Humans prospered in the Arab desert 12,000 years ago, monumental rocky art illustrious
During the transition from Pleistocene-Holocene (approximately 12,000 years ago), humans operated a network of seasonal water bodies inside Arabia, marking and access routes with monumental rock engravings of camels, IBEX, wild categories, gazelles and auroches.
Rocky art panels at Jebel Arnaan. Image credit: Maria GUAGNIN.
As part of the Green Arabia project, the archaeologist of Griffith Michael Petraglia and his colleagues identified more than 60 rocky art panels containing 176 engravings in three previously unexplored areas – Jebel Arnaan, Jebel Mleiha and Jebel Misma – along the southern border of the deserted north in northern Arabia.
The engravings, mainly representing camels, iBex, equines, gazelles and aurochs, include 130 grandeurnal and naturalistic figures, some measuring up to 3 m long and more than 2 m high.
The engravings date from between 12,800 and 11,400 years, a period when seasonal water bodies reappeared in the region after extreme aridity.
These water sources, confirmed by the analysis of sediment, supported the first human extensions within the desert and offered rare survival opportunities.
“These large engravings are not only rocky art – these are probably declarations of presence, access and cultural identity,” said Dr. Maria GUAGNIN, archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute in Geo -hropology.
“The art of the rock marks the sources of water and the ways of movement, which perhaps means territorial rights and intergenerational memory,” added Dr Ceri Shipton, archaeologist at the University College in London.
Unlike the previously known sites where the engravings were hidden in the crevices, the Jebel Mleiha and the Jebel Arnaan panels were engraved on imposing cliff faces, some up to 39 m high, in visually commanding locations.
A panel would have forced ancient artists to climb and work precariously on close edges, emphasizing the effort and the meaning of imagery.
Various artefacts, including the points of Pierre El Khiam and Helwan in Levantin style, the pearls of green pigment and dental, suggest long-distance links to the pre-Potterries (PPN) populations in the Levant region.
However, the scale, content and placement of Arab engravings distinguish them.
“This unique form of symbolic expression belongs to a distinct cultural identity adapted to life in a difficult and arid environment,” said Dr. Faisal al-Jibreen, researcher at the heritage commission at the Saudi Ministry of Culture.
“The interdisciplinary approach to the project began to fill a critical gap in the archaeological file of North Arabia between the last glacial maximum and the Holocene, highlighting the resilience and innovation of the first desert communities,” said Dr. Petraglia.
The team’s article was published in the newspaper Nature communications.
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Mr. Guagnin and al. 2025. Monumental rock art illustrates that humans prospered in the Arab desert during the transition from Pleistocene-Holocene. Nat common 16, 8249; DOI: 10.1038 / S41467-025-63417-Y
