Tag - Archeological Site

FAYD (فيد)

We made a short stop at partial excavations of a major oasis city along the pilgrimage road (Darb Zubaydah) from Baghdad to Makkah. When the Abbasid Caliphs took power in 750, one of their first major decisions was to move the capital of the Caliphate from Damascus to Kufa in...

JUBBAH (جبــــة)

The oasis Jubbah lies on the old caravan road linking Dumat Al-Jandal with Ha’il, surrounded by the vast Nefud Desert. Jubbah is surrounded by large sandstone outcrops filled with ancient petroglyphs and inscriptions on the rock face. The carvings found on the Jibal Umm Sinman cover...

SAKĀKĀ (سكاكا)

Our last stop today was Sakākā, an oasis in northwestern Saudi Arabia. It lies on an old caravan route from the Mediterranean Sea coast to the central and southern parts of the Arabian Peninsula. Sakākā lies north of the desert of Al-Nafūd and northeast of the Al-Jawf oasis. Nowadays, it...

DUMAT AL-JANDAL (دومة الجندل)

Finally, we arrived at the ruins of ancient Dumatha, nowadays Dumat al-Jundal, located in North Western Saudi Arabia in the Al Jawf Province. It is the largest and best-known oasis at the northern limit of the great al-Nafud desert. The city has a history dating back to the 10th century...

MADYAN (مدين)

​We drove to the city of Al-Bada’, where 2017 started excavations of the ancient city of Madyan. It is located in the Wadi’ Afal, a broad, 50-kilometer-long valley oriented north-south that connects the Levant (Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine) to the western shore of Arabia and its...

WADI DISAH (وادي داما)

Wadi Disah is nestled between the towering escarpments in the northern region of Saudi Arabia in the Tabuk Province. “The Valley of Palm Trees” lies 400 meters above sea level, surrounded by massive sandstone cliffs. The valley has two entrances; however, the southern entrance is more...

JABAL IKMAH (جبل عكمة)

Jabal Ikmah is an open library of inscriptions, rock art, and petroglyphs set in a stunning desert canyon. The ticket costs 60 SAR, and the tour runs at 08:45 and 16:45 from Winter Park (duration 2,5 hours, including Dadan). Nearby, Dadan was a caravan way station for many people, and one...

DADAN (دادان)

Amongst the most significant discoveries in all of Al-Ula is the city of Dadan, the capital of the Dadan and Lihyan kingdoms. The town built meticulously from stone and astride the valley’s oasis, dates back between the late 9th and early 8th century BC (Kingdom of Dadan) and 5th–2nd...

HEGRA (الحِجْر)

Less than 22 km from Al-Ula is Hegra (also known as Madain Saleh or Mada’in Salih), built amid rugged desert canyons and mountainous terrain. It lies in the most stunning setting that bears testimony to the Nabataean civilization. The ticket costs 95 SAR, and the tour runs at 08:00...

ZIGGURAT OF UR (أور)

The police escort brought us to Ur – an important city of ancient southern Mesopotamia, situated about 225 kilometers southeast of the site of Babylon and about 16 kilometers west of the present bed of the Euphrates River. In antiquity, the river ran much closer to the city; the...