Ancient Arabs: History. Culture, Sites, States | Middle East And North Africa

Home | Category: Pre-Islamic Arabian and Middle Eastern History / Pre-Islamic Arabia / Pre-Islamic Arabian and Middle Eastern History

ANCIENT ARAB HISTORY

Bedouin sheikh

The word Arab appeared in pre-Islamic poetry to describe the Semitic-speaking tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. The use of the word Arab in the Koran is connected primarily wit the pastoral Bedouin tribes of the region. Culturally the Arab world is divided into two spheres — the Middle East and North Africa — with Egypt serving a the junction between the two.

The Arab world describes the countries in the Middle East and North Africa where the majority people speak Arabic and belong to the Arab ethnic group. It excludes Israel, Turkey and Iran, which are dominated, respectively, by Jews, Turks and Persians, but includes the Maghreb countries of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, which are sometimes not regarded as part of the Middle East.

The Arab world is made up of nineteen countries: Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Chad, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Yemen, Oman and Iraq. There are also significant Arab populations in Iran, Turkey, East Africa, South America, Europe, North America, Southeast Asia and Australia.

The Muslim world refers to the countries whose populations are made up predominately of Muslims. These include the countries of the Middle East, the Maghreb countries plus non-Arab countries with majority Muslim populations such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Djibouti, Somalia, Niger, Senegal. Some Sub-Saharan African counties, particularly in West Africa and to a lesser extent East Africa, have large numbers of Muslims.

Websites on Islamic History: History of Islam: An encyclopedia of Islamic history historyofislam.com ; Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World oxfordislamicstudies.com ; Sacred Footsetps sacredfootsteps.com ; Islamic History Resources uga.edu/islam/history ; Internet Islamic History Sourcebook fordham.edu/halsall/islam/islamsbook ; Islamic History friesian.com/islam ; Muslim Heritage muslimheritage.com ; Chronological history of Islam barkati.net; Arabs: Arab American National Museum arabamericanmuseum.org ; Summary of the History of the Arabs, Library of Congress loc.gov ; Arab News arabnews.com

First Arabs

Agricultural and pastoral people have inhabited the southern edge of the arid Syrian steppe since 6000 B.C. The first Arab civilization emerged in the fertile, watered highlands of Yemen at the end of the 2nd millennium B.C. The first Arabs were a nomadic tribe of pastorialists who lived almost entirely off their herds of goats, sheep and cattle. They were Semitic pagan nature worshipers that wandered the deserts in Arabia, lived as Bedouins, and spoke a number of Arabic dialects. [Sources: “History of Arab People” by Albert Hourani (Faber and Faber, 1991); “Islam, a Short History “ by Karen Armstrong (Modern Library, 2000)]

Arabs are relative latecomers to the Near East. They were first mentioned in the mid 9th century B.C. as a tribal people subjugated by the Assyrians. By about 850 B.C. a people known as the “A’raab” — ancestors of modern Arabs — had established a network of oasis settlements and pastoralist camps. They were one of many stock-breeding societies that lived in the region during that period and were distinguished from their Assyrian neighbors to the north by their Arabic language and later by the use of domesticated camels for trade and warfare.

The Middle East at the time of the first Arabs was a time of chaos. The Bronze Age was ending and the Iron Age was emerging. The Middle East was patchwork of rival kingdoms that included the Israelites, Jebusites, Amorites, Hittities, and Philistines. Yemen had its own people, which spoke a language different than Arabic. The Babylonians, Assyrians, Phoenicians and Egyptian were the major powers in the region.

Different sects dominated at different times and the region fell under the rule of Assyrians, Petra, Palmrya, Persians, Greeks and Romans. The central region was occupied by Bedouins and a few trading and oases towns.

Punt, a mysterious fabled land south of Egypt, supplied Egypt with myrrh, ebony, ivory, gold, spices, panther skins, live baboons and other exotic animals and frankincense. The exact location of Punt is still unknown. It may have been in modern-day Somalia, Yemen or Oman. Traders crossed the Eastern desert and sailed from the Red Sea to get there. Much of what is known about Punt is based on reliefs found on the wall of the Deir el Bahri temple, built around 1490 B.C. in western Thebes. The reliefs show trade between rulers of Punt and emissaries of Queen Hatshepsut.

DNA Evidence Locates Most Ancient Middle Eastern Population

The Arabian Peninsula — which today includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — has long been a key crossroads between Africa, Europe and Asia. The largest-ever study of Arab genomes, published in online on October 12, 2021 in the journal Nature Communications, revealed a number of interesting things about the earlist inhabitants of Arabia. [Source: Charles Q. Choi, Live Science, October 13, 2021]

Charles Q. Choi wrote in Live Science: After comparing modern human genomes with ancient human DNA, the scientists discovered that a unique group of peninsular Arabs may be the most ancient of all modern Middle Eastern populations, Mokrab said. Members of this group may be the closest relatives of the earliest known farmers and hunter-gatherers to occupy the ancient Middle East, the researchers said. [Source: Charles Q. Choi, Live Science, October 13, 2021]

Ancestral Arab groups apparently underwent multiple splits 12,000 to 20,000 years ago, the scientists noted. This coincides with the way Arabia became drier, with some groups moving to more fertile areas, giving rise to settler communities, and others continuing to live in the arid region, which was more conducive to nomadic lifestyles, the researchers said.

The new study discovered high rates of inbreeding in some peninsular Arab groups dating back well into ancient times, likely resulting from the tribal nature of these cultures raising barriers to intermarriage outside tribal groups. Inbreeding can highlight rare mutations that may increase the risk of disease, so these new findings might help to reveal the causes of certain genetic disorders and lead to precision medicine to help diagnose and treat diseases in the communities represented in the study, the researchers said.

Themes in Arab History

Nabateen trade routes on which frankincense was carried

The history of the Middle East has been shaped very much by the region’s hot climate and lack of water. Tribalism has also been a major presence in the region. People separated by distance and environment evolved into and created different tribes that managed to endure despite the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires and inter-tribe conflict.

Over time three main groups emerged: 1) the nomadic Bedouins; 2) farmers that tended date palm trees and grain fields around oases; and 3) traders and craftsmen in the small towns. Some people combined more than one way of life. Over time armed, camel-riding Bedouins and merchants united and controlled the oasis towns and the trading routes and dominated the farmers and craftsmen. The established bases in oasis towns were organized along tribal lines.

The Arabs largely occupied the fringes and the areas between the great empires of Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, Greece and Rome. By the time of Christ they occupied large portions of what is now Arabia, Iraq and Syria. Their power and reach was to an extent a product of the fact they were able to operate semi-autonomous states within the larger Persian, Roman and Byzantine empires.

Islam helps to unify people over a large geographical area that stretches from Morocco in northwest Africa to Indonesia in Southeast Asia. It also helps to unify people over a long period of time. Some places in the Arab and Muslim world were unchanged for more than a thousand years and have only become exposed to the outside world in the past half century or so with television and radio.

Muslims and Arabs tend to be “keenly aware” of their history — which their religion, media and schools constantly remind them of — and feel that events that happened centuries ago have a direct bearing on their lives today. The history in Muslim regions has been shaped by the relations between Islam and the state. With Islam, many historians argue, the bonds between religion, government and the military have been stronger and more impervious to change and reform than in the West.

Arabs and Muslims have a history of bitterly fighting among themselves. They have also on occasion fought against people in the West, particularly in the Crusades in the 11th century, Turkish expansion in the 15th century and colonialism in the 20th century. There were also long periods when Christians and Jews lived peacefully under Muslim rule.

Although Arabs are unified by language, religion and many cultural elements, they have been divided politically since the early Islamic period. The history of the Middle East is primarily the history of its cities. Until fairly recently most of its population was made of peasants who worked land either owned by themselves or controlled by absentee urban landlords.

Arab Culture, Language and Religion

Arab culture was governed by the Bedouin tribal ethics, which included honor, hospitality, pride courage, family, loyalty and the law of vendetta . Power was rooted in strength and the ability to form . Wars and raids between nomadic tribes and settled communities were common and were celebrated in Arabic literature that evolved in the 6th century B.C. Not much is known about the Arabs in ancient times because they were mostly illiterate and other cultures didn’t write much about them. [Sources: “History of Arab People” by Albert Hourani (Faber and Faber, 1991); “Islam, a Short History “ by Karen Armstrong (Modern Library, 2000)]

Early Arab religion was localized and unorganized and revolved around the worship of local nature gods of things like the sky, water and trees. Many people believed that good and evil spirit took the form of animals and their equivalent of shaman had supernatural powers. [Sources: “History of Arab People” by Albert Hourani (Faber and Faber, 1991); “Islam, a Short History “ by Karen Armstrong (Modern Library, 2000)]

One of the primary unifying forces of the early Arabs was the development of a common poetic language that over time replaced the varied Arabic dialects. Spread along the caravan routes to oasis towns throughout the region occupied by Arabs, the language was used by poets of different tribal groups in the oasis towns and may have evolved from the rhythmic language used by shaman to cast magical spells. The poems conveyed with the poetic language were odes to desert life and epics passed down orally and recited public by poets, who were applauded for their improvisational skills and said to have never given the same reading twice.

The earliest Arab writing, in Aramaic script, has been dated to the A.D. 4th century. Later a unique Arabic scrip was produced. The early forms of writing were used in trade and accounting. They were not used for a while, as best as can be ascertained, to write down poetry.

Ancient Arabia

The Arabian Peninsula has a rich, largely unexplored ancient history. It is peppered with ancient kingdoms linked caravan routes that carried frankincense to the Mediterranean that attracted the attention of Romans among others. Ancient Arab peoples — such as the Nabateans, Lihyans and Thamud — interacted with Assyrians and Babylonians, Romans and Greeks.

A 300,000-year-old tool site has been found at Dawadimi, about 300 kilometers west of Riyadh. At that time Arabia was considerably greener and wetter than it is now and supported elephants, giraffes and rhinoceros. Around 15,000 years ago Arabia dried out. Around 7000 years ago people lived along the Persian Gulf. Based on pottery found at sites there, these people are believed to have arrived from Mesopotamia.

Taima is an ancient city in northwest that was founded ny a neo-Babylonian king around 800 B.C. It embraces a palace, 10-kilometer wall and a well that still provides water. Qaryat al Fau (110 miles north of Najran) is a city that existed around the same time on the edge of the Empty Quarter. Extensive excavations here have revealed a market palace, wall paintings, bronze statues, rich tombs full of inscriptions and evidence of trade with the Egyptians and Assyria.

Coastal towns developed on trade routes and fishing areas but sources of water and food were not large enough to allow ports to develop into cities. The Lihyanites of the Kingdom of Dedan in northwest Arabia carved lion reliefs above sandstone tombs in 600 B.C.

By 1000 B.C., southern Arabia had evolved significantly as a result of steady contact with the outside world via the trade routes that spanned the region. Exports in frankincense and myrrh brought wealth and global connections to present-day Bahrain, Yemen, Oman, and southern Saudi Arabia. While the Persians and Romans fought to control the Near East, Arab society benefited from the exchange of ideas that came with the camel caravans. Multiple religions were present in the region, including Christianity, Judaism, and various polytheistic paganisms. [Source: Library of Congress, September 2006 **]

Ancient Oman

In 2023, Archaeology magazine reported: An archaeological expedition into the underexplored deserts of Dhofar and Duqm has made a wide range of surprising finds. The discoveries include hand axes fashioned hundreds of thousands of years ago, eggshells of extinct ostriches, Neolithic tombs, and more than 500 rock engravings depicting camels, horses, and turtles. The team also located a 2,000-year-old megalithic monument known as a trilithon that features a cluster of large standing stones. Its function remains unknown. [Source: Archaeology magazine, August 2023]

Archaeologists unearthed a series of buildings belonging to the Umm al-Nar culture at the site of Dahwa that date to the mid-3rd millennium B.C. Amid the ruins was a tomb that contained a collection of silver jewelry, including a ring stamped with an image of an Indian bison. This was a common motif used in artwork of the Indus Valley, or Harappan, civilization. Analysis showed that the ring was likely made in Mesopotamia from silver sourced in Anatolia, highlighting the extensive trade networks cultivated by the area’s Bronze Age merchants. [Source: Archaeology magazine, March 2023]

An ancient game board was unearthed in the ruins of a 4,000-year-old site near the village of Ayn Bani Saidah in the Qumayrah Valley. The rectangular stone slab is marked with spatial divisions and small depressions or cup holes and resembles other games known from sites across the ancient Near East and India. Evidence of copper smelting and the settlement’s strategic location along major trade routes suggest that it may have been an important commercial center during the Umm an-Nar period.[Source: Archaeology magazine, March 2023]

Archaeologists from the French National Center for Scientific Research working in a large building at the site of Mudhmar East near the city of Adam in Oman have made an “exceptional find.” Inside the structure, which is thought to have had a religious function, the team uncovered a collection of bronze weapons dating to between 900 and 600 B.C. The metal artifacts — two very rare quivers (ordinarily made of leather) with arrows, five battleaxes, five daggers, 50 arrowheads, and five bows, are too small to have been used in combat and were, explains project director Guillaume Gernez, perhaps intended as offerings to a war god. This region of the Arabian Peninsula, which sits at an important crossroads of ancient trade routes on the border between Oman’s desert and oases, is almost entirely archaeologically unexplored. [Source: Jarrett A. Lobell, Archaeology magazine, July-August 2016]

In December 2022, Oman’s Ministry of Heritage and Tourism said archaeologists had unearthed a variety of artifacts from a 3,000-year-old mass grave in Oman’s Nafun region on the eastern coast, Experts say the grave was reused. Among the findings were pottery pieces, copper holdings and shells used to hold cosmetics. According to the Miami Herald: Archaeologists said they uncovered an additional set of 155 artifacts in the region outside of the grave. These discoveries included rock inscriptions, tombs and three-stone tombstones known as Triliths.Experts believe the triliths — which are made of two stones stood next to each other with a third stone on top — were used for religious rituals and were an important part of Iron Age trade routes, according to the ministry. [Source: Moira Ritter, Miami Herald, December 24, 2022]

Bronze and Iron Age Ruins in Oman’s Qumayrah Valley

Pre-Islam Arab god
Archaeologists with Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Warsaw did a year-long survey of the Qumayrah valley in Oman near the border with the United Arab Emirates and uncovered over 50 sets of ruins across 10 ancient settlements. The ruins ranged in age from about 2,300 years old to over 4,000 years old, researchers said in a February 12, 2024 news release. The Miami Herald reportedly: The oldest ruins were stone towers and tombs from the early Bronze Age, a time sometimes referred to as the Umm an-Nar period that lasted from 2600 B.C. to 2000 B.C., archaeologists said. The quantity of the Bronze Age finds indicates “that even a region located in a mountainous hinterland valley could have participated in the economic and demographic boom that occurred during this period,” the excavation’s lead archaeologist Piotr Bieliński said in the release. [Source: Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, February 16, 2024]

The “most impressive” ruins were slightly more recent, the centre said. Archaeologists found a densely packed settlement from the Iron Age, dating between 1300 B.C. and 300 B.C. The settlement “probably (featured) an observation or defense tower” and was “located on a hill overlooking the intersection of two valleys,” Bieliński said. Excavations unearthed a narrow street with several adjoining houses. The layout was “far removed from the rural character of the settlements one would expect in such a small mountain center,” Bieliński said.

Elsewhere, archaeologists uncovered traces of ancient copper working, the centre said. “We found dozens of stone tools used for crushing ore and numerous fragments of furnace walls used for smelting copper,” archaeologist Agnieszka Pieńkowska said. “Remains of buildings that most likely served as workshops have also been preserved.” Archaeologists don’t yet know the age of these metalworking remnants, as the analysis is ongoing. Qumayra is about 140 miles west of Muscat, Oman’s capital city, and near the border with the United Arab Emirates.

Ancient United Arab Emirates

At a site on the Umm an-Nar, on an island off of Abu Dhabi, dated to around 2200 B.C., archeologists found enclosed circular graves, 15 to 40 feet in diameter and often two stories high that contained as many as 30 people. Similar tombs have been found from Ras al-Khaimah in the north to Ras al-Hadd south of Muscat and along the Frankincense Trail oasis settlements.

Tombs, dated to around 3000 B.C., were found near Jabal Hafit at the Oman-United Arab Emirates border. Artifacts included jars with geometric designs, bronze pins, and stone and faience beads. The pottery is similar to pottery produced at that time in Mesopotamia. Unfortunately, there was little evidence of human settlement. Similar tombs have been found throughout Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

According to Archaeology magazine: The remains of round stone buildings on Ghagha Island west of Abu Dhabi are the oldest ever found in United Arab Emirates and surrounding region. Radiocarbon dates estimate that the ruins are 8,500 years old, making them 500 years older than the previously recorded earliest structures, which were found on Marawah Island. Although its climate today is dry and unwelcoming, Ghagha Island would have been much more hospitable thousands of years ago, when it was likely home to a small Neolithic community. [Source: Archaeology magazine, May 2022]

Two women buried in monumental four-millennia-old tombs located near water towers in ancient Arabia likely enjoyed special status. The tombs are associated with the Umm an-Nar culture, which lasted from about 2700 to 2000 B.C., a time when pastoralists began to shift to oasis-based agricultural systems in what is now the United Arab Emirates. [Source: Joshua Rapp Learn, Archaeology Magazine, November/December 2021

One woman was buried alongside a dog in a tomb at the site of Shimal. The canine, says bioarchaeologist Lesley Gregoricka of the University of South Alabama, appears to have been a companion or work animal, rather than a food source. While many of the other human remains in the tomb were cremated and buried together, the woman and her dog were not cremated and were buried on their own. Gregoricka speculates that the woman may have been a shepherd or hunter, and that the division of labor in this culture may have been more egalitarian than it became in later years. “The dog may have also aided her in some way—a lesion on her ankle could have impacted her mobility,” Gregoricka says.

The other woman, who was buried in a similar type of tomb at the site of Tell Abraq, was likely paralyzed from the waist down. Strong markers where the muscles attached to her shoulder, forearm, and upper arm bones reveal a great deal of strain, indicating she likely dragged herself around. Like the woman from Shimal, this woman was buried on her own. It is unclear, though, whether her special treatment in death represented a type of tribute or ostracism, says Gregoricka.

Hili 8 at Al Ain Oasis in the U.A.E.

In 2011 Al Ain Oasis in the United Arab Emirates was be inscribed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Hili 8, located near Hili Archaeological Park in Al Ain, is one of the oldest sites at the oasis. It was first explored and excavated by French archaeologists in the 1970s and 1980s and provided tentative evidence for the beginnings of date, wheat and barley cultivation thousands of years ago. [Source: Gulf News, August 27, 2017]

On archaeologists working there now, the Gulf News reported: The team carefully cleaned up the site and used a laser system to record in three dimension the layers of soil and sand deposits that had built up in the area over the decades. This will enable a complete and accurate plan of the site to be eventually produced. The team also used the same system to record the many Bronze Age tombs (4,500 years old) that exist in this area, so that a fuller picture of the Bronze Age landscape becomes apparent.

Particular attention was placed on the recovery and analysis of microscopic plant remains from the site. Tiny burnt fragments of seeds are sometimes found on archaeological sites, but they can rarely be seen with the human eye. Soil in which the remains are contained is slowly floated in water and the ancient seeds float to the surface to then be analysed by an archaeo-botanist. TCA Abu Dhabi built a special system for conducting this work, which had the added benefit of being environmentally friendly by using recycled water.

During the excavations, a rich assortment of artefacts was recovered, as well as plant and animal remains. These will be subject to a battery of scientific tests including carbon-14 dating. The team, working with Emirati archaeologists, will also be analysing any ancient copper relics found in the area which will then be subjected to isotopic testing to conclude when people began exploiting and trading copper in the UAE.

3,600-Year-Old Desert Community in the U.A.E. Fond of Seashells

Archaeologists excavating the Masāfī archaeological site in the United Arab Emirates hace uncovered a 3,600-year-old settlement organized around a palm grove, according to a study published February 17, 2023 in the journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. People inhabited the desert oasis from 1600 B.C. until 600 B.C. — the Late Bronze Age to the mid-Iron Age. One thing that is unusual about the is the large numbers of seashells collected there even though it was relatively far from the sea. [Source: Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, March 17, 2023]

Aspen Pflughoeft wrote in the Miami Herald: On a large rocky hill overlooking the palm grove, archaeologists uncovered some of the settlement’s oldest ruins. This section, Masāfī 5, had a series of stone terraces built into the hill. Charred remains of fireplaces and furnaces, used for domestic purposes or metal working, were unearthed nearby. Amid these ruins, archaeologists found hundreds of seashells. The marine shell collection included a few edible molluscs but many were non-edible species, the study said. The Masāfī site is located near the present-day city of Masāfī, about 105 kilometers (70 miles) northeast of Dubai.

Why were there so many seashells in this desert community? To answer that question, archaeologists analyzed the 250 shell fragments, identifying the species and studying signs of wear on the shells. They began to notice some patterns. Many of the seashell types matched those found along the nearby coast — a shoreline about a six-hour walk away, the study said. A few of the shells had charring marks, indicating they were likely cooked and eaten by the community. Some clam shells had colored pigments, possibly from use as a cosmetic container, the researchers said. Other shells showed signs of knapping, giving them a sharper edge for use as knives or scraping tools.

Many other shells showed signs of “human-made modifications,” researchers said, such as traces of hammering, drilling, scraping and polishing. The patterns of wear and the quantity of shells indicated the community had small-scale seashell workshops. These workshops likely created rings, adornments, bracelets or pendants out of the seashells, the study said. Shells from various stages of production were unearthed at the Masāfī 5 site. No finished seashell products were uncovered, the researchers said. This indicated that the desert community may have exported their crafts, trading them across the region. Ancient Mesopotamia is known to have regularly imported seashells since the Bronze Age, the study said. Researchers also suggested that the Masāfī settlement collected shells as trinkets, souvenirs or game tokens.

Saba and the Sabeans

The Sabaeans or Sabeans were an ancient group of South Arabians.They spoke Sabaic, one of the Old South Arabian languages and founded the kingdom of Saba in modern-day Yemen, which is considered to be the biblical land of Sheba and "the oldest and most important of the South Arabian kingdoms". The exact date of the foundation of Sabaʾ is a point of disagreement among scholars. Kenneth Kitchen dates the kingdom to between 1200 B.C. and A.D. 275 CE, with its capital at Maʾrib, in what is now Yemen.

Present-day Yemen was once part of the ancient kingdom of Saba, the most well-known and the strongest of the kingdoms that appeared along the Frankincense Trail trade routes and endured to the A.D. 4th century. The Koran describes Saba as a land with "two gardens on the right hand and the left...A fair land and indulgent Lord!" Because the people rejected Allah they were cursed with "gardens bearing bitter fruit, the tamarisk and here and there a lote-tree."

Saba grew rich from trade between Africa and India. It was at its height between the 6th century B.C. and the A.D. 2nd century. Among Saba’s rivals were Najran (in what is now Saudi Arabia) and Main, Awsan, Qataban and Hadramawt (all in modern-day Yemen). At its height Saba was able to dominate these cities but as it weakened they were able break away and then challenge Sheba. Sheba weakened further when the frankincense trade declined.

Nabateans

The Nabateans (also spelled Nabataeans) were a nomadic tribe who moved from Arabia to Petra in present-day Jordan around 2,400 years ago. They were major power in the the Middle East during the period between the decline of Greece and the rise of Rome. Little is known about the Nabateans. They lived primarily in a 1,000 square kilometer (400 square mile) area around Petra. They left behind no written record. Ancient manuscripts described them as smart merchants and traders.

Much of Nabatean culture has been lost to history. “We’ve all heard of the Assyrians, we’ve all heard of the Mesopotamians,” Wayne Bowen, professor of history at the University of Central Florida, told CNN. “But (the Nabateans) stood up to the Romans, they stood up to the Hellenistic Greeks, they had this incredible system of cisterns in the desert, controlled the trade routes. I think they just get absorbed in the story of the growth of the Roman Empire.” Though the Nabateans didn’t leave much behind in the way of historical documentation, one of their culture’s achievements continues to play a huge role in the region — the Nabatean alphabet laid the foundations of modern Arabic. [Source: Lilit Marcus, CNN, January 3, 2024]

Saudi Arabia Opens Up to Historical and Archaeological Research

Donna Abu-Nasra of Associated Press wrote: “In a quiet but notable change of course, the kingdom has opened up an archaeology boom by allowing Saudi and foreign archaeologists to explore cities and trade routes long lost in the desert. The sensitivities run deep. In the past, Saudi authorities restricted foreign archaeologists to giving technical help to Saudi teams. Starting in 2000, they began a gradual process of easing up that culminated last year with American, European and Saudi teams launching significant excavations on sites that have long gone lightly explored, if at all. [Source: Donna Abu-Nasra, Associated Press, Sept. 1, 2009 \=]

“At the same time, authorities are gradually trying to acquaint the Saudi public with the idea of exploring the past, in part to eventually develop tourism. After years of being closed off, 2,000-year-old Madain Saleh is Saudi Arabia's first UNESCO World Heritage Site and is open to tourists. State media now occasionally mention discoveries as well as the kingdom's little known antiquities museums. "It's already a big change," said Christian Robin,\=\

“Spearheading the change is the royal family's Prince Sultan bin Salman, who was the first Saudi in space when he flew on the U.S. space shuttle Discovery in 1985. He is now secretary general of the governmental Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities. Dhaifallah Altalhi, head of the commission's research center at the governmental Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, said there are 4,000 recorded sites of different periods and types, and most of the excavations are on pre-Islamic sites. "We treat all our sites equally," said Altalhi. "This is part of the history and culture of the country and must be protected and developed." He said archaeologists are free to explore and discuss their findings in academic venues. \=\

“Still, archaeologists are cautious. Several declined to comment to The Associated Press on their work in the kingdom. So far, there has been no known friction with conservatives over the new excavations, in part because they are in the early stages, are not much discussed in Saudi Arabia, and haven't produced any announcements of overtly Christian or Jewish finds. But the call to keep the land purged of other religions runs deep among many Saudis. Even though Madain Saleh site is open for tourism, many Saudis refuse to visit on religious grounds because the Quran says God destroyed it for its sins. \=\

Riyadh's National Museum shows small pre-Islamic statues, a golden mask and a large model of a pagan temple. In some display cases, female figurines are listed, but not present – likely a nod to the kingdom's ban on depictions of the female form. A tiny exhibition at the King Saud University in Riyadh displays small nude statues of Hercules and Apollo in bronze, a startling sight in a country where nakedness in art is highly taboo.”

Studying and Exploiting Saudi Arabia’s Very Old Archaeological Treasures

In September 2023, the new headquarters of the Royal Commission of AlUla (RCU) — the shimmering mirror-covered Maraya cultural center at refurbished AlUla Museum in the oasis town of AlUla in Saudi Arabia — hosted the inaugural World Archaeological Summit. The RCU was created by the Kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, in large part to explore Saudi Arabia’s archaeological heritage and exploit for tourism. AlUla is near the millennia-old Nabatean grave complexes of Hegra. [Source: Nic Robertson, CNN, September 23, 2023]

Nic Robertson of CNN wrote: Royal Commission for AlUla archaeologist Adam Ford took me out to see some of massive Nabatean graves carved into the stunning sandstone cliffs up close. “They (graves) appear to be aligned with the rising and setting of the sun and moon,” he says, “at times of solstice, perhaps to tell the seasons. Up to 10 ancient languages from North Africa were discovered here,” he says. Each discovery, he says, brings potential for new understanding. A recently recovered ancient silk fragment, he says, shows trading routes stretched southward all the way to “India or the Far East.”

Thanks to new, unprecedented access to AlUla’s ancient wonders, they’re also still trying to unravel the mystery of the Nabatean grave orientation and how they might connect to stargazing or other planetary events. “We just had a researcher come in from the Canary Islands,” says Ford. “It was only a few months ago, the data (on the stars) is pretty raw, he is still working his way through it.”

One recent discovery is what’s thought to be one of the world’s oldest animal sacrifice sites. Although it’s evident numerous beasts died there, it’s still the source of much mystery, according to Jonathan Wilson, the RCU’s collection and knowledge manager. Carbon dating of cooking charcoal found nearby accurately dates the site to 5,200 B.C., Wilson says, but the mystery is why only the upper part of the beast’s skull and the horns were found. “They discarded the rest.” It’s hard to imagine cattle could survive, let alone thrive in the furnace-like desert of today’s Saudi Arabia. According to Ford, “the landscape was greener back then.” There was more rain, it seems. But why? That too is a mystery.“They were taken to a mountain and once they were smashed they were left there, people never went back,” he says.

He’s referring to the Dadenites, the people who ran the incense and spice trade routes through AlUla before the Nabateans, through events that are another mystery, grabbed power from them. As RCU operations grow Wilson hopes its experts will learn more, including why the figurines were smashed. Each season, Wilson says he gets about 700 cases of artifacts from archeological digs run by the RCU. “Each crate can have one to 600 items,” he says. “We sort them according to importance,” with the aim of displaying many of these unearthed treasures.

Coins, he says, offer some of the biggest clues about the civilizations who once called AlUla home. The Nabateans put kings’ heads on theirs — super helpful for tracking dynastic periods. The Dadenites didn’t. They were, according to Wilson, forging Greek coins “because they were more valuable than their own.” Ford, whose decades of archaeological experience span many continents, says the area around AlUla and Hegra is mind-blowing. “Some of the most amazing archaeology in the world,” he says.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons, The Louvre, The British Museum

Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Mesopotamia sourcebooks.fordham.edu , National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, especially Merle Severy, National Geographic, May 1991 and Marion Steinmann, Smithsonian, December 1988, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Discover magazine, Times of London, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, BBC, Encyclopædia Britannica, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Time, Newsweek, Wikipedia, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, “World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File Publications, New York); “History of Warfare” by John Keegan (Vintage Books); “History of Art” by H.W. Janson Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.

Last updated May 2024