Every day, the Heritage Commission continues to discover various archaeological sites, as Saudi Arabia is rich in cultural and cultural heritage and a historical legacy that confirms its role in human civilization. Many of the world’s civilizations intersected on its land, and the Commission worked according to a methodology compatible with the best international experiences, proposing regulations, policies, and guiding directions for historical and archaeological sites, urban heritage, museums, protection and restoration, documentation and management of sites and collections, with the aim of removing this national heritage from the ground to become a living reality. Researchers and specialists benefit from it; To know the role of the Kingdom in human civilization. The Heritage Commission has accomplished a lot in raising awareness and defining antiquities, and has made many important archaeological discoveries that confirmed the historical and cultural depth of the Kingdom.
Underwater search
The Heritage Authority works on excavation programs in important archaeological sites through a comprehensive archaeological survey with the aim of identifying, researching, documenting, recording, protecting, and clarifying the capabilities that the sites have to list all national heritage sites. It also works in the sunken antiquities program, which aims to locate sites underwater archaeological sites and their documentation; This is to prepare a comprehensive inventory of the sites that can be restored and used for protection and research, and to disseminate science and knowledge through publications, educational exhibitions, museums, digital applications, and the specialized archaeological and heritage studies programme. It feeds into the general knowledge available in museums and schools.
Registration and documentation of archaeological sitesThe Heritage Authority revealed, within two months, the registration and documentation of 168 new archaeological sites in various regions, and the Hail region had the largest share with 91 sites, followed by Tabuk with 22, then the northern border with 15, Al-Jawf with 10 sites, Medina with 9, Al-Qassim with 8, and Asir with 5. One site, Riyadh 4, Al-Baha 3, and Makkah Al-Mukarramah region, bringing the total number of sites registered in the National Register of Antiquities so far to 8,598 archaeological sites across the Kingdom.
Al-Naseem.. the man of the Acheulean era
Nature Scientific Reports magazine, under the title “The Spread of Man in the Acheulean Era in the Nafud Desert in the North of the Kingdom,” revealed the results of the first dated Acheulean site in the Kingdom, which is the site of “Al-Naseem” in the Nafud Desert in the Hail region. The results included environmental evidence of the existence of a deep lake that may have been fresh water, with Evidence of ancient environmental features and associated archaeological materials dating back to the Middle Pleistocene era.
The recent results of the environmental and archaeological survey projects for the Green Arabia Project, which began 10 years ago, confirmed that the Arabian Peninsula underwent climatic changes during the (Pleistocene) era, as its atmosphere became more humid, and this affected the spread of man in it and on other continents, and this applies to human groups in the period The Acheulean, who were apparently more closely associated with water sources than others in the Middle Stone Age.
Naseem Hail website
The Al-Naseem site in Nafud Hail currently represents the oldest Acheulean sites documented so far in the Kingdom, and the curtain reveals, at the regional level, types of groups of stone tools used by man in the era (Middle Pleistocene), and it is likely that they refer to the repeated return of man to the Arabian Peninsula when it was a meadow. and rivers, as the site contains a deep basin in the middle of which sediments emerge in which archaeological materials from the lower stone age were found, and about 354 pieces of stone axes and various stone chips were collected. And it became clear through the survey that there is a strong correlation between the archaeological materials and the dry lake.
What is the secret of oval and triangular axes?
A press article indicated the similarity of the discovered stone tools with those previously found in the Acheulean sites in the Nafud desert, and some of the pieces indicated that raw materials were brought to the site to make the tools, and some of them were thrown after testing their quality, and some of the pieces were formed before being discarded. Extensive surveys of the project within the range of the Nafud desert indicate that the local quartzite was often used to make other stone tools during the Acheulean period that have not yet been dated, including axes in different shapes, including oval, heart and triangular, in addition to their different sizes, as is the case in other Acheulean sites. In the Nafud Desert, and those Acheulean stone tools at the Naseem site show that they date back to the late (Middle Pleistocene) era, in the range (350 thousand to 250 thousand years); That is, what most likely corresponds to the ninth marine isotope stage when the ice melted in it and lakes were formed in the Nafud desert. The similarity between the Acheulean material at the Naseem site and other undated Acheulean sites in the Nafud desert indicates that the deep fresh water settled in the Nafud desert, such as the Nafud site, contributed to the ease of human spread. And transport him for the fresh water he found and the abundance of fishing around it. The diversity of mammals, large and small, indicates the presence of lakes formed during the periods of snow melting in the An Nafud region, which indicates the spread of animals in the region during the wet stages and their abundance around the water as a source of human livelihood.
the green Island
The Heritage Authority is working with the participation of a group of Saudi experts to complete the scientific project (Green Arabia) in cooperation with their international counterparts from the Max Planck Institute for the Sciences of Human History, which focuses on tracking and studying the climate changes that the Arabian Peninsula has been exposed to throughout the ages, and between the beginning of human settlement In the country and human migration to it across the continents of the ancient world, and the results of previous studies of the project revealed evidence of the existence of thousands of lakes, rivers, forests, and creatures across the island, around which many successive civilizations arose. Because of the mild climate of the Arabian Peninsula at that time.
The most expensive in petroglyphs
The books of ancient history unanimously agreed that the land of the Arabian Peninsula, of which the Kingdom occupies more than 70% of its area, is one of the richest countries in the world in rock art inscriptions, the details of which indicate the existence of human civilizations that existed on its land during prehistoric times, that is, before the discovery of writing, and some of them emerged In rock inscriptions found in: “Al-Hanakiya” in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah region, and “Al-Shuwaimis, Jabba” in the Hail region, which are included in the list of World Heritage Sites of the “UNESCO” organization.
Stations in the march of civilizations
Since its announcement on April 25, 2016, the Kingdom's Vision 2030 has established the ancient heritage and the national heritage in particular as one of the most important basic elements in its development strategy, as a tributary of the national economy in comparison to the historical wealth enjoyed by the Kingdom, which is an extension of the history of nations and civilizations that have succeeded in its land since thousands of years.
The Kingdom's vision called for working to revive the national, Arab, Islamic and ancient heritage sites and register them in the World Heritage List, and to enable everyone to access them on the grounds that they are living evidence of our ancient heritage, and the Kingdom's prominent position on the map of human civilization, including the trade routes that linked the peninsula and its coasts. With the civilizations of the Nile Valley and Mesopotamia, some cities in the Kingdom flourished as a result. And whoever intends to study the ancient history of the Arabian Peninsula, he cannot ignore citing Saudi cities that were considered important stations in the march of ancient civilizations, such as: Hail, Najran, Al-Faw, Taif, Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Al-Ais, Mada’in Saleh, Taima, Tarut, Jabba, and Shuwaimis. and Dumat al-Jandal.
President of the Tourism Development Association for «Okaz»: Hail is rich in successive civilizations
Basheer Alzwaiml (Hail) @bsheerAlzwaiml
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Tourism Development Association in Hail, Majid Al-Jibreen, confirmed that the Hail region is rich in its diverse cultural heritage and the successive discoveries that are made by the Heritage Authority, and this is evidence of the existence of successive civilizations that settled in Hail. He added that the discoveries increase the heritage and cultural heritage of the region, which includes prehistoric sites and sites of inscriptions and rock drawings, on top of which are the sites of Jubbah and Shuwaymis, which were registered as world heritage sites in UNESCO, as well as the effects of some palaces and buildings, some of which have been restored, forts, and other constructed buildings. In the traditional architectural style, as well as the places associated with important personalities such as Hatim Al-Tai, the ancient paths of trade and pilgrimage caravans, and the places visited by European travelers.
Al-Jibreen said that with the presence of these resources, whether heritage, cultural, or other tourism resources, such as the environment and nature, which are considered attractive to large numbers of visitors from inside and outside the Kingdom, there is no integrated tourist destination with all its services. These sites need more effort to highlight and develop them, and to develop tourism patterns. Suitable for the region, and he said that in addition to heritage and culture tourism, there are other types such as sports and adventure tourism, hiking and leisure tourism, which will be elements of attraction for tourists from home and abroad.
Al-Jibreen emphasized that the Tourism Development Association in Hail is working to achieve several goals, which are contributing to providing the necessary facilities for sustainable development of the tourism sector in the region, activating the role of society in tourism development through establishing a positive relationship between society and tourists, spreading awareness and understanding among society, and encouraging The private sector and entrepreneurs to cooperate and coordinate to develop tourism products, and work to provide the necessary facilities to stimulate the sector, as well as work to market tourist destinations and establish attractive marketing and motivational activities and events, in addition to highlighting the resources of these diverse destinations to increase the size of the tourism market in them, and work to qualify and train young men and women To work in the tourism sector, pointing out that all these goals can only be achieved by integrating with the tourism system, whether the Ministry of Tourism, the Saudi Tourism Authority and the Heritage Authority, or through the Hail Region Development Authority, indicating that I see the importance of having an office for tourism management in the region that works to unify efforts and integrate these The concerned authorities as well as the royal reserves such as the King Salman bin Abdulaziz Reserve and the Imam Turki bin Abdullah Reserve, which have a role in developing and operating heritage and tourism sites within the reserves.
Examine the great similarity between the inscriptions
Dr. and researcher Sarah Al-Dossary presented an analytical study for obtaining a PhD from the College of Tourism and Antiquities, Department of Archeology at King Saud University, on (Jibbah style in the Hail region in rock art in the Arabian Peninsula.. an analytical archaeological study). During her field scientific method in the Arabian Peninsula. In her study, the researcher revealed the period of the first lakes that were in the Arabian Peninsula more than 36 thousand years ago, and the last lakes that ranged between 6 thousand – 9 thousand years ago, and showed a great similarity between the inscriptions on the rocks in the areas: Al-Hanakiya, Shuwaymis, Jabba, and the inscriptions found in the farthest countries of the Levant and Iraq, which date back to 13 thousand years ago, that is, during the periods of immigration from the Arabian Peninsula.
The study dealt with the artistic style of Jubbah, with which rocks were carved in the Arabian Peninsula in the prehistoric period, and revealed the presence of great activity for human groups that lived in it, and they were practicing hunting with twisted sticks, bow, arrow, spear, nets, and crossbow, which is a new discovery of rock art in The Arabian Peninsula and beyond, because the oldest crossbow was discovered in China before 600 BC, and this is relatively recent compared to what was found in Jubba.
And Dr. Sarah identified in her study “the period of human living in Jubbah north of Hail” in the prehistoric period on hunting animals and raising cattle, and the status of these animals appeared clearly in his era on the rocks that were found in the research areas in Jubbah, but archaeological evidence has not yet proven what If the human domestication of animals had already occurred in the Jubbah, or if the groups that inhabited it had brought it with them when they settled there after their return from the migration of the Arabian Peninsula.
The researcher Al-Dosari indicated that she found many sites of the Middle Paleolithic Age in Al-Jibbah, indicating that she used in depicting rock art inscriptions the international drawing scale approved by the International Federation of Rock Art Organization IFRAO, and indicated the existence of a population density in that era, which was during a rainy period. Until the lakes dried up, large migrations occurred from the Arabian Peninsula.
Motabalawwd (Hail) @Motabalawwd