One of the largest concentrations of ancient tombs discovered in KSA from space

[The SC]

Not surprising, since KSA was a fertile land with rivers and water all over the place, that is where ancient civilisations dwelled for thousands of years.. very interesting discovery..

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Not surprising, since KSA was a fertile land with rivers and water all over the place, that is where ancient civilisations dwelled for thousands of years.. very interesting discovery..

Much of KSA/Arabia remains fertile. In fact the fertile areas of KSA/Arabia are comparable in size to France. Yes, it is no surprise at all considering the key strategic location of Arabia and the fact that Arabia is the second longest inhabited region on earth after East Africa/Horn of Africa to mention a few key points. As for rivers, there are 1000's of wadis in KSA and Arabia (non-permanent rivers) to this very day.

Next page:

Saudi Arabia discovers 9,000 year-old civilization

Reuters Staff

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is excavating a new archeological site that will show horses were domesticated 9,000 years ago in the Arabian peninsula, the country’s antiquities expert said Wednesday.

The discovery of the civilization, named al-Maqar after the site’s location, will challenge the theory that the domestication of animals took place 5,500 years ago in Central Asia, said Ali al-Ghabban, Vice-President of Antiquities and Museums at the Saudi Commission for Tourism & Antiquities.

“This discovery will change our knowledge concerning the domestication of horses and the evolution of culture in the late Neolithic period,” Ghabban told a news conference in the Red Sea port of Jeddah.

“The Maqar Civilization is a very advanced civilization of the Neolithic period. This site shows us clearly, the roots of the domestication of horses 9,000 years ago.”

The site also includes remains of mummified skeletons, arrowheads, scrapers, grain grinders, tools for spinning and weaving, and other tools that are evidence of a civilization that is skilled in handicrafts.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, is trying to diversify its economy away from oil and hopes to increase its tourism.

Last year the SCTA launched exhibitions in Barcelona’s CaixaForum museum and Paris’s Louvre museum showcasing historic findings of the Arabian Peninsula.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...0-year-old-civilization-idUSTRE77N5TL20110824

Archaeological finds reflect Saudi Arabia’s rich heritage
Sultan Al-Sughair | Published — Monday 29 August 2016

TREASURE TROVE: The archaeological sites in the Eastern Province represent different periods dating back to the Stone Age.

DAMMAM: Recent archaeological findings in the Eastern Province show that the area was home to a civilization more than 7,000 years ago.
These discoveries by Saudi and international teams, under the supervision of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH), highlight the cultural and historical heritage of the Kingdom.
The findings also reflect on the Eastern Province’s important role in the commercial dealings between the peoples of ancient civilizations.
Surveys conducted so far show that there are more than 300 archaeological sites in the region, representing different periods dating back to the Stone Age.
The discovery of many historical monuments highlights the civilization and the traditional architecture of the area.
Al-Rakah district, one of the archaeological sites in Dammam, contains an ancient village dating back to the period of early Islam. It has about 20 houses, in addition to rooms and residential units, including pieces of pottery and porcelain, glass, steatite and metal pieces that belong to the first and second centuries of the Islamic era.
The Thaj ancient city, about 80 km west of Jubail, is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Eastern Province. Most historians believe that Thaj was built in the period of the Greeks, following the conquest of Alexander in 330 B.C.
The most important discovery in the city was Thaj’s gold treasure that includes remains of a girl on a wooden bed, with three gold bands on her head. In addition, she wore three gold necklaces, one of which is 38.5 cm long, decorated with rubies, turquoise and pearls. The second one is made of 18 pearls hung by a golden thread, while the third necklace is 22.5 cm in length.
The discovery reflects the multicultural aspect of the Thaj civilization, most notably the technical side of the precious metals industry.
Human habitation on Tarout Island goes back to pre-5,000 BC era. It is considered one of the most ancient sites that were inhabited by humans on the Arabian Peninsula.
The most important collection found on Tarout was a golden statue representing Ashtaroot, a female deity. The statue was found placed on the ground in one of the palm groves. Besides, there are many other statues, copper and pottery vessels and traditional weapons that were found there and are now being displayed in Riyadh Museum.
The island played a significant role in trade in the entire Gulf region. It was a central point for trade between Mesopotamia and along the coastal areas in the east of the Arabian Peninsula. Its strong relationships with many of the urbanized areas along the region were well known.
President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage Prince Sultan bin Salman said the archaeological finds confirm the prime position people of the peninsula enjoyed among the nations of the world in religious, political, economic and cultural spheres in ancient times.

http://www.arabnews.com/node/977031/saudi-arabia

Some ancient artifacts found by hunters recently.

Video:

Amazing. I can spot Arabian Jewish, Christian and ancient pre-Abrahamic Semitic pagan religious symbols.

Private individuals, as soon as they start digging, appear to find treasures all over KSA.

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Does this finger prove our ancestors left Africa earlier than believed? 90,000-year-old human bone discovered in Saudi Arabia​

• The bone is the middle section of the middle finger, measuring 1.2 inches
• It was found near to the northwestern city of Tayma in Saudi Arabia
• It could be the oldest trace of human life in the Arabian Peninsula
• This could prove that humans ventured out of Africa earlier than believed

By SHIVALI BEST FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 16:58 GMT, 19 August 2016 | UPDATED: 17:11 GMT, 19 August 2016

Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia believe they have discovered the Middle East’s oldest human bone during an excavation.

The bone is the middle section of the middle finger of a human that scientists claim lived 90,000-years-ago.

If this estimate is correct, it would make the bone the oldest trace of human life in the Arabian Peninsula and predate the time when humans are thought to have migrated out of Africa to spread around the world.

Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia believe they have discovered the Middle East’s oldest human bone during an excavation. The bone is the middle section of the middle finger of a human who was thought to live 90,000 years ago

According to London-based newspaper, Asharg Al-Awsat, the discovery is 'considered an important achievement for the Saudi researchers who participated in these missions and one of the most important outcomes of Prince Sultan’s support and care for the archaeology sector in the Kingdom.'

The researches claim this is the old human bone found in the Middle East.

The bone found in Saudi Arabia is not the oldest in the world, however. The most ancient human bone, thought to belong to an early species of human, is a jaw bone found in Ethiopia in 2015.

It is dated to 2.8 million years ago, and predates all other fossils in the lineage by 400,000 years.

The finding comes from a joint project between archaeologists from the University of Oxford and Saudi researchers, as part of the Green Arabia Project. They found the bone at the Taas al-Ghadha site near to the northwestern Saudi city of Tayma

The oldest bone from an early species of human is a jaw bone found in Ethiopia in 2015. It is dated to 2.8 million years ago, and predates other fossils in the lineage by 400,000 years

Saudi and British archaeologists dig up 90,000-year-old middle finger​

Project jointly run between Riyadh and Oxford University dates human habitation of Saudi desert back 325,000 years

Scientists have also studied ancient rock art in the deserts of modern-day Saudi Arabia as part of the joint venture (Palaeodeserts Project)​

Archaeologists have discovered the oldest human bone ever found in Saudi Arabia, digging up part of a middle finger dating back 90,000 years.

The discovery was part of a joint project begun in 2012 by scientists from Saudi Arabia and the UK’s Oxford University.

The discovery was announced late on Wednesday by the head of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, Ali Ghabban.

“The Green Arabia project has studied sites at ancient lakes in the Nafud desert,” Ghabban said, referring to an area in the north of the Arabian Peninsula.

Ghabban said that excavations at the Taas al-Ghadha site, close to the northwestern city of Tayma, suggested human habitation stretching back up to 325,000 years.

The bone that was discovered during the dig is the middle part of a middle finger belonging to a human being who lived some 90,000 years ago, making it the oldest physical trace of human habitation discovered in the area.

Al-Arabiya, a state-owned Saudi newspaper, reported in its English edition that the bone was the “world’s oldest”.

However, the oldest bone belonging to a member of the Homo genus, the lineage that ultimately led to modern human beings, is a jaw bone discovered in Ethiopia last March that is believed to be around 2.8 million years old.

The Green Arabia project, established in April 2012 and set to conclude next year, looks at how the various phases of climate change over millennia in the area that is now Saudi Arabia have affected human settlement and migration patterns.

Oxford University is a “key partner” of the state-run Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, according to the project’s promotional material.

The venture, whose full name is Green Arabia, The Palaeodeserts Project, has also looked at ancient rock art found in Saudi Arabia as well as fossils from vertebrates that lived around 700,000 years ago.

Another recent (last month as well) discovery:

Mosque from Early Islam Discovered in Saudi Arabia​

ASHARQ AL-AWSAT
August 18, 2016

Riyadh-Antiquities found in Al-Kharj in Saudi Arabia highlight an important civilization dating back to the Stone Age. Therefore, the joint French-Saudi mission for archeological exploration maintains its works in a number of governorates mainly Al-Yamamah site to reveal the history of the region and the old civilizations that settled in it.

The mission that has 18 members of Saudi and French scientists and experts in archeological excavation has discovered at the Yamamah site in Kharj many architectural antiquities of a huge mosque that existed in the early Islamic era in between first and fifth centuries hegira. The mosque was composed of three roofed halls, two mihrabs, and open body hall. There are indicators that it may be the third biggest mosque in the Arabian Peninsula after the two holy mosques.

The survey made by the mission also comprised Bana settlement in addition to five other Islamic sites distributed on many areas lining between Riyadh and al-Dawasir valley.

The Old Stone Age
Results of exploration process have shown many sites that refer to the Old Stone Age for the first time in this region. Fractions of old pottery and glassy utensils were also discovered.

These utensils are likely to be from the Abbasside era and may have been used in the last phase before Islam and till the fifth century hegira.

Researchers found antiquities that refer to early Islam like pottery utensils and a bunch of bracelets made of glass paste.

At Ain al-Delai site in the western side of Kharj, archeologists have found 5,000-year-old traces of human settlement that may refer to the first millennium B.C., in addition to a 56-centimeter-long silver sword.
The mission also discovered a number of old farms and architectural establishments that go back to the fifth century hegira.

Mawan Mountain and Ain Farzan
The mission of archeologists moved to the mountains surrounding Kharj to implement a filed survey for sites from the Stone Age. The area included Mawan Valley and Ain Farzan, where they discovered sites that refer to the old Stone Age.

The mission will continue its work this year looking for sites from the Bronze Age in Ain Al-Delai region to complete the work that begun in 2013, along with the excavation process in the newly discovered mosque.

The Saudi-French mission is working according to the agreement inked between the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage and the French authorities in September 2011.

His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz, the chairman of the Saudi authority, recently met with the Saudi-French team which is carrying out the archeological excavation work at the Yamamah historical site in Kharj. His Highness praised the efforts of the mission aiming at offering the Saudi people the opportunity to learn more about their country’s heritage and the old civilizations that settled in it before them.

Dr. Abdulaziz al-Ghazi, archeology professor at King Saud’s University and head of the Saudi team in the mission, considered that this mission is the first-of-its-kind in the country and that its work will continue over the next five years, which will pave way to the discovery of more sites.

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A quite famous statue of the pagan God Ishtar from the Sumerian (neighboring area) period was found on Tarout Island in KSA. A farmer found it. Dilmun, Magan and other civilizations in Eastern Arabia were very close to neighboring Sumer or even in some fields extensions of each other. Many historians and experts believe that Sumerians themselves came from neighboring Eastern Arabia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Arabia#History

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer

Article in Arabic about the finding. Amazing what kind of heritage that you can find in our part of the world. We are talking about a statue that is almost 5000 years old.

http://www.alsharq.net.sa/2014/05/04/1134854

When words, facts and photos speak for themselves.

Extremely interesting discovery.

Saudi-French team discovers Stone Age sites in Tabuk
ARAB NEWS | Published — Friday 13 October 2017

The joint Saudi-French team found ancient artifacts and a large number of rock-and-animal drawings which date back to the Stone Age. (SPA)

TABUK: Saudi international missions operating in the Tabuk region under the supervision of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) have discovered a large number of tools, engravings and architectural units in three sites in the region.
These discoveries date back to different civilizations beginning from the Stone Age until the Islamic Era.
The specialized teams said that these sites need further study and excavation. Tabuk region was a conduit for ancient trade routes.
There are rock and animal drawings at Kilwa site, northeast of Tabuk. The Kilwa site is located inside the Al-Tabik Reserve. The joint Saudi-French team found ancient artifacts and a large number of rock-and-animal drawings which date back to the Stone Age.
The Kilwa historical site and the surrounding area are important archaeological sites, because these sites contain distinguished archaeological units.
Thus, many stages of civilization can be distinguished from prehistoric times to historical periods and pre-Islamic periods in addition to the Islamic period.
The stone drawings in the region of Kilwa are among the most ancient places in the Arabian Peninsula and could date back to 7,000 BC to 9,000 BC.
In the valleys and pastoral areas between the Tabuk and Jouf regions, a Saudi-Japanese team recorded 30 sites dating back to various periods and ages of the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, Iron Age and sites of Islamic times.
Under the supervision of the SCTH, there are more than 30 missions and scientific teams specialized in research and archaeological exploration. These teams include Saudi scientists and others from the world’s top universities and the most prestigious research centers from countries including France, Italy, the United States, Britain, Germany, Japan, Belgium, Poland, Finland, the Netherlands, Austria and others.
The Kingdom will hold the first forum specialized in archaeology. It is the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia, which will be held in Riyadh under the auspices of King Salman from Safar 18-20, 1439 AH.

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1176846/saudi-arabia

 

[The SC]

I was referring to this:

Ancient network of rivers and lakes found in Arabian Desert

Satellite image of ancient lake showing location of archaeological sites. The lake size is blue and archaeological sites are coloured red. Image courtesy of Nick Drake.

(Phys.org) -- Satellite images have revealed that a network of ancient rivers once coursed their way through the sand of the Arabian Desert, leading scientists to believe that the region experienced wetter periods in the past.

The images are the starting point for a major potentially ground-breaking research project led by the University of Oxford into human evolutionary heritage. The research team will look at how long-term climate change affected early humans and animals who settled or passed through and what responses determined whether they were able to survive or died out.


Until now this part of the world has been largely ignored by scholars despite its critical location as a bridge between Africa and Eurasia. In a project funded by €2.34 million from the ERC (European Research Council), a multidisciplinary team of researchers will study the effects of environmental change in the Arabian Peninsula over the last two million years. The systematic study of the Pleistocene to Holocene periods will be unique in its length and level of detail.


Over the course of five years the researchers will study the landscape features and excavate sites of likely archaeological interest, using the network of water courses as a map. They will use the latest dating techniques to pinpoint the ages of fossils of animals, plants and different stone tool technologies and compare the similarities and differences displayed in the region’s rock art.


The team's main focus will be the Arabian Desert, but the work will also cover the wider Peninsula. One key question they will attempt to answer is when the first early modern humans are likely to have first arrived in the Arabian Peninsula from Africa and perhaps surrounding regions. They will also look for evidence that suggests how early modern humans were able to survive, or not, in arid and extreme conditions.


Project leader Professor Michael Petraglia, Co-Director of the Centre for Asian Archaeology at Oxford University's School of Archaeology, said: 'From NASA images taken of the Arabian Desert we can see physical landscape features that are visible from space that denote a whole network of former river valleys and lake basins. These lines and dips in the sand provide us with a map of the region upon which we will focus our research activity. The presence of water is an accurate indicator of where early humans and animals migrated to or settled.

'The Arabian Peninsula has a wealth of archaeological sites and spectacular deposits of former rivers and lakes. Yet despite its significance as a bridge between two continents, surprisingly very little is known about its early prehistory. This project draws on many disciplines: the sum of which should reveal a hitherto untold but very important story about the effect of climate change on early humans.'


The researchers will identify key excavation sites, including sites where work has already been done, and where stone tools and the fossils of animals, such as wild cattle, have been found. The researchers will also conduct field studies in former lake basins, where fossils of fish of up to a metre long were discovered.


A variety of dating techniques will be used by the researchers to pinpoint the ages of fossils and stone tools to set out the chronologies of archaeological sites. Dating work on animal and faunal fossils could provide new information about possible food sources of early humans, as well as the timing of environmental changes.


The project will examine marine cores, caves, existing wide water wells and quarry pits to view the stratigraphy. They will also examine deposits between 30 to 60 metres deep to measure the effects of environmental change, observing any changes from plant fossils and rocks and strata indicating when the climate was wetter or drier.


The scientists will extract the DNA of animals derived from the Arabian Peninsula. The DNA acts as a molecular clock which can tell the researchers more about that animal's most recent common ancestor and when it is likely to have arrived. They will examine the DNA of a number of species from museum collections, such as ostrich, oryx, ibex, hyena, and honey badger to establish their origin, their demographic histories, and likely dispersal pattern

https://phys.org/news/2012-05-ancient-network-rivers-lakes-arabian.html

 

[Saif al-Arab]

A very interesting article published today

400 Mysterious Ancient Stone Structures Discovered in Saudi Arabia​

By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | October 17, 2017 07:02am ET

Mysterious stone structures that archaeologists call "gates," due to their loose resemblance to old-fashioned field gates, have been discovered in Saudi Arabia.
Credit: Google Earth
​

Almost 400 mysterious stone structures dating back thousands of years have been discovered in Saudi Arabia, with a few of these wall-like formations draping across old lava domes, archaeologists report.

Many of the stone walls, which archaeologists call "gates" because they resemble field gates from above, were found in clusters in a region in west-central Saudi Arabia called Harrat Khaybar.

The archaeologists involved in the research aren't sure of the purpose, or even the exact age, of these gates. [See Images of the Mysterious Stone Structures in Saudi Arabia]

Long and mysterious
Discovered mainly through satellite images, a few of the gates are actually located on the side of a volcanic dome that once spewed basaltic lava, researchers found.

The gates "are stone-built, the walls roughly made and low," David Kennedy, a professor at the University of Western Australia, wrote in a paper set to be published in the November issue of the journal Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. The gates "appear to be the oldest man-made structures in the landscape," Kennedy noted, adding that "no obvious explanation of their purpose can be discerned."

The smallest of the gates extends about 43 feet (13 meters), while the longest is 1,699 feet (518 m) long, or longer than an NFL football field. Many have multiple stone walls that, in some instances, form a rectangular design; some of the others, called "I" type gates, have only one stone wall with heaps of stone at each end.

"Gates are found almost exclusively in bleak, inhospitable lava fields with scant water or vegetation, places seemingly amongst the most unwelcoming to our species," Kennedy wrote. Thousands of years ago, he noted, the landscape was more hospitable to human life. Other types of stone structures — such as "kites," which were used to hunt animals, and "wheels," named for their shape — have also been discovered in these lava fields.

The kites, wheels and other types of stone structures were typically found to be built on top of these gate-like walls, suggesting that the gates predate these stone structures, Kennedy said. The remains of lava flows are also sometimes found on top of the gates, indicating that the gates are also older than some of the flows, Kennedy said.

Need for fieldwork
Most of the gates were discovered through satellite surveys, and no archaeological fieldwork has been conducted on them. However, in the 1980s, before the gates were discovered, volcanologists Vic Camp and John Roobolmapped an area of the Harrat Khaybar that included a lava dome festooned with gates and other stone structures. This lava dome is located near a taller lava dome, called Jabal Abyad,which means "white mountain" in Arabic.

The lava domes are no longer active, Camp said, adding that in the past, basaltic lava covered some of the stone structures, including the gates.

"We see several areas where the younger lavas are devoid of such [stone] structures, although surrounded by several [stone structures]," Camp told Live Science. One of the stone structures is partially covered in hardened lava, photographs show. Camp estimates that some of the gates around the lava dome were built around 7,000 years ago.

Archaeological fieldwork is necessary to determine what the gates are and when, exactly, they date to, Kennedy said.

Travis Hearn, a research assistant with the Aerial Photographic Archive for Archaeology in the Middle East, contributed to the journal article; and Kennedy also worked with members of the Desert Team, a group of Saudi Arabian citizens who were the first to map some of the stone structures and visit some of the sites.

Originally published on Live Science.

https://www.livescience.com/60698-mysterious-stone-structures-discovered-saudi-arabia.html

@The SC @Full Moon @Saudi Typhoon @Bubblegum Crisis @Arabi @EgyptianAmerican @Gomig-21 @TheCamelGuy @SALMAN F @Malik Alashter etc.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

https://twitter.com/x/status/919829740613259265

https://twitter.com/x/status/919149863056674816

https://twitter.com/x/status/918363169780916224

https://twitter.com/x/status/918017023610949632

https://twitter.com/x/status/917954480565575680

https://twitter.com/x/status/919272859721138176

 

[Gomig-21]

A very interesting article published today

400 Mysterious Ancient Stone Structures Discovered in Saudi Arabia​

By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | October 17, 2017 07:02am ET

Mysterious stone structures that archaeologists call "gates," due to their loose resemblance to old-fashioned field gates, have been discovered in Saudi Arabia.
Credit: Google Earth
​

Almost 400 mysterious stone structures dating back thousands of years have been discovered in Saudi Arabia, with a few of these wall-like formations draping across old lava domes, archaeologists report.

Many of the stone walls, which archaeologists call "gates" because they resemble field gates from above, were found in clusters in a region in west-central Saudi Arabia called Harrat Khaybar.

The archaeologists involved in the research aren't sure of the purpose, or even the exact age, of these gates. [See Images of the Mysterious Stone Structures in Saudi Arabia]

Long and mysterious
Discovered mainly through satellite images, a few of the gates are actually located on the side of a volcanic dome that once spewed basaltic lava, researchers found.

The gates "are stone-built, the walls roughly made and low," David Kennedy, a professor at the University of Western Australia, wrote in a paper set to be published in the November issue of the journal Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. The gates "appear to be the oldest man-made structures in the landscape," Kennedy noted, adding that "no obvious explanation of their purpose can be discerned."

The smallest of the gates extends about 43 feet (13 meters), while the longest is 1,699 feet (518 m) long, or longer than an NFL football field. Many have multiple stone walls that, in some instances, form a rectangular design; some of the others, called "I" type gates, have only one stone wall with heaps of stone at each end.

"Gates are found almost exclusively in bleak, inhospitable lava fields with scant water or vegetation, places seemingly amongst the most unwelcoming to our species," Kennedy wrote. Thousands of years ago, he noted, the landscape was more hospitable to human life. Other types of stone structures — such as "kites," which were used to hunt animals, and "wheels," named for their shape — have also been discovered in these lava fields.

The kites, wheels and other types of stone structures were typically found to be built on top of these gate-like walls, suggesting that the gates predate these stone structures, Kennedy said. The remains of lava flows are also sometimes found on top of the gates, indicating that the gates are also older than some of the flows, Kennedy said.

Need for fieldwork
Most of the gates were discovered through satellite surveys, and no archaeological fieldwork has been conducted on them. However, in the 1980s, before the gates were discovered, volcanologists Vic Camp and John Roobolmapped an area of the Harrat Khaybar that included a lava dome festooned with gates and other stone structures. This lava dome is located near a taller lava dome, called Jabal Abyad,which means "white mountain" in Arabic.

The lava domes are no longer active, Camp said, adding that in the past, basaltic lava covered some of the stone structures, including the gates.

"We see several areas where the younger lavas are devoid of such [stone] structures, although surrounded by several [stone structures]," Camp told Live Science. One of the stone structures is partially covered in hardened lava, photographs show. Camp estimates that some of the gates around the lava dome were built around 7,000 years ago.

Archaeological fieldwork is necessary to determine what the gates are and when, exactly, they date to, Kennedy said.

Travis Hearn, a research assistant with the Aerial Photographic Archive for Archaeology in the Middle East, contributed to the journal article; and Kennedy also worked with members of the Desert Team, a group of Saudi Arabian citizens who were the first to map some of the stone structures and visit some of the sites.

Originally published on Live Science.

https://www.livescience.com/60698-mysterious-stone-structures-discovered-saudi-arabia.html

@The SC @Full Moon @Saudi Typhoon @Bubblegum Crisis @Arabi @EgyptianAmerican @Gomig-21 @TheCamelGuy @SALMAN F @Malik Alashter etc.

Somewhat relates to my question on the other thread as to when was the last time those volcanoes in the pics you posted were active, when much of this stuff has been found in lava fields. Fascinating.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Somewhat relates to my question on the other thread as to when was the last time those volcanoes in the pics you posted were active, when much of this stuff has been found in lava fields. Fascinating.

Indeed brother.

This is the thread if I am not wrong:

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/the-...-arabia-near-the-prophets-saws-mosque.498804/

The last major volcanic eruption occurred in 1256 southeast of Madinah.

What I find really fascinating is the fact that Arabia is one of the least explored areas on the planet yet so much has been found already. This added with Arabia having the second oldest recorded human presence after Horn of Africa/East Africa makes it even more interesting.

I like the fact that more natives are showing an interest in pre-Islamic and ancient history and archaeology. Not only in KSA but Arab countries in general. This is a very good thing as I see it.

Similarly we can expect more secrets underneath the Egyptian sand for sure! There have already been a few interesting findings this year and I covered some of them.

BTW if you have missed it, Boston Celtics-Cleveland Cavaliers is on right now. The first NBA game this season! Watching it despite it being late here. Need to keep myself awake for Golden State-Rockets game!

 

[Gomig-21]

Similarly we can expect more secrets underneath the Egyptian sand for sure! There have already been a few interesting findings this year and I covered some of them.

I am particularly interested in the new art work and papyrus they found near Suez City that's apparently logged information from a pyramid builder on at least how they transported the stones to Giza and maybe other information he recorded on the actual methods they used to build them. Imagine how exciting that would be after all these centuries of not having a clue as to how they erected those things? This could be the biggest find if any substantial information comes out of it. Very exciting indeed.

BTW if you have missed it, Boston Celtics-Cleveland Cavaliers is on right now. The first NBA game this season! Watching it despite it being late here. Need to keep myself awake for Golden State-Rockets game!

Really? That's great! We should open a thread for the season. My goodness did you see the injury to Hayward? He landed on his left foot and now his toes are facing backwards. You actually could hear the crack....
Then you can see the Celtics get deflated and Lebron smelling blood and the Cavs went up by 15, but now it's tied at 82! lol. Good stuff, I'm glad to hear you're an NBA fan bro!

 

[Saif al-Arab]

I am particularly interested in the new art work and papyrus they found near Suez City that's apparently logged information from a pyramid builder on at least how they transported the stones to Giza and maybe other information he recorded on the actual methods they used to build them. Imagine how exciting that would be after all these centuries of not having a clue as to how they erected those things? This could be the biggest find if any substantial information comes out of it. Very exciting indeed.



Really? That's great! We should open a thread for the season. My goodness did you see the injury to Hayward? He landed on his left foot and now his toes are facing backwards. You actually could hear the crack....
Then you can see the Celtics get deflated and Lebron smelling blood and the Cavs went up by 15, but now it's tied at 82! lol. Good stuff, I'm glad to hear you're an NBA fan bro!

Absolutely. That particular finding can maybe (hopefully) give us some exciting answers that archeologists and historians have been waiting for in a long time (decades). Here is hoping!

BTW this thread below was created to discuss our ancient civilizations and everything related to them. Feel free to contribute once again whenever you want to!

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/arab-semitic-hamitic-empires-and-ancient-kingdoms.385937/

Yeah, why not? Yes, I saw it and it looked nasty. Hopefully he can return to action soon although he probably will be out for some time.

Yes, it was a close end but eventually the Cavaliers prevailed as expected.

The other game was IMO greater. A high-scoring game as expected and with a surprising winner in the Rockets! 122-121!

The injury (not for the faint-hearted):

Cheers bro.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

^Copyright is what causes those highlights videos to disappear from Youtube.

SCIENCE
Hundreds of Mysterious Stone ‘Gates’ Found in Saudi Arabia’s Desert

By NICHOLAS ST. FLEUR OCT. 19, 2017

Using Google Earth, an archaeologist has identified nearly 400 stone structures called “gates” in Saudi Arabia. They may have been built by ancient nomadic tribes. Satellite photo by CNES/Airbus, via Google Earth
Google Earth has unlocked the gates to ancient mysteries around the world.

For years, amateur and professional archaeologists have used the search engine’s satellite imagery to discover mysterious earthworks in Kazakhstan, Roman ruins, a forgotten fortress in Afghanistan and more. In the past decade, Google Earth also has helped identify thousands of burial sites and other “works of the old men,” as they’re called, scattered across Saudi Arabia.

Now, archaeologists have uncovered nearly 400 previously undocumented stone structures they call “gates” in the Arabian desert that they believe may have been built by nomadic tribes thousands of years ago.

“We tend to think of Saudi Arabia as desert, but in practice there’s a huge archaeological treasure trove out there and it needs to be identified and mapped,” said David Kennedy, an archaeologist at the University of Western Australia and author of a paper set to appear in the November issue of the journal Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy.

“You can’t see them very well from the ground level, but once you get up a few hundred feet, or with a satellite even higher, they stand out beautifully.”

Since 1997, Dr. Kennedy has flown planes and helicopters over Saudi Arabia’s neighbor Jordan, photographing the angular and wheel-like structures scattered over its lava field or harrat. Not much is known about the people who built the edifices, but they are thought to have constructed them at least 2,000 years ago and maybe as far back as 9,000 years ago, according to Dr. Kennedy. They are believed to be the ancestors of the modern-day Bedouin people in the region.

Photo

Ground views of Samhah Gate 31. Scientists are not sure what purpose these structures served. CreditGrant Scroggie
The most well-known of the basalt boulder structures are the “kites,” which were first identified by air pilots in the 1920s. Each looks like a child’s kite, complete with strings and long fluttering tails that are two-dimensionally flattened into the ground.

Archaeologists think ancient nomadic tribes used the kites, which can be more than a mile long, for hunting. The structure’s two long converging walls would funnel stampedes of gazelles into the body of the kite, where they would be slaughtered.

But the lava fields extend beyond Jordan’s borders into countries like Syria and Saudi Arabia. So do their mysteries. Saudi Arabia in particular offers a wealth of harrats that are just out of Dr. Kennedy’s reach.

“We would have loved to fly across into Saudi Arabia to take images. But you never get the permission,” he said. “And then along comes Google Earth.”

In 2004, Dr. Abdullah Al-Saeed, a neurologist and founder of the Desert Team, a group of amateur archaeologists in Saudi Arabia, explored the bleak lava field known as Harrat Khaybar. He saw walls of stones stacked about three feet high, but said that he did not appreciate their unique design at that time.

Photo

An aerial view of mysterious “gates” in Saudi Arabia. CreditSatellite photo by CNES/Airbus, via Google Earth
Then in 2008 he returned to the same spot from his desktop computer.

“When I saw the updated images of Harrat Khaybar from Google Earth, I was literally stunned and could not sleep that night,” Dr. Al-Saeed said in an email. “Flying like a bird all over the Harrat from one enigmatic structure to another! How come we passed by these structures without appreciating their design?”

He spoke to his colleagues, and they set out to investigate the most striking structure they saw in person. The Harrat Khaybar was more than 550 miles from Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. So they took a plane to a nearby city, rented a car and set out for the volcanic domes. In order to navigate the rocky terrain, they had to do much of their exploration on foot through the lava field.

“The question we always discuss while investigating them is, why here? Why in this stony, frightful, rugged land?” he said. He snapped several photos and sent them along with the Google images to archaeologists like Dr. Kennedy for feedback.

“Absolute bafflement.” That’s what Dr. Kennedy said he felt when he first saw the satellite images. Suddenly, he was confronted with structures quite different from anything he had ever seen before. He called them gates because when looked at horizontally, they resemble a simple fence with two thick upright posts on the sides connected by one or more long bars.

“They don’t look like funerary, for disposing of dead bodies. They don’t look like structures where people lived, and they don’t look like animal traps,” he said. “I don’t know what they are.”

For nearly a decade, he has painstakingly cataloged nearly 400 gates. In 2011, his work was featured by Google in a video (for which he was paid). The longest gate he had identified was more than 1,600 feet long, though most were between 160 and 500 feet long. Sometimes the posts were as thick as 30 feet. One gate is intertwined with a kite.

Next he hopes to get accurate dating of the gates, which he suspects may in some cases be older than the kites, and perhaps the oldest man-made structures in the landscape. He invites armchair archaeologists to search the harrats online and share any finds with him.

“More will be found as more people get involved in scouring the landscape from satellite imagery,” he said.

Stephan Kempe, a retired professor of physical geology at Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany, who was not involved in the paper, called the gate structures interesting and said that the new study was one of a series of papers describing previously unnoticed structures in the Saudi Arabian lava fields.

“There are many other features that have only recently been understood as forming classes of prehistoric ‘geoglyphs’ that were widespread in an area thought to be very barren and devoid of human impact,” he said in an email.

He added that he would have liked to have seen some suggestions from Dr. Kennedy as to what the gates may have been used for, if only to dissuade people from speculating as to extraterrestrial origins, as they have regarding the Sphinx and the Nazca Lines in Peru.

Still, the new findings tell of a time when the climate and ecology of Saudi Arabia was most likely much different from today, he said. Given the differences, “the mind of people in the past is not that easily read.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/science/saudi-arabia-gates-google-earth.html

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Saudi Arabia retrieves 52,000 historical artefacts since 2011​

ARAB NEWS | Published — Sunday 22 October 2017

JEDDAH: The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) announced that it has successfully retrieved more than 52,000 artefacts from inside and outside the country as part of the National Project for Digital Recording of Antiquities, which follows international standards for archaeological recording and archiving.
The project aims to document and store all historic sites, artefacts, historical monument and urban heritage buildings in a comprehensive national digital registry linked to a multi-dimensional digital map, which is compatible with modern GIS technologies and digital databases, maps, images and graphics.
Director-General of Archiving and Protecting Antiquities at the SCTH, Naif Al-Qannour, said: “The new digital recording project stores detailed information and reports about 32,000 artefacts retrieved from outside the Kingdom and 20,000 returned by citizens to the SCTH since Prince Sultan bin Salman, president of SCTH, launched the campaign to retrieve national artefacts in 2011.”
“Some artefacts found their way outside Saudi Arabia through foreign travelers who moved them to other countries.” Al-Qannour continued, “One of the most famous artefacts is the Tayma Stone, which was discovered by Charles Huber and later on displayed at the Louvre Museum in Paris.”
He also explained that many employees of foreign companies, especially those who work in the oil industry, visited many parts of Saudi Arabia to study their geology and natural manifestations, collected the artefacts they found and took them to national museums at their home countries.
“Robbers of archaeological sites sometimes dig for archaeological treasures and achieve fast financial gains,” Al-Qannour said, “By doing so, they are destroying important archaeological evidence found in these sites, be it on land or in the sea.”
Al-Qannour stated that the SCTH will continue to work on retrieving and protecting artefacts and has released a red list of artefacts stolen from their sites inside Saudi Arabia and information about them in order to make them easier to identify. The SCTH has also announced handing financial rewards to those who return artefacts or report their loss or theft.
In 2011, Prince Sultan launched a campaign for retrieving national artefacts, including media and cultural programs and initiatives that aim to enlighten and inform citizens about the value of artefacts and the importance of returning them to the SCTH.
Recently, the SCTH released a list of 140 names of citizens who returned artefacts, reported archaeological sites or cooperated with the SCTH in protecting the country’s cultural heritage between 2013 and 2017 in order to honor them during the First Antiquities Forum, which will be launched under the patronage of King Salman, on Nov. 7 at the National Museum in Riyadh.

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1181431/saudi-arabia

That's an insane amount. Great job. Robbers of archaeological sites must be punished harshly.

https://twitter.com/x/status/921982615434997760

Current Anthropology Volume 58, Supplement 17, December 2017

Not Just a Crossroad

Population Dynamics and Changing Material Culture in Southwestern Asia during the Late Pleistocene

by Knut Bretzke and Nicholas J. Conard

http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/694077

Archaeologists baffled by these ‘gates of hell’ in Saudi Arabia
By Mike Wehner, BGR

October 20, 2017 | 10:06am |


NASA

When researchers are searching for remnants of structures and settlements constructed by ancient peoples, they typically focus on areas that are hospitable to human life. A new discovery in Saudi Arabia goes firmly against that notion, with archaeologists revealing the existence of hundreds of stone “gates” situated in and around ancient lava domes, in an area that is little more than a hellish landscape devoid of vegetation and water.

The structures, which measure anywhere from 40 feet to nearly 1,700 feet in length, are crude in their construction, built of rough rocks that have withstood thousands of years of wear and tear. What’s most interesting is that it appears that the lava fields these structures were built upon were still active at the time, with hardened lava appearing to have flowed over some of the gates.

“Gates are found almost exclusively in bleak, inhospitable lava fields with scant water or vegetation, places seemingly amongst the most unwelcoming to our species,” wrote David Kennedy of the Western University of Australia, who led the research. Kennedy noted that the structures “appear to be the oldest man-made structures in the landscape” and that at the moment, “no obvious explanation of their purpose can be discerned.”

The discovery was made using satellite imagery and the researchers used their bird’s-eye view to identify nearly 400 of the gates in the same area. Along with the odd walls, other clearly man-made structures were spotted, including what appear to be animal traps and wheel-shaped objects that have yet to be identified. The current best guess as to the age of the construction is somewhere in the neighborhood of 9,000 years.

The next step for researchers is launching some kind of expedition to investigate the site and perhaps come up with some kind of an explanation for why the structures exist and what they were used for. It’s an incredible discovery, but the structures — and their precarious location — are so mysterious that there’s bound to be an even greater story waiting to be told.

http://nypost.com/2017/10/20/archaeologists-baffled-by-these-gates-of-hell-in-saudi-arabia/

 

[Gomig-21]

Great stuff ya Sharif! Gripping and fascinating. How fortunate are we that we have all these origins in our area? MA. Most definitely the cradle. Others can laugh and deny it all they want, but how funny is it when it's so obvious, from civilizations to Islam and beyond. Nowhere else on this earth is it richer than our lands, MA.

Yeah, why not? Yes, I saw it and it looked nasty. Hopefully he can return to action soon although he probably will be out for some time.

Yeah he's out for the year. That changes things completely for the Celts but it also gives others a big opportunity to shine like Jaylen Brown, wow what a player that kid is turning out to be. I'm still a bit skeptical that Kyrie can fill Isiah Thomas' shoes. The latter carried the team on his 5'-9" shoulders all the way to the conference finals last year. Can Kyrie do the same? We'll have to wait and see, although the Cavs are most certainly the team to beat in the Eastern C.

The other game was IMO greater. A high-scoring game as expected and with a surprising winner in the Rockets! 122-121!

My bro is in Houston and he's looking forward to a good season for the Rockets. Right now they're pretty excited there about the Astros being in the World Series. We've been pretty lucky and wicked spoiled up this way, bro, being pretty much in the real Title Town, with 9 championships since 2000. Between the New England Patriots having the greatest of all time Tom Brady and their 5 super bowls to the Celtics, it's been an unbelievable run!

 

[lastofthepatriots]

@Sharif al-Hijaz @Gomig-21

I was just kidding about the benis thing. I like to make little jokes here and there. Don't feel offended. It was in good nature, not in a hateful way.

 

[Gomig-21]

@Sharif al-Hijaz @Gomig-21

I was just kidding about the benis thing. I like to make little jokes here and there. Don't feel offended. It was in good nature, not in a hateful way.

Won't speak for Sharif, but I never saw it and I highly doubt it would've offended me, not even in the slightest way. Always enjoy a good-natured joke. No worries.

 

[lastofthepatriots]

Won't speak for Sharif, but I never saw it and I highly doubt it would've offended me, not even in the slightest way. Always enjoy a good-natured joke. No worries.

It had to do with this.