Archaeological Discovery: Innovative Tomb Patterns Found in Saudi Arabia

Ancient tombs dating back 4,500 years discovered in the northwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula. (SPA)
Ancient tombs dating back 4,500 years discovered in the northwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula. (SPA)
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Archaeological Discovery: Innovative Tomb Patterns Found in Saudi Arabia

Ancient tombs dating back 4,500 years discovered in the northwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula. (SPA)
Ancient tombs dating back 4,500 years discovered in the northwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula. (SPA)

Saudi Arabia is actively exploring its rich archaeological heritage, uncovering treasures that are prompting a reevaluation of the region’s history.

These efforts highlight the Arabian Peninsula’s significant role in human civilization, with many artifacts preserved underground or on rock formations.

Archaeological tombs discovered across Saudi Arabia provide a valuable opportunity to reshape the historical narrative of the Arabian Peninsula’s civilization.

Field research and ongoing exploration enrich these discoveries, led by Saudi researchers Dr. Eid Al-Yahya and archaeologist Dr. Qusai Al-Turki.

Their recent focus includes the “Al-Ajalah” (Wheel) tombs in various regions between Makkah and Madinah, and a unique musical instrument tomb found in Turbah city, near Makkah.

Exploring burial sites in Saudi Arabia is challenging and time-consuming due to the large number of tombs, their varied designs, purposes, and remote locations.

Al-Yahya and Al-Turki aim to uncover these tombs’ intriguing patterns, which often reflect themes of life, the heavens, and the afterlife, showcasing Saudi Arabia’s significant historical role in early civilization.

The researchers have named “Wheel” tombs as such due to their circular design resembling a wheel or a “Star Tomb,” resembling a four-pointed star.

This comparison stems from its pictorial symbolism in early cuneiform and its association with the concept of “star” or “planet.”

Al-Yahya, an anthropologist specializing in Arabian Peninsula civilization, conducted field surveys across thousands of tombs in Saudi Arabia.

This helped him and Al-Turki in identifying hundreds of thousands of such tombs, including the prevalent Wheel tomb pattern found in areas like Al-Mahd and Al-Baqum, and in regions between Makkah and Madinah.

The Wheel is described as a circular structure with pillars, featuring a burial chamber in one of its four sections. Originally intended for four individuals, only one person was buried there, visible as a dark spot in the northeast corner of the wheel, as seen in aerial photographs.

Al-Turki, known for his research on ancient civilizations between Iraq and the Arabian Gulf, noted similarities between Saudi Arabia’s Wheel tombs and tombs dating back to around 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamian writings.

This suggests that these tombs, shaped like wheels or stars surrounded by circles, were originally built in the Arabian Peninsula.

They symbolized connections to the universe, stars, and planets like Mercury, Mars, and Saturn.

Researchers believe that when migrants from the Arabian Peninsula settled in Mesopotamia, they brought this tomb design with them, integrating it into their cultural inventions, including writing.

In another find, coincidence led amateur Saad Al-Subai to discover a unique pattern of ancient tombs in the Bani Hilal area of southwest Saudi Arabia.

This discovery revealed a distinctive style found specifically in Turbah city, resembling a musical instrument with a tall column and a lower oval ring adorned with 17 triangular stone structures resembling strings.

The oval ring measures 50 meters north-south and 40 meters east-west, with a tail length of about 100 meters, width of 2 meters, and height up to 1.50 meters.

These triangular tombs start with an elevated base and slope towards the head, located at the center of the oval ring, marking the primary burial site for the most important individual.

Discoveries like these are reshaping our understanding of Saudi Arabia’s history and civilization.

Al-Yahya and Al-Turki continue their efforts to study and highlight the rich heritage of Saudi Arabia, emphasizing its historical significance as one of humanity’s earliest inhabited regions.



Saudi Museums Commission Showcases Chinese Contemporary Art for 1st Time in Saudi Arabia

The exhibition draws fascinating parallels between Arab and Chinese traditions. SPA
The exhibition draws fascinating parallels between Arab and Chinese traditions. SPA
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Saudi Museums Commission Showcases Chinese Contemporary Art for 1st Time in Saudi Arabia

The exhibition draws fascinating parallels between Arab and Chinese traditions. SPA
The exhibition draws fascinating parallels between Arab and Chinese traditions. SPA

The Museums Commission inaugurated on Thursday the exhibition "The Writings of Today Are a Promise for Tomorrow" at the Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art at Jax, introducing contemporary artists of Chinese origin to Saudi Arabia for the first time.
Bringing together over 30 artists of different generations and cultural backgrounds, the exhibition showcases a collection of over 50 art pieces, offering diverse and nuanced perspectives on the profound transformation of our contemporary society.
The exhibition draws fascinating parallels between Arab and Chinese traditions by exploring two central elements they have in common: calligraphy and the garden. The exhibition highlights the profound significance of calligraphy as a cultural and societal practice in both Arabic and Chinese cultures, in which the written word and script are revered not only as a form of communication but also as a spiritual endeavor.
The balance between discipline and naturalness, a requirement for masterful calligraphy, links the field of writing with the domain of the garden. By definition, the garden is nature in an arranged order, and it is considered in both cultures a representation of creation, designed for the appreciation of beauty and spirituality, and for contemplation and conviviality.
"The Writings of Today Are a Promise for Tomorrow" exhibition also reflects an aspiration towards future possibilities and ongoing dialogue, addressing the concepts of energy flow and synergy. Writing here is understood in a larger sense as the trace of a meaningful act of participation and communication.
The exhibition is designed as a stroll through a series of thematic stages, exploring the interplay between presence and absence, action and contemplation, memory and imagination
Visitors will have the opportunity to explore pieces from two notable Paris-based collections of contemporary Chinese art, the Donnersberg Collection and the dslcollection, as well as direct contributions from artists and site-specific works produced in Saudi Arabia for the exhibition. They will also see the works of a French-Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed and Taiwanese artist Michael Lin, showing for the first time in Saudi Arabia.
The exhibition showcases how the art of today continues to evolve, reflecting and reshaping the flow of cultural energy, connecting past and future, and embodying the promise of tomorrow.
The exhibition will run until January 18, 2025.