Gomig-21
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It had to do with this.
Hahahaha, I can see how zat would be a funny benis joke.
One of the largest concentrations of ancient tombs discovered in KSA from space
- Thread starter Sargon of Akkad
- Start date
Hahahaha, I can see how zat would be a funny benis joke.
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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.
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/
SCTH announces winners of Dr. Abdul Rahman Al Ansari Award for Serving Kingdom’s Antiquities
Last Update : 11/1/2017 2:49 PM
The Secretariat-General of Dr. Abdul Rahman Al Ansari Award for Serving Kingdom’s Antiquities on Monday, October 30, 2017 announced the winners of the Award in its first session.
The announcement was made on the sidelines of the press conference of His Royal Highness Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz President of SCTH in which he had announced the details of the 1st Saudi Archeology Convention, which is to be held under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz (may Allah protect him) during 7-9 November 2017, at King Abdul Aziz Historical Center, in Riyadh.
The first session of the award is dedicated honor the pioneers and young archeologists have provided invaluable services to the antiquities of Saudi Arabia in the field of archeological research and archeological work.
The award is organized by SCTH with the participation of King Saud University and the Saudi Society for Archaeological Studies.
The award consists of four categories: 1) Pioneers of Saudi archaeologists who have spent many years serving the antiquities and national heritage of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2) Pioneers of non-Saudi archaeologists who have spent many years in the service of antiquities in general and have scientific contributions to the monuments and heritage of the kingdom In particular; 3) Young Saudi scholars, who are interested in the antiquities of the Kingdom, whether they are employed in the government institutions or graduate students; 4) Young non-Saudi scholars from who have an interest in the antiquities of the Kingdom both those who are engaged in this sector or graduate students in their countries.
Names of the winners are as follows:
First: Pioneer Group of Saudi Archaeologists:
- Al-Turath Foundation: for its pioneering role in the recovery of national antiquities from outside the Kingdom and its contributions in the areas of the development and rehabilitation of antiquities sites, in addition to its awareness-raising role in the field of antiquities through exhibitions in various locations and the publication of a number of books and researches specializing in antiquities.
- Late Sheikh Abdul Quddus Al Ansari: As the most prominent pioneering individual, who had been paying great attention to antiquities. His book Monuments of the Medina and another book on the history and antiquities, as well as his writings and investigations related antiquities that were published by Al Manhal Magazine, which he founded and served as its Editor-in-chief until his death.
- Late Sheikh Mohamed bin Balehud: coming after Al Ansari in terms of his attention to the Kingdom’s antiquities, in addition to his great book entitled "Accurate News about Arabian Antiquities", besides his efforts in the investigations of the most important book on the geography of the Arabian Peninsula entitled "Safia Jazira Arabia" (Character of Arabian Peninsula” written by Al Hamdani. Also, he was the first to verify the exact location of Souk Okaz at the request of late King Faisal.
- Late Sheikh Hamad Al Jasir: He outperformed his league in terms of intensity of his scientific production in the geography, history and heritage of Saudi Arabia, in addition to his scientific investigations of key historic manuscripts in multiple subjects, and his publications in Dar Al Yamama for Research, Translation and Publication, in addition to his contributions in Al Arab magazine which he founded and edited until his death.
- Dr. Abdullah bin Hassan Masri: In recognition of his efforts in establishing the Archaeology Department in the Ministry of Education a and promoting the development of archaeological activity through preparing the antiquities regulation, establishment of the Archaeological Survey and Exploration Project and the publication of the Saudi Antiquities Bulletin.
- Sheikh Abdullah Philbi: in recognition of his pioneer efforts in serving the Kingdom’s history, antiquities and geography, and his efforts in this area are countless.
- Green Arabia Project: because of project’s pioneering efforts in the field of pre-history studies in the Kingdom and diversity of its studies and continuity of research works.
- Dr. Abdullah bin Ali Al Zahrani: One of senior officials of Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, holder of a PhD from the University of York in UK, entitled, "Mining in Al Baha, southwest of Saudi Arabia, during early Islamic eras, an archaeological study of the Asham Settlement”.
- Khaled bin Fayez Al Asmari: Graduated from the College of Antiquities and Tourism, King Saud University for his master’s thesis entitled, “Al Oyayna Archeological Sites: A study of the Neolithic Age in the northwest of Saudi Arabia”.
- Romello Loreto, Italian national: In recognition of his efforts in the Domat Al Jandal excavation project.
- Jerome Romer, French national: For his efforts in the archaeological excavations project in Madain Saleh, and as the chief of the scientific team in Thaj Archaeological site in the Eastern Province.
This Awards was proposed by His Royal Highness Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, President of SCTH and it was approved within the course of awareness raising and familiarizing the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cultural Heritage Initiative, in recognition and appreciation of the great role played by the pioneering Saudi archeologist, Dr. Abdul Rahman Al Ansari along with his busy and rich career as a Saudi archeologist, who discovered many archeological sites in the Kingdom and contributed to highlighting and presenting the Saudi antiquities to the world.
Dr. Al Ansari is well known as the leading archaeologist in the Kingdom, who established a division for Archaeological Study within the department of history in King Saud University, which later became a department of antiquities and then a college. He was also one of the first members of Saudi Faculty to hold a PhD from King Saud University, and the first Saudi Dean of the Faculty of Arts in King Saud University.
He has authored a number of books and research works, in addition to his scientific contributions in the national and international conferences and symposiums.
Dr. Al Ansari’s research and studies have contributed to highlight the Saudi heritage and its deep-rooted culture. He had a key role in producing a new generation of Saudi scholars and graduated who specialized in all disciplines related to the antiquities of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula.
https://scth.gov.sa/en/MediaCenter/News/GeneralNews/Pages/z-g-1-1-11-17.aspx
Incredible stuff!
Saudi Arabian tourism commission to display antiques that date back to 1st millennium BC
The antiques will be among the items displayed by the Exhibition of Saudi Archeological Masterpieces through the Ages which has visited several world museums. (SPA)
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English
Sunday, 29 October 2017
The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage is currently displaying unique antique glassware and ceramics that date back to the 1st millennium BC and that were found in Qaryat al-Faw, which is around 700 kilometers away from southwest Riyadh, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.
These antique items were either imported from major manufacturing centers in Mashreq countries or from Egypt in the 1st and 2nd millennium BC. Alexandria in particular was well-known for manufacturing these products which were imported to several places across the East, reaching as far as Bagram in Afghanistan.
These antiques reflect the development and wealth of civilizations in the Arabian Peninsula.
Qaryat al-Faw is one of the larger and more famous archaeological sites in the Saudi kingdom. It’s historically significant as it was the capital of the first Kindah kingdom which played a major role in the Arabian Peninsula from the mid of First Century BC until early Fourth Century AD.
The antiques will be among the items displayed by the Exhibition of Saudi Archeological Masterpieces through the Ages which has visited several world museums. They will be displayed at the national antiquities exhibition scheduled for November 7,8 and 9 in Riyadh.
Last Update: Sunday, 29 October 2017 KSA 15:29 - GMT 12:29
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/li...-hosting-exhibition-on-refugees-in-Dubai.html
@Ahmed Jo
Check this thread out. It also touches upon Jordan partially in one of the articles, if not the main one.
Saif al-Arab
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Aerial Images May Unlock Enigma of Ancient Stone Structures in Saudi Arabia
By David Kennedy, University of Western Australia | November 12, 2017 11:48am ET
Aerial photographs and ground inspection of the keyhole pendants in Saudi Arabia reveal more details of the enigmatic structures.
Credit: Courtesy APAAME, APAAME_20171027_DLK-0891
David Kennedy is emeritus professor of Roman Archaeology and History at the University of Western Australia and honorary research associate at the University of Oxford. He also founded the Aerial Photographic Archive for Archaeology in the Middle East (APAAME) in 1978 and has been co-director of the Aerial Archaeology in Jordan (AAJ) project since 1997. Kennedy contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
Hundreds of thousands of stone structures that date back thousands of years and dot the deserts and plains of the Middle East and North Africa are, in many cases, so large that only a bird's-eye view can reveal their intricate archaeological secrets: gorgeous and mysterious geometric shapes resembling a range of objects, from field gates, to kites, to pendants, to wheels.
These are the "Works of the Old Men," according to the Bedouin when first questioned in the 1920s. And although ancient peoples evidently had their reasons for constructing these stone structures, their purpose has remained relatively opaque to archaeologists today.
I have been studying these Works for two decades, and their inaccessibility has made these sites' purposes even more elusive. That's where satellite imagery (used by Google Earth) and aerial reconnaissance, which involves much lower-flying aircraft) come in.
In the past few weeks, a huge opportunity opened up in this field after Live Science published an article about my research, sparking a deluge of international media coverage. Ultimately, I was invited to visit the country that has been least open to any form of aerial surveys, or even to archival aerial images: Saudi Arabia. Last month, they lifted this veil of sorts and allowed me to fly over the country's vast array of archaeological sites for the first time. [See Spectacular Images of the Stone Structures of Saudi Arabia]
Windows from Google Earth
Between the last years of World War I and roughly the early 1950s, some aerial archaeology was carried out in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) that were ruled or controlled by Britain and France. Most famously, these archaeologists included Antoine Poidebard in Syria, Sir Aurel Stein in Iraq and Transjordan, and Jean Baradez in Algeria. Then, it ended as these countries achieved independence, and except by Israelfrom time to time, no further aerial reconnaissance for archaeology was carried out, and access even to archival aerial photographs in every MENA country was rarely possible. For half a century, archaeologists working in this extensive region, with its rich heritage, had to do so without the benefit of the single most important tool for prospection, recording and monitoring, much less the valuable perspective the aerial view revealed.
That situation began to change in 1995, when President Bill Clinton ordered the declassification of old CIA satellite imagery. But things changed more rapidly about a decade ago, when the far superior Google Earth's (and, to a degree, Bing Maps') seamless photomap of the entire globe became available. Initially, there were few "windows" of high-resolution imagery displayed for any of these countries, but by 2008, there were enough for archaeologists to use regularly, and increasingly easily.
At a stroke, one strand of remote sensing was democratized: Anyone, anywhere with a computer and internet connection could traverse previously hidden landscapes on a photomap and see places perhaps long known to the local inhabitants but never formally defined and recorded in the databases of the national antiquities authorities. Into this space stepped a group of interested and talented amateurs for one of the countries for which aerial photographs had never been generally available: the 770,000 square miles (2 million square kilometers) of Saudi Arabia. Abdullah al-Sa'eed, a medical doctor, and colleagues of what they called The Desert Team, based in Riyadh, began to explore, via Google Earth, the huge lava field of western Saudi Arabia, called the Harret Khaybar. Then, they visited a variety of sites on the ground that they had discovered through the satellite imagery. In 2008 Dr al-Sa’eed contacted me and we collaborated on an article. [See More Images of the Gates and Other Stone Structures in Saudi Arabia]
The gate shown in this photograph is the fifth largest of the gates documented so far. It is 1,224 by 262 feet (373 by 80 meters) in size.
Credit: Courtesy APAAME, APAAME_20171027_DLK-0465
Since al-Sa'eed and I published our findings about the stone structures of Harret Khaybar, I have published several articles on the archaeological remains in these lava fields of Arabia as a whole. There are immense numbers of them (at least hundreds of thousands), and each one can be huge (hundreds of metres across). Often, they are enigmatic, as there is no consensus on the purpose of several types of these structures. And they are almost entirely unrecorded and barely acknowledged; the extensive archaeological landscapes were first reported in the 1920s (for Jordan and Syria), but only now are they coming into sharp focus in terms of scale and significance.
Although these stone structures are found extensively in the northernmost harrat — the Harret al-Shaam, stretching from southern Syria across the Jordanian Panhandle and into Saudi Arabia — they appear in equally large numbers in most of the harrat stretching down the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is those harrat in Saudi Arabia that have attracted much recent attention, in part because of their unfamiliarity and the astonishing numbers and types of sites that have emerged, some quite different from those long known in Jordan. [See Photos of Wheel-Shaped Stone Structures in the Middle East]
My own research on Saudi Arabia since 2009 has focused on a group of harrat in the northwest of the country, where I discovered a high-resolution "window" of pendants, wheels and cairns in the Harret Rahat, northeast of Jeddah; 917 kites in the Harret Khaybar; almost 400 gates, largely in the Harret Khaybar area; and a variety of site types found in various lava fields. All of these discoveries were made using the imagery of Google Earth (with occasional supplements from Bing Maps).
The need for aerial reconnaissance
The number of high-resolution "windows" on Google Earth has increased rapidly, especially since the launch of the Landsat 8 satellite in February 2013. These virtual "windows" are marvelous tools for fulfilling the traditional roles of conventional aerial reconnaissance, which has led many to pose a question: Why do we need aerial reconnaissance now that we have free access to the satellite imagery of Google Earth? [15 Secretive Places You Can Now See on Google Earth]
Of course, Google Earth will remain a useful tool for prospection; it is simple to "pin" and catalog sites, measure them, sketch them and generate distribution maps for interpretation. The limitations are equally obvious, however. The imagery is two-dimensional, and even the best resolution can be very fuzzy when enlarged. Detail is missing, and some sites are effectively invisible for various reasons. And imagery may be months, or even years, old and thus less valuable for routine monitoring of development.
In this Google Earth satellite image, a triangle can be seen pointing to a bullseye, with a row of cairns connecting the triangle to the bullseye.
Credit: Google Earth
In short, traditional low-level and usually oblique aerial photography continues to have several advantages and uses: It is immediate, if there is a regular flying program; it can be timed to maximize solar and climatic conditions; the oblique view provides an extra dimension to the "flatness" of Google Earth; the high-quality camera photograph from a low altitude reveals details of structures not visible on Google Earth; and with a helicopter as the platform, it is possible to land and obtain ground data immediately for sites that may otherwise be too remote for easy access.
A triangle-shaped stone structure is seen pointing toward a bullseye.
Credit: Courtesy APAAME, APAAME_20171029_DLK-700
This last point is important: As has always been the case, it is vital that aerial reconnaissance (and interpretation of satellite imagery) be paired with as much ground inspection as possible. Ideally, all three techniques (aerial surveys, satellite imagery and ground inspection) would be used.
In recent years, that ideal situation has been possible in just one MENA country — Jordan — thanks to generous support from its government and from the nonprofit Packard Humanities Institute, which is dedicated partly to archaeology. Since 1997, aerial photos have been taken as part of my project called Aerial Archaeology in Jordan (AAJ), and over 100,000 aerial photographs have been made available for research in an archive (APAAME) established in 1978.
A game-changer in my research happened when the interest sparked by the Live Science article led to my invitation to study these structures in one region of – till now, the least open of these Middle Eastern countries, regarding reconnaissance.
Aerial archaeology in Saudi Arabia
Some of Saudi Arabia's neighbors looked for archaeological sites with aerial reconnaissance before World War II, but even aerial photographs from surveys of this immense kingdom were almost entirely unavailable. Of course, archaeologists knew the kingdom was home to high-profile sites as well as great cemeteries of thousands of tumuli.
As Google Earth has opened a new and extensive area for research, it has indirectly helped to spark a trial season of aerial reconnaissance for archaeology. There is now the possibility that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will become the second MENA country to support a regular program of aerial archaeology to find, record, monitor and research the hundreds of thousands of sites in the country. [25 Strangest Sights on Google Earth]
On Oct. 17, Live Science published an article describing a highly unusual type of site – called gates in the Harret Khaybar area, that my colleagues and I had systematically catalogued and mapped and were to publish in the scientific literature in November. That sparked immediate and extensive international media coverage, including features in The New York Times, Newsweek and the National Geographic Education Blog. Four days after the article was published on Live Science, I got an invitation from publication from the Royal Commission for Al-Ula, in northwest Saudi Arabia, to visit that town. The Al-Ula oasis is famous for hosting the remains of a succession of early cultures and more recent civilizations, all strewn thickly among its 2 million-plus date palms. As a Roman archaeologist, I had known this oasis for over 40 years as the location of Madain Salih, Al-Hijr — ancient Hegra, a world-class Nabataean site adopted by UNESCO.
The expansive area includes thousands of rock-cut tombs and graves — most notably, scores of monumental tombs cut into the rock outcrops of the plain and evoking those of the capital, Petra, about 300 miles (500 kilometers) to the north. After the Roman annexation of the Nabataean kingdom in A.D. 106, a garrison was installed. Some of thesetrooops left their names and units in Latin, as graffiti on a rock outcrop. More recently, a Saudi-French archaeological team recovered a monumental Latin inscription recording construction around A.D. 175 to 177 under Emperor Marcus Aurelius, as well as part of the defenses and barracks of the Roman fort inserted into the town. Not far off are the ruins of the city of Dedan, mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and the remarkable "library" of monumental Lihyanite inscriptions and art carved onto rocks and the cliff face.
However, the objective of my visit lay in the lava fields in the wider region. Helicopter flights could give access to the extensive Harret Uwayrid (and contiguous Harret Raha) to the west, stretching some 77 miles (125 km) and rising to an elevation of about 6,300 feet (1,920 meters), much of which could be viewed only from the air. The most recent volcanic eruption occurred in A.D. 640, but the hundreds of sites I had already "pinned" there on Google Earth were evidently far older, most likely prehistoric and a component of the "Works of the Old Men" that I'd encountered in other harrat.
We were also able to fly over the Harret Khaybar and view not just the gate structures but also the kites, pendants, keyholes and much more we had seen on the Google Earth imagery.
Four days after the invitation from the Royal Commission, my colleague Don Boyer, a geologist who now works in archaeology, and I were on our way to Riyadh. Almost immediately, on Oct. 27 to Oct. 29, we began three days of flying in the helicopter of the Royal Commission. In total, we flew for 15 hours and took almost 6,000 photographs of about 200 sites of all kinds — but mainly the stone structures in the two harrat.
Though we didn't have much notice, Boyer and I spent three days before our visit looking over the sites we had "pinned" and catalogued using Google Earth over several years. We then, relatively easily, planned where we wanted to fly in order to capture several thousand structures in these two lava fields. Our helicopter survey was probably the first systematic aerial reconnaissance for archaeology ever carried out in Saudi Arabia. It was possible only because of the publication of the Live Science feature article describing my research on the gate structures, and the resulting international media coverage, which caught the attention of the Royal Commission.
The latter is significant: Several recent interviews and feature articles in the international media have highlighted the drive of the young Crown Prince to open up his country to development and innovation. The Royal Commission for the city of Al-Ula, an internationally important cultural center for the region that boasts world-class archaeological sites, is one element of this openness. Development is likely to be rapid, and the commission is open to engaging with international experts in its wider project to find, document and interpret the hundreds of thousands of surviving sites. Collaboration with local inhabitants, who know of even the more remote sites, and local archaeologists will be vital to this effort.
Happily, on our flights, we were accompanied by Eid al-Yahya, an archaeologidst, author and expert of Arab culture, who has traversed swaths of these harsh but archaeologically rich landscapes over 30-plus years and has explored many individual sites. Even just the archaeological component of this grand project of the commission comprises several components. One component — and, arguably, one of the most pressing — is to help the commission understand its wider heritage record: where and what, and then when and why.
Because the area is so immense — encompassing some 10,000 square miles, or 27,000 square km — this is a task for remote sensing. This method will be combined with several techniques: the interpretation of Google Earth imagery systematically, the cataloging of the sites located, complementary low-level aerial reconnaissance and photography, and associated ground investigation. We have been interpreting Google Earth imagery for some years. The ground investigation, by contrast, is in its infancy. The aerial reconnaissance part has made a good start over the past few weeks and deserves to be pursued urgently. Based on the 20 years of aerial archaeology research we have conducted in Jordan, my co-director Dr. Robert Bewley and our team can offer our expertise for this last task.
A successful systematic program of aerial archaeology in the Al-Ula region could provide valuable lessons and establish best practices for the far larger task of mapping the archaeology of Saudi Arabia, and those efforts may be assisted by partnerships with the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa project at Oxford University.
Kennedy's recent books include: "Ancient Jordan from the Air" (with R. Bewley, 2004), "Gerasa and the Decapolis" (2007), "Settlement and Soldiers in the Roman Near East" (2013) and an eBook "Kites in 'Arabia'" (with R. Banks and P. Houghton, 2014). In progress are books on the Hinterland of Roman Philadelphia and Travel and Travellers East of Jordan in the 19th Century.
Original article on Live Science.
https://www.livescience.com/60918-aerial-images-reveal-saudi-arabia-stone-structures.html
@EgyptianAmerican @Khafee @Gomig-21 @Bubblegum Crisis @Arabi @Ahmed Jo etc.
Saif al-Arab
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Saif al-Arab
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Indeed. However those in Peru are at most 2500 years. Those in KSA are thought to be 9000 years old and are much bigger and much more numerous in numbers.
Mainly Hijaz (from north to south but mainly in and around Tayma, Madinah etc) and the north, bro.
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Have you posted about the wells dug by Prophet Suleiman A.S.'s ?
Gomig-21
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Amazing that those stone walls could possibly be 9000 years old and we're just seeing them now, even if the CIA knew about them before Clinton released those classified images. That's a really long time and to think they don't even look disturbed in the slightest due to man or climate.
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These may be the world’s first images of dogs—and they’re wearing leashes
Nov. 16, 2017: Carved into a sandstone cliff on the edge of a bygone river in the Arabian Desert, a hunter draws his bow for the kill. He is accompanied by 13 dogs, each with its own coat markings; two animals have lines running from their necks to the man’s waist.
The engravings likely date back more than 8000 years, making them the earliest depictions of dogs, a new study reveals. And those lines are probably leashes, suggesting that humans mastered the art of training and controlling dogs thousands of years earlier than previously thought.
“It’s truly astounding stuff,” says Melinda Zeder, an archaeozoologist at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. “It’s the only real demonstration we have of humans using early dogs to hunt.” But she cautions that more work will be needed to confirm both the age and meaning of the depictions.
The hunting scene comes from Shuwaymis, a hilly region of northwestern Saudi Arabia where seasonal rains once formed rivers and supported pockets of dense vegetation. For the past 3 years, Maria Guagnin, an archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany—in partnership with the Saudi Commission for Tourism & National Heritage—has helped catalog more than 1400 rock art panels containing nearly 7000 animals and humans at Shuwaymis and Jubbah, a more open vista about 200 kilometers north that was once dotted with lakes.
Starting about 10,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers entered—or perhaps returned to—the region. What appear to be the oldest images are thought to date to this time and depict curvy women. Then about 7000 to 8000 years ago, people here became herders, based on livestock bones found at Jubbah; that’s likely when pictures of cattle, sheep, and goats began to dominate the images. In between—carved on top of the women and under the livestock—are the early hunting dogs: 156 at Shuwaymis and 193 at Jubbah. All are medium-sized, with pricked up ears, short snouts, and curled tails—hallmarks of domestic canines. In some scenes, the dogs face off against wild donkeys. In others, they bite the necks and bellies of ibexes and gazelles. And in many, they are tethered to a human armed with a bow and arrow.......
sciencemag
Nov. 16, 2017: Carved into a sandstone cliff on the edge of a bygone river in the Arabian Desert, a hunter draws his bow for the kill. He is accompanied by 13 dogs, each with its own coat markings; two animals have lines running from their necks to the man’s waist.
The engravings likely date back more than 8000 years, making them the earliest depictions of dogs, a new study reveals. And those lines are probably leashes, suggesting that humans mastered the art of training and controlling dogs thousands of years earlier than previously thought.
“It’s truly astounding stuff,” says Melinda Zeder, an archaeozoologist at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. “It’s the only real demonstration we have of humans using early dogs to hunt.” But she cautions that more work will be needed to confirm both the age and meaning of the depictions.
The hunting scene comes from Shuwaymis, a hilly region of northwestern Saudi Arabia where seasonal rains once formed rivers and supported pockets of dense vegetation. For the past 3 years, Maria Guagnin, an archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany—in partnership with the Saudi Commission for Tourism & National Heritage—has helped catalog more than 1400 rock art panels containing nearly 7000 animals and humans at Shuwaymis and Jubbah, a more open vista about 200 kilometers north that was once dotted with lakes.
Starting about 10,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers entered—or perhaps returned to—the region. What appear to be the oldest images are thought to date to this time and depict curvy women. Then about 7000 to 8000 years ago, people here became herders, based on livestock bones found at Jubbah; that’s likely when pictures of cattle, sheep, and goats began to dominate the images. In between—carved on top of the women and under the livestock—are the early hunting dogs: 156 at Shuwaymis and 193 at Jubbah. All are medium-sized, with pricked up ears, short snouts, and curled tails—hallmarks of domestic canines. In some scenes, the dogs face off against wild donkeys. In others, they bite the necks and bellies of ibexes and gazelles. And in many, they are tethered to a human armed with a bow and arrow.......
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(Guagnin et al., J. Anthropol. Archaeol, 2017)
This 8,000-Year-Old Rock Art Is The Earliest Depiction of Domesticated Dogs
Who's a good ancient boy?
MICHELLE STARR
17 NOV 2017
Dogs have been our best friends for a very long time, and now we have the earliest ever pictorial evidence of that bond.
Prehistoric rock art found in Saudi Arabia shows humans hunting with dogs on leashes - and it looks like those pictures could be at least 8,000 years old, making them the earliest art depicting dogs.
If the dating turns out to be accurate, it would also beat Iranian pottery painted with dogs from just under 8,000 years ago.
We have evidence of dog domestication that stretches back for millennia. Fossils that are over 30,000 years old show a breed of canid that differed from wolves, more closely resembling dogs.
The earliest strong evidence for domestication to date is the remains of a dog found buried with two humans, dating back 14,700 years, in Germany.
Fossil records are one thing, but there is a lot they can't tell us - such as how humans interacted with their canine companions.
This is where the rock paintings come in, found at two sites in Saudi Arabia, Shuwaymis and Jubbah. Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History archaeologist Maria Guagnin has been helping catalogue over 1,400 rock art panels from the two sites, between them depicting over 7,000 humans and animals.
In among the cattle and often obscured by later pastoral carvings, Guagnin discovered at least 349 dogs - 156 in Shuwaymis and 193 in Jubbah.
A human and a pack of dogs hunting an equid and its young. (Guagnin et al., J. Anthropol. Archaeol, 2017)
"When Maria came to me with the rock art photos and asked me if they meant anything, I about lost my mind," co-author Angela Perri, a zooarchaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, told Science.
"A million bones won't tell me what these images are telling me. It's the closest thing you're going to get to a YouTube video."
Around 10,000 years ago, the two regions were much more hospitable, and humans began to settle there, perhaps after leaving them for a period during which they were too arid to be habitable.
However, transitioning from hunting-based subsistence to farming and raising cattle wouldn't occur until sometime between 6800 BC and 6200 BC - around 7,000 to 8,000 years ago, based on bones found in the region.
The carvings of dogs probably appeared prior to this time - based on the later pastoral carvings and the weathering of the rock.
"The dog art is at least 8,000 to 9,000 years old," Guagnin said.
During the interval of hunting for subsistence, it seems the human settlers hunted with their dogs. The dogs are shown with lines carved connecting them to the hunters - which could be either leashes, or a metaphor for the bond between man and beast.
The dogs are also depicted assisting in the hunt. Three dogs are shown biting the necks and the belly of ibex, as well as the necks of gazelles. Another scene shows dogs surrounding an equid and its young, setting on the younger animal and biting its neck.
Different landscapes also suggest different hunting strategies. The Shuwaymis art shows larger packs, better to drive game into the narrow traps afforded by the sandstone escarpments. The Jubbah art shows smaller packs, better suited to ambushing prey at watering holes.
Meanwhile, the accompanying humans are shown bearing weapons that look like bows and spears.
(Guagnin et al., J. Anthropol. Archaeol, 2017)
The dogs are curly-tailed, medium-sized, with pricked ears, short snouts and a deeply angled chest. They resemble, the researchers said, the modern Canaan breed of dog.
These mostly feral dogs are a basal breed, and have lived in the Middle East for thousands of years, although it is unknown whether they originated there or elsewhere.
What's even more awesome is that all of the dogs have individual traits. Some are drawn with spots on their coats, or white patches on the head or chest. Some are clearly male, and all have different tail positions, stances, and coat colourations.
This could mean that the artists carving the dogs were merely trying to depict a broad dog population - but it could also mean that the dogs were specific, individual dogs known to the artists, and special to them.
The carvings tell us a lot about how the humans controlled and hunted with their dogs, as well as about the dogs themselves - their coats and behaviour. Now, they say, more research will be required to search the area for domestic dog remains from the time period.
The research has been published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology.
https://www.sciencealert.com/1000-y...abia-earliest-depiction-domestic-dogs-hunting
Cool. Not long ago the Arabian sand cat was proven to be the ancestor of the domesticated cat as well.
DNA Study Reveals Tale of Cat Domestication
Monday, June 19, 2017
(© Hierakonopolis Expedition)
LEUVEN, BELGIUM—Cat domestication is thought to be linked to the beginning of agriculture, when early farmers first stored rodent-attracting grains. According to a report in Seeker, a team led by Claudio Ottoni of the University of Leuven analyzed the DNA of 200 domestic cats who lived over a period spanning 9,000 years in the Near East, Egypt, Europe, north and east Africa, and southwest Asia. The study suggests that all domesticated cats descend from the African wildcat Felis silvestris, and were first tamed in the Near East some 10,000 years ago. The animals traveled with migrating farmers to Europe, and later spread out from Egypt on rodent-infested trade ships. Ottoni explained, however, that it is unclear whether the Egyptian domesticated cat descended from domesticated cats imported from the Near East, or whether a second, separate, domestication took place in Egypt. Most house cats alive today descend from cats that can be traced back to Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The DNA analysis also revealed that the blotched coat pattern did not become common in cats until the medieval period. Until then, most cats were striped. For more on felines in the archaeological record, go to “Baby Bobcat.”
http://www.archaeology.org/news/5668-170619-dna-cat-domestication
My favorite cat is the Arabian sand cat.
Hunting with Saluki dogs in the desert;
Race in UAE (the title of the video is wrong);
They are great hunting dogs and I wonder if those ancient dogs depicted are the ancestors of Salukis? Most likely.
A Close-Up on Mysteries Made of Stone in Saudi Arabia’s Desert
Structures that may have been created by ancient tribes could only be studied using Google Earth. Saudi officials finally invited an archaeologist to observe them via helicopter.
By Nicholas St. Fleur
Nov. 17, 2017
Image
A group of 19 "keyholes" at Al Wadi, in the Saudi Arabian desert, observed by archaeologist David Kennedy from a helicopter. Dr. Kennedy took more than 6,000 aerial photographs of these mysterious, ancient structures.CreditDavid Kennedy
For nearly a decade, David Kennedy marveled from behind his computer screen at thousands of mysterious stone structures scattered across Saudi Arabia’s desert. With Google Earth’s satellite imagery at his fingertips, the archaeologist peeked at burial sites and other so-called Works of the Old Men, created by nomadic tribes thousands of years ago.
But he was unable to secure permission to visit the country to observe up close the ancient designs that he and amateur archaeologists had studied from their desktops.
Last month, after announcing he had identified nearly 400 stone “gates,” Dr. Kennedy received the invitation of a lifetime from Saudi officials to investigate the hidden structures from a helicopter.
“They are absolutely astonishing,” said Dr. Kennedy, who recently retired from the University of Western Australia. “From 500 feet, you can see the vital details of structures that are invisible in the fuzzy image on Google Earth.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Over the course of three days, he snapped more than 6,000 aerial photographs, lifting the veil on the ancient wonders.
Image
"Gates" at Samhah, which are more than 1,200 feet long.CreditDavid Kennedy
Since 1997, Dr. Kennedy has studied similar structures in neighboring Jordan from the ground and sky. Many of the stone figures in both countries are in basalt fields known as harrats. The fields often feature dried up lava streams that twist and turn like slithering snakes across the dark landscape.
You have 9 free articles remaining.
Subscribe to The Times
In Saudi Arabia, he explored 200 sites from the air across the regions of Harrat Khaybar and Harrat Uwayrid. The structures he observed ranged in shapes and sizes, which he describes as gates, kites, triangles, bull’s eyes and keyholes.
Of the 400 structures he describes as “gates” that he had identified on Google Earth, Dr. Kennedy studied about 40 from the helicopter and found that the structures were not randomly put together.
Image
Gates with a "bull's eye." CreditDavid Kennedy
“We could see immediately they were much more complicated than they appeared on Google Earth,” Dr. Kennedy said. They were not simply heaps of stone.
Rather, each long bar was actually made up of two parallel lines of flat slabs placed on their edges facing each other with small stones filling the space in between.
“They are much more sophisticated than I was prepared for,” he said.
Some gates were larger than 1,000 feet long and 250 feet wide. He suspected the oldest may be about 9,000 years old. Though he is not sure of their purpose, he speculated they may have been used for farming purposes.
Image
A "kite" structure in the Harrat Khaybar region.CreditDavid Kennedy
Dr. Kennedy also got a closer look at about a dozen of the “kites” that were first discovered in the Middle East by pilots in the 1920s. These are the most famous of the Works of the Old Men, and Dr. Kennedy has identified more than 900 of them in Saudi Arabia’s Harrat Khaybar.
ADVERTISEMENT
From above, they typically resemble kites with strings and tails. They are often very large, with many stretching more than a quarter-mile. Archaeologists think gazelle were corralled into the head of the kite, where the hunters would come out to kill them. Sometimes multiple kites would overlap, so that if the animals got past one funnel they would get caught in another.
“Essentially there was no escape,” said Dr. Kennedy.
The ones in Saudi Arabia looked as if they were better built than the ones in Jordan, according to Dr. Kennedy.
Image
Left, Dr. Kennedy's helicopter casting a shadow near a bullseye. Right, a Khaybar kite.CreditDavid Kennedy
The harrats were littered with the smaller structures he has named keyholes, wheels, triangles and bull’s-eyes.
Dr. Kennedy said he was surprised at how straight the lines of the triangles and keyholes were, as if the people who made them had picked out specific flat stones rather than random rocks.
Each triangle was isosceles and looked like it was pointing at something. Sometimes they were directed to a bull’s-eye that was about 15 feet or 150 feet away.
There were also several keyhole structures, sometimes lined up together. The heads of the keyholes were almost always near-perfect circles, and the walls were about three feet high.
These structures may have served some funerary or symbolic purpose. Dr. Kennedy did not date any of the structures he visited with radiocarbon testing, but he said that future groups should perform more thorough analysis.
“It’s absolutely vital that somebody follows up with serious groundwork,” he said.
Image
Keyhole pendants.CreditDavid Kennedy
Dr. Kennedy was invited by Amr AlMadani, the chief executive officer of the Royal Commission for Al-Ula Province, which was created to safeguard some of the country’s geological, historical and archaeological sites.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Dr. Kennedy has spent many years poring over Google Earth images, and we were able to get him much closer to the sites,” said Mr. AlMadani, who joined Dr. Kennedy in the helicopter and described the experience as exciting.
“Thinking about how life was in the Arabian Peninsula and trying to imagine the way people hunted, lived and buried the dead was very much enriching,” he wrote in an email.
Image
A bull's eye and triangle formation at Samhah as it's seen from Google Earth, left, and photographed by Dr. Kennedy.CreditLeft, Google Earth; Right, David Kennedy
“Seeing it on Google images is one thing, but seeing it from a helicopter window from 300 feet is a totally different thing,” said Don Boyer, who accompanied Dr. Kennedy.
At the age of 70, Mr. Boyer is completing his doctorate in geoarchaeology and hydrology. “I think I was on a high the whole time. It was just remarkable. You run out of adjectives.”
Image
A gate overlain with a bullseye pendant, surrounded by lava rock.CreditDavid Kennedy
Archaeologists not involved in the work called it a step forward in showing the rich and complicated prehistory of the Arabian Peninsula.
Huw Groucutt, an archaeologist at the University of Oxford, said the new images were very important, and that they can help show how human societies have modified the landscape.
“The challenge now is to conduct work on the ground,” he added.
Michael Petraglia, an archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, agreed.
“What is so critical is to do ground survey and detailed excavation work. Otherwise, archaeological sites will often time seem mysterious and enigmatic,” he said in an email.
“Now the big and more difficult task is to document such structures on the ground to examine their function and to understand human life” in the region over time, he added.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/science/saudi-arabia-gates.html
This 8,000-Year-Old Rock Art Is The Earliest Depiction of Domesticated Dogs
Who's a good ancient boy?
MICHELLE STARR
17 NOV 2017
Dogs have been our best friends for a very long time, and now we have the earliest ever pictorial evidence of that bond.
Prehistoric rock art found in Saudi Arabia shows humans hunting with dogs on leashes - and it looks like those pictures could be at least 8,000 years old, making them the earliest art depicting dogs.
If the dating turns out to be accurate, it would also beat Iranian pottery painted with dogs from just under 8,000 years ago.
We have evidence of dog domestication that stretches back for millennia. Fossils that are over 30,000 years old show a breed of canid that differed from wolves, more closely resembling dogs.
The earliest strong evidence for domestication to date is the remains of a dog found buried with two humans, dating back 14,700 years, in Germany.
Fossil records are one thing, but there is a lot they can't tell us - such as how humans interacted with their canine companions.
This is where the rock paintings come in, found at two sites in Saudi Arabia, Shuwaymis and Jubbah. Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History archaeologist Maria Guagnin has been helping catalogue over 1,400 rock art panels from the two sites, between them depicting over 7,000 humans and animals.
In among the cattle and often obscured by later pastoral carvings, Guagnin discovered at least 349 dogs - 156 in Shuwaymis and 193 in Jubbah.
"When Maria came to me with the rock art photos and asked me if they meant anything, I about lost my mind," co-author Angela Perri, a zooarchaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, told Science.
"A million bones won't tell me what these images are telling me. It's the closest thing you're going to get to a YouTube video."
Around 10,000 years ago, the two regions were much more hospitable, and humans began to settle there, perhaps after leaving them for a period during which they were too arid to be habitable.
However, transitioning from hunting-based subsistence to farming and raising cattle wouldn't occur until sometime between 6800 BC and 6200 BC - around 7,000 to 8,000 years ago, based on bones found in the region.
The carvings of dogs probably appeared prior to this time - based on the later pastoral carvings and the weathering of the rock.
"The dog art is at least 8,000 to 9,000 years old," Guagnin said.
During the interval of hunting for subsistence, it seems the human settlers hunted with their dogs. The dogs are shown with lines carved connecting them to the hunters - which could be either leashes, or a metaphor for the bond between man and beast.
The dogs are also depicted assisting in the hunt. Three dogs are shown biting the necks and the belly of ibex, as well as the necks of gazelles. Another scene shows dogs surrounding an equid and its young, setting on the younger animal and biting its neck.
Different landscapes also suggest different hunting strategies. The Shuwaymis art shows larger packs, better to drive game into the narrow traps afforded by the sandstone escarpments. The Jubbah art shows smaller packs, better suited to ambushing prey at watering holes.
Meanwhile, the accompanying humans are shown bearing weapons that look like bows and spears.
The dogs are curly-tailed, medium-sized, with pricked ears, short snouts and a deeply angled chest. They resemble, the researchers said, the modern Canaan breed of dog.
These mostly feral dogs are a basal breed, and have lived in the Middle East for thousands of years, although it is unknown whether they originated there or elsewhere.
What's even more awesome is that all of the dogs have individual traits. Some are drawn with spots on their coats, or white patches on the head or chest. Some are clearly male, and all have different tail positions, stances, and coat colourations.
This could mean that the artists carving the dogs were merely trying to depict a broad dog population - but it could also mean that the dogs were specific, individual dogs known to the artists, and special to them.
The carvings tell us a lot about how the humans controlled and hunted with their dogs, as well as about the dogs themselves - their coats and behaviour. Now, they say, more research will be required to search the area for domestic dog remains from the time period.
The research has been published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology.
https://www.sciencealert.com/1000-y...abia-earliest-depiction-domestic-dogs-hunting
Cool. Not long ago the Arabian sand cat was proven to be the ancestor of the domesticated cat as well.
DNA Study Reveals Tale of Cat Domestication
Monday, June 19, 2017
(© Hierakonopolis Expedition)
LEUVEN, BELGIUM—Cat domestication is thought to be linked to the beginning of agriculture, when early farmers first stored rodent-attracting grains. According to a report in Seeker, a team led by Claudio Ottoni of the University of Leuven analyzed the DNA of 200 domestic cats who lived over a period spanning 9,000 years in the Near East, Egypt, Europe, north and east Africa, and southwest Asia. The study suggests that all domesticated cats descend from the African wildcat Felis silvestris, and were first tamed in the Near East some 10,000 years ago. The animals traveled with migrating farmers to Europe, and later spread out from Egypt on rodent-infested trade ships. Ottoni explained, however, that it is unclear whether the Egyptian domesticated cat descended from domesticated cats imported from the Near East, or whether a second, separate, domestication took place in Egypt. Most house cats alive today descend from cats that can be traced back to Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The DNA analysis also revealed that the blotched coat pattern did not become common in cats until the medieval period. Until then, most cats were striped. For more on felines in the archaeological record, go to “Baby Bobcat.”
http://www.archaeology.org/news/5668-170619-dna-cat-domestication
My favorite cat is the Arabian sand cat.
Hunting with Saluki dogs in the desert;
Race in UAE (the title of the video is wrong);
They are great hunting dogs and I wonder if those ancient dogs depicted are the ancestors of Salukis? Most likely.
A Close-Up on Mysteries Made of Stone in Saudi Arabia’s Desert
Structures that may have been created by ancient tribes could only be studied using Google Earth. Saudi officials finally invited an archaeologist to observe them via helicopter.
By Nicholas St. Fleur
Nov. 17, 2017
Image
A group of 19 "keyholes" at Al Wadi, in the Saudi Arabian desert, observed by archaeologist David Kennedy from a helicopter. Dr. Kennedy took more than 6,000 aerial photographs of these mysterious, ancient structures.CreditDavid Kennedy
For nearly a decade, David Kennedy marveled from behind his computer screen at thousands of mysterious stone structures scattered across Saudi Arabia’s desert. With Google Earth’s satellite imagery at his fingertips, the archaeologist peeked at burial sites and other so-called Works of the Old Men, created by nomadic tribes thousands of years ago.
But he was unable to secure permission to visit the country to observe up close the ancient designs that he and amateur archaeologists had studied from their desktops.
Last month, after announcing he had identified nearly 400 stone “gates,” Dr. Kennedy received the invitation of a lifetime from Saudi officials to investigate the hidden structures from a helicopter.
“They are absolutely astonishing,” said Dr. Kennedy, who recently retired from the University of Western Australia. “From 500 feet, you can see the vital details of structures that are invisible in the fuzzy image on Google Earth.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Over the course of three days, he snapped more than 6,000 aerial photographs, lifting the veil on the ancient wonders.
Image
"Gates" at Samhah, which are more than 1,200 feet long.CreditDavid Kennedy
Since 1997, Dr. Kennedy has studied similar structures in neighboring Jordan from the ground and sky. Many of the stone figures in both countries are in basalt fields known as harrats. The fields often feature dried up lava streams that twist and turn like slithering snakes across the dark landscape.
You have 9 free articles remaining.
Subscribe to The Times
In Saudi Arabia, he explored 200 sites from the air across the regions of Harrat Khaybar and Harrat Uwayrid. The structures he observed ranged in shapes and sizes, which he describes as gates, kites, triangles, bull’s eyes and keyholes.
Of the 400 structures he describes as “gates” that he had identified on Google Earth, Dr. Kennedy studied about 40 from the helicopter and found that the structures were not randomly put together.
Image
Gates with a "bull's eye." CreditDavid Kennedy
“We could see immediately they were much more complicated than they appeared on Google Earth,” Dr. Kennedy said. They were not simply heaps of stone.
Rather, each long bar was actually made up of two parallel lines of flat slabs placed on their edges facing each other with small stones filling the space in between.
“They are much more sophisticated than I was prepared for,” he said.
Some gates were larger than 1,000 feet long and 250 feet wide. He suspected the oldest may be about 9,000 years old. Though he is not sure of their purpose, he speculated they may have been used for farming purposes.
Image
A "kite" structure in the Harrat Khaybar region.CreditDavid Kennedy
Dr. Kennedy also got a closer look at about a dozen of the “kites” that were first discovered in the Middle East by pilots in the 1920s. These are the most famous of the Works of the Old Men, and Dr. Kennedy has identified more than 900 of them in Saudi Arabia’s Harrat Khaybar.
ADVERTISEMENT
From above, they typically resemble kites with strings and tails. They are often very large, with many stretching more than a quarter-mile. Archaeologists think gazelle were corralled into the head of the kite, where the hunters would come out to kill them. Sometimes multiple kites would overlap, so that if the animals got past one funnel they would get caught in another.
“Essentially there was no escape,” said Dr. Kennedy.
The ones in Saudi Arabia looked as if they were better built than the ones in Jordan, according to Dr. Kennedy.
Image
Left, Dr. Kennedy's helicopter casting a shadow near a bullseye. Right, a Khaybar kite.CreditDavid Kennedy
The harrats were littered with the smaller structures he has named keyholes, wheels, triangles and bull’s-eyes.
Dr. Kennedy said he was surprised at how straight the lines of the triangles and keyholes were, as if the people who made them had picked out specific flat stones rather than random rocks.
Each triangle was isosceles and looked like it was pointing at something. Sometimes they were directed to a bull’s-eye that was about 15 feet or 150 feet away.
There were also several keyhole structures, sometimes lined up together. The heads of the keyholes were almost always near-perfect circles, and the walls were about three feet high.
These structures may have served some funerary or symbolic purpose. Dr. Kennedy did not date any of the structures he visited with radiocarbon testing, but he said that future groups should perform more thorough analysis.
“It’s absolutely vital that somebody follows up with serious groundwork,” he said.
Image
Keyhole pendants.CreditDavid Kennedy
Dr. Kennedy was invited by Amr AlMadani, the chief executive officer of the Royal Commission for Al-Ula Province, which was created to safeguard some of the country’s geological, historical and archaeological sites.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Dr. Kennedy has spent many years poring over Google Earth images, and we were able to get him much closer to the sites,” said Mr. AlMadani, who joined Dr. Kennedy in the helicopter and described the experience as exciting.
“Thinking about how life was in the Arabian Peninsula and trying to imagine the way people hunted, lived and buried the dead was very much enriching,” he wrote in an email.
Image
A bull's eye and triangle formation at Samhah as it's seen from Google Earth, left, and photographed by Dr. Kennedy.CreditLeft, Google Earth; Right, David Kennedy
“Seeing it on Google images is one thing, but seeing it from a helicopter window from 300 feet is a totally different thing,” said Don Boyer, who accompanied Dr. Kennedy.
At the age of 70, Mr. Boyer is completing his doctorate in geoarchaeology and hydrology. “I think I was on a high the whole time. It was just remarkable. You run out of adjectives.”
Image
A gate overlain with a bullseye pendant, surrounded by lava rock.CreditDavid Kennedy
Archaeologists not involved in the work called it a step forward in showing the rich and complicated prehistory of the Arabian Peninsula.
Huw Groucutt, an archaeologist at the University of Oxford, said the new images were very important, and that they can help show how human societies have modified the landscape.
“The challenge now is to conduct work on the ground,” he added.
Michael Petraglia, an archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, agreed.
“What is so critical is to do ground survey and detailed excavation work. Otherwise, archaeological sites will often time seem mysterious and enigmatic,” he said in an email.
“Now the big and more difficult task is to document such structures on the ground to examine their function and to understand human life” in the region over time, he added.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/science/saudi-arabia-gates.html
Saif al-Arab
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Rock Carvings of Ancient Dogs Getting Taught New Tricks
Engravings in the Saudi desert may be the earliest
depictions of human-canine companionship.
Trilobites
By NICHOLAS ST. FLEUR NOV. 20, 2017
A prehistoric scene, enhanced with digital tracings, top, is etched into rock in the Saudi desert showing what may be the earliest depictions of human-dog companionship. The engravings are 8,000 to 9,000 years old. Credit Huw Groucutt
Our bond with dogs is etched in stone.
For thousands of years man’s best friend has been by our sides, helping us hunt, herd and heal from emotional stress. Now, in a study published Thursday, archaeologists exploring rock engravings in the Saudi desert have found what they say may be the earliest depictions of human-canine companionship.
The ancient carvings date back about 8,000 to 9,000 years and depict hunters using dogs to overwhelm prey such as gazelles and ibex before they fired killing blows with bows and arrows.
“You can almost hear the dogs barking and the humans yelling,” said Melinda Zeder, a curator of Old World archaeology at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, who was not involved in the study. “You can almost smell the fear in the animals.”
Photo
The etchings are hard to date because they left little indication of when they were carved. Researchers had to correlate the art with nearby archaeological sites that had been dated. CreditHuw Groucutt
With their pricked ears, angled chests and curly tails, each dog in the rock art resembles the modern breed of Canaan dogs. In one scene there are two lines connecting the necks of two dogs to the hips of the humans.
“This is the first imagery of a dog with a leash,” said Michael Petraglia, an archaeologist from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, in Germany, and an author of the study, which appeared in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology and was first reported by Science. He said that because of where the lines were on the dog and human’s anatomy, they most likely represented actual leashes and were not mere symbolic lines.
Dr. Petraglia added that the rock art most likely dated to the early Holocene period, which began around when the Paleolithic ice age closed. But he acknowledged that the team was unable to date it directly because the etchings left little indication for when they were carved. Instead the team correlated the rock art with nearby archaeological sites that they had dated.
The team also found that the dog images were carved beneath images of cattle, which they said indicated that the dog images came earlier. They said earlier evidence had suggested these particular ancient humans had domesticated dogs before they began keeping cattle. They added that the transition from being hunter-gatherers to herding most likely occurred between 6,800 B.C. and 6,200 B.C., which they used to hypothesize that the rock art featuring dogs appeared before humans began herding.
“We can now say about 9,000 years ago people already controlled their dogs and had them on leashes and used them for really complex hunting strategies,” said Maria Guagnin, an archaeologist from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and lead author. She worked in partnership with the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage.
Photo
Dogs overwhelming a gazelle, left, and fighting a lion, right. CreditLeft, Ash Parton; Right, Huw Groucutt
Dr. Guagnin analyzed more than 1,400 panels of rock art that contained more than 6,600 animals across two sites. The images showed dogs helping humans hunt equids, or African asses, as well as fearsome lions and leopards. Some artwork depicted the dogs taking down medium-size prey, and in others they were used to corner larger prey.
“It’s a little bit heart wrenching, the equids are usually mothers with their young being attacked,” said Dr. Guagnin. One such image featured 21 dogs, two with leashes, surrounding an equid and its children. “It’s quite interesting to see these scenes with the dying animals and there are dogs hanging off them.”
Dr. Guagnin was not sure why the dogs would have been leashed, but she speculated it might indicate the dog was young and learning to hunt or it was important and the hunters wanted to keep it away from danger.
Dr. Zeder questioned the dating, saying that the team needed stronger evidence to support their claim that the images were as old as they believed. But she called the images striking and said they showed a collaboration between humans and dogs where humans were in control, which is a rare find among archaeological remains.
“This is giving us an actual window into the visceral thrill of the hunt,” she said. “With the rock art you’re putting flesh on the bones.”
Photo
The dogs depicted in the art resemble the modern breed of Canaan dogs. CreditHuw Groucutt
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/20/science/dogs-rock-art.html
airmarshal
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There is a mention of Qaum e Aadh in Quran. Those people lived in the Hejaz, the present day Saudi Arabia.
But the mention of these people and their civilization is not to be seen as 'wonder'. It is to be understood as azaab. That the people, who were so advanced in their times, that had such rich culture, who deemed themselves so powerful as to be almost indestructible, were destroyed by Allah and the reference of their greatness left for posterity and to educate subsequent people.
Its a lesson that powerful of contemporary times almost always leave unheeded.
But the mention of these people and their civilization is not to be seen as 'wonder'. It is to be understood as azaab. That the people, who were so advanced in their times, that had such rich culture, who deemed themselves so powerful as to be almost indestructible, were destroyed by Allah and the reference of their greatness left for posterity and to educate subsequent people.
Its a lesson that powerful of contemporary times almost always leave unheeded.
Saif al-Arab
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History is history. The Arab world as a whole is the cradle of civilization. Arabia in particular is home to some of the oldest known civilizations on the planet, some of the oldest continuously inhabited cities and is the second oldest inhabited region in the world after Horn of Africa and East Africa. The entire region smells of history.
Every civilization has its end eventually. This is no surprise. I would not look at past civilizations from a religious angle but purely a historic and scientific one.
History is simply fascinating.
https://twitter.com/MDPetraglia?ref_src=twsrc^tfw&ref_url=https://s9e.github.io/iframe/twitter.min.html#925413573588811776
Saif al-Arab
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Roads of Arabia: Archaeological Treasures of Saudi Arabia
>> Exhibitions
>> Hyokeikan
>> Roads of Arabia: Archaeological Treasures of Saudi Arabia
Roads of Arabia: Archaeological Treasures of Saudi Arabia ／ Hyokeikan January 23, 2018 (Tue) - March 18, 2018 (Sun)
Anthropomorphic stele, Qaryat al-Kaafa, c.3500-2500 BC (National Museum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
Since ancient times the Arabian Peninsula has been intersected by trade routes, acting as a crossroads of diverse peoples and civilizations. This exhibition will for the very first time in Japan display treasures from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that reveal a dynamic history and culture. Approximately 400 invaluable cultural properties will be displayed, including the oldest stone tools in Asia, dating back over a million years; anthropomorphic stelae erected in the desert 5,000 years ago; excavated artifacts from the thriving ancient cities of the Hellenistic and Roman periods; a 17th-century door from the Ka'bah in Mecca, the holiest site in the religion of Islam; and possessions of King Abdulaziz, the first monarch of Saudi Arabia, from the 20th century. We invite you to take advantage of this unique opportunity to experience the immensely rich and fascinating history of the Arabian Peninsula.
Treasures from Ninnaji Temple and Omuro" (January 16, 2018 - March 11, 2018, Heiseikan) requires a separate admission fee.
Access 10 minutes' walk from JR Ueno Station (Park exit) and Uguisudani Station
15 minutes' walk from Keisei Ueno Station, Tokyo Metro Ueno Station and Tokyo Metro Nezu Station
Organizers Tokyo National Museum, Saudi Commission for Tourism & National Heritage, NHK, The Asahi Shimbun
With the Special Sponsorship of Saudi Aramco
With the Sponsorship of SHOWA SHELL SEKIYU K. K., Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited
General Inquiries 03-5777-8600 (Hello Dial)
http://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?shop_cd=1008121006460208&id=1886&lang=en
Great news.
Almost 1 million people in China and South Korea and elsewhere in Asia (combined) have visited the Roads of Arabia exhibition. Not to mention the numbers in Europe (several countries and most famous museum) and the US. Good.
Another gem.
Ancient Axes, Spear Points May Reveal When Early Humans Left Africa
By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | December 27, 2017 04:00pm ET
This handaxe weighs almost 8 pounds and is unusually heavy. It and many of the other stone artifacts at Wadi Dabsa date to some point between 1.76 million years ago and 100,000 years ago. Researchers are trying to determine a more precise date.
Credit: Andrew Shuttleworth and Frederick Foulds
More than 1,000 stone artifacts, some of which may be up to 1.76 million years old, have been discovered at Wadi Dabsa, in southwest Saudi Arabia near the Red Sea.
The artifacts, which were found in what is now an arid landscape, date to a time when the climate was wetter; they may provide clues as to how and when different hominins left Africa, researchers said.
The stone artifacts include the remains of hand axes, cleavers (a type of knife), scrapers (used to scrape the flesh off of animal hides), projectile points (that would have been attached to the ends of spears), piercers (stone tools that can cut small holes through hide or flesh) and hammer stones. One of the hand axes is unusually heavy, weighing just under 8 lbs. (3.6 kilograms), the researchers said. The discoveries were detailed in the December 2017 issue of the journal Antiquity. [The 25 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth]
Based on the tool design, archaeologists said they can tell that many of the artifacts are "Acheulian," a term used to describe types of stone toolsmade between 1.76 million years and 100,000 years ago. When exactly within this time frame the various artifacts at Wadi Dabsa were made is uncertain, the archaeologists said.
"We hope to try and date the tufa [a type of limestone] and basalt flows within the site, which are associated [with] the large [stone artifact] assemblage recovered from within the wadi," said study lead author Frederick Foulds, an archaeology professor at Durham University in England. Once the team has more-precise dates for the artifacts, the scientists may be able to determine what type of hominins made the tools, Foulds said.
A wetter time
Archaeologists said they can already tell that the artifacts date to a time when the climate was wetter. "It's far more arid [today] than it was at certain points in time," Foulds told Live Science. "It's strange to be walking over hard, dry rocks which were formed by water pooling during a far wetter period. We think it was during these wetter periods that it's likely the site was occupied."
the site where most of the stone artifacts at Wadi Dabsa were found. The site is now part of a barren desert. It used to have a wetter climate that supported plants and wildlife.
Credit: Andrew Shuttleworth
The climate of the entire Arabian Peninsula has changed multiple times in response to the massive changes in global climates that accompanied glacial cycles over the last 2.5 million years, Foulds said.
"During periods when the ice sheets were at their largest, there was widespread aridity in the Sahara and Arabian deserts, but during periods when the ice sheets shrank, the climate of these regions became a lot wetter," Foulds said.
One of the big questions is how the changes in climate affected the dispersal of hominins from out of Africa, Foulds said.
"What's interesting about the Wadi Dabsa region is that the geography of the region may have created a refuge from these changes," Foulds said.
Because of Wadi Dabsa's topography the region may have received rainfall when other parts of Saudi Arabia were arid. Hominins were able "to continue living there [at Wadi Dabsa] when they couldn't live in other areas," Foulds said. Researchers have found that Wadi Dabsa’s topography includes a basin which may have had streams of water flowing down its slopes, the water possibly pooling in the basin.
The team is carrying out its research as part of the DISPERSE project, which is analyzing landscape and archaeological changes in Africa and Asia in order to better understand how humans evolved and dispersed out of Africa.
Originally published on Live Science.
https://www.livescience.com/61285-stone-tools-found-in-saudi-arabia.html
Fascinating stuff. Arabia never disappoints and what's better, only the surface has been scratched.
>> Exhibitions
>> Hyokeikan
>> Roads of Arabia: Archaeological Treasures of Saudi Arabia
Roads of Arabia: Archaeological Treasures of Saudi Arabia ／ Hyokeikan January 23, 2018 (Tue) - March 18, 2018 (Sun)
Anthropomorphic stele, Qaryat al-Kaafa, c.3500-2500 BC (National Museum, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
Since ancient times the Arabian Peninsula has been intersected by trade routes, acting as a crossroads of diverse peoples and civilizations. This exhibition will for the very first time in Japan display treasures from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that reveal a dynamic history and culture. Approximately 400 invaluable cultural properties will be displayed, including the oldest stone tools in Asia, dating back over a million years; anthropomorphic stelae erected in the desert 5,000 years ago; excavated artifacts from the thriving ancient cities of the Hellenistic and Roman periods; a 17th-century door from the Ka'bah in Mecca, the holiest site in the religion of Islam; and possessions of King Abdulaziz, the first monarch of Saudi Arabia, from the 20th century. We invite you to take advantage of this unique opportunity to experience the immensely rich and fascinating history of the Arabian Peninsula.
Treasures from Ninnaji Temple and Omuro" (January 16, 2018 - March 11, 2018, Heiseikan) requires a separate admission fee.
Access 10 minutes' walk from JR Ueno Station (Park exit) and Uguisudani Station
15 minutes' walk from Keisei Ueno Station, Tokyo Metro Ueno Station and Tokyo Metro Nezu Station
Organizers Tokyo National Museum, Saudi Commission for Tourism & National Heritage, NHK, The Asahi Shimbun
With the Special Sponsorship of Saudi Aramco
With the Sponsorship of SHOWA SHELL SEKIYU K. K., Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited
General Inquiries 03-5777-8600 (Hello Dial)
http://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?shop_cd=1008121006460208&id=1886&lang=en
Great news.
Almost 1 million people in China and South Korea and elsewhere in Asia (combined) have visited the Roads of Arabia exhibition. Not to mention the numbers in Europe (several countries and most famous museum) and the US. Good.
Another gem.
Ancient Axes, Spear Points May Reveal When Early Humans Left Africa
By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | December 27, 2017 04:00pm ET
This handaxe weighs almost 8 pounds and is unusually heavy. It and many of the other stone artifacts at Wadi Dabsa date to some point between 1.76 million years ago and 100,000 years ago. Researchers are trying to determine a more precise date.
Credit: Andrew Shuttleworth and Frederick Foulds
More than 1,000 stone artifacts, some of which may be up to 1.76 million years old, have been discovered at Wadi Dabsa, in southwest Saudi Arabia near the Red Sea.
The artifacts, which were found in what is now an arid landscape, date to a time when the climate was wetter; they may provide clues as to how and when different hominins left Africa, researchers said.
The stone artifacts include the remains of hand axes, cleavers (a type of knife), scrapers (used to scrape the flesh off of animal hides), projectile points (that would have been attached to the ends of spears), piercers (stone tools that can cut small holes through hide or flesh) and hammer stones. One of the hand axes is unusually heavy, weighing just under 8 lbs. (3.6 kilograms), the researchers said. The discoveries were detailed in the December 2017 issue of the journal Antiquity. [The 25 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth]
Based on the tool design, archaeologists said they can tell that many of the artifacts are "Acheulian," a term used to describe types of stone toolsmade between 1.76 million years and 100,000 years ago. When exactly within this time frame the various artifacts at Wadi Dabsa were made is uncertain, the archaeologists said.
"We hope to try and date the tufa [a type of limestone] and basalt flows within the site, which are associated [with] the large [stone artifact] assemblage recovered from within the wadi," said study lead author Frederick Foulds, an archaeology professor at Durham University in England. Once the team has more-precise dates for the artifacts, the scientists may be able to determine what type of hominins made the tools, Foulds said.
A wetter time
Archaeologists said they can already tell that the artifacts date to a time when the climate was wetter. "It's far more arid [today] than it was at certain points in time," Foulds told Live Science. "It's strange to be walking over hard, dry rocks which were formed by water pooling during a far wetter period. We think it was during these wetter periods that it's likely the site was occupied."
the site where most of the stone artifacts at Wadi Dabsa were found. The site is now part of a barren desert. It used to have a wetter climate that supported plants and wildlife.
Credit: Andrew Shuttleworth
The climate of the entire Arabian Peninsula has changed multiple times in response to the massive changes in global climates that accompanied glacial cycles over the last 2.5 million years, Foulds said.
"During periods when the ice sheets were at their largest, there was widespread aridity in the Sahara and Arabian deserts, but during periods when the ice sheets shrank, the climate of these regions became a lot wetter," Foulds said.
One of the big questions is how the changes in climate affected the dispersal of hominins from out of Africa, Foulds said.
"What's interesting about the Wadi Dabsa region is that the geography of the region may have created a refuge from these changes," Foulds said.
Because of Wadi Dabsa's topography the region may have received rainfall when other parts of Saudi Arabia were arid. Hominins were able "to continue living there [at Wadi Dabsa] when they couldn't live in other areas," Foulds said. Researchers have found that Wadi Dabsa’s topography includes a basin which may have had streams of water flowing down its slopes, the water possibly pooling in the basin.
The team is carrying out its research as part of the DISPERSE project, which is analyzing landscape and archaeological changes in Africa and Asia in order to better understand how humans evolved and dispersed out of Africa.
Originally published on Live Science.
https://www.livescience.com/61285-stone-tools-found-in-saudi-arabia.html
Fascinating stuff. Arabia never disappoints and what's better, only the surface has been scratched.
Saif al-Arab
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418 archaeological sites and rock engravings have been discovered in Asir province of which numerous date between 4000-3000 BC. So in other words between 5000-6000 years. Not bad but expected given Arabia's historical depth and the fact that human habitation is only older in Eastern Africa.
Fantastic stuff.
In other news;
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