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Jubba Paleolithic Kingdom
Oh how strange are the deserted campsites‚
And their long-gone inhabitants‚
And how strangely time changes all,
The camel of youth walks slowly now‚
Its once quick pace is gone.
'Qasidah' by Jarir ibn Rasheed |
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Human occupation in Hail goes back to prehistoric times as indicated by the numerous stone artifacts and rock drawings. Large numbers of Thamudic inscriptions can be seen in the mountains.
Hail has a complex history of trade, travel, conflict and occupation - traces of which are left all over the countryside. Historically, Hail maintained cultural relations with the Assyrian, Babylonian and Levantine cultures. Assyrian and Babylonian incursions into Northern Arabia passed through Hail. Hail also acted as a trade center connecting four main roads leading to Jawf, Buraydah, Al-Najaf and Jarha.
The oldest, and most significant, relics here would suggest that the Nafud generally, and Hail specifically, is the cradle for the Arabian race. Saudi Arabia is one of the four richest regions in the world for rock art, along with South Africa, Australia and India. It possesses a major concentration of sites, which until now has not been realized internationally.
There are numerous different types of relics. Stone Circles are mostly found southeast of Hail at the Salma Mountains. Associated stone tools can be seen on the ground. Such features were dated to the 4th or early third millennium B.C.
Kites is the name give to the stone structures that appear to be annexed buildings with "tails and arms". Stone tools of Mousterian type, like retouched and plain blades, scrapers and awls, were found inside the structures.
"Jubba is one of the most curious places in the world, and to my mind one of the most beautiful." - Lady Anne Blunt (1879).
Jubba is a sleepy frontier town 100km northwest of Hail. Between 9000-6000 years ago this desert landscape was lush savanna grasslands which supported cattle. Archeologists have found evidence of four major periods of settlement at Jubba stretching back through the Middle Paleolithic period, 80,000 to 25,000 years ago.
The rock art around Jubba at Jebel Um Sanaman covers some 39 sq km. Here can be found remarkable carvings depicting long-horned buffalo, domesticated dogs and human figures dating back 7,000 years.
The abundant images of camels raise the intriguing possibility that the camel was first domesticated in northern Arabia, not southern, as is usually believed. Among the hundreds of thousands of camel figures carved in rocks throughout the Arabian Peninsula, the ones at Jubba are believed to be the oldest. At approximately 4000 years old, they date back to the beginning of the Bronze Age.
Jubba also contains 3000-year-old inscriptions in Thamudic - the oldest known script of the Arabian Peninsula.
A rock with one of Arabia's most intriguing petroglyphs was moved to Riyadh's National Museum. The rough, pyramid-shaped sandstone rock, 1.3 meters tall, shows arms and hands waving on one side and another hand, apparently with a broken arm, on the other. The motif is ubiquitous in rock art throughout the world.
The local guide and site warden is:
Atiq al-Shamali
Tel: +966-(0)57-494877
Hadi Abdullah is the local English teacher
E-mail: hadi1500@yahoo.com
Nearby is Naif Palace Guesthouse which is the house where Lord and Lady Blunt stayed, and is now a museum containing some of their personal affects and local artifacts.
Jannain is another important archaeological site containing rock art depicting scenes of wild cattles, camels, ostriches, lions, horses, gazelles, antelopes and dogs.
It is situated in a plain which was once a great lake 16km x 5km. The rock art is described professionally as being 'complex and interesting evidence of how early humans socialized their landscapes'. The pictures here, pecked into the rock speak to us all, however faintly, across great divides of time.
The site near the town of Shuwaymas stands ready to surpass all other rock-art sites on the Arabian Peninsula. It's situated in an ancient black volcanic lava field (harrat) south of Hail. This site is described as a unique find which can tell us much about the early domestication of animals.
As well as rock art, there are also numerous ancient stone "kites," mounds, tails and enclosures in the area. Among the carvings is an unusually detailed image (nearly two meters from head to tail) that has been dubbed "The Lion of Shuwaymas." Other images include cheetah, hyenas, dogs, long and short horned cattle, oryx, ibex, horses, mules, camels and ostrich, human figures, geometric shapes, serpentine squiggles, inscrutable symbols, carved-out footprints and, perhaps, hoofprints.
A permit is required from:
The Director General of the Department of Antiquities
The National Museum in Riyadh
Fax: 01-4112054
PO Box 3734 Riyadh 11418 |
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