Heritage Commission Unveils Secrets of Stone Rectangles in Hail

The Heritage Commission has revealed the results of a recent scientific study published in the journal The Holocene, as part of the Green Arabia Project, which focuses on studying the history of human expansion and migration in the Arabian Peninsula during prehistoric times, SPA reported.
The study relies on precise spatial analysis, based on archaeological surveys and excavations conducted in 2021 at the study sites to uncover the reasons that led Neolithic inhabitants in northwestern Arabia to choose the locations of the stone mustatils (which means rectangles in Arabic) in the Hail Region for settlement.
The Heritage Commission conducted the study in cooperation with several local and international institutions, including the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany, the University of Tübingen in Germany, the University of Cologne in Germany, King's College London, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, King Saud University, Griffith University in Australia, the University of Queensland in Australia, the Smithsonian Institution in the US, and the University of Malta.
The stone rectangles are massive archaeological structures dating back to between 5400 and 4200 BC. They are located at the periphery of the Nafud Desert, atop hilltops at elevations ranging from 880 to 950 meters, which offer wide views of the surrounding landscapes, indicating that the selection of these sites was not random.
The proximity to water sources and raw materials further emphasizes the deliberate choice of these locations.
The study reveals the existence of significant scattered clusters of these stone rectangles, suggesting specific patterns of movement, and migration of the peoples of that era.
It also indicates that the size and distribution of these rectangles suggest that they were used for various purposes, including religious rituals, social practices, and as markers of territorial ownership.
Experimental studies showed that constructing these stone rectangles was not overly difficult. A small group of people could build a rectangle 177 meters long in a few weeks. Larger rectangles may have taken months to construct, but the process was faster when community members worked together. The rectangles give an inkling into the organizational skills and cooperation prevalent in those societies.
According to the commission, the findings provide a new context for understanding the stone rectangles. Applying this type of spatial analysis could lead to the documentation of other types of stone structures, which would contribute to a deeper understanding of the organization and establishment of Neolithic communities in northwestern Saudi Arabia, it said.