Saudi Arabia, China Extend Archaeological Cooperation Agreement

The renewal of the agreement further strengthens the cultural relations between Saudi Arabia and China. SPA
The renewal of the agreement further strengthens the cultural relations between Saudi Arabia and China. SPA
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Saudi Arabia, China Extend Archaeological Cooperation Agreement

The renewal of the agreement further strengthens the cultural relations between Saudi Arabia and China. SPA
The renewal of the agreement further strengthens the cultural relations between Saudi Arabia and China. SPA

The Saudi Heritage Commission, one of the 11 sector-specific commissions under Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Culture, and China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration have recently signed an amendment to extend the archaeological excavations cooperation project, which began in 2016, at Al-Serrain site in the Makkah region.

The renewal of this agreement further strengthens the cultural relations between the two countries in the fields of heritage preservation and archaeological research. This extension, lasting for five years, reflects the strong ties between the two nations and ensures ongoing, in-depth collaboration in areas such as archaeological excavation and heritage conservation.

Since the project’s inception, the archaeological work at Al-Serrain site has achieved significant results, providing valuable academic insight into the historical and cultural understanding of the region. The collaboration between Saudi Arabia and China in cultural heritage research, archeological excavations, and conservation has become a key part of the cultural exchange between the two nations, further advancing their cultural relations.

This extension marks a new phase in Saudi-Chinese cultural cooperation, with both nations committed to expanding and deepening their collaboration in archaeology and cultural heritage preservation.



Thousands Greet the Winter Solstice at the Ancient Stonehenge Monument

A person holds up a smart phone as they wait for sunrise during the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)
A person holds up a smart phone as they wait for sunrise during the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)
TT

Thousands Greet the Winter Solstice at the Ancient Stonehenge Monument

A person holds up a smart phone as they wait for sunrise during the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)
A person holds up a smart phone as they wait for sunrise during the winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

Thousands of tourists, pagans, druids and people simply yearning for the promise of spring marked the dawn of the shortest day of the year at the ancient Stonehenge monument on Saturday.

Revelers cheered and beat drums as the sun rose at 8:09 a.m. (0809 GMT) over the giant standing stones on the winter solstice — the shortest day and the longest night in the Northern Hemisphere. No one could see the sun through the low winter cloud, but that did not deter a flurry of drumming, chanting and singing as dawn broke.

There will be less than eight hours of daylight in England on Saturday — but after that, the days get longer until the summer solstice in June.

The solstices are the only occasions when visitors can go right up to the stones at Stonehenge, and thousands are willing to rise before dawn to soak up the atmosphere.

The stone circle, whose giant pillars each took 1,000 people to move, was erected starting about 5,000 years ago by a sun-worshiping Neolithic culture, according to The AP. Its full purpose is still debated: Was it a temple, a solar calculator, a cemetery, or some combination of all three?

In a paper published in the journal Archaeology International, researchers from University College London and Aberystwyth University said the site on Salisbury Plain, about 128 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of London, may have had political as well as spiritual significance.

That follows from the recent discovery that one of Stonehenge’s stones — the unique stone lying flat at the center of the monument, dubbed the “altar stone” — originated in Scotland, hundreds of miles north of the site. Some of the other stones were brought from the Preseli Hills in southwest Wales, nearly 240 kilometers (150 miles) to the west,

Lead author Mike Parker Pearson from UCL’s Institute of Archaeology said the geographical diversity suggests Stonehenge may have served as a “monument of unification for the peoples of Britain, celebrating their eternal links with their ancestors and the cosmos.”