Rock carvings of camels unearthed in northern Saudi Arabia are much older than they were estimated at the time of their unveiling a few years ago, according to an international study.
Archaeologists were shocked to discover that a series of camels carved into desert rock faces in the Al-Jawf Desert in Saudi Arabia, are prehistoric, dating from 7,000 to 8,000 years ago - before the construction of the Pyramids of Giza (4,500 years old) or Stonehenge (5,000 years old). They even predate the domestication of camels, a catalyst for economic development in the region.
The 21 relief sculptures, carved into three rocky outcrops, are a life-size beauty. In 2018, archaeologists estimated that they were from the start of our era, because of the similarities with other sculptures at the nearby site of Petra in Jordan that belong to the Nabataean civilization.
These heavily eroded carvings—which, unlike cave paintings, don't contain the organic materials used for radiocarbon dating— presented a considerable challenge.
A collaborative research program launched between the Saudi Ministry of Culture, the German Max Planck Institute for Science and Human History and the National Institute for Scientific Research in France relied on a set of techniques to precisely date these cravings, especially since their condition has deteriorated sharply over the years.
A team of 14 scientists from Europe and the Middle East used X-ray analysis and fluorescence dating to study the camels’ location in detail, according to a Ha'aretz report. They also evaluated erosion patterns, analyzed tool marks, and tested animal bones in relevant rock layers. The researchers, who published their findings in the Journal of Archaeological Science, assessed erosion patterns, analyzed tool marks, and tested animal bones found at the site to determine a new date for the sculptures' creation.
The luminescent dating method measures the energy of photons emitted by the rocks to determine how long they have been exposed to infrared and thermal radiation naturally. This could reveal when a geologic structure was first exposed to sunlight or extreme heat. But it was the tool marks, which suggested stone rather than a metallic implement that provided the first hint that the archaeologists were in uncharted territory.
According to researchers' findings, the camels are the world's oldest-known large-scale animal reliefs. That also makes the camels the first three-dimensional Neolithic carvings ever found.
They see an example of "an era in ancient history in which shepherd groups in northern Saudi Arabia wondered at rocks and made huge stone structures."
The researchers suggested that the efforts made to complete these rock carvings required laying scaffolding and bringing stone tools 15 kilometers from the site and required collective work that could be part of the annual rituals of one of the Neolithic societies. Researchers also noted the difficulty of making such works thousands of years ago - many of the reliefs are high above the ground, meaning their carvers would have had to build scaffolding to create them.
There also may be significant symbolism for some of the camel carvings which have indications of a breeding cycle linked in turn to those of the wet and dry seasons.
Scientists consider that this site had a special symbolism for its residents, who have not yet determined what it is, with multiple interventions over a long period to refine the sculptures.
They settled that some of these carvings were carved in the sixth millennium before our era, using stone tools in the middle of a savannah that was scattered with trees and lakes, which later turned into a desert.
"It is stunning, and considering that we are now seeing it in a state of severe erosion with so many slabs falling off, the original site must have been magnificent," the paper's lead author, Maria Gugnin, of the Department of Archeology at the Max Planck Institute for the sciences of human history, told the National newspaper.
"Neolithic groups have regularly returned to the site, which indicates that its symbolism continued over several generations, noting that the carvings were regularly repaired by ancient peoples." Maria Gagnyan added.
Each of the 21 engravings on the three rocks of the spurs was supposed to take about 10 to 15 days to complete with tools made of a boulder - meaning that the tools were frequently sharpened and replaced.
Although today the camels sit amidst a sandy, barren desert, the site was a grassy plain with the appearance of lakes when their creators first began shaping the rocks, the researchers noted. It is not clear why the camel sculptures were created, but the researchers have suggested that they could have provided a meeting point for nomadic tribes.
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