An Overview of the Rock Art of AlUla
Tracing Changes in Content and Form Across 12,000 Years of Human History
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8132015 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Maria Guagnin (0000-0002-7995-8611, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, corresponding author), Laura Morabito (0000-0002-1708-5165, Royal Commission Medical Center), Hannah Leighton (Independent researcher), Hannah R Leighton, Tahani AlMahmoud (Royal Commission Medical Center) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-15 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Arabian archaeology and epigraphy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0905-7196 • E-ISSN: 1600-0471 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/aae.70015 |
| OpenAlex | W7124317873 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 30 |
Between 2018 and 2021, the Identification and Documentation of Immovable Heritage Assets (IDIHA) Project recorded over 19,000 rock art panels in the AlUla (al‐‘Ulā) region of north‐western Saudi Arabia. This study presents a chronological assessment of the corpus, drawing on superimpositions, datable motifs, inscriptions, and varnish formation, alongside a diachronic analysis of recurring themes. The rock art of AlUla spans more than 12,000 years, from the early Holocene to the recent past, with notable peaks in production during the Neolithic and, more substantially, the Iron Age and ‘pre‐Islamic’ periods. These temporal fluctuations contrast with patterns observed at other northern Arabian sites and likely reflect population increase in the AlUla valley during the first millennium BCE and CE . Scenes of Neolithic cattle herding, Iron Age camel caravans, and Islamic‐era battles offer insight into the lived experiences and symbolic expressions of AlUla's inhabitants across millennia
Bronze Age · Documentation · Holocene · Iron Age · Population · Prehistory · Rock art · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories
New evidence for Neolithic occupation in north-west Arabia
Pre-Neolithic evidence for dog-assisted hunting strategies in Arabia
When the desert was green
Mass-kill hunting and Late Quaternary ecology
Life-sized Neolithic camel sculptures in Arabia
Before the Holocene humid period
An illustrated prehistory of the Jubbah oasis
Invited editors' preface
Camel hunting or camel raiding
Archaeometric studies on the petroglyphs and rock varnish at Kilwa and Sakaka, northern Saudi Arabia
Wheels in a land of camels
Towards new paradigms
Aspects of Bronze Age art of southern Arabia
Growth of desert varnish on petroglyphs from Jubbah and Shuwaymis, Ha’il region, Saudi Arabia
Hunters and herders
Rock art imagery as a proxy for Holocene environmental change
Traceological analysis of lithics from the Camel Site, al-Jawf, Saudi Arabia
Neolithic pastoralism in marginal environments during the Holocene Humid Period, northern Saudi Arabia
Rock art landscapes beside the Jubbah palaeolake, Saudi Arabia
A rock art tradition of life-sized, naturalistic engravings of camels in Northern Arabia
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |