Oasis of archaeology
AlUla is an oasis town in north- western Saudi Arabia with a deep historic past as a major stepping stone for the traders who brought frankincense and myrrh north into Egypt and the Levant.
Al-Madinah
Religious rituals in ancient Arabia
Recent research at two mustatils (prehistoric rectangular open-air structures found across northern Arabia) is uncovering new information about the ritual practices that may have been taking place in the region in the late 6th millennium BC. First identified in the…
Ancient inscriptions in Saudi Arabia
The mountain of Jabal Ikmah, located 5km north of the ancient city of AlUla in north-west Saudi Arabia, has just been added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, which recognises documentary heritage of international significance. This is a significant…
Neolithic monument in northern Arabia yields evidence of ritual activity
‘It looks like cattle, goats, and gazelles were brought to the site, potentially slaughtered there and then presented to what is probably a stone representation of an unknown deity.'
Prehistoric structures in Saudi Arabia
At the excavated mustatil, archaeologists uncovered an assemblage of cattle horns and skull fragments interpreted as an offering, perhaps related to a ‘cattle cult’, further supporting the ‘ritual’ interpretation of these sites.
Arabia’s monumental landscape
In the largest study of north-western Arabia’s mustatil to date, archaeologists have recorded more than 1,000 of the enigmatic rectangular structures across 200,000km2 of land, shedding light on one of the oldest widespread monument-building traditions. These prehistoric structures take their…
Arabia’s mustatils identified as the earliest monumental landscape
The discovery of cattle horns and skull fragments during the excavation has been interpreted as an apparent offering, and as confirmation that the structures were built for a ritual, cultic, or religious purpose.