Discovery Channel "Architects of Ancient Arabia"

a remote corner of saudi

arabia

an international team tries to solve an

ancient

mystery enigmatic stone structures thousands of them spread across hundreds of miles of desolate desert who built them when you see the archaeological sites perched in some places and wonder what the symbolism of that saudi

arabia

is opening up to the investigation of thousands of

ancient

sites never before studied. This is an area that has had very little archaeological exploration, so we are like explorers. They are really finding evidence. Wow, a mysterious prehistoric ritual. We quickly understood what this was. something big are these enormous symbols left by a lost civilization that were the

architects

of ancient arabia a region in the vast west of saudi arabia a land of stunning beauty that was once a prosperous crossroads two thousand years ago an advanced civilization called The Nabataeans carved these sandstone tombs.

Nearly 100 of them, many more than five stories high, are spread over four square miles of remains of an ancient city called Hegera when the first Mayan city-states were on the rise in the Americas. and the Han dynasty was building the silk road from China here in Alula. Two thousand years ago, the Nabataeans built Hagra to help control one of the ancient world's most lucrative trade networks that transported incense and spices from Arabia to Egypt, Rome and beyond. It is actually a main communication room that has been used for spice trading. It has been used for the Hajj.

During much later periods, people have used this route for a long time, more than 500 years before the Nabataeans. The biblical city of Dadaan flourished. The dancing statues have clear Greek and Egyptian influences and this language is one of the ancient ancestors of modern Arabic, but is scattered among these known ones. sites archaeologists are discovering more here many more traces of older civilization than most ever imagined we are driven by curiosity i think our species is simply curious about the past david kennedy is an aerial archaeologist who studies ancient features from his preferred view a 500 feet tall these structures are quite puzzling you want to know what they were about you know why people built them like this why they built them all these inexplicable structures form shapes like hanging circles rectangles and even triangles these are not simply stones that have been piled up here They have carefully selected flat stones, built them to form suitable walls.

The walls have a vertical face and have properly arranged sharp corners. Some of them stretch the length of five football fields with over 12,000 tons of rock, almost twice the weight of the Eiffel Tower, and then on this ridge up here you can see a pretty good example with a view Fantastic from the top. The people who built these things obviously had an eye on the landscape that David's team has. cataloged over 12,000 of these sites, estimated over 21,000 are spread across Alula, who built these structures and for what purpose and when with that combination of sites you have something that is baffling and there are a lot of these enigmas in this landscape.

Over here, the aerial survey is part of a much broader investigation led by the royal commission for Alula, a Saudi organization inspired by vision 2030. Saudi specialists join international teams of archaeologists. Director Rebecca Foote leads researchers exploring more than 20,000 square kilometers. It's a great opportunity. but it is also a great challenge because there has never been anyone who has studied this part of the world in such detail. Your mission is to discover the secrets of these desert monuments and reveal Lula's role in the history of human civilization. This is the forgotten corner of It's almost as if we were entering the region, I wouldn't say with a completely blank sheet of paper, but it was a rough sketch.

We can now potentially make a difference in terms of our understanding of not only Saudi Arabia but the entire Saudi Arabian region. It is located south of one of the richest archaeological regions on the planet, the Fertile Crescent. About 10,000 years ago people here began farming and domesticating animals such as cattle. This era, the Neolithic led to what we now call the birth of civilization. This period witnesses many things. great changes and it is actually the beginning of the modern way of life the best known ancient structures such as the pyramids and Stonehenge arrived thousands of years later to the south of the fertile crescent the harsh Arabian desert was thought to play no role in the birth of civilization just because it's a desert people think it must be empty there was no one there the fertile crescent has been the subject of so much research for over 100 years but somehow that stopped once you entered the arabian peninsula But as archaeologists exploring this new frontier may soon be competing with hundreds of thousands of visitors, plans are afoot to make Lula a global tourist destination.

We used to have travelers, pilgrims, caravans, all the people that used to pass through Alola so that people would be ready to welcome the world. Ahmed Al-imam is a local historian for Much of the last century, conservative Saudi Arabia allowed few tourists other than pilgrims to Mecca, but the kingdom is opening up and adopting sweeping modern reforms. I can see that people are starting to become aware, we can see that changes happen very quickly. Now everyone is curious to know what is happening. Ahmed is on his way to the old town of Alula, a traditional adobe village with walls dating back to the 13th century; just a few decades ago, his family lived here.

This is the house of my grandfather, my mother's father, although these houses do not have electricity or modern plumbing the old town retained a vibrant community until the 1980s, it sure was different, life was very connected and people were very connected to each other. Today work is being done to preserve the old town and make it part of the rich heritage of Alula, of course we have. To do it responsibly, we have something truly like a treasure, we must first take care of it and then show it to the world. The old town dates back centuries, but how far back do the Moon's other ancient treasures date back?

We are currently a few nautical miles away. east of our, as we head east, we begin to find that it is much denser archaeologically in David Kennedy's aerial survey, a field team is deciding which structures to excavate first. The team is led by archaeologist Melissa Kennedy and team manager Hugh Thomas. They are eager to test the theory that the structures may be burial markers. When you go to the ground, it's actually quite difficult to see what you're looking at, so you have to think about who these structures are supposed to be seen for. the deceased person looking down from the afterlife or perhaps it is from the gods today hugh and mel are pointing to a 140 meter long structure known as a pendant.

We're really interested in it because it's one of the largest pendants in Alola. county, what we're aiming to get is potentially some dating evidence, so obviously we have 32 towers on the towel of this pendant, we have to choose which two or three to activate today if it is a tomb, it may still contain human remains, artifacts o There are other vital clues to reveal who built these monuments and why they appear to have a defined edge. There is some kind of internal chamber in a remote corner of Saudi Arabia. Researchers are investigating a mysterious ancient structure that they believe may contain human remains and other clues. the identity of the builders the team begins to carefully remove the stone by hand there is no evidence of tool use here the naturally flat stones are perfect building blocks there are thousands and thousands of tons of stone that go into these structures not only is it built by a family, there are communities that come together after a few hours, their efforts do not bear fruit.

The melody of my tower seems to be full of rock. There doesn't appear to be any hollow space or internal chamber. There are the brakes. The team soon reaches the impenetrable surface of the bedrock. The tower is empty, no artifacts, no remains, just rock, so I'm thinking about basically closing mine. Nothing comes out in the sieves. Yes, no signs of human remains at all. The empty towers are puzzling evidence that may have been degraded by time and climate or even. removed by looters, it is also possible that these are not tomb sites, after all, the team must now re-evaluate their theories, but truth be told, this is still progress, it is sometimes frustrating to be an archaeologist because I always describe it as put together a puzzle, you don't.

You have the lid of the box that was thrown away a long time ago and you can get a little snapshot of a corner here and a side there and you have to try to complete the rest of the puzzle with your own theories, archaeologists put the pieces together through the study of the evidence left by ancient people, but the collective memory of living people also contains vital clues. The Bedouins are a nomadic people who have called the deserts of the Near East their home for at least 2,000 years. For generations, the recent influx of outsiders has not gone unnoticed, the Bedouins have many stories about these enigmatic monuments.

They believed them to be much older than Hagra Dadaan or any of the other civilizations that once called Alula home. If these stories are true, the desert monuments would be Lula's oldest signs of civilization. but exactly what age remains elusive, this seems to me to be part of the same basic building tradition, yes jamie quartermaine runs another team that documents these sites, look how well built those facades are, i think we could have had a camera here today they are exploring. a hanging monument, but instead of digging they are using non-invasive technology. I'm pretty ready to launch it.

Jamie's expertise is creating three-dimensional digital models of ancient sites. What we are doing is providing systematic coverage throughout the area. We are taking photographs every two seconds which we can then combine all the photographs to end up with an accurate three-dimensional model of the entire Earth's surface. These models are an ideal tool for off-site analysis, especially here in Alula with over 21,000 sites, the prospect of stepping into a nearly intact archaeological landscape was probably one of the most exciting things in my life and as we focused In working on the landscape, we have seen more and more monuments appearing.

We begin to begin. to see a much larger and much more important picture that image you can start with this structure they are called mustard, the Arabic word for rectangle, the largest expanse, more than five football fields, they may be the oldest monuments in the desert , perhaps the team's first design. made a key

discovery

about the thrusters, until sometimes other structures were built directly on them, but never the other way around, that indicated that the marbles were earlier, but whether they were 10 years earlier, 20 years earlier or 2,000 years earlier, it is what is only now being discovered.

The way to test this theory that the moostatills are the oldest structure in Alula. The archaeologist while Abu Aziz leads the excavation team for me. It was truly an incredible opportunity as an archaeological project. It's huge. Things are moving very fast and we are discovering many things. It's a little overwhelming the amount of archeology we're finding here. The exterior walls of the mostatel seem to enclose a large interior patio, perhaps a space for social gathering. When you work on them, you tend to try to understand how social groups were made up. People were involved in the construction of Amsterdam, how long did it take them to build this? could be anything could be burials could be temples to find answers while they must decide which group to dig first there are hundreds to choose from which he selects surprises many members of the team it is very degraded and barely recognizable when I first came here to be honest with you i was really thinking wait a minute maybe no i almost fired him have fun it didn't seem substantial it's a risky decision choose the wrong and precious weeks could be wasted digging and finding nothing but wilderness have a hunch this meeting arrangement is built right up against the rocky outcrop prominent presumably an intentional choice on the part of the builders the presence of the outcrop was probably something that had meaning to them to reveal a complexlabyrinth of chambers, so we're still in the early stage, but some structural remains are already starting to appear, something is happening here and Then, after weeks of meticulous work, wow old coal, there was a fire here.

Firework. Charcoal is ideal for radiocarbon dating. Hard evidence that could finally reveal the age of these structures, but the ancient fire turns out to be just the beginning of an even more dramatic story.

discovery

in a distant corner of saudi arabia archaeologist wile abu aziz and his team have discovered ancient charcoal. Wow, evidence they hope will help them date a mysterious desert structure called a mustard and what's also exciting is the very good state of preservation of these coals just like They're just taking it out of their barbecue, except the coals are very old . It's also a tantalizing clue about the function of mustard.

Yl discovers two fireplaces in what appears to be a closed chamber, is it some kind of altar? and now we are working. As we cleaned out the inside of this chamber to try to understand what its function was, so we wondered what they were doing here in this specific area that obviously seemed very, very special, the evidence is starting to suggest that the mostar still had a ceremonial purpose. so we get the impression that these structures were involved in the ritual beliefs of the people at that time meanwhile after their disappointment over the looted pendant hugh and mel continue their search for evidence that some monuments mark ancient tombs so today we will drive west of alalo and head to a site called the standing stone circle site which is a type of structure that we know very little about and we hope to excavate some of the structures surrounding these standing stone circles which we believe have not been disturbed.

I'm fascinated to know why they built these things. These stones weigh hundreds of kilos. You know, it takes a lot of effort to build that, so yeah, the question is why does the team get to work right now, their perseverance pays off, look at the color, let's clean that hole, look at it, hit it and now we're in this rubble fill and inside. As you can see, we are starting to get bone fragments. The first vines are animal bones and then we have part of a vertebra and possibly lumbar human bone, so we'll have to make sure we put it in the fine bag. so finding bone here tells us that we are very close to a burial.

It is now clear that among these monuments there are tombs. The entire discovery came together at the team's base camp. How many bone fragments do we find? We collected more than 1,500 fragments, so there are a minimum of six adults at that site. Even more significant are the dating results that this tomb has given us a radiocarbon date of 3,900 BC. C., which means about 6,000 years ago six thousand years ago, a few thousand years after the rise of agricultural civilizations in the Fertile Crescent was building large-scale structures, but this evidence indicates that the first builders were already here in arabia These bones may be evidence of a never-before-seen chapter in human history.

I think the main reason I do archeology is because I love thinking about people in ancient times and therefore the more we dig, the more I can bring those stories to mind. Hugh and Mel's discovery deepens Lula's historical importance and makes safeguarding ancient sites a more vital challenge and with the rise of tourism, pressure is mounting. alola is taking to the global stage with world-class festivals new infrastructure, resorts and attractions an ambitious plan will turn the entire 20,000 kilometer region into a living museum to protect alula's pristine historic landscape a new program is training locals to be stewards of the land now we are here just to create awareness among the locals of malula to protect their land to protect their heritage hamaya means stewardship the aim of the program is to inspire the youth to help preserve the natural beauty and cultural heritage Alula Today's field trip to examine ancient rock art will help students connect with the history of Alula.

Foreigner recently joined the program. She now plans to study the ancient languages ​​found carved into the rock walls. Learning to decipher these ancient inscriptions will help Aisha become an ambassador for Alula's rich historical treasure, but the rock art here dates back to the past. long before the written word and may contain an untold story about the lives of artists. What's interesting about Rockard is that she captures information not found anywhere else in the archaeological record. Archaeologist María Guanine is an expert in rock art. She is on her way to a nearby site with carvings believed to be among the oldest in Alula.

I brought my little buddy along, so he's a seasoned baby rocker, so I think part of the problem in archeology is that it's still relatively rare to have kids and a career, so I just have to make it up as I go, there are some limitations on my time and my sleeping patterns, but I think I found a way that works for me and baby Maria is assisted by a senior archeology specialist. You can see the boss of the The human is here. You see the more human figures there are here, some are like here, but Dan is part of a growing wave of Saudi archaeologists.

This looks like more than three meters. Oh look, this is a big lion. Maria and Arnie wait until sunset. better lighting conditions oh wow oh look with the artificial light we can now see many of the lines more clearly the controllable light reveals primitive images of hunters surrounding their prey lions long-horned ibex on the prowl and some unexpected cattle and it turns out there is a whole flock down here look at these little ones I didn't see them before here and there and today Alula is too arid to support livestock, so what are they doing hunting for rocks for Maria?

The engravings were probably made during a period when there was a decoy. I enjoyed a much wetter climate seven or eight thousand years ago. Eight thousand years ago, when the climate was wetter, there was a period when people hunted wild animals on the rocks and then, on top of that, at some point it reached the cattle herders. Which is interesting. is that everyone has these marks on their body does this have to do with ownership of a herd interpret these stripes as marks of ownership a time stamp for a crucial transition in human history from hunting to herding this shift from hunting to control of animals is enormously exciting.

To me, what effect does that have on people's beliefs? What effect does that have on human-animal relationships? It is probably the biggest change in human life in our history. Perfect, I'm going to photograph this little cow and the little car, until recently it was assumed. That seven or eight thousand years ago cattle herding was confined to the fertile crescent and a few isolated corners of the world, but this evidence suggests that some of the earliest cattle herders in history left their mark here in Alula, there are cattle which is disappearing in the crevice Yes, but the engravings are difficult to date without corroborating the evidence in Wild's mustard excavation, new finds are emerging, so rahman, one of our workers, found this animal horn here, it is the horn of a domestic cow and turns out to be just the beginning of several.

Over the weeks as the team slowly discovers more and more, it was a little overwhelming dealing with all this amount of material and we quickly understood that this was a big deal. Saeed al-amari makes the key discovery. He is buried at the deepest level of what appears to be an offering. In the chamber, the team identifies dozens of skull parts, including more than 80 horns from multiple animal species. Saeed noticed that the remains were placed. The remains are sent back to base camp, where specialists begin to piece together what may be evidence of a major turning point in human history. it happened right here in alula archaeologists exploring mysterious stone structures in saudi arabia discovered that a positive animal remains in the base camp archaeologist jacqueline studo investigates immediately i saw that it was exceptional and from my point of view it is totally new the remains were deposited with great care suggested by an ancient ritual such a number is astonishing and is difficult to understand as anything more than a ritual deposit.

Jacqueline is most intrigued by the variety of horns, most are goats and there are larger species, the ibex, the gazelle and there is a third species. which is a very exceptional domesticated cattle, it is the first time that cattle have been discovered in alula and the fine supports the theory of the rock art expert María Guanine the fact that in the excavations remains of cattle are now found coming from a rocky perspective which was evident there. There is so much symbolism and so much use of these animals that it should be in the archaeological record.

Maria believes people herded cattle here thousands of years ago, when Lula's climate was much wetter. Did those early shepherds also build the structure in which the remains were discovered? The final piece of the puzzle is a newly arrived carbon dating analysis of the animal remains. The results are surprising. 5200 BC C., over 7,000 years ago, when we realized that we had dates that were 7,000 years old, there were a lot of very excited and raised voices when we realized that we all realized how important it was. that the data coincided perfectly with María's theory. It is among the earliest known evidence of livestock domestication in Arabia and confirms that a major turning point in human history, from hunting to herding, extended to a lula much earlier than previously known.

We have here the earliest evidence of domestication in the region. The environment as it is seen today, cattle generally do not live in this type of environment, so it also gives a totally new perception of the environment and the region that people lived in, and that is not . All more than 7,000 years old, the settlement predates England's Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids by more than 2,000 years, making them one of the oldest large-scale structures in human history with the heels mustard. I can't think of another archaeological phenomenon like that anywhere. You really know huge structures built over a great geographical distance and hundreds of them, the team has developed solid evidence that more than a thousand years ago a very advanced society thrived here on a lunar planet.

They left behind some of the earliest evidence in human history of monumental construction and domestication of animals and created structures linked to the burial of the dead, but as inspiring as these discoveries are, they raise even bigger questions. Saudi Arabia's place in the archeology of the Middle East and the world at large is really just beginning to emerge and we. I think early on, when you get involved in archaeology, you realize that you will never answer all the questions. We are in a chain of discoveries. We will never reach the end. We know that what we can do is move forward in that stage and that process is exciting.

These discoveries are also inspiring a new generation to make Lula once again a global crossroads every time we discover or learn about the civilization we have here and think, oh this. it's quite old, so Arc will just tell us that there is something older and then there is something older, this really makes me proud, of course we have to protect this special thing that we have. Research continues, but it is now clear that some of the earliest human civilizations. The building blocks were laid by the

architects

of ancient Arabia.