Rock Art Research

The discovery of a previously unknown rock art complex is reported from northern Saudi Arabia. It is located roughly half-way between two major rock art precincts recently added to the World Heritage List, but will be preserved in pristine forensic condition by not disclosing its very isolated location. The rock art complex includes an extensive gallery of pictograms and two cave art sites; both features are very rare on the Arabian Peninsula. Its surviving rock art dates from 6000 years bp to the present. It includes petroglyphs, rock paintings and inscriptions of the most recent past, including of the 20th century CE. This adds new evidence to the observation, made also elsewhere in Saudi Arabia, that Arabian rock art production and rock art use is a continuing tradition of the Bedouin that may have locally survived to the present time.