RIYADH: The Saudi Heritage Commission has announced the discovery and documentation of a life-size early rock art engraving, estimated to date back between 11,400 and 12,800 years.
The findings, published in Nature Communications, were identified at sites south of Al-Nafud Al-Kabir desert in Hail Region, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The discovery was made as part of the “Green Arabia Project,” carried out in collaboration with an international team of researchers from various local and global universities and research institutions.
It marks the earliest scientifically dated phase of rock art in Saudi Arabia, highlighting the Arabian Peninsula’s historical significance as a centre of early artistic expression.
It adds a significant contribution to the Kingdom’s growing archaeological record, offering tangible evidence of the development of rock art and its deep connection to the cultural and daily life of prehistoric communities.
The discovery also sheds light on the ancient cultural and economic links that connected northern Arabia with surrounding regions thousands of years ago.
Researchers documented a total of 176 rock carvings, including 130 life-sized depictions of animals such as camels, ibexes, horses, gazelles, and the now-extinct auroch.
Some carvings measure up to three meters in length and are located in elevated, hard-to-reach areas—a testament to the skill, determination, and advanced techniques of the prehistoric artists.
Scientific analysis revealed that this artwork was created during a humid climatic period between 13,000 and 16,000 years ago. This more favorable environment would have supported the movement and settlement of human groups in regions that are now part of the arid Al-Nafud desert.
“To engrave that much detail with just a rock takes real skill,” Maria Guagnin, an archaeologist with the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Germany who was involved in the discovery, told the AP news agency.
“It would have been extremely dangerous to make these engravings, as the ledge is very narrow and slopes downwards. Standing on this ledge, the engravers would also not have been able to see the whole image they were creating. But they had the skill to still produce a naturalistic representation,” Guagnin added.
“The findings show that communities were able to become fully established in desert environments much earlier than previously thought,” Guagnin said. “They must have known the landscape incredibly well.”
“Most of the camels show male camels in rut, identifiable by the straining neck muscles as they make a rumbling noise during the mating season, which is normally during the wet season. So the rock art links to the rainy season and marks locations where water pools,” Guagnin added.
