ISLAMABAD: Researchers have uncovered life-size rock carvings of camels, gazelles, and other animals in the Saudi Arabian desert, dating back around 12,000 years. Many carvings measure over 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall and were made using a wedge-shaped rock to create sharp lines.
Some were etched on narrow ledges, preventing artists from stepping back to view their work. Maria Guagnin, an archaeologist at Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology involved in the discovery, said creating such detailed engravings with just a rock required significant skill.
The carvings and tools found at the site indicate human presence in the area about 2,000 years earlier than previously believed. It remains unclear how people survived in the arid conditions, whether relying on shallow lakes that formed seasonally or water collected in deep crevices.
Guagnin noted that rock art has been made in Saudi Arabia for thousands of years, but dating older engravings is difficult due to the lack of writing and scarce organic remains like charcoal for analysis.
Michael Harrower, an archaeologist at Johns Hopkins University not involved in the research, said little is known about art in the Middle East from this ancient period. Scientists were able to date the carvings by finding a rock pick buried beneath them, as reported in the journal Nature Communications.
Previously, it was uncertain if people lived in the desert at that time because the environment was dry and water scarce, leading to the assumption that humans settled there later when the landscape was greener.
One carving showed an auroch, a wild cattle ancestor extinct today that did not inhabit deserts, prompting Guagnin to suggest the artists might have encountered the animal elsewhere during dry seasons. She said the evidence points to well-established communities with strong knowledge of the landscape.
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