Imagine you are traveling through the Nefud Desert in northern Saudi Arabia, around 12,000 years ago. Your journey is difficult. The sand dunes are shifting at your feet; the wind is whipping at your face; and water is scarce, appearing and disappearing according to the season. You are worried about what will happen if you walk much more without something to drink — that is, you were worried, until you spotted an etching of a camel scratched into a cliffside.
According to a new study in Nature Communications, the ancient inhabitants of northern Saudi Arabia did not traverse through the desert blindly. Instead, they created a network of rock carvings that acted as road signs, allowing them to navigate their terrain through the marking of territories, transportation routes, and seasonal water sources.
“These large engravings are not just rock art,” said Maria Guagnin, a study author and an archaeologist from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, according to a press release. “They were probably statements of presence, access, and cultural identity.”
Read More: The Race to Protect Atacama’s Ancient Geoglyphs
Survival in the Saudi Arabian Desert
Towards the end of the last Ice Age, or the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), around 12,000 years ago, the terrain of Saudi Arabia was starting to transform, transitioning from an age of hyper-aridity in the Pleistocene to a period of humidity in the Holocene.
For years, it was thought that this Pleistocene-to-Holocene transition made the Nefud Desert more hospitable to humans, with the first human occupation following the LGM occurring in the area around 10,000 years to 8,000 years ago.
But in 2022, an archaeological survey identified 18 etchings of camels and other animals in Sahout, along the southern edge of the Nefud Desert, hinting that humans may have managed to live in the landscape earlier than 10,000 years to 8,000 years ago.
To solidify that theory, and to learn more about how humans might have survived the transforming terrain, the authors of the new study conducted their own archaeological surveys and excavations along the boundaries of the Nefud Desert, concentrating on the previously unexcavated areas of Jebel Armaan, Jebel Mleiha, and Jebel Misma. At those locations, they uncovered 176 carvings, including 130 engravings of camels, gazelles, and ibexes, in addition to horses and aurochs.
At around 12,800 to 11,400 years old, these etchings were created when seasonal water sources were starting to appear among the sand dunes and sediments, at the start of the Pleistocene-to-Holocene transition. According to the team’s sedimentary analyses, the carvings were positioned in close proximity to these water sources — as well as to other landmarks, like territorial lines and traveling routes — helping humans survive in the terrain.
“The rock art marks water sources and movement routes,” said Ceri Shipton, another study author and an archaeologist at University College London, according to the release, “possibly signifying territorial rights and intergenerational memory.”
Read More: The Enigma of Peru’s Nazca Lines, Giant Geoglyphs Etched in Desert Sand
Carvings as Ancient Sign Posts
In all three locales, the engravings were large, with some measuring as many as 10 feet tall. And at the Jebel Arnaan and Jebel Mleiha sites, the etchings were especially eye-catching, appearing on the surface of exposed cliffsides, some around 128 feet in the air. According to the study authors, the carvings’ size and placement supports the interpretation that they served as ancient sign posts, pointing to the location of nearby landmarks.
The team adds that ancient artisans would have had to cling to the cliffsides to create these carvings, stressing their importance as an artistic expression and an ancient survival strategy, allowing humans to thrive in the Nefud Desert, early on in its Pleistocene-to-Holocene transition.
Conducted in collaboration with the Saudi Ministry of Culture’s Heritage Commission, the research represents a major accomplishment for the Green Arabia Project, an international initiative launched in 2010 to trace the history of climate change and human habitation throughout the Arabian Peninsula.
“The project’s interdisciplinary approach has begun to fill a critical gap in the archaeological record of northern Arabia,” said Michael Petraglia, another study author and an archaeologist and director at the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, according to the release, “shedding light on the resilience and innovation of early desert communities.”
Read More: Petroglyphs in the U.S. — What Native Communities Want You to Know About These Rock Carvings
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- Nature Communications. Monumental Rock Art Illustrates that Humans Thrived in the Arabian Desert During the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition
- Journal of Archaeological Science. Epipalaeolithic Occupation and Palaeoenvironments of the Southern Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia, During the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene
- Archaeological Research in Asia. Before the Holocene Humid Period: Life-Sized Camel Engravings and Early Occupations on the Southern Edge of the Nefud Desert
- Nature. Recurrent Humid Phases in Arabia Over the Past 8 Million Years
