"Complex And Strategic": New Research Finds Human Led Lives In Northwest Saudi Arabia During 6500-8000 Years Ago (image@sydney.edu.au)

Little was discovered about the people living in north-western Saudi Arabia during the Neolithic period, which is traditionally defined by the shift to humans controlling food production and settling into communities with agriculture and domesticated animals.

Now, an Australian-led team has discovered monumental buildings, which they call as “standing stone circles”, which is believed to become huge aid in rewriting what is known about the people who lived on the land between 6,500-8000 year ago. The research was supervised by Royal Commission for AlUla.

A team of researchers led by Jane McMahon from the Discipline of Archaeology claims that the evidence they found reveal what the people ate, what tools they used and even the jewellery they wore. From the findings, it can be said that the people thrived on livestock herding, jewellery making and trading.

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The latest discovery came from a selection of buildings found on the Harrat ‘Uwayrid – a volcanic plateau formed over millennia. The dense clusters of standing stone circles on the harrat shows how complex these mobile pastoralist communities actually were. Remnants left behind by the people who lived in these buildings for more than 1,000 years were also discovered.

In the article published on the University of Sydney’s website, the group said they used a range of modern and traditional techniques to tackle the practical limitations of working in such a remote and rugged landscape. They said aerial survey by helicopter helped in identifying examples of the dwellings across 40,000 square kilometres of basalt and sandy desert. Drones were also used to make plans of the sites, some almost three hectares in size.

As per the analysis of the group on the animal bones found inside the structures, it shows that the people mostly ate domesticated species, such as goats, sheep and a smaller number of cattle. They supplemented this with wild species such as gazelles and birds.

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The group said that the people lived in the area stay in one place, since they lived in buildings that could be partially dismantled and moved. It appears that they spent enough time at each site to justify the time and effort required to source and manipulate basalt blocks weighing up to one tonne each. This suggests they returned to these locations time and again for hundreds of years, if not more than 1,200 years.

Small shells were brought from the Red Sea (some 120 kilometres away) to make beads. Other objects found included bracelets and pendants carved and polished from exotic stone.

The group said that their discovery is just beginning to fill in the gaps of what life was like in north-western Arabia, helping reintroduce it – and its people – into the picture of the wider region.