Ancient sculpted bedrock depicting camelids and equids has been found in northern Saudi Arabian province of Al Jawf. Although the camel has been a common motif in the artworks of the region for millennia, the latest discovery is “unprecedented” in its scale.

The 2,000 year old site was discovered by a Franco Saudi research team in an isolated area, enclosed within a private property.

The study was conducted by researchers based at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France and their counterparts at the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), who explored the site in 2016 and 2017, the Centre for International Communication (CIC).

Guillaume Charloux, of the CNRS Orient & Méditerranée joint research unit, who surveyed the site during this period, said that “these findings, in a sector that remains virtually unexplored, are truly unique,” according to CNRS website.

Located eight kilometres north of the city of Sakaka, the three rocky outcrops making up what is now known as “Camel Site” exhibit low and high relief realistic representations of at least 11 dromedaries and two donkeys or mules.

Dr Hussain Abu Al Hassan, Vice President of Saudi Cultural and Tourism Authority (SCTH) for Antiquities and Museums, said that the site was another evidence that the region attracted highly skilled sculptors. The researchers also found that most of the rock carvings found in Al Jawf region were concentrated around ancient lakes and trade routes.

‘’Obviously, the work of skilled carvers who respected proportions, the twelve naturalistic panels and reliefs depict animals without loads, in active postures and in a natural setting. Diverging from the two dimensional and schematic official Arab tradition, they could be influenced by the craftsmanship of the then neighbouring Nabataean and Parthian populations’’, CNRS said in a statement.

While “the site is shrouded in mystery that won’t be solved for a long time to come,” one thing is certain: the carvers were talented artists possibly locals as suggested by the originality of the themes chosen and techniques employed who showed surprising mastery and sense of aesthetics. “It took several people to complete these representations and several days for each one,” Archaeologist Guillaume Charloux, a research engineer at CNRS in France, pointed out.

He said that the unconventional nature of the site in “chronological, geographical, technical, thematic and stylistic” terms makes it quite exceptional, hence the researchers’ concern to protect it an endeavour that has been swiftly undertaken by SCTH and commitment to draw the international scientific community’s attention to it.

“We now hope that rock art specialists will take an interest in it,” Charloux concludes. That will ultimately bring the Camel Site out of millennia of solitude.

Source: Bahrain News Agency