Modern South Arabian languages are known for their apparent archaic Semitic features, especially in their system of
phonology. For example, they preserve the
lateral fricatives of
Proto-Semitic.
Additionally, Militarev identified a
Cushitic substratum in Modern South Arabian, which he proposes is evidence that Cushitic speakers originally inhabited the
Arabian Peninsula alongside Semitic speakers (Militarev 1984, 18-19; cf. also Belova 2003). According to
Václav Blažek, this suggests that Semitic peoples assimilated their original Cushitic neighbours to the south who did not later emigrate to the
Horn of Africa. He argues that the
Levant would thus have been the
Proto-Afro-Asiatic Urheimat, from where the various branches of the
Afro-Asiatic family subsequently dispersed. To further support this, Blažek cites analysis of
rock art in Central Arabia by Anati (1968, 180-84), which notes a connection between the shield-carrying "oval-headed" people depicted on the cave paintings and the Arabian Cushites from the
Old Testament, who were similarly described as carrying specific shields.
[5]
some of this is a bit iffy as we know the horn is the afro-asiatic urheimat but there is a cushitic substratum in MSA languages
