One of the largest concentrations of ancient tombs discovered in KSA from space

[somebozo]

a friend of mine trenching in makkah for railway communication lines hit a treasure trove of ancient artifacts and idols and took some home with him...

 

[Sargon of Akkad]

Well @Sargon of Akkad even sub Saharan African have some degree of neantederal genome due to reverse migration of Eurasian into Africa about 5000 to 3000 year ago as a result they have 0.3 to 0.7 percent of neantederal genom .that's less than any other place but its still there . .
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34479905

Also

Well, that might very well be the case. However as that BBC article states it is probably only due to very recent (compared to the earliest) migration back into Ethiopia (Horn of Africa as a whole) from the Arabian Peninsula and wider Middle East to a smaller degree. This might explain why, in particular, the Semitic-speaking populations of the Ethiopian (Eritrea too) highlands such as the Amhara, Tigray, Tigrinya, Tigre and Gurage (collectively known as Habesha people) have a lot of Caucasian/Euroasian (West Asian) admixture in their DNA genome. They also often have West Asian (Arab) facial features and do in general look different on average than the Cushitic speakers of Ethiopia.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2011/01/the-genetic-affinities-of-ethiopians/#.V7M9p1eYU00

Many of our Afro-Arabs are Habesha people.

If you ask me they are some of the most beautiful women in the world but that is another topic, lol.

However I have a hard time believing that native African populations in Central Africa and Southern Africa have much Neanderthal DNA if any.

BTW have you ever taken a DNA test? Is there a interest for such a thing in Iran?

Anyway 3000-5000 years is not that many generations if you think about it. That's around 150-100 generations back.

a friend of mine trenching in makkah for railway communication lines hit a treasure trove of ancient artifacts and idols and took some home with him...

You should tell your fried to contact the authorities (SCTH) immediately so those artifacts can be returned.

10.000 artifacts were returned not that long ago by a few American expats alone.

Americans honored for returning Saudi treasures ​

JEDDAH: ARAB NEWS | Published — Monday 31 December 2012

Seven US citizens have taken the initiative to return a number of Saudi artifacts, which they possessed for decades and were of great value, to the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA).
The Americans were copiously honored by Prince Sultan bin Salman, SCTA president, at the opening ceremony of the three-month-long exhibition “Roads of Arabia: Archaeology and History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”, which was opened on Nov. 15.
The citizens who returned the artifacts are “Sons of Aramco”, said Janet Smith, wife of the US Ambassador to the Kingdom James Smith. “They were born and lived in the Kingdom with their parents, who were working for Saudi Aramco, and are now part of the Alumni Association Aramco families and retirees, which includes people between the ages of 5-90 years,” she said.
Barbara Denis Martin, one of the honorees, said that she was born in the Kingdom and lived there until she was 20, so she considers it to be her second homeland.
“When I was a child, I used to go camping with my family out of the urban area. The desert was fascinating with its wild flora and fauna. Moreover, there were wide ranges of thousand-year pottery spread. We used to spend hours exploring, and managed to find many artifacts that emerged due to wind erosion. We could gather a collection of 60-70 pottery and glass pieces, some intact, others shriveled. We were aware of their archaeological value, but they wouldn’t be given much appreciation by nationals back then, so we kept them at our homes. Years later, we went back to America and took them to boastfully show them in our America-based houses,” Martin declared.
Louis Wolfram, speaking about her story with Saudi monuments, said: “I was accustomed to collecting pottery items from the Kingdom’s prairies, where I used to go to on excursions when I was a child. One day I went with my family to Jubail on a trip, and I found there a green pottery piece that was half sunk in the sand, so I dug it out and then removed more sand layers in the same location to find a two-handled ceramic pot. We took both pieces with us home and kept them in care for years.”
Lucile Lynn, from Florida, recalled her memories in the Kingdom, when they used to spend hours with her two daughters out of Aramco employees’ residential area. They were hiking around freely, when they found a number of historical artifacts.
About retrieving the artifacts, Barbara Martin said: “I was not aware of the real number of all artifacts we found, until I visited my father’s house last year to clean it and found out that they were too many, feeling happy that I could get them back home.”
Arthur Clark, associate editor of Aramco World magazine, said: “Our invitation for retrieval of Saudi artifacts was widely responded, encouraged by the initiative of Prince Sultan bin Salman. We could contact Aramco sons and organized several meetings with them to inform them about the initiative for returning and restoring these artifacts to be displayed in the Kingdom’s under-construction museums.”
This invitation was addressed to Saudis and non-Saudis all over the world to restore these monuments to their homeland, Clark said.
“Sons of Aramco” could take care of them for years before the modern Saudi urban development. Now, with all the regulations and laws issued by the SCTA, theses artifacts will be well appreciated and taken more care of in their homeland.
The agreement got its fruit by encouraging numerous governmental associations and individuals to retrieve more than 3,000 artifacts from within the country and more than 14,000 from all over the world. The returned treasures were exhibited in the Riyadh National Museum, as a feature of an exhibition was held under the aegis of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.

http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/americans-honored-returning-saudi-treasures

Check out this great article from AramcoWorld

http://www.aramcoworld.com/en-US/Articles/March-2016/Returning-Treasures-to-the-Kingdom

Over 10,000 artifacts retrieved ​

Author
P.K. Abdul Ghafour | Arab News
Publication Date:
Thu, 2009-12-24

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia has retrieved more than 10,000 of its artifacts from other countries, Prince Sultan bin Salman, chairman of Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), said on Wednesday.

“Retrieving antiquities has now become a national issue,” he said, adding that the government would continue its efforts to bring back Saudi artifacts scattered across the world.

He said an exhibition of the recovered antiquities would be held soon.

Prince Sultan said the SCTA with the cooperation of other government agencies would prevent the theft of antiquities, especially the ones from the Islamic heritage sites in Makkah and Madinah.

He disclosed plans to establish a major Islamic and national museum at Al-Khozam Palace in Jeddah and a Qur’an museum in Madinah.

Efforts are also under way to establish 12 new museums in other parts of the country, he said.

“We have so far licensed more than 70 private museums in the Kingdom and will soon start providing financial support to such museums in association with banks and other public and private agencies,” he told a gathering at the residence of Abdul Maqsood Khoja, a prominent Jeddah businessman.

Prince Sultan said the Kingdom would host the first international conference on architectural heritage on April 18.

“We have received requests from at least eight world exhibition centers to display Saudi antiquities,” he pointed out. He also said that the SCTA was working on setting up a company with the private sector to develop heritage hotels.

“The commission is committed to bringing about a qualitative change in people’s perception of national heritage and antiquities,” the prince added.

“Saudi Arabia is replete with a large number of valuable antiquities and protection of these artifacts is a national duty,” he said, adding that the Kingdom would not tolerate smuggling of antiquities.

He said registration of heritage sites at UNESCO would take years, adding that the registration of Madain Saleh took four years.

“We have presented an application to UNESCO to register the historical area of Jeddah and we hope it would be voted on after two years,” he said. “We are now working on a number of programs to develop Old Jeddah into an architectural heritage site of international importance. We are facing a lot of challenges.”

Efforts are under way to renovate old palaces built during the Saudi era.

“We have completed renovation of 90 percent of these palaces and turned them into cultural centers and museums,” he pointed out.

http://www.arabnews.com/node/331666

Considering the "lawlessness" on this field we can easily conclude that this number is many, many times higher. I believe that locals have not returned 20 times that number. At least. If such things are not even fixed today what can we then expect?

He found them during the construction (not finished) of the Makkah-Madinah railway, right? Even more pathetic if true.

 

[Al-Andalus]

Arabian archeology images revealed from the air

Ancient rock camps, cairns, tombs, traps and more, appear in the hundreds of thousands in aerial views of the Arabian desert.
​

The structures are very hard to see from the ground, but apparent when seen flying over the desert.

Here's a sampling of archeological views of the structures increasingly observed from "harrat" volcanic rock regions and a Q&A with study leader David Kennedy of the University of Western Australia in Perth:

First, here's a map of the harrat regions of the Arabian desert, to start off the Q& A.

Q: Who were the 'Old Men' of the Arabian Desert? Did the same culture make all these structures?

A: Several western travellers in 'Arabia' in the 19th century onwards asked beduin about some of the stone-built structures they could see and were told they were the 'work of the old men/ old people'. By that the beduin meant they were pre-Islamic – not part (they thought) of an Islamic tradition. The term was given a high profile when Flt Lt Maitland of the RAF published an article in 1927 called 'The Works of the Old Men' in Arabia, about the stone structures he saw as he flew over the Jordanian Panhandle.

Dating the structures is problematic although prehistorians date various structures to periods ranging from the 7th millennium BC down to the Early Roman period (1st c. BC to 3rd c. AD). There is no reason to think these structures are all part of a single long cultural episode. Indeed, as an Aerial Archaeologist I can see that a site type B often overlies site type A but never the other way round. And, of course, some burial cairns are frequently associated with Safaitic graffito which are dated to the Early Roman period.

Q. What was the function of the keyhole tombs? Were they family groupings of burials?

A: The type is very unusual. A few examples had been seen in Saudi Arabia half a century ago at least but now a view from space of large areas has revealed they are extremely common in west central Arabia around Khaybar and Al-Hiyat. They occur most commonly alongside tracks leading to settlements and are interspersed with what seem to be simple burial Cairns and the cairn with tail we call Pendants. So my guess is they are funerary or commemorative. The shape is only paralleled – to my knowledge, in the keyhole tombs of Korea and Japan. In crude terms they mimic the form of the numerous animal traps called Kites …. but a form found hundreds of miles to the north in Jordan and Syria rather than the variant seen in the region of the Keyholes.

Most Keyholes are found as single structures though often with others nearby; a few overlap one another to create an amalgam.

Q. The more recent paper suggests a very large number of these structures exist. What conservation efforts are needed for them at this point?

A: The huge numbers and the great extent of the region over which these Works are found – from northern Syria to Yemen, is their greatest source of vulnerability: it will seem acceptable to allow development to sweep away or damage examples simply because there are still many more. We can already see numerous examples of Kites – to take the physically largest category, which have been damaged recently including in quite remote desert areas and comparison of aerial photos of the 1950s with the same region today has revealed that dozens of Kites in one region alone have been removed entirely by agriculture during the intervening half century.

Conservation will require – ultimately, an international effort by Syria, Jordan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman. In the immediate future individual countries need to recognize the existence and significance of these Works … and that they are steadily disappearing. That in turn requires the definition of What and Where and the only feasible – i.e. cost-effective, way is to use aerial and satellite imagery as the APAAME project is doing in Jordan and testing elsewhere when only satellite imagery is available. Identifying, photographing to create a permanent record and mapping is the underpinning for research by experts. This is unlikely to halt the rapid growth and development in these countries but it will help to slow a process. It is urgent that this be pursued.

Q: From an archaeologist's viewpoint, what are the key questions raised by the structures? What should be done in terms of investigation?

A: There is no complete agreement on two key questions: When were they built? and What for? Dating the structures is very difficult and few prehistorians have ever worked in these areas. The interpretation of aerial imagery to determine associations and relationships of structures over a wide area can point to at least relative chronologies – e.g. Wheels overlie Kites but never vice versa therefore Wheels are probably younger than Kites.

Some Cairns are plainly burial sites. Some Kites seem clearly to be intended to trap animals but others are more puzzling – very complex, located in puzzling places and existing in huge numbers – over-kill. Wheels have been viewed as domestic ('houses') but explaining their form is problematic. Pendants do seem to be funerary – a burial Cairn and small commemorative cairns creating a tail. Gates are not explained – though now over 100 have been identified.

And a natural question is: Why there? In some of the more inhospitable parts of Inner Arabia? Was the climate (and environment) more favourable in the distant past?

Aerial imagery can take research so far but is NOT an end – merely a means to an end. What is needed is more intensive and extensive field research by experts who may be in a better position if armed with extensive detailed mapping and preliminary interpretation.

Q: Some of the more puzzling features you describe as perhaps monumental art. Are there other explanations for them? Salvaged trap walls, pens or the like?

A: I am thinking of some Kites whose tails are so complex that it is hard to see how they could have functioned as traps. And some Walls run in a meandering fashion across the landscape for kilometres in some cases. Investigated on the ground their precise locations may reveal a mundane practical explanation – which I would prefer. But there are others that seem to be simply a tangle of intersecting walls and in one case walls forming a saw-tooth pattern.

Q:. How surprising is it that Google Earth has opened this window on antiquity? Is it a function of the desert throwing these structures into relief (compared to say Maya ruins under a tree canopy)?

A: Not really surprising as the quality of the highest-resolution imagery is superb and can rival traditional vertical photography. And it is in colour and part of an easily explored seamless-photography over immense areas. Google Earth offers the best tool at the moment in terms of extent and quality but Bing Maps now has a growing archive of superb imagery although it is far less user-friendly than Google Earth.

The role of Aerial Archaeology in Europe in revealing tens of thousands of hitherto unknown archaeological sites transformed our understanding of the past. Most were sites only visible from the air, revealed as crop or vegetation marks. The Works are all structures on the surface in regions with little vegetation to obscure them. They can be seen at ground level but are often unintelligible … until you get up high.

Q: What regions would you most like a Google Earth view of?

A: More of what we already have. The number of high-resolution 'windows' onto the landscape of Saudi Arabia is still limited; most imagery is too poor for our purposes. We need the high-resolution coverage to be considerably extended and ideally to be as good as the best quality now available on Bing.

As soon as digging takes place ancient secrets come to life. I can only imagine that we have only seen a tiny, tiny bit so far considering the fact that less than 0,001% of the Saudi Arabian territory has been excavated by archaeologists, local as foreign.

We are talking about the second longest inhabited area of the planet by humans outside of Eastern Africa and the climate was vastly different just 5000 years ago. There is much to look forward to for historians and archaeologists across the world.

a friend of mine trenching in makkah for railway communication lines hit a treasure trove of ancient artifacts and idols and took some home with him...

He should return those ancient artifacts immediately.

 

[somebozo]

He should return those ancient artifacts immediately.

Nah he is keeping a handful of them as a trophy!

The problem with archaeology in Arabia is that it is a treasure trove of pagan past which the mutaween would hate to expose...and off-course Judaism would be everywhere...!

 

[Aryzin]

The Arabian landmass will certainly have a fantastic amount of artifacts going back way more than 7000 years. The peninsula was a transit area for all hominids out of Africa. I would love to hear more about Saudi archeological site. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Al-Andalus]

Nah he is keeping a handful of them as a trophy!

The problem with archaeology in Arabia is that it is a treasure trove of pagan past which the mutaween would hate to expose...and off-course Judaism would be everywhere...!

Is he an local or an expat? Not that it matters aside from such behavior being worse if he was an local. In any case he should return those artifacts. As for the mutaween, they have no such authority. Especially not as long as Prince Sultan is around. In fact I have never seen them anywhere outside of the cities and recently their powers were reduced significantly which I am sure that you have heard about. Besides their presence was always the strongest in Najd, mainly Riyadh.

Don't forget Christian history as well. For instance the Jubail Church from the beginning of the 4th century in the Eastern Province is one of the oldest churches in the world and it remains closed off. As do other church ruins across KSA.

Speaking about archaeology.

Does this finger prove our ancestors left Africa earlier than believed? 90,000-year-old human bone discovered in Saudi Arabia​

• The bone is the middle section of the middle finger, measuring 1.2 inches
• It was found near to the northwestern city of Tayma in Saudi Arabia
• It could be the oldest trace of human life in the Arabian Peninsula
• This could prove that humans ventured out of Africa earlier than believed

By SHIVALI BEST FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 16:58 GMT, 19 August 2016 | UPDATED: 17:11 GMT, 19 August 2016

Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia believe they have discovered the Middle East’s oldest human bone during an excavation.

The bone is the middle section of the middle finger of a human that scientists claim lived 90,000-years-ago.

If this estimate is correct, it would make the bone the oldest trace of human life in the Arabian Peninsula and predate the time when humans are thought to have migrated out of Africa to spread around the world.

Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia believe they have discovered the Middle East’s oldest human bone during an excavation. The bone is the middle section of the middle finger of a human who was thought to live 90,000 years ago

According to London-based newspaper, Asharg Al-Awsat, the discovery is 'considered an important achievement for the Saudi researchers who participated in these missions and one of the most important outcomes of Prince Sultan’s support and care for the archaeology sector in the Kingdom.'

The researches claim this is the old human bone found in the Middle East.

The bone found in Saudi Arabia is not the oldest in the world, however. The most ancient human bone, thought to belong to an early species of human, is a jaw bone found in Ethiopia in 2015.

It is dated to 2.8 million years ago, and predates all other fossils in the lineage by 400,000 years.

The finding comes from a joint project between archaeologists from the University of Oxford and Saudi researchers, as part of the Green Arabia Project. They found the bone at the Taas al-Ghadha site near to the northwestern Saudi city of Tayma

The oldest bone from an early species of human is a jaw bone found in Ethiopia in 2015. It is dated to 2.8 million years ago, and predates other fossils in the lineage by 400,000 years

Saudi and British archaeologists dig up 90,000-year-old middle finger​

Project jointly run between Riyadh and Oxford University dates human habitation of Saudi desert back 325,000 years

Scientists have also studied ancient rock art in the deserts of modern-day Saudi Arabia as part of the joint venture (Palaeodeserts Project)​

Archaeologists have discovered the oldest human bone ever found in Saudi Arabia, digging up part of a middle finger dating back 90,000 years.

The discovery was part of a joint project begun in 2012 by scientists from Saudi Arabia and the UK’s Oxford University.

The discovery was announced late on Wednesday by the head of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, Ali Ghabban.

“The Green Arabia project has studied sites at ancient lakes in the Nafud desert,” Ghabban said, referring to an area in the north of the Arabian Peninsula.

Ghabban said that excavations at the Taas al-Ghadha site, close to the northwestern city of Tayma, suggested human habitation stretching back up to 325,000 years.

The bone that was discovered during the dig is the middle part of a middle finger belonging to a human being who lived some 90,000 years ago, making it the oldest physical trace of human habitation discovered in the area.

Al-Arabiya, a state-owned Saudi newspaper, reported in its English edition that the bone was the “world’s oldest”.

However, the oldest bone belonging to a member of the Homo genus, the lineage that ultimately led to modern human beings, is a jaw bone discovered in Ethiopia last March that is believed to be around 2.8 million years old.

The Green Arabia project, established in April 2012 and set to conclude next year, looks at how the various phases of climate change over millennia in the area that is now Saudi Arabia have affected human settlement and migration patterns.

Oxford University is a “key partner” of the state-run Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, according to the project’s promotional material.

The venture, whose full name is Green Arabia, The Palaeodeserts Project, has also looked at ancient rock art found in Saudi Arabia as well as fossils from vertebrates that lived around 700,000 years ago.

Another recent (last month as well) discovery:

Mosque from Early Islam Discovered in Saudi Arabia​

ASHARQ AL-AWSAT
August 18, 2016

Riyadh-Antiquities found in Al-Kharj in Saudi Arabia highlight an important civilization dating back to the Stone Age. Therefore, the joint French-Saudi mission for archeological exploration maintains its works in a number of governorates mainly Al-Yamamah site to reveal the history of the region and the old civilizations that settled in it.

The mission that has 18 members of Saudi and French scientists and experts in archeological excavation has discovered at the Yamamah site in Kharj many architectural antiquities of a huge mosque that existed in the early Islamic era in between first and fifth centuries hegira. The mosque was composed of three roofed halls, two mihrabs, and open body hall. There are indicators that it may be the third biggest mosque in the Arabian Peninsula after the two holy mosques.

The survey made by the mission also comprised Bana settlement in addition to five other Islamic sites distributed on many areas lining between Riyadh and al-Dawasir valley.

The Old Stone Age
Results of exploration process have shown many sites that refer to the Old Stone Age for the first time in this region. Fractions of old pottery and glassy utensils were also discovered.

These utensils are likely to be from the Abbasside era and may have been used in the last phase before Islam and till the fifth century hegira.

Researchers found antiquities that refer to early Islam like pottery utensils and a bunch of bracelets made of glass paste.

At Ain al-Delai site in the western side of Kharj, archeologists have found 5,000-year-old traces of human settlement that may refer to the first millennium B.C., in addition to a 56-centimeter-long silver sword.
The mission also discovered a number of old farms and architectural establishments that go back to the fifth century hegira.

Mawan Mountain and Ain Farzan
The mission of archeologists moved to the mountains surrounding Kharj to implement a filed survey for sites from the Stone Age. The area included Mawan Valley and Ain Farzan, where they discovered sites that refer to the old Stone Age.

The mission will continue its work this year looking for sites from the Bronze Age in Ain Al-Delai region to complete the work that begun in 2013, along with the excavation process in the newly discovered mosque.

The Saudi-French mission is working according to the agreement inked between the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage and the French authorities in September 2011.

His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz, the chairman of the Saudi authority, recently met with the Saudi-French team which is carrying out the archeological excavation work at the Yamamah historical site in Kharj. His Highness praised the efforts of the mission aiming at offering the Saudi people the opportunity to learn more about their country’s heritage and the old civilizations that settled in it before them.

Dr. Abdulaziz al-Ghazi, archeology professor at King Saud’s University and head of the Saudi team in the mission, considered that this mission is the first-of-its-kind in the country and that its work will continue over the next five years, which will pave way to the discovery of more sites.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Very interesting findings if you ask me. A shame that certain ultraconservative fractions and individuals in the country are allergic to history that is not Islamic history.

The gentleman on the right being one of such people:

@somebozo

No comment.

However the good thing is that my generation (2/3 of the population) by large, do not have this allergy anymore since nowadays there are other authorities than clerics. The world looked completely different when the majority of those clerics were born. In particular outside of the West.

@500 seems like the finding last month near Tayma had a similar age as that skeleton found in Israel some time ago.

 

[Aryzin]

Is he an local or an expat? Not that it matters aside from such behavior being worse if he was an local. In any case he should return those artifacts. As for the mutaween, they have no such authority. Especially not as long as Prince Sultan is around. In fact I have never seen them anywhere outside of the cities and recently their powers were reduced significantly which I am sure that you have heard about. Besides their presence was always the strongest in Najd, mainly Riyadh.

Don't forget Christian history as well. For instance the Jubail Church from the beginning of the 4th century in the Eastern Province is one of the oldest churches in the world and it remains closed off. As do other church ruins across KSA.

Speaking about archaeology.

Does this finger prove our ancestors left Africa earlier than believed? 90,000-year-old human bone discovered in Saudi Arabia​

• The bone is the middle section of the middle finger, measuring 1.2 inches
• It was found near to the northwestern city of Tayma in Saudi Arabia
• It could be the oldest trace of human life in the Arabian Peninsula
• This could prove that humans ventured out of Africa earlier than believed

By SHIVALI BEST FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 16:58 GMT, 19 August 2016 | UPDATED: 17:11 GMT, 19 August 2016

Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia believe they have discovered the Middle East’s oldest human bone during an excavation.

The bone is the middle section of the middle finger of a human that scientists claim lived 90,000-years-ago.

If this estimate is correct, it would make the bone the oldest trace of human life in the Arabian Peninsula and predate the time when humans are thought to have migrated out of Africa to spread around the world.

Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia believe they have discovered the Middle East’s oldest human bone during an excavation. The bone is the middle section of the middle finger of a human who was thought to live 90,000 years ago

According to London-based newspaper, Asharg Al-Awsat, the discovery is 'considered an important achievement for the Saudi researchers who participated in these missions and one of the most important outcomes of Prince Sultan’s support and care for the archaeology sector in the Kingdom.'

The researches claim this is the old human bone found in the Middle East.

The bone found in Saudi Arabia is not the oldest in the world, however. The most ancient human bone, thought to belong to an early species of human, is a jaw bone found in Ethiopia in 2015.

It is dated to 2.8 million years ago, and predates all other fossils in the lineage by 400,000 years.

The finding comes from a joint project between archaeologists from the University of Oxford and Saudi researchers, as part of the Green Arabia Project. They found the bone at the Taas al-Ghadha site near to the northwestern Saudi city of Tayma

The oldest bone from an early species of human is a jaw bone found in Ethiopia in 2015. It is dated to 2.8 million years ago, and predates other fossils in the lineage by 400,000 years

Saudi and British archaeologists dig up 90,000-year-old middle finger​

Project jointly run between Riyadh and Oxford University dates human habitation of Saudi desert back 325,000 years

Scientists have also studied ancient rock art in the deserts of modern-day Saudi Arabia as part of the joint venture (Palaeodeserts Project)​

Archaeologists have discovered the oldest human bone ever found in Saudi Arabia, digging up part of a middle finger dating back 90,000 years.

The discovery was part of a joint project begun in 2012 by scientists from Saudi Arabia and the UK’s Oxford University.

The discovery was announced late on Wednesday by the head of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, Ali Ghabban.

“The Green Arabia project has studied sites at ancient lakes in the Nafud desert,” Ghabban said, referring to an area in the north of the Arabian Peninsula.

Ghabban said that excavations at the Taas al-Ghadha site, close to the northwestern city of Tayma, suggested human habitation stretching back up to 325,000 years.

The bone that was discovered during the dig is the middle part of a middle finger belonging to a human being who lived some 90,000 years ago, making it the oldest physical trace of human habitation discovered in the area.

Al-Arabiya, a state-owned Saudi newspaper, reported in its English edition that the bone was the “world’s oldest”.

However, the oldest bone belonging to a member of the Homo genus, the lineage that ultimately led to modern human beings, is a jaw bone discovered in Ethiopia last March that is believed to be around 2.8 million years old.

The Green Arabia project, established in April 2012 and set to conclude next year, looks at how the various phases of climate change over millennia in the area that is now Saudi Arabia have affected human settlement and migration patterns.

Oxford University is a “key partner” of the state-run Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, according to the project’s promotional material.

The venture, whose full name is Green Arabia, The Palaeodeserts Project, has also looked at ancient rock art found in Saudi Arabia as well as fossils from vertebrates that lived around 700,000 years ago.

Another recent (last month as well) discovery:

Mosque from Early Islam Discovered in Saudi Arabia​

ASHARQ AL-AWSAT
August 18, 2016

Riyadh-Antiquities found in Al-Kharj in Saudi Arabia highlight an important civilization dating back to the Stone Age. Therefore, the joint French-Saudi mission for archeological exploration maintains its works in a number of governorates mainly Al-Yamamah site to reveal the history of the region and the old civilizations that settled in it.

The mission that has 18 members of Saudi and French scientists and experts in archeological excavation has discovered at the Yamamah site in Kharj many architectural antiquities of a huge mosque that existed in the early Islamic era in between first and fifth centuries hegira. The mosque was composed of three roofed halls, two mihrabs, and open body hall. There are indicators that it may be the third biggest mosque in the Arabian Peninsula after the two holy mosques.

The survey made by the mission also comprised Bana settlement in addition to five other Islamic sites distributed on many areas lining between Riyadh and al-Dawasir valley.

The Old Stone Age
Results of exploration process have shown many sites that refer to the Old Stone Age for the first time in this region. Fractions of old pottery and glassy utensils were also discovered.

These utensils are likely to be from the Abbasside era and may have been used in the last phase before Islam and till the fifth century hegira.

Researchers found antiquities that refer to early Islam like pottery utensils and a bunch of bracelets made of glass paste.

At Ain al-Delai site in the western side of Kharj, archeologists have found 5,000-year-old traces of human settlement that may refer to the first millennium B.C., in addition to a 56-centimeter-long silver sword.
The mission also discovered a number of old farms and architectural establishments that go back to the fifth century hegira.

Mawan Mountain and Ain Farzan
The mission of archeologists moved to the mountains surrounding Kharj to implement a filed survey for sites from the Stone Age. The area included Mawan Valley and Ain Farzan, where they discovered sites that refer to the old Stone Age.

The mission will continue its work this year looking for sites from the Bronze Age in Ain Al-Delai region to complete the work that begun in 2013, along with the excavation process in the newly discovered mosque.

The Saudi-French mission is working according to the agreement inked between the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage and the French authorities in September 2011.

His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz, the chairman of the Saudi authority, recently met with the Saudi-French team which is carrying out the archeological excavation work at the Yamamah historical site in Kharj. His Highness praised the efforts of the mission aiming at offering the Saudi people the opportunity to learn more about their country’s heritage and the old civilizations that settled in it before them.

Dr. Abdulaziz al-Ghazi, archeology professor at King Saud’s University and head of the Saudi team in the mission, considered that this mission is the first-of-its-kind in the country and that its work will continue over the next five years, which will pave way to the discovery of more sites.

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Very interesting findings if you ask me. A shame that certain ultraconservative fractions and individuals in the country are allergic to history that is not Islamic history.

The gentleman on the right being one of such people:

@somebozo

No comment.

However the good thing is that my generation (2/3 of the population) by large, do not have this allergy anymore since nowadays there are other authorities than clerics. The world looked completely different when the majority of those clerics were born. In particular outside of the West.

I must apologize for probably making some mistakes here, I am new so please forgive me. Going back to the thread, do I see some sort of writing system surrounding the camel drawing?

 

[Al-Andalus]

I must apologize for probably making some mistakes here, I am new so please forgive me. Going back to the thread, do I see some sort of writing system surrounding the camel drawing?

Either it is a writing system (I am not sure) or some rock art. I am on my iPhone currently and cannot see the writing/symbols clearly as the photo is a small one. After all the article talks about a period starting in the 7th millennium BC (9000 years ago) down to the Early Roman period (1st c. BC to 3rd c. AD). The Roman period describes the period in history where this part of modern-day KSA was a province of the Roman Empire. It was called Arabia Petraea. However what we now know as Roman was actually more Greek in culture as the Levant, Egypt and neighboring Northern Arabia was part of the Greek sphere of influence that also extended to the Eastern Mediterranean as a whole. Simple geography would dictate this as this part of KSA is fairly close to Greece geographically speaking. You only have to cross small Jordan (which is a modern creation and part of the Transjordan region which half of it was Arabia traditionally), even smaller Israel/Palestine and from there you have direct sea access to Greece, which back then, mind you, included much of modern-day Turkey, Cyprus (which is even closer - it's closer to Lebanon than Greece for instance) etc.

Meanwhile in the Western Mediterranean region and Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) you will find influences that derived from Rome itself rather than Greece. Simply due to geography once again. Although previous migrants/conquerors such as the Semitic Phoenician (from modern-day coastal Southern Levant) exceed any Roman presence by centuries upon centuries. Same story in what is today Spain and Portugal.

However we should have in mind that the Greek/Roman period in ME history was a rather small one if we look at the entire length of recorded history.

Anyway it is a pleasure when Arabs (in particular Saudi Arabians) and Iranians can have civil and cordial discussions. I won't lie and claim that I like the Iranian regime or their foreign policy (as most Arabs) and Iranians can say the same about KSA's regime and most other Arab regimes but as neighbors we really should improve relations for the sake of our region. Imagine what could be done if KSA and the GCC and Iran worked together as close allies. A lot good could be done for both peoples and the overall region.
This is off-topic of course as were earlier parts of my post but usually, especially on this forum, Arab-Iranian interaction is mostly based on trolling or hostility although that is not always the case. Maybe you have noticed but if not now you know. Nowadays of course but this is due to the political tensions. If you look just 40 years back there were no such hostilities really. Anyway politics are a dynamic thing, best exemplified with the fact that Arab countries such as Egypt, Jordan (who were pioneers in wars against Israel) now have official diplomatic ties while KSA and other Sunni-majority Arab countries are less hostile than say 40 years ago when King Faisal was the king in KSA. So who knows how KSA (wider Arab) - Iranian relations will look like in say 20 years? Hopefully better for the sake of both parties.

Anyway welcome to the forum.

 

[Aryzin]

Thank you and I do share your sentiment as well. There are very small differences amongst us for the rest we have much more in common than not. You have hot heads everywhere, that won't change but it is much more enjoyable and enriching all when people can discuss issues in a civilized manner and not start insulting and wars over things we absolutely have no power to do anything about. I do have to state that I do support Assad but having said that, it literally breaks my heart to see the pain and suffering that we as a community are inflicting on our own. It is simply madness. It only weakens us. In the meantime the rest of the world is laughing and congratulates us for destroying ourselves.

 

[Malik Alashter]

Lol... the quran explicitly says go study the universe and history not restrict it.

The Saudis are probably worried about grave worship... antd artifact worship. Nothing to do with quran. The wahaabi tradition is very suspect to historical artifacts due to worship of artifacts... the Saudi version of Islam is genetallt regressive ... but i think they are waking up to that reality slooowly

That's the loudest slap ever just so you Muslims know the real face of these people whom called wahhabi this guy @Sargon of Akkad lying like that on the Quran who scream day and night on people to go and study the nations before us well the Quran even scream on us to study the universe all in total and always tell oh you men of understanding!!! now this man saying it is against of Quran no Sir it is against your wahhabi doctrine not the Islam.

 

[Al-Andalus]

Thank you and I do share your sentiment as well. There are very small differences amongst us for the rest we have much more in common than not. You have hot heads everywhere, that won't change but it is much more enjoyable and enriching all when people can discuss issues in a civilized manner and not start insulting and wars over things we absolutely have no power to do anything about. I do have to state that I do support Assad but having said that, it literally breaks my heart to see the pain and suffering that we as a community are inflicting on our own. It is simply madness. It only weakens us. In the meantime the rest of the world is laughing and congratulates us for destroying ourselves.

It is hard to disagree with what you have written but as you know and which I as an Arab can confirm, the closer you are, the more bitter the conflicts can be when relations turn sour. As an Saudi Arabian with ancestral ties to Iraq on my father's side, I can attest to that on a daily basis as there is currently a lot of hostility between a sizable portion of Iraqi Shia Arabs (who live next door and who are closer to most Saudi Arabians than many populations in the GCC ) and Saudi Arabian Sunnis. However this is just one out of numerous examples currently in the Arab world after the Arab Spring. In fact that example is nothing compared to how a sizable portion of Iraqi Sunni Arabs and Iraqi Shia Arabs view each other or how various Syrians view each other. Or Lebanese. There can be great hostility among cities in Syria that lie next door to each other for instance. Simply due to politics that have caused bloodshed and nothing else. That is why I am in general very much against politicians and politics as a whole but currently it is the "best" that we humans have. We have not evolved sufficiently to focus on what is important before what is unnecessary. So many of us are instead motivated by power, sectarian, tribal, ethnic, regional, racial, social, political etc. divisions. You name it.

However I am absolutely certain that we will reach a point, at least the war-thorn areas of the Arab world, where people, especially the youth, will say enough is enough and try to built a better future.

Look at Europe next door. They were literally for 90% of recorded history the most bloody region BY FAR. Just between WW1 and WW2 almost 100 million Europeans died. Europeans fighting other Europeans. Not only but neighbors. Today they have by large learned to coexist. Our rivalries do not even come close to that destruction so of course it is more than possible to change for the better. However that, I believe, can only be done through dialogue. Between regimes AND civilians. For instance how we do currently by having this exchange.

That's the loudest slap ever just so you Muslims know the real face of these people whom called wahhabi this guy @Sargon of Akkad lying like that on the Quran who scream day and night on people to go and study the nations before us well the Quran even scream on us to study the universe all in total and always tell oh you men of understanding!!! now this man saying it is against of Quran no Sir it is against your wahhabi doctrine not the Islam.

What in the good world are you blabbering about Malik? I have said this to you before but it appears to me that you do not fully grasp the English language hence all your strange posts and nonsense claims. Which is why I am always offering you to take any discussion in Arabic so there won't be any misunderstandings however you keep being obsessed about "Wahhabis" even though less than 1/3 of Saudi Arabia's population are Hanbalis (1 of the 4 recognized Sunni madahib) and when you know very well that I am a Hashemite who happens to follow the Shafi'i fiqh. I have always, and I believe 20 times by now, told this. My sole problem is with the Wilayat al-Faqih system (37 years old) and certain foreign policies of the Iranian regime. For instance you will never see me talk bad, rather the opposite, about Zaydis, Ismailis or traditional Twelvers such as Sistani and like-minded Twelver clerics in the Arab world whether in KSA, Lebanon, Iraq or Bahrain (the only Arab countries with significant Shia Twelver minorities). Seriously, grow up, you are at least 15-20 years older than me! It's getting embarrassing.

Also as for me being against pre-Islamic history, this is one of the biggest jokes that I have ever heard. I take extreme pride in our pre-Islamic past as Semites, Arabs and natives of the Arab Middle East - the cradle of civilization. In fact if I did not care about pre-Islamic history I would not have participated in this thread at all to begin with but rather denounced it as idiots among both Sunni and Shia Arabs do in both of our countries. Besides of that history and archaeology interests me no matter where it is in the world. Art as well.

Also when you make such a nonsense claim then please counter what I wrote back then as a reply to the user @Clutch . If you are unable to do so (which you are not as I have merely written facts) you have no claim at all and won't be taken seriously by any objective person without an agenda. The most you can get is 1-2 thanks from your usual friends who are always unable to "win" any debate with me.
Also this is not the thread for such discussions. Lastly for each day that passes by it becomes more and more clear and understandable why even fellow Iraqi Shia Arabs banned you on that forum! You are beyond salvation if you are in your late 30's I am afraid.

Anyway if it makes your life better then continue to call me an "Wahhabi" but you will solely embarrass yourself. Also you might not know this, as you did not know the word courtesy the other day during that debate, but trolling in the middle of a serious discussion between adults is considered rude. More so when you are writing utter and hilarious nonsense.

Discussion is over as you continue to troll. I am only interested in serious and normal discussions here. Disagreements can be discussed in a civil manner without name calling. You know me well, I am only replying in kind. I never initiate insults or troll unless attacked or trolled.

 

[Aryzin]

Unfortunately normal people don't rule governments.

 

[denel]

Knowing these illiterate people, they will raze it to the ground and build a mall or road through it.

 

[Al-Andalus]

Knowing these illiterate people, they will raze it to the ground and build a mall or road through it.

You are not too bright are you, dumb ignorant troll? KSA has a literacy rate of well over 95%. Among the highest in the Muslim and non-Western world. Higher than your supposed country, South Africa, although I suspect you to be of South Asian origin, in which case you should better keep quite on this front in order not to embarrass yourself completely.

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

Not to say that writing itself and the first alphabets were invented in the Arab world by my Semitic ancestors. In fact civilization itself.

Now go pollute another thread with your stupidity, not informative threads like this one.

 

[denel]

You are not too bright are you, dumb ignorant troll? KSA has a literacy rate of well over 95%. Among the highest in the Muslim and non-Western world. Higher than your supposed country, South Africa, although I suspect you to be of South Asian origin, in which case you should better keep quite on this front in order not to embarrass yourself completely.

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

Not to say that writing itself and the first alphabets were invented in the Arab world by my Semitic ancestors. In fact civilization itself.

Now go pollute another thread with your stupidity, not informative threads like this one.

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Some ancient artifacts recently found by hunters.

Video:

Amazing. I can spot Arabian Jewish, Christian and ancient pre-Abrahamic Semitic pagan religious symbols.





Private individuals, as soon as they start digging, appear to find treasures all over KSA.

I should do my bit, when I return back home, given the frequency of such findings.

I just need to buy this gadget.

I did not use profanity friend so please use dignified language - your mother has really not taught you properly at home and hence this verbiage. if you cannot write properly get lost then into the desert.

Your country has destroyed every old historical area. So please do not give this nonsense information. These are private folks finding but we know how powerful your religious police is and they would destroy and dig with idols.

95% literate is a dream. Of which 95% of studies are in religious area not mathematics, medicine or other fields. I have yet to come across a paper from a Saudi in my field - only once back in 1992. I have been to your country at the invitation of Riyadh University for presenting lectures - Pal - Saudi dont work and are just much to lazy to lift anything. - let us not get there.

I am not from South Asia pal for your information - it shows your racist and ignorant insight. I am a human being - that is something you have no notion of.

Before putting a troll title, please review yourself. end of story and not getting into nonsense typing with idiots and kids.