2,000-year-old camel sculpture links Saudi with pre-Islamic art

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Archaeologists have discovered sculptures of camels engraved on a rock at a 2,000-year-old site in northern Saudi Arabia in the latest drive to connect the Muslim kingdom with its pre-Islamic past, in what many are describing as a “cultural renaissance” in progress.

Ancient sculpted bedrock depicting camelids and equids has been found in northern Saudi province of Al-Jawf. Although the camel has been a common motif in the artworks of the region for millennia, the latest discovery is “unprecedented” in its scale, according to a press statement issued by the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information’s Center for International Communication.

The two-millennia-old pre-Islamic site was discovered by a Franco-Saudi research team in an isolated area, enclosed within a private property.

The study was conducted by researchers based at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France and their counterparts at the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), who explored the site in 2016 and 2017.

Guillaume Charloux, of the CNRS Orient & Méditerranée joint research unit, who surveyed the site during this period, said that “these findings, in a sector that remains virtually unexplored, are truly unique,” according to CNRS website.

Located eight kilometers north of the city of Sakaka, the three rocky outcrops making up what is now known as "Camel Site" exhibit low- and high-relief realistic representations of at least 11 dromedaries (Arabic camels) and two donkeys or mules.

A relief resembling the face of an Arabic camel on the rocks known as 'Camel Site' near Sakaka, in Saudi Arabia's Al-Jawf province. /Photo via Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information's Center for International Communications

Dr Hussain Abu Al Hassan, Vice President of Saudi Cultural and Tourism Authority (SCTH) for Antiquities and Museums, said that the site was another evidence that the region attracted highly skilled sculptors. The researchers also found that most of the rock carvings found in Al Jawf region were concentrated around ancient lakes and trade routes.

“Obviously, the work of skilled carvers who respected proportions, the twelve naturalistic panels and reliefs depict animals without loads, in active postures and in a natural setting. Diverging from the two-dimensional and schematic official Arab tradition, they could be influenced by the craftsmanship of the then neighboring Nabataean and Parthian population,” CNRS said in a statement.

While "the site is shrouded in mystery that won't be solved for a long time to come," one thing is certain: the carvers were talented artists – possibly locals as suggested by the originality of the themes chosen and techniques employed – who showed surprising mastery and sense of aesthetics.

"It took several people to complete these representations and several days for each one," archaeologist Guillaume Charloux, a research engineer at CNRS in France, pointed out.

He said that the unconventional nature of the site in "chronological, geographical, technical, thematic and stylistic" terms makes it quite exceptional, hence the researchers' concern to protect it – an endeavour that has been swiftly undertaken by SCTH – and commitment to draw the international scientific community's attention to it.

"We now hope that rock art specialists will take an interest in it," Charloux said. That will ultimately bring the Camel Site out of millennia of solitude.

Cultural renaissance

Dr. Ali Al Ghabban, Vice President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), sheds light on ancient Arabic rock art, dating back to 470 CE, found in Najran, in southwest Saudi Arabia at the Saudi Archaeology Convention in Riyadh. /Photo via Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information's Center for International Communications

The renewed push for archaeology is part of the cultural renaissance taking place in Saudi Arabia under the ambitious Vision 2030 strategy promoted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Several recent archaeological findings have allowed the Muslim kingdom to embrace its pre-Islamic history, which were previously off limits for academic research due to religious sensitivities.

Long insulated from the non-Muslim world, Saudi Arabia signaled its willingness to set aside its deep-rooted religious aversion to dig into the pre-Islamic history of the kingdom a few years ago by opening up some of the ancient, and hitherto unknown, archaeological sites for exploration.

In November 2017, the desert kingdom hosted a three-day international archaeology convention in Riyadh to throw light on some of the most significant discoveries from these sites, which experts feel may alter the perception of the region’s history.

"The kingdom was proud of the cultural renaissance taking place in the country. We are all aware that archaeology and cultural heritage are an important part of our identity and history, and that they are the foundation of our future," Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz said in a statement read out at the opening of the conference.

The kingdom is keen on preserving the archaeological and historical sites as “it considers them to be the key components of our Arab and Islamic identity," the king said.

In recent times, researchers and scientists have uncovered 10,000 ancient lake and river beds across the Arabian Peninsula. Human bones and stone tools used by the early inhabitants of the region were found near some of the lake beds and are estimated to be at least 90,000 years old.

Archaeologists have discovered fossils of other animals and mammals such as crocodiles and seahorses that could not have survived in a dry climate.

This 350,000-year-old elephant tusk found at the bottom of a dry lake in Saudi Arabia's northern Taima province indicates that the area was once lush. /Photo via Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information's Center for International Communications

Other notable discoveries include man-made edifices known as "Gates" dating back to 2,000 to 9,000 years ago; a 350,000-year-old elephant tusk; a 17th-century ship along with heaps of pottery and jars; and a 1,000-year-old gold dinar.

In the Al-Hajjar area, archaeologists found 17 tombs bearing the names of 14 sculptors who worked in Madain Saleh, the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in Saudi Arabia.

The most important discoveries cited at the Riyadh convention include a mosque near Jebel Haleet, built in the style of Al-Masjid Al-Nabawi (Prophet’s Mosque) in Madinah, as well as an ancient industrial city near the Haleet site.

[Cover photo: A relief resembling the torso of an Arabic camel on the rocks known as 'Camel Site' near Sakaka, in Saudi Arabia's Al-Jawf province. /Photo via Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information's Center for International Communications

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