{"id":1978,"date":"2020-11-05T02:10:48","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T02:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/?p=1978"},"modified":"2020-11-05T02:10:48","modified_gmt":"2020-11-05T02:10:48","slug":"new-alula-discoveries-to-fill-missing-links-in-saudi-arabias-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/?p=1978","title":{"rendered":"New AlUla discoveries to fill \u2018missing links\u2019 in Saudi Arabia\u2019s history"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
The Old town of Al-Ula (Image: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe desert city AlUla is located in a fertile oasis valley that has welcomed civilisations for more than 200,000 years. AlUla is best known among archaeological circles for Saudi Arabia\u2019s first UNESCO World Heritage, the Nabataean tombs of Hegra.<\/p>\n

However, more than 27,000 other sites of archaeological interest have also been identified within its borders, while many more are certain to be discovered in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Dr Rebecca Foote, Director of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Research (RCU) at the Royal Commission for AlUla, said: \u201cNorthwestern Arabia has often been overlooked as a place of cultural and civilisational importance in and of itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many years, its importance has been eclipsed by the nearby Fertile Crescent, riverine Mesopotamia, and Egypt, and the marine civilisations along the Red Sea. AlUla was seen as just a region people passed through.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, we\u2019re now learning that AlUla was more than just a place to transit, it was a true nexus and a home for complex communities across thousands of years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Archaeologists and other specialists are increasingly attracted to AlUla as it is one of area’s few remaining areas yet to be properly explored.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the recent work of international universities and research institutes, this jewel in the heritage crown of Saudi Arabia is beginning to fill in the missing links of the region’s development and the generations that have crossed it.<\/p>\n

RCU\u2019s discoveries have established how prehistoric peoples of AlUla hunted and grazed in AlUla when it was a significantly more fertile land than now.<\/p>\n

Combining cutting-edge satellite imagery with ground survey and old-fashioned digging, archaeologists have been left dumbfounded by the sheer quantity of stone structures built in the late prehistoric period (5200 to 1200 BC).<\/p>\n

Mystery structures range across surprisingly diverse landmarks, from AlUla\u2019s lowlands, uplands and lava flows, known as “harrat”.<\/p>\n

The size, locations, and numbers of these monuments point to a degree of community cooperation never before seen in such geography.<\/p>\n

And some sites used for rituals may consequently transform experts\u2019 understanding of these prehistoric peoples\u2019 society altogether.<\/p>\n

One of these strange structures, which seems to one of the area’s oldest, is called “mustatil”, meaning rectangle in Arabic, which can stretch for hundreds of metres.<\/p>\n

Another style of structures referred to as pendants feature a ringed cairn main burial with a tail of associated structures, resembling jewellery from above \u2013 hence their name.<\/p>\n

Although exact details of the use of these constructions remain a mystery, the fact excavations have unearthed surprisingly few tools or pottery may indicate their specific usage.<\/p>\n

The purpose of pendants seems to have been funerary, tombs and memorial cenotaphs.<\/p>\n

The mustatils are still undergoing analysis, but archaeologists suspect they were used in rituals by the people of AlUla \u2013 but exactly these involved remains a mystery \u2013 for now.<\/p>\n

Dr Foote added: \u201cOur investigation of these mustatils, pendants, and other prehistoric structures are giving us a tantalising glimpse into the region around 7,000 years ago and for several millennia thereafter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could be looking at early expressions of ownership and property, if indeed the structures functioned primarily or secondarily as boundary markers \u2013 in keeping with a people grazing herds in addition to hunting wild animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re only just beginning our own journey through time by identifying, recording and collecting datable samples from these sites to gain a chronology of this prehistory.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy conducting intensive survey and targeted excavations at some of the more significant among these numerous sites we are gaining great insights about function too.\u201d<\/p>\n

(ARCHAEOLOGISTS are beginning to unravel the mysteries of one of the Middle East’s most historically rich regions – AlUla).<\/p>\n

From:Express Newspapers
\nBy TOM FISH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The desert city AlUla is located in a fertile oasis valley that has welcomed civilisations for more than 200,000 years. AlUla is best known among archaeological circles for Saudi Arabia\u2019s first UNESCO World Heritage, the Nabataean tombs of Hegra. However, more than 27,000 other sites of archaeological interest have also been identified within its borders, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1979,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1978"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1978"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1980,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1978\/revisions\/1980"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}