Ancient Rock Art Reveals Early Human Life in Saudi Arabia

Archaeologists discovered 12,000-year-old rock art in Saudi Arabia, challenging previous assumptions about early human habitation and revealing advanced culture and adaptation to harsh desert conditions.

Notably, these depictions were commonly of male camels with distinct lumps around their necks that they create during the mating season and thick winter season fur. This suggests that the ancient water resources might have developed in wintertime, and may have also symbolized the strength of these animals to the harsh setting, the writers hypothesized in their study.

They also located arrow points, bladelets and stone grains; but “this isn’t simply a handful of arrowheads,” Guagnin claimed. A community lived in the region and crafted tools and ornaments typical of the Natufian culture in the Levant, numerous miles away around the eastern Mediterranean. “They were in contact with the Levant somehow across hundreds of kilometers,” she stated, and discovered the latest devices and tools.

When they showed up, one colleague wandered off to check out the area and uncovered “the first big excitement,” a rock formation with ancient art surrounding a pool of water, Guagnin said. And on the other side of the mountain were the remains of an old lake.

Discovery of Ancient Rock Art Sites

At the byroad in between Africa and Asia, Arabia was a key migration route for early humans, with research study released April 9 in the journal Nature verifying the area undertook numerous “damp episodes” that enabled these dispersals. Yet there previously was no proof of human profession in north Arabia in between completion of the Last Glacial Optimum (around 25,000 to 20,000 years ago), the coldest period throughout the last ice age, and around 10,000 years earlier. Because it was also arid to endure, Scientist presumed the location had been abandoned.

Sophie is a U.K.-based personnel writer at Live Scientific research. She covers a wide range of subjects, having formerly reported on research extending from bonobo interaction to the very first water in deep space. Her work has actually also appeared in electrical outlets including New Researcher, The Viewer and BBC Wildlife, and she was shortlisted for the Association of British Scientific Research Writers’ 2025 “Newbie of the Year” honor for her freelance work at New Scientist. Prior to becoming a science journalist, she completed a doctorate in transformative anthropology from the University of Oxford, where she spent 4 years checking out why some chimps are better at making use of tools than others.

The archaeologists excavated straight below 4 camel engravings to try to establish their age. They discovered over 1,200 stones, 16 pet bone pieces and three hearths. The group dated these using luminescence dating, a strategy that measures when sediments were last revealed to warm and sunlight, and radiocarbon dating, which measures the proportion of different variations of carbon.

Dating the Rock Art and Tools

The group consequently discovered 62 rock art panels with 176 engravings across the three sites, with some engraved right into substantial cliff encounters 128 feet (39 meters) up. The inscriptions were mainly of life-sized pets, mostly camels.

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Most importantly, “some things are imported but after that some points are distinct,” study co-author Michael Petraglia, an archaeologist at Griffith University in Australia, informed Live Scientific research. These people were additionally establishing their very own society, with the rock art having symbolic significance in addition to being clear ways of marking routes to water sources, he claimed.

Significance of the Rock Art Findings

There previously was no evidence of human line of work in north Arabia between the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (around 25,000 to 20,000 years ago), the coldest duration throughout the last ice age, and around 10,000 years back. The team dated these using luminescence dating, a method that determines when sediments were last subjected to heat and sunlight, and radiocarbon dating, which gauges the ratio of various variations of carbon.

Environmental Changes and Human Adaptation

An analysis of the debris in the dried up water resources exposed the region had actually ended up being much more moist starting around 16,000 to 13,000 years back, developing seasonal lakes. This exploration represents the earliest proof of enhanced moisture in north Arabia after the Last Antarctic Maximum.

“This is a very interesting study exposing a component of Saudi Arabian history that has until now not been readily noticeable,” Hugh Thomas, an archaeologist concentrating on Saudi Arabia at the University of Sydney who was not involved in the study, informed Live Scientific research in an email. He said that these results reveal that “the whole area was populated which also at this time, it was an interconnected landscape.”

At one excavation site, the camels’ legs had been obscured by layers of debris. When they dug, the group were surprised to locate the rock tool most likely in charge of producing the work of art, which they dated to around 12,200 years back. This provides “an indirect date for the engraving,” the authors created in the research study.

The rock art can have likewise significant old traveling paths or perhaps signified the region of a group and its intergenerational memory, the scientists said. These searchings for inevitably show that “humans were able to survive in the desert really at an early stage, a lot earlier than we thought and in much harsher conditions than we assumed,” study co-author Maria Guagnin, an excavator at limit Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Germany, informed Live Scientific research.

Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia have actually uncovered 12,000-year-old life-sized pet etchings– “significant rock art” that dates to over 2,000 years before humans were thought to remain in the region, a new research study locates.

These very sensible depictions of camels and other creatures were most likely culturally significant for these hunter-gatherers, and probably worked as waymarkers to assist people locate oases that popped up when the location ended up being wetter beginning with 16,000 to 13,000 years earlier, the scientists created in the research study, which was published Tuesday (Sept. 30) in the journal Nature Communications.

When they dug down, the team were astonished to discover the stone device likely accountable for producing the masterpiece, which they dated to around 12,200 years back. Her job has also appeared in electrical outlets including New Scientist, The Observer and BBC Wild Animals, and she was shortlisted for the Association of British Scientific Research Writers’ 2025 “Novice of the Year” award for her freelance job at New Scientist. Before becoming a science journalist, she completed a doctorate in evolutionary anthropology from the University of Oxford, where she spent 4 years looking at why some chimps are better at using tools than others.

Now, complying with a pointer from local amateur excavators regarding a huge item of rock art, scientists have actually discovered 3 previously unidentified websites in the southerly Nafud Desert in north Saudi Arabia that overthrow that assumption.