AlUla is an oasis town in northwestern 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. Implementing its policy of economic diversification, the Saudi Government has charged the Royal Commission for AlUla to found and sponsor the first AlUla World Archaeology Summit, a forum for archaeologists to gather and share their thoughts and plans on key issues in the future of the discipline. I was fortunate indeed, a couple of months ago, to receive a surprise invitation to attend the Summit, and accepted without hesitation. The theme was particularly relevant: ‘Past, present and future in the archaeology and heritage of mobile communities’. Embedded in the meeting was a second theme: the impact of climate change.
The 150 or so delegates flew into Riyadh from just about every corner of the archaeological world, and we were taken by private charter aircraft to AlUla Airport where I, at least, was to experience my first views of arid desert scenery that took me right back to my first viewing of Lawrence of Arabia. As we closed in on AlUla, so the valleys turned dark green with extensive date-palm plantations. Half an hour after settling into our luxurious accommodation, we were taken on the first site visit to Qurh, an ancient city that was prominent on the pilgrim road from Damascus to Mecca. En route, we were able to see its successor, old AlUla, a concentration of mud-brick houses and shops criss-crossed by narrow lanes only abandoned in the late 20th century, and very reminiscent of the Iron Age towns I have revealed in Thailand.
The meeting got under way the following morning with a quite breathtaking surprise. We were driven across a rocky desert landscape until, turning a corner, we had our first sight of Maraya, the largest building covered entirely by mirrors in the world. Indeed, one hardly notices it at first, because it simply reflects the desert scenery all round, but it soon takes on all the qualities of a mirage. The first day involved the opening of the symposium by the Vice President of Culture Dr Abdulrahman Alsuhaibani, followed by a series of invited papers concentrating on the archaeology of mobile communities. A recurrent theme was the relevance of lessons from the past for future strategies, as the mobility of vast numbers of people is stimulated by climate change and political instability. Prior to the coffee break, we were introduced to an exhibition of items from the Naples National Museum, and I took the opportunity to look at these. There was an original complete marble statue of the Emperor Trajan, and the unusually close proximity made it possible to admire the intricacy of his armour. Alongside, there were two sinister bronze helmets found complete in the Pompeii gladiators’ base. Returning to more papers, I entered a steep learning curve on the prehistoric construction of ‘kites’ in the AlUla area. These are long stone walls that confine herds of gazelles, where they are induced to stampede into a corral to be despatched by the local hunters. There are lots of these kites, and they are huge constructions. And, naturally, mobility was a local theme given the nodal position of AlUla oasis on several major trading and pilgrimage routes.
