عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Lavender, a Symbol of Saudi Arabia’s Hospitality

Saudi Arabia's Lavender - SPA
Saudi Arabia's Lavender - SPA
TT
TT

Lavender, a Symbol of Saudi Arabia’s Hospitality

Saudi Arabia's Lavender - SPA
Saudi Arabia's Lavender - SPA

Lavender flowers dress Saudi deserts during Spring, reflecting the unique natural landscape of the Kingdom.

The northern regions of the Kingdom are abundant in shamrock, chrysanthemum, and lavender flowers that flourish in various degrees of purple that go in harmony with the desert landscape and give it vigor.

This has prompted Saudi Arabia to choose purple as the new color for its carpets during ceremonial and formal occasions, which includes receiving heads of states, official guests, ministers, and ambassadors.

The Kingdom is one of the few countries that no longer use the traditional red carpets during official occasions.

The idea to use purple for ceremonial carpets came as a joint initiative between the Saudi Ministry of Culture and the Royal Protocol.

Purple was chosen as a touristic and cultural symbol, inspired by the lavender flowers that bloom in spring and cover the Kingdom’s desert landscapes.

Notably, official purple carpets appeared for the first time when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomed Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed.

The initiative to change the color of ceremonial carpets reflects the ongoing development in Saudi Arabia under Vision 2030. It also attributes special importance to the roots of Saudi history and civilization.

Saudi Arabia placed special emphasis on its cultural identity and international appearance after the launch of Vision 2030, contributing to the promotion of various sectors such as tourism, arts, and archaeology.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

Muddy Footprints Suggest 2 Species of Early Humans Were Neighbors in Kenya 1.5 Million Years Ago

An aerial view shows a research team standing alongside the fossil footprint trackway at the excavation site on the eastern side of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya in 2022. AP
An aerial view shows a research team standing alongside the fossil footprint trackway at the excavation site on the eastern side of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya in 2022. AP
TT
TT

Muddy Footprints Suggest 2 Species of Early Humans Were Neighbors in Kenya 1.5 Million Years Ago

An aerial view shows a research team standing alongside the fossil footprint trackway at the excavation site on the eastern side of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya in 2022. AP
An aerial view shows a research team standing alongside the fossil footprint trackway at the excavation site on the eastern side of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya in 2022. AP

Muddy footprints left on a Kenyan lakeside suggest two of our early human ancestors were nearby neighbors some 1.5 million years ago.
The footprints were left in the mud by two different species “within a matter of hours, or at most days,” said paleontologist Louise Leakey, co-author of the research published Thursday in the journal Science.
Scientists previously knew from fossil remains that these two extinct branches of the human evolutionary tree – called Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei – lived about the same time in the Turkana Basin.
But dating fossils is not exact. “It’s plus or minus a few thousand years,” said paleontologist William Harcourt-Smith of Lehman College and the American Museum of Natural History in New York, who was not involved in the study.
Yet with fossil footprints, “there’s an actual moment in time preserved,” he said. “It’s an amazing discovery.”
The tracks of fossil footprints were uncovered in 2021 in what is today Koobi Fora, Kenya, said Leaky, who is based at New York's Stony Brook University.
Whether the two individuals passed by the eastern side of Lake Turkana at the same time – or a day or two apart – they likely knew of each other’s existence, said study co-author Kevin Hatala, a paleoanthropologist at Chatham University in Pittsburgh.
“They probably saw each other, probably knew each other was there and probably influenced each other in some way,” The Associated Press quoted him as saying.
Scientists were able to distinguish between the two species because of the shape of the footprints, which holds clues to the anatomy of the foot and how it’s being used.
H. erectus appeared to be walking similar to how modern humans walk – striking the ground heel first, then rolling weight over the ball of the foot and toes and pushing off again.
The other species, which was also walking upright, was moving “in a different way from anything else we’ve seen before, anywhere else,” said co-author Erin Marie Williams-Hatala, a human evolutionary anatomist at Chatham.
Among other details, the footprints suggest more mobility in their big toe, compared to H. erectus or modern humans, said Hatala.
Our common primate ancestors probably had hands and feet adapted for grasping branches, but over time the feet of human ancestors evolved to enable walking upright, researchers say.
The new study adds to a growing body of research that implies this transformation to bipedalism – walking on two feet — didn’t happen at a single moment, in a single way.
Rather, there may have been a variety of ways that early humans learned to walk, run, stumble and slide on prehistoric muddy slopes.
“It turns out, there are different gait mechanics – different ways of being bipedal,” said Harcourt-Smith.