Article

2022-07-06 Science & Technology

Spread over a vast, remote landscape in north-western Saudi Arabia are millennia-old archaeological remains that could change our understanding of prehistory

[BBC] A mysterious cult that predates Stonehenge

I'd come here because recent discoveries in AlUla, a region in north-western Saudi Arabia, are shining a light on a fascinating period of history in Saudi Arabia. Since the nation only opened for international research a few years ago (and to tourists in 2019), many of its ancient sites are being studied for the first time. While historians are familiar with the ruins of the 2,000-year-old cities Hegra and Dadan and their place on the Incense Route (Hegra's tombs and monuments are a Unesco World Heritage Site), they didn't have much knowledge about the civilisation that came before, until now.

What has been discovered is that spread over AlUla's vast, remote landscape are millennia-old archaeological remains that could change our understanding of prehistory. Work by McMahon and her colleagues is shedding light on some of the earliest stone monuments in world history – predating Stonehenge and the earliest pyramid in Giza.

When McMahon arrived, she explained that the circle of rocks next to me was the remains of a house occupied in the Neolithic period (from 6000 to 4500 BCE), and that this area was once scattered with thriving settlements. Until recently, the prevailing wisdom was that this region had little human activity until the Bronze Age after 4000 BCE. But McMahon and her colleagues' work has unearthed a very different story: that Neolithic Saudi Arabia was a dynamic, intensely populated, complex landscape spread over a vast area.

Around me were more than 30 dwellings and tombs, and that was just a tiny fraction of the remains here. I tried to imagine the landscape as it may have been thousands of years ago: green, lush and teeming with people as they moved noisily round, herding goats and calling out to each other.

Posted by Skidmark 2022-07-06 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top

#1 And with the Saudi restrictive visa rules, none of those icky tourists (or non-approved archeologists...you know, those who might report findings that dispute the Kingdom's narrative) will damage the sites.

Posted by Mullah Richard 2022-07-06 08:42|| 2022-07-06 08:42|| Front Page Top

#2 If they're a millenia old, they're not prehistoric.

Posted by Rob Crawford 2022-07-06 09:22|| 2022-07-06 09:22|| Front Page Top

#3 "intensely populated"? With what food sources?

Posted by Frank G 2022-07-06 09:41|| 2022-07-06 09:41|| Front Page Top

#4 occupied in the Neolithic period (from 6000 to 4500 BCE),

Up to 8 millennia old, Rob.

the landscape as it may have been thousands of years ago: green, lush and teeming with people

In the time of Abraham, during the Bronze Age, the Middle East was covered with grassland from Iraq to Israel. So it’s possible that Arabia was similarly green earlier.

Posted by trailing wife 2022-07-06 10:10|| 2022-07-06 10:10|| Front Page Top

#5
Mehh. Al-Hazred found it first. One of his fav plug sites probably.

Posted by Dron66046 2022-07-06 10:37|| 2022-07-06 10:37|| Front Page Top

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