More than 60 rock art panels containing 176 engravings were identified in three previously unexplored areas – Jebel Arnaan, Jebel Mleiha, and Jebel Misma – along the southern edge of the Nefud Desert in northern Saudi Arabia. Unlike previously known sites where engravings were hidden in crevices, these panels were etched onto towering cliff faces, some up to 39 meters high, in visually commanding locations. The life-sized rock art engravings primarily depict naturalistic figures of camels, ibex, equids, gazelles, and aurochs.  

This unique form of symbolic expression belongs to a distinct cultural identity adapted to life in a challenging, arid environment. 

The engravings were dated between 11 400 and 12 800 years ago based on artefacts found at the site, including Levantine-style El Khiam and Helwan stone points, green pigment, and dentalium beads, which suggest long-distance connections to Paleolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic populations in the Levant region.   

A palaeoenvironmental analysis led by KAUST Professor Frans van Buchem of nearby playa lake deposits changed the timelines of the earliest reported presence of surface water following the hyper-aridity of the Last Glacial Maximum from approximately 10 000 years ago to more likely 14 000 years ago. The seasonal water sources, confirmed through sediment analysis, supported early human and wildlife expansions into the desert interior.

Read more at KAUST News.