back that goes? And crucially, it is on a potential migration route out of Africa.

You think early hominins could have left Africa by crossing the Red Sea to Yemen?

The route north across the Sinai of Egypt is considered to be the major one. But back then you could have seen Yemen from Africa 鈥� and you know what humans are like, once we see something鈥� I think if you鈥檙e going to find fossils anywhere in Arabia, Yemen is the place to look.

Why haven鈥檛 local scientists found fossils, assuming they are there to be found?

Palaeoanthropology isn鈥檛 really a thing there 鈥� even the nomenclature doesn鈥檛 really exist 鈥揳nd evolution isn鈥檛 taught. If you are interested in deep time, you become an archaeologist or a petrol geologist, and make money.

What about Western palaeoanthropologists. Has anyone worked in Yemen?

There have been a few teams that have looked at the area, but Yemen has been unstable for a while. If it suddenly became perfectly safe, as opposed to the kind of safety I鈥檓 willing to risk, there would be big teams wanting to move in.

But Yemen has been an area prone to kidnappings for quite a long time, so that鈥檚 put a lot of people off. Mind you, as late as the 1990s, the kidnapping could be quite pleasant.

Sorry, did you say kidnappings were pleasant?

I know that sounds ridiculous, but I鈥檝e met so many people with the loveliest kidnap stories in Yemen. Back then, it wasn鈥檛 Islamic militants, but local tribes. They鈥檇 host you like an Arab would host you, give you great food and say: 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry, you can鈥檛 leave because we鈥檙e just waiting for some money from the government.鈥� That was common for geologists, who were often wandering in the middle of nowhere on behalf of the oil industry.

But right now, no one鈥檚 going there?

There is a broader race right now to find the first major human fossils in Arabia, but the war in Yemen has thrown me out of the race. When it ends, my team is good to go. And we might find more than one species. There are lots of different kinds of stone tools, which could mean loads of different populations. Homo erectus was the first hominin to leave Africa. They went all the way to China, why wouldn鈥檛 they have gone south to Yemen, too? We know Neanderthals were in the north of the Middle East 鈥� did they ever venture south? There鈥檚 so much potential in this area.

鈥淭here is a race right now to find the first major human fossils in Arabia鈥�

And before the war, had you found any promising sites?

We have identified a cave that meets all the criteria for hominin habitation. The conditions are just perfect: there are water systems nearby as well as stone tools. I鈥檓 just desperate to get back there to dig it.

Is working in hostile or unstable locations good for comedy purposes?

There have been times where things have got so dark I didn鈥檛 want to get on stage. Days before I was scheduled to fly in for my 2015 Yemen expedition, the war broke out. All our plans were up in smoke, everything was a mess. Lots of my family were still there, and God knows what was happening to them. I got on stage thinking, I don鈥檛 want to make you laugh. I want you crying with me.

That said, comedy is really useful for people who do hostile stuff. It keeps us sane. And I鈥檝e found that the people I meet in such places often have very funny, and quite dark, senses of humour.

Interview by Sean O鈥橬eill

This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淔ossil fishing in the Yemen鈥�