Rock art shows earliest known human return to Arabia after the last Ice Age

Rock art has led scientists to revise the timeline of humans repopulating Saudi deserts.
Photo Credit: Sahout Rock Art and Archaeology Project

An international team of scientists, including from Saudi Arabia, use rock art and sediment samples to find that humans returned to Arabia earlier than previously thought after the last ice age  

The Heritage Commission has, in collaboration with an internation team including King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), revealed in Nature Communications the discovery of life-sized rock art panels in the Nefud Desert that were carved 12 000 years ago. 

These findings shift the timelines of when humans and wildlife repopulated the interior desert areas of Saudi Arabia after the Last Glacial Maximum by several thousand years.    

These findings, which can be read in Nature Communications, shift the timelines of when humans and wildlife repopulated the interior desert areas of Saudi Arabia after the Last Glacial Maximum by several thousand years.   

One of the discovered rocks with art carved in it.
Photo Credit: Sahout Rock Art and Archaeology Project

More than 60 rock art panels containing 176 engravings were identified in three previously unexplored areas – Jebel Arnaan, Jebel Mleiha, and Jebel Misma – along the southern edge of the Nefud Desert in northern Saudi Arabia. Unlike previously known sites where engravings were hidden in crevices, these panels were etched onto towering cliff faces, some up to 39 meters high, in visually commanding locations. The life-sized rock art engravings primarily depict naturalistic figures of camels, ibex, equids, gazelles, and aurochs.  

This unique form of symbolic expression belongs to a distinct cultural identity adapted to life in a challenging, arid environment. 

The engravings were dated between 11 400 and 12 800 years ago based on artefacts found at the site, including Levantine-style El Khiam and Helwan stone points, green pigment, and dentalium beads, which suggest long-distance connections to Paleolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic populations in the Levant region.   

One of the explored sites
Photo Credit: Sahout Rock Art and Archaeology Project

A paleoenvironmental analysis led by KAUST Professor Frans van Buchem of nearby playa lake deposits changed the timelines of the earliest reported presence of surface water following the hyper-aridity of the Last Glacial Maximum from approximately 10 000 years ago to more likely 14 000 years ago. The seasonal water sources, confirmed through sediment analysis, supported early human and wildlife expansions into the desert interior.  

These findings are a fundamental contribution to the recent climate history of the Arabian Plate, and are complementary to the archaeological study of the rock art.  

Van Buchem remarked that the study benefitted tremendously from the diverse expertise of the international research groups.  

"The power of this study is the combination of the archaeological work – the rock art and the tools – and the direct support their interpretations get from the paleoenvironmental work – sediments and age dating. Each study individually would have a less powerful message," he said.   

Additional information: The Heritage Commission led this project in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology. 

Published in journal: Nature Communications

Title: Monumental rock art illustrates that humans thrived in the Arabian Desert during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition

Authors: Maria Guagnin, Ceri Shipton, Faisal Al-Jibreen, Giacomo Losi, Amir Kalifi, Simon J. Armitage, Finn Stileman, Mathew Stewart, Fahad Al-Tamimi, Paul S. Breeze, Frans van Buchem, Nick Drake, Mohammed Al-Shamry, Ahmed Al-Shammari, Jaber Al-Wadani, Abdullah M. Alsharekh, and Michael Petraglia

Source/Credit: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Reference Number: arch100125_01

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