This session explores the complex interplay between wind-driven dust mobility, climate variability, and hominin adaptation in arid and semi-arid environments during the Pleistocene. We welcome contributions from across the global dust belt, with a focus on the ‘Afro-Asian Belt’. Key themes include the role of dust storms, loess deposition, and mud rain in shaping landscapes and influencing hominin mobility, behavior, and resilience. Dust-borne pollutants and pathogens posed significant health risks, driving adaptive responses in settlement, shelter, and technology as evident through archaeological, paleoenvironmental, and biomedical records. We encourage interdisciplinary approaches, including geoarchaeology, sedimentology, stable isotopes, trace elements, geomicrobiology, and paleopathology. By connecting diverse regional and disciplinary perspectives, this session aims to build a holistic understanding of dust dynamics and human adaptation across space and time.