Saudi archaeologists have discovered life-size animal etchings from 12,000 years ago. It is a “monologous rock art” that has been considered human beings in the area for over two thousand years, a new study found.
These very realistic portrayals of camels and other creatures have made cultural significance to these hunter-gatherers and probably served as a way marker to help people find oasis that pop up when they got wet 16,000 to 13,000 years ago, researchers wrote in a study published Tuesday (September 30).
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At the intersection between Africa and Asia, Arabia was an important travel route for early humans. A study published on April 9th in Nature on April 9th confirmed areas that received various “humidity episodes” that allow these dispersion. However, previously, during the end of the last Glacier’s biggest (about 25,000 to 20,000 years ago), the coldest time of the last Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago, there was no evidence of human occupation in Northern Arabia. Researchers hypothesized that the area was abandoned because it was too dry to survive.
Now, following hints from local amateur archaeologists about the huge pieces of rock art, researchers have explored three previously unknown sites in the Southern Naphd desert in northern Saudi Arabia that overturn that assumption.
When they arrived, one teammate wandered, exploring the area and discovered “the first great excitement.” This is a rock formation with ancient art surrounding a pool of water, Guanine said. And on the other side of the mountain was the ruins of an ancient lake.
The team then found 62 rock art panels with 176 carved rock art on three sites, some etched to 128 feet (39 meters). The sculptures were primarily life-size animals, mainly camels.
Importantly, these depictions were generally male camels with distinctive bulges and thick winter fur around the neck that form during mating seasons. This suggests that ancient water sources may have formed in winter, and that these animals may represent the resilience of harsh environments, the authors speculated in their study.
Excavate the desert
Archaeologists were excavated directly under four camel sculptures to try to determine their age. They excavated over 1,200 stones, 16 animal bone fragments and three hearths. The team dated these using techniques to measure sediments when they were last exposed to heat and sunlight, as well as luminescent dating, a radiocarbon dating that measures the ratio of different versions of carbon.
These methods revealed that rock art was between 12, 800 and 11, 400 years.
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At one excavation site, camel legs were obscure by layers of sediment. As they delved into it, the team was surprised to find stone tools that are likely to be responsible for creating masterpieces about 12 or 200 years ago. This provides a “indirect date of the sculpture,” the authors write in this study.
They also found arrows, blades and stone beads. But “this is not just a handful of arrowheads,” Guanine said. The community lives in the area and has created tools and ornaments typical of the Levant Natuffian culture, miles away in the eastern Mediterranean. “They were in contact with the Levant in some way, hundreds of kilometres,” she said, and learned about the latest tools and accessories.
Importantly, “Some things are imported, but some are unique,” Michael Petraglia, an archaeologist at Griffith University in Australia, told Live Science. These people were also developing their own culture that rock art had symbolic significance and was a clear way to mark routes to water sources.
Analysis of the arid water source sediment revealed that the area had increased humidity around 16,000 to 13,000 years ago, and seasonal lakes formed. This finding represents the earliest evidence of increased humidity in Northern Arabia after the last glacial maximum.
“This is a very exciting study that uncovers some of Saudi Arabia’s history, which has not been readily visible so far,” Hugh Thomas, a Saudi archaeologist at the University of Sydney, told Live Science via email that he was not involved in the research. He said these results indicate that “the entire region was population input and at this point it was an interconnected landscape.”
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