One of the largest ancient heritage sites in the world, (Al-Ula, KSA), fragments dating back 4000 BC

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

French article. Just use Google Translate.

SAVOIRS
CARBONE 14, LE MAGAZINE DE L'ARCHÉOLOGIE par Vincent Charpentier
LE DIMANCHE DE 20H30 À 21H00

Al-'Ulâ arrachée des sables ?
13/10/2019

Qui pouvait, voici peu, se targuer de connaître Al-'Ulâ, vallée au cœur de l’Arabie déserte, désormais plus important projet archéologique au monde, et aujourd’hui, objet d’une exposition phare à l’Institut du Monde Arabe ?

Vue générale de la vallée d'Al-'Ulâ (Arabie Saoudite)• Crédits : © Royal Commision for Al-'Ulâ
Entre Médine et Tabuk, à quelques 150 kilomètres de la mer Rouge, Al-'Ulâ, vallée aride du Hejaz parsemée de grès roses, s’avère bien plus qu’un vaste projet archéologique. Elle est, par décret royal, le fleuron de la politique culturelle de l’Arabie saoudite, le fer de lance de l’ouverture du pays au tourisme, axe majeur du programme de réforme du Prince héritier Mohammed Ben Salmane, ouvrant le royaume à une ère post-pétrolière… En témoigne la délivrance des tous premiers visas touristiques depuis fin septembre…

Désormais, une demi-douzaine d’équipes de recherches travaille dans le cadre de l’agence française pour le développement d’Al-'Ulâ, partenariat franco-saoudien signé par Son Altesse Royale le Prince héritier et le président de la République.

Le père Raphaël Savignac réalisant l’estampage d’une inscription gravée sur un tombeau nabatéen, Hégra.• Crédits : © Antonin Jaussen (1871-1962) / 1907 Jérusalem, école biblique et archéologique
Mais remontons le temps ! Dans les pas de l’expédition des pères Jaussen et Savignac qui y œuvrèrent de 1907 à 1910, Laïla Nehmé, archéologue et épigraphiste, directrice de recherche au CNRS, co-directrice -depuis 2002 - de la mission archéologique franco-saoudienne de Madâ'in Sâlih, et commissaire de l’exposition « Al-'Ulâ, merveille d’Arabie » à l’Institut du Monde Arabe, fait aujourd’hui figure de grande pionnière de l’archéologie : l’archéologie nabatéenne…

Nécropoles nabatéennes du Jabal al-Khraymât- Hégra (Vallée d'Al-'Ulâ)• Crédits : © Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Hope Production
Les nabatéens d’Hégra (Madâ'in Sâlih)
Ce que tout le monde connait d’Al-'Ulâ, ce sont assurément les tombeaux monumentaux des élites nabatéennes, du moins leur façade sculptée dans la roche sur le site de Madâ'in Sâlih, véritable Pétra des sables…

La mission franco-saoudienne y a fouillé d’étonnantes tombes, contenant parfois ce qui peut s’apparenter à des momies. Les archéologues ont ainsi pu reconstituer les pratiques funéraires, et traduire les inscriptions gravées sur les mausolées.

Inscriptions nabatéennes sur un rocher• Crédits : © Jabal Ikmah
Issus de Pétra, les nabatéens s’y implantent au Ier siècle avant notre ère commune. Ces nabatéens s’avèrent être au centre du système caravanier de la péninsule arabique, système qui relie l’Arabie Heureuse et les royaumes sudarabiques (actuels Yémen et Dhofar) à l’Arabie Pétrée. La vallée d’Al-'Ulâ et notamment le site d’Hégra (Madâ'in Sâlih) sont donc le carrefour de ces pistes caravanières qui acheminaient les aromates, l’encens et la myrrhe.

Oasis d’Al-'Ulâ • Crédits : © Yann Arthus-Bertrand / Hope Production (2019)
De l’écriture nabatéenne à… l’écriture arabe
Les recherches sur le passé d’Al-'Ulâ ne se limitent pas à l’archéologie. Le volet épigraphique s’avère capital pour découvrir l’onomastique, l’étymologie des noms propres des habitants. Plus de sept mille inscriptions nabatéennes ont été gravées, le plus souvent sur des rochers. La plus récente de celles-ci provient justement d’Hégra et est datée de 356 de notre ère. C’est à partir de cette écriture nabatéenne, et non pas syriaque comme on pouvait le penser, que l’écriture arabe se développa...

>>> Page de présentation de l'exposition Al-'Ulâ, merveille d'Arabie (Institut du Monde Arabe)

AL-'ULÂ THE PLACE OF HERITAGE
par Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Full article in the link below:

Article de Laila Nehmé sur les fouilles dans la région d'Hégra (2013)

https://www.franceculture.fr/emissi...ne-de-larcheologie/al-ula-arrachee-des-sables

Related thread:

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/is-saudi-arabia-the-next-big-heritage-tourism-destination.564522/

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

Related articles:

Discovering Saudi Arabia's hidden archaeological treasures ​

Mada'in Saleh remains a blank page on the archaeological record, closed off by geography, politics, and religion – but this stunning region is about to throw open its doors to the world

• NICHOLAS SHAKESPEARE
• Thursday 7 June 2018 18:12

Mada'in Saleh, the archaeological site with the Nabatean tomb from the first century ( All photographs by Nicholas Shakespeare )
​

Out of the windy darkness a fine sand was blowing across the road from Medina to Al-Ula. Flat desert on either side, a few lights. The Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta passed this way on camel back in 1326, and wrote of its emphatic wilderness: “He who enters it is lost and he who leaves it is born.”

Before mass tourism ruined them for a second time, I’d travelled to the so-called “lost” cities of Petra, Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat. My destination tonight was the isolated sandstone valley eulogised by Charles Doughty, the first European to enter it in 1876, as “the fabulous Mada’in Saleh which I was come from far countries to seek in Arabia”.

The prospect of following in Doughty’s flapping shadow gave me a jolt of anticipation that I hadn’t experienced since my twenties. Doughty’s classic book Arabia Deserta was championed by his friend TE Lawrence, who later used it as a military textbook, as the greatest record of adventure and travel in our language.

It begins with Doughty trying to smuggle himself into Mada’in Saleh in the guise of a poor Syrian pilgrim. Even up until recently few Europeans have visited this cradle of forgotten civilisations, which, though designated a World Heritage Site in 2008, remains a blank page on the archaeological record, closed off by geography, politics, religion.


“Visitors last year from abroad? I can say zero,” my guide Ahmed tells me.

The temples of Mada'in Saleh near Al-Ula have survived for almost 3,000 years

This is set to change. Last July, under the impetus of Saudi Arabia’s progressive new Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, or “MBS” as he is popularly known, a Royal Commission took charge of Mada’in Saleh and its surrounds – “the crown jewel of a site that the country possesses,” says one of the archaeologists recruited to excavate it.

In December, public access was halted; first in order to survey what actually is there, next to develop a strategy for protecting it, and then to open up Mada’in Saleh to the outside world. My advance visit is aimed at providing an amuse-bouche, as it were.

In the bright morning sunlight, Ahmed escorts me through locked gates, past the German-built railway-line linking Damascus with Medina, which Lawrence bombed (“there are still local tribes which call their sons Al-Orans”), to the celebrated Nabatean rock tombs.

Doughty first heard about these in Petra, 300 miles north. Fifty years earlier, an awe-struck British naval commander had gazed in disbelief at Petra’s imperishable Treasury, murmuring, as many continue to do: “There is nothing in the world that resembles it.” He was wrong.

If a little less rosier than her sister city, Mada’in Saleh shares her capacity to stagger. Out of the flat desert, one after another, the ornate facades rise into sight, 111 of them, carved into perpendicular cliffs up to four storeys high, their low doorways decorated by Alexandrian masons in the first century AD, with Greek triangles, Roman pilasters, Arabian flowers, Egyptian sphinxes, birds.

“This is a twin to Petra,” Ahmed says. Except that in Petra we would be bobbing among crowds.

Tour guide Ahmed is descended from a long line of imams

Standing in reverent silence, with the valley to ourselves, I recall how the Victorian artist who supplied the first images of Petra to the world, David Roberts, responded to that other city. “I turned from it at length with an impression which will be effaced only by death.”

These tombs were carved for the Nabatean tribes who ruled this region for 300 years until the Romans annexed them in 106AD. Semi-nomadic pastoralists who had settled and grown wealthy, the Nabateans controlled the lucrative spice route from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.

Then, like the civilisations they’d replaced, the Dedanites, the Lihyanites, the Thamuds, they galloped off into obscurity. Their tombs were looted: the acacia doors plundered for firewood, the marble statues melted to make lime for plaster, the porphyry urns smashed.

All that survives of their caravan city, Hegra, is a flat expanse behind a wire fence: “her clay-built streets are again the blown dust in the wilderness,” Doughty wrote.

The same desolation holds true for the still more ancient Biblical city of Dedan, situated on the lip of an oasis a few minutes drive way. To visit both sites is to gain the sense of a narrative even now being worked out. Until the 20th century the story of these civilisations was scrawled on the rocks in Nabatean or Thamudic script. Ahmed leads me between two steep cliffs to the oldest inscription, written 6,000 years ago.

Saudi Arabia's hidden archaeological treasures

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Tombs in Mada'in Saleh were decorated by Alexandrian masons in the first century with Greek, Roman and Arabian symbols

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The ancient Biblical city of Dedan is situated on the lip of an oasis

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Cliffs formed out of red and black sandstone have eroded into crazy, hallucinatory shapes such as elephants, mushrooms, and seals
Nicholas Shakespeare

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Ancient Dedan inscriptions. Holes in the rock floor denote a sacrificial spot from the time of the Dedanites
Nicholas Shakespeare

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A street in the old town of Al-Ula

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Mada'in Saleh, the archaeological site with the Nabatean tomb from the first century
Nicholas Shakespeare

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Ahmed comes from a long line of imams descended from a grand tribal judge who arrived c1400 in Al Ula’s 'old town'
Nicholas Shakespeare

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The cliffs in the distance: out of the flat desert, one after another, the ornate facades rise into sight, 111 of them, carved into perpendicular cliffs up to four storeys high
Nicholas Shakespeare

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The temples of Mada'in Saleh near Al-Ula have survived for 3,000 years
Nicholas Shakespeare

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'Charles' is scratched on the oat-coloured mud wall not by Charles Doughty but by Prince Charles (in 2015, with his key)
Nicholas Shakespeare

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Al Gharamil

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Mada'in Saleh tombs

Below, a square hole in the rock floor denotes a sacrificial spot from the time of the Dedanites. Ahmed could be speaking of the cavity in the historical record when he says, “They were making sacrifices to one god, Dhu-Ghaibat, which means ‘the one who is absent’.”

Out in the desert, the wind has chiselled its own mysterious deities and hieroglyphs. The scene is stunning. In Petra, which forms part of the same massif, David Roberts threw away his pencil in despair at being able to convey it, believing that the ruins “sink into insignificance when compared with these stupendous rocks”.

It’s hard to disagree. Cliffs formed out of red and black sandstone have eroded into crazy, hallucinatory shapes: elephants, mushrooms, braying seals. If they were transcribed into music, it would be Wagnerian.


They make you believe in mountain gods, I tell Ahmed, who smiles. “I never try smoking weed, but when I hear someone react, I feel like that. It makes you high, naturally.”

For sheer high spirits, no one yields to the British archaeologist I meet that night. Jamie Quartermain is part of an international team employed since March to survey these sites.

A surveyor who pioneered the use of drones, Quartermain says: “We’ve been wanting to get involved here, but Saudi has been a closed shop, a completely untapped reserve."


"The perception is that it’s big, open desert. When I tried to find out anything about it, there was essentially one book. The discovery that there are so many archaeological sites is a big shock for most people. It was a big shock for me.”

Advised by the Royal Commission to expect 450 unexcavated sites, Quartermain estimates the truer number between 6,000-10,000. “The survival of the archaeology is remarkable, some of the best condition remains I’ve ever seen. We’re not finding it close to the surface, it’s above surface, well and truly visible.”

Ancient Dedan inscriptions. Holes in the rock floor denote a sacrificial spot from the time of the Dedanites

Deploying a drone, he has begun creating a three-dimensional textural surface of the area. Already, what he has found is ground-breaking. “You can see all the archaeology jumping out and biting you on the bottom.”


When, aged 20, I visited Petra, sleeping in one of the caves, I talked to the head of the Bdoul tribe, allegedly descendants of the Nabateans, who told me: “We have a saying that the more wealth you have, the more brain cells you need to be able to cope with it.

What impresses about MBS’s plan for Mada’in Saleh is his determination to use his nation’s resources to avoid the pitfalls of Petra.

“Wadi Rum is pretty disastrous,” says Chris Tuttle, an American archaeologist seconded to the project. Tuttle spent many years excavating in Petra. He saw at first hand the ruinous impact of tourism, both on the ruins and the local community.


By contrast, in Al-Ula, the local town for Mada’in Saleh, there has been a concerted drive to educate the locals, giving scholarships to 150 children, but also to attract experts armed with the latest methodol

One reason for the blankness on Saudi Arabia’s archaeological map, says Tuttle, has been the resistance of conservative religious leaders to question their history. “You don’t need to study the past when you’ve been given a manual from God.”

Suddenly, a multi-thousand-year-old story has become an open book, not a closed one, and the revelation it contains could be a complex of sites more significant even than Petra. My guide Ahmed Alimam is a perfect representative of Al-Ula’s past and future. He comes from a long line of imams descended from a grand tribal judge who arrived c1400 in Al Ula’s “old town”


Abandoned in 1983, the year of Ahmed’s birth, this haunting labyrinth of mud houses and twisting streets replaced Dedan and Hegra. It was built using stones from those cities. They can be seen fortifying the occasional doorway.

Ahmed leads the way down an empty street to the house where his parents used to live – collapsed beams, upturned crates. He shows me the mosque, erected over the spot where the Prophet Mohammed stopped in 630AD, and with a goat bone drew in the sand the direction of Medina; Ahmed’s uncle was the last imam.

And a modern inscription: the name “Charles”, scratched on the oat-coloured mud wall not, as momentarily I’d hoped, by Charles Doughty, but by Prince Charles (in 2015, with his key), and below it the Islamic translation.


During the Islamic period, Al-Ula, or El-Ally as Doughty knew it, became an important station on the haj road south, and marked the last place where Christians were permitted to travel. Ibn Battuta described how pilgrim caravans paused here for four days to resupply and wash, and to leave any excess baggage with the townspeople “who are known for their trustworthiness”.

“I hope we are still doing our best to be like that,” Ahmed says. “You can try, if you want, to leave something.”

The only thing I left behind after my four days here was an urge to come back.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...y-alhijir-petra-charles-doughty-a8373686.html

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

An incredible archaeological site in Saudi Arabia is preparing for tourism

ALEX BUTLER
Lonely Planet Writer
12 APRIL 2018

As the notoriously difficult to visit Saudi Arabia begins to open to tourism, the kingdom has announced plans to develop an incredible historic site in a bid to attract travellers.


A Saudi man walking near ancient tombs at the Khuraiba archaeological site near Saudi Arabia’s northwestern town of al-Ula. Image by FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images
Al-Ula, a region home to the ancient Nabataean city and Unesco World Heritage Site Madain Saleh, will be developed for tourism after a new agreement was signed between France and Saudi Arabia. With the help of France, the country plans to protect and promote the site, while developing sustainable tourism in the area, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

Madain Saleh, originally called Hegra, was the southern Nabataean capital, while Petra was the northern capital. It was part of an important route for travel and trade for thousands of years and was a crossroads for many cultures. It is home to 131 tombs, some of which are carved dramatically into the rock faces.


A Saudi man standing at the entrance of a tomb at Madain Saleh, a UNESCO World Heritage site, near Saudi Arabia’s northwestern town of al-Ula. Image by FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images
Saudi Arabia announced last year that it planned to start opening its doors to travellers with the creation of a tourist visa. Previously, visas could only be obtained for pilgrims, those travelling for business, and those with family in the country. Saudi Arabia had also announced that it planned to relax its strict religious laws in some areas, like at a beach resort specifically designed for travellers.

Now, the country will work with France to develop tourism infrastructure to support the historic sites of Al-Ula and “enable local, regional and international visitors to Al-Ula to experience the richness of Saudi Arabia’s cultural heritage, Arabian civilizations and local values.” The agreement covers areas like archaeological heritage preservation, hospitality development that promotes sustainable tourism, cultural and artistic offerings, and more. By bringing French experience and expertise to the project, the agreement hopes to create tourism that meets strict environmental standards of ecotourism and involves the local communities as beneficiaries of the development of tourism.


Madain Saleh, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Image by FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images
As part of the agreement, the Arab World Institute in Paris will also host an exhibition on Al-Ula’s civilizations opening in spring 2019. It will be the first city in the world to display the exhibition, which follows the region’s history from ancient times up to the current efforts.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/2018/04/12/al-ula-saudi-arabia-tourism/

5000 year old statue, larger than any known Mesopotamian statues or any other statues from that far back:

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

Amazing modern concert hall in ancient Al-Ula, Hijaz.



18 million views:

Almost 100.000 foreign tourists visited KSA in less than 20 days after tourism visas on arrival/pre-arrival were opened up for almost 50 countries. Of those around 15.000 Chinese tourists visited. All this despite the lack of a large developed tourism sector infrastructure (yet), Yemen conflict, regional instability and tons of bad PR. So imagine what can happen once those obstacles will be removed because they eventually will be.

The Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 goal (very ambitious) is to have some 100 million foreign annual visitors, this includes pilgrims during Hajj and Umrah. As of today KSA is in the top 15 of most visited countries by foreigners but that is mostly religious visitors, workers and transit (people who stay for 1 day or a bit more).

In any case I expect Al-Ula to be a major tourist attraction. Just hope that it won't be a hugely overcrowded site nor damaged due to the large human presence. What kept all of the many heritage sites in KSA in such an amazing condition given their age, was climate, geography, often isolated locations and small human presence. Will be interesting to see what will occur in the future.

Hope as many people will visit, even those who hate KSA and Arabs. Maybe they will change their misconceptions. I am actually quite convinced of this for the most part. Alas, just some interesting articles for those of us who don't want to waste our times discussing toxic Middle Eastern politics 24/7 on this cursed section, lol.

Final 3 nice photos;

Imagine the potential of the average pilgrim visiting during Hajj and Umrah being allowed (now) to travel across KSA or in the vicinity of Makkah and Madinah (Hijaz) where there is tons to see. Modern high-speed railway soon to be completed, more, better, larger and more frequent airport connections etc. will add to the regional and national (KSA is a huge country with extremely challenging geography) connectivity. People visiting countries next door (Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Palestine etc.) will in the future be able to visit KSA much more easily. People sitting in Sinai next door can travel across the Gulf of Aqaba and visit NEOM in the future etc.

80% of the world's population not more than 8 hours away (flight) from KSA too. On the crossroads of 3 continents almost (Asia, Africa and Europe). The Mediterranean next door. Red Sea, Arabian Sea/Indian Ocean, Gulf etc. Anyway regional stability and peace is crucial for every regional state to fulfill its potentials. KSA is no different. Hence why the Yemen civil war should end as soon as possible. Another country in Arabia with tons of potential for tourism. Socotra Islands alone are Asia's equivalent of the Galapagos Islands. Anyway enough of blabbering.

 

[Philip the Arab]

@ArabianEmpires&Caliphates
I think you have probably heard the news about Turkish offensive so I would like to ask you what your take on it is? Do you support it?

 

[gangsta_rap]

assyrian sun disk

 

[RIP Pak LAW]

Tribe of Thamud (Quam-e-Salih).They were tall and very strong people (probably giants). Were destroyed after She-camel incident.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saleh

 

[HAIDER]

Amazing modern concert hall in ancient Al-Ula, Hijaz.



18 million views:

Almost 100.000 foreign tourists visited KSA in less than 20 days after tourism visas on arrival/pre-arrival were opened up for almost 50 countries. Of those around 15.000 Chinese tourists visited. All this despite the lack of a large developed tourism sector infrastructure (yet), Yemen conflict, regional instability and tons of bad PR. So imagine what can happen once those obstacles will be removed because they eventually will be.

The Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 goal (very ambitious) is to have some 100 million foreign annual visitors, this includes pilgrims during Hajj and Umrah. As of today KSA is in the top 15 of most visited countries by foreigners but that is mostly religious visitors, workers and transit (people who stay for 1 day or a bit more).

In any case I expect Al-Ula to be a major tourist attraction. Just hope that it won't be a hugely overcrowded site nor damaged due to the large human presence. What kept all of the many heritage sites in KSA in such an amazing condition given their age, was climate, geography, often isolated locations and small human presence. Will be interesting to see what will occur in the future.

Hope as many people will visit, even those who hate KSA and Arabs. Maybe they will change their misconceptions. I am actually quite convinced of this for the most part. Alas, just some interesting articles for those of us who don't want to waste our times discussing toxic Middle Eastern politics 24/7 on this cursed section, lol.

Final 3 nice photos;

Imagine the potential of the average pilgrim visiting during Hajj and Umrah being allowed (now) to travel across KSA or in the vicinity of Makkah and Madinah (Hijaz) where there is tons to see. Modern high-speed railway soon to be completed, more, better, larger and more frequent airport connections etc. will add to the regional and national (KSA is a huge country with extremely challenging geography) connectivity. People visiting countries next door (Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Palestine etc.) will in the future be able to visit KSA much more easily. People sitting in Sinai next door can travel across the Gulf of Aqaba and visit NEOM in the future etc.

80% of the world's population not more than 8 hours away (flight) from KSA too. On the crossroads of 3 continents almost (Asia, Africa and Europe). The Mediterranean next door. Red Sea, Arabian Sea/Indian Ocean, Gulf etc. Anyway regional stability and peace is crucial for every regional state to fulfill its potentials. KSA is no different. Hence why the Yemen civil war should end as soon as possible. Another country in Arabia with tons of potential for tourism. Socotra Islands alone are Asia's equivalent of the Galapagos Islands. Anyway enough of blabbering.

Excellent info , but KSA govt recently activate tourism. Do you have info of any group organizer ... not very expensive. These sites are very much scattered all over KSA. Or these area has any restriction , if anyone rent a car and travel on those sites ?

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

@ArabianEmpires&Caliphates
I think you have probably heard the news about Turkish offensive so I would like to ask you what your take on it is? Do you support it?

I know. Already participated in the thread on this section of PDF. I support it because it aids the local Syrian Arabs who were forced to leave their homes due to Kurdish terrorism. Provided that Syria's territorial integrity will be respected too but have in mind that the Al-Assad regime has turned Syria into a regional brothel and are to blame for the current situation of Syria. The Al-Assad regime has no legitimacy left. Mistakes were committed by the Syrian opposition, Arab countries, Turkey etc. as well. Anyway it is off-topic so I prefer not to derail this informative thread. Just support our Syrian brethren and hope for the best for them as always. For the civil war to end first and foremost and for rebuilding to take place with Arab help and involvement which is already occurring. Read not long ago that Saudi Arabian firms are helping rebuilt areas in Syria.

assyrian sun disk

Actually large areas of KSA were part of the various Assyrian and Mesopotamian empires and civilizations and even as far back as the Babylonians who had their winter capital in the ancient city of Tayma (one of the oldest cities in the world) in modern-day KSA.

What you refer to as the Assyrian sun disk is actually an ancient Semitic pagan religious element and have in mind that the Semitic people who founded the empires of Mesopotamia and Sham and elsewhere (Egypt) migrated from Arabia. The Urheimat of Semites is probably Hijaz/Northern Arabia and the borderlands of Arabia/Sham/Mesopotamia.

Phoenicians traced their ancestry to Eastern Arabia as well. Wrote about it too. Contrary to popular belief, modern-day Lebanese are some of the "most" Semitic people out there in terms of DNA.

Even the Sumerians (not-Semitic speakers but speaking a language isolate like the Elamites next door) traced their ancestry to Eastern Arabia (Dilmun) that they considered as the "Garden of Paradise". So Dilmun is actually the motive for that ancient story.

Remember that modern-day Southern Iraq was under water pre-Sumerian times.

Oldest story (epic of Gilgamesh) is also partially about Dilmun (modern-day Eastern KSA and Bahrain).

Recently another Dilmun site in Bahrain was declared a World UNESCO Heritage site.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Semitic_religion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilmun

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tayma

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilmun_Burial_Mounds

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qal'at_al-Bahrain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh

Tribe of Thamud (Quam-e-Salih).They were tall and very strong people (probably giants). Were destroyed after She-camel incident.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saleh

The Thamud civilization in ancient Hijaz, is one of the most interesting but least explored (for now) civilizations and ancient peoples. A lot of new impressive archaeological sites have been discovered in recent years after KSA opened more up for archaeology. In many ways, KSA is the largest open museum in the world that is yet not fully discovered.

Due to the largely arid climate, archeological sites are in phenomenal condition most of the time despite the ancient age.

Not even 1% has been discovered as archaeological experts have stated in some of the articles that I posted in this thread.

Excellent info , but KSA govt recently activate tourism. Do you have info of any group organizer ... not very expensive. These sites are very much scattered all over KSA. Or these area has any restriction , if anyone rent a car and travel on those sites ?

You can do all of the above and more. I am not an expert as I don't have anything to do with tourism in KSA or tourist guiding but it should be very easy to find information about that stuff on the internet. If you are based in the US you can easily visit the Saudi Arabian embassies or consulates. Or get in touch with Saudi Arabians in the US. I am sure that they will help you.

Not aware of any particular restrictions but heard that some heritage sites are closed for periods of the year if archaeologists are excavating and there are tons of archaeological excavations in KSA nowadays so those sights might be off for tourists, locals included. If I were you, I would visit KSA in a few years time when a real vibrant tourist infrastructure and sector has been established and some of the giant tourist projects completed.

Then you could combine archaeological/heritage site visits (let's say you prefer to stay in Hijaz and the immediate region) with say an tropical island paradise experience in the Red Sea, later for nature sightseeing (mountains, desert, volcanoes, steppe, lowland, highland, traditional villages) and Umrah/Hajj (religious tourism). NEOM too maybe if that will be finished before 2030.

Also try to avoid traveling to most of KSA (not all) between middle of May to middle of September. Some 4 months. That is if you don't like high temperatures but you should be used to that from Pakistan. This is more relevant for people coming to visit from cold climates. This goes for most of the Middle East anyway but heard about some visitors visiting KSA in the middle of August and July. Not the best time to travel around the country during the day.

 

[gangsta_rap]

What you refer to as the Assyrian sun disk is actually an ancient Semitic pagan religious element and have in mind that the Semitic people who founded the empires of Mesopotamia and Sham and elsewhere (Egypt) migrated from Arabia. The Urheimat of Semites is probably Hijaz/Northern Arabia and the borderlands of Arabia/Sham/Mesopotamia.

nah just making an observation. These images in particular:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DQwoFwOVAAAGOdt.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5ft9sDW0AMgBky.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D1om--vXQAA9qPe.jpg

On first glance you would think that this is from northern iraq (Nineveh plains or whatnot). Very interesting to see something that on face value appears 'purely' Mesopotamian was found in modern day KSA...

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

nah just making an observation. These images in particular:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DQwoFwOVAAAGOdt.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5ft9sDW0AMgBky.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D1om--vXQAA9qPe.jpg

On first glance you would think that this is from northern iraq (Nineveh plains or whatnot). Very interesting to see something that on face value appears 'purely' Mesopotamian was found in modern day KSA...

Same civilization sphere, Semitic civilization, geography (Near East, Southwest Asia), no existence of the current modern borders, there being no natural barrier/border between KSA/Arabia and Iraq/Mesopotamia, hence why Northern KSA is sometimes grouped as greater Sham/Mesopotamia, similarly how Southern Iraq and Western Iraq (Al-Anbar) is included in Arabia. For instance historical Arabia, includes Southern Sham (Jordan, Southern Syria, the entire Syrian Desert, meaning most of Eastern and Western Iraq), Southern Iraq etc.

That and the same ancient pre-Abrahamic Semitic religions and symbols being used. Ancient migrations from and to those regions as well.

Connectivity between say Hijaz, Northern Arabia, Najd and neighboring regions (Egypt, Sham, Mesopotamia etc.) was far greater than say connectivity between those Arabian regions and the utmost Southern Arabia, case in point why you still have pockets in Yemen and Oman where ancient Southern Semitic languages are spoken.

When you study ancient history, you need to keep modern day politics, modern day borders etc. out of the discussion. Sometimes hard to do as we tend to look at history from today's perspective. Case in point people not grasping the simple concept of something as simple as the age of marriage being different everywhere in the world say 1400 years ago than it is today regardless of religion, culture, civilization etc.

I mentioned Tayma (Northern Hijaz) being a summer capital of various Mesopotamian rulers, there was a German documentary on Youtube made about that not many years ago.

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

Amazing video below:

@dani92

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

Uncovering secrets of mystery civilization in Saudi Arabia

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49424036

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]