Artificial intelligence is detecting new archaeological sites in the Arabian Desert

Especially in areas that are unsuitable for human exploration, archaeologists are increasingly coming up with inventive ways to use satellite imagery and artificial intelligence in their hunt for secrets that lay hidden.

 Researchers at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi have developed a high-tech solution to searching huge, arid areas for potential archaeological sites — a desert spanning 250,000 square miles on the Arabian Peninsula.

Archaeologists from Khalifa University are using AI in combination with satellite imagery and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to detect new archaeological sites beneath the ever-shifting sands of the Empty Quarter desert.

The conventional method used by archaeologists to identify possible sites of interest is ground surveys, but in arid environments like the desert, this can be a laborious and challenging process.

Sand and dust storms in the desert can make it difficult to identify potential sites, and dune patterns can further complicate matters.

Nevertheless, in recent years, remote sensing—which uses optical satellite images from websites like Google Earth—has become more and more popular as a means of scouring large areas for unusual features.

In order to get beyond these obstacles, the group developed a machine learning algorithm to examine pictures obtained through the use of synthetic aperture radar (SAR), a satellite imaging method that employs radio waves to find objects hidden beneath surfaces like ice, sand, and vegetation.

Data from Saruq Al-Hadid, a settlement in the desert outside of Dubai with signs of 5,000 years of activity, which is already well-known to archaeologists, was used to train the algorithm.

Once the algorithm was trained, it gave the team an indication of other potential areas nearby that are still not excavated.

The technology is precise to within 50 centimeters and can create 3D models of the expected structure that will give archaeologists a better idea of what’s buried below. This innovative approach could revolutionize archaeological research in remote and hard-to-explore areas.

In collaboration with Dubai Culture, the government organization that manages the site, the team conducted a ground survey using a ground-penetrating radar, which “replicated what the satellite measured from space,” says Diana Francis, an atmospheric scientist and one of the lead researchers on the project.

Now, Dubai Culture plans to excavate the newly identified areas — and Francis hopes the technique can uncover more buried archaeological treasures in the future.

SAR imagery has been in use since the 1980s, and machine learning has been gaining traction in archaeology. But the use of the two together is a novel application, says Francis, and to her knowledge, is a first in archaeology.

If successful, the project will broaden the applications of AI in the field of archaeology. Some experts have urged caution against “over-reliance” on the technology, however.

Hugh Thomas, an archaeology lecturer at the University of Sydney, told CNN that there remains nothing better than a “trained archaeological eye” to detect sites.

“The way that I would like to use this kind of technology is on areas that perhaps have either no or a very low probability of archaeological sites, therefore allowing researchers to focus more on other areas where we expect there to be more found,” he said.

The technology’s real test, and hopefully its validation, will take place when excavations at the Saruq Al Hadid complex start next month.

According to Dubai Culture, only about 10% of the complex’s 2.3 square mile area has been fully excavated. By using the technology, Dubai Culture hopes to uncover more sites if archaeologists discover the structures that the algorithm has predicted.

The team plans to continue training the machine learning algorithm to improve its precision, before expanding its use to other areas, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the deserts of Africa.

Recently A.I. was instrumental in discovering over 300 new Nazca petroglyphs in Peru, showcasing its global potential in archaeological exploration. Arkeonews reported on the findings by researchers at Japan’s Yamagata University last week.

Experts believe the 7,000-year-old circular stone structures were once houses, complete with doorways and roofs in Saudi Arabia

Archaeologists have excavated eight ancient “standing stone circles” in Saudi Arabia that they say were used as houses.

Eight of the 345 stone circles identified by aerial surveys in the Harrat ‘Uwayrid lava field in Saudi Arabia have been analyzed by researchers from the University of Western Australia and the University of Sydney, who suggest that the structures may have been roofed and served as dwellings.

These findings were published in the scientific journal “Levant” by a research team led by archaeologist Jane McMahon from the University of Sydney. The study examined 431 standing stone circles at various sites in Harrat Uwayrid in AlUla, with 52 undergoing field surveys and 11 being excavated.

This study, supervised by the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU), reveals that the region’s inhabitants were more stable and advanced than previously believed.

The circles date back around 7,000 years and have the remains of stone walls and at least one doorway.

These dwellings consisted of vertically erected stone slabs with diameters ranging from four to eight meters. The outer circumference had two rows of stone slabs, likely used as foundations for wooden columns, possibly made of Acacia, supporting the roof.

A central slab within these stone circles supported a main wooden column. This architectural feature suggests a sophisticated understanding of weight distribution and structural support among the ancient inhabitants. Tools and animal remains found at these sites suggest that ceilings might have been made from animal skins.

During their excavations, the archaeologists discovered the remains of many stone tools made of basalt. In addition, excavations have unearthed tools linked to animal husbandry, including implements for wool shearing and sheep slaughter.

“These structures – which we think of more as shelters than ‘houses’ – were used for any and all activities. Inside, we found evidence of stone tool-making, cooking, and eating, as well as lost and broken tools used for processing animal hides,” said Jane McMahon from the University of Sydney.

The team concluded that many, if not all, of the standing stone circles are also domestic structures based on the artifacts discovered within and the circles’ resemblance to ancient homes excavated in Jordan.

Also among the finds were a variety of seashells, all of which came from the Red Sea, which is located about 75 miles (120 kilometers) to the west. Other artifacts include sandstone and limestone ornaments and bracelets, as well as a piece of red sandstone chalk, possibly used for drawing.

Arrowheads discovered match types used in southern and eastern Jordan, indicating clear interaction between the regions.

McMahon highlighted that these early inhabitants were not merely shepherds but had sophisticated architecture, domesticated animals, ornaments, decorations, and various tools. The number and size of stone circles suggest a larger population than previously estimated.

The research team included experts from King Saud University, local AlUla residents like Youssef Al-Balawi who provided ethnographic and cultural insights, and students from the University of Hail.

Scientists discover hundreds of thousands of animal, and human bones in Saudi Arabia cave

Although hyenas look and hunt like canines, they’re members of the mongoose family and therefore more closely related to a cat. However, just like dogs, hyenas have an affinity for hiding bones — it’s just that they can tend to go a bit overboard.

Case in point, archaeologists were left speechless after they stumbled across a lava tube cavern in northwestern Saudi Arabia that is packed with hundreds of thousands of bones gathered by striped hyenas over the course of 7,000 years.

The ultimate hoarders

The gruesome floor filled with ancient animal bones was found deep in a lava tube system — a network of caverns carved by lava flow. The site, known as Umm Jirsan, was discovered in 2007, but it was only recently that researchers ventured deep into the dark caverns.

Mathew Stewart, a zooarchaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany, led a team of researchers who catalogued nearly 2,000 bones and teeth belonging to at least 14 different species, including cattle, horses, camels, rodents, and even humans.

Hundreds of thousands of other bones that are yet to be analyzed still lie on the cavernous floor.

Radiocarbon dating of the samples suggests the animal remains range from 439 to 6,839 years ago, which can only mean these lava tubes had been used as dens for at least 6,000 years.

The striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) is a bit smaller than spotted and brown hyenas. They have a broad head with dark eyes, a thick muzzle, and large, pointed ears, with a mane of long hair growing along the back.

Their most striking feature is the legs: the front legs are much longer than the hind legs. This gives hyenas their distinctive walk, making them seem like they’re always limping uphill.

Hyenas are nocturnal or crepuscular predators that stay out of sight during the day, preferably in a natural cave or a burrow dug into the hillside. Sometimes they may take over the dens of other creatures where they transport bones to be eaten, fed to the young, or cached for later use.

It’s a well-established fact that hyena dens aren’t tidy at all, being normal to find leftover bones scattered across the floor. However, the lava tube horde stunned even the researchers who were most familiar with the hyenas.

Hyenas will eat an entire human body — except for the skull cap

Although they didn’t find hyenas at the site, the researchers are certain this was one of their dens judging from the cuts, bites, and digestion marks left on the bones.

The presence of human skull fragments was also telling of hyena presence since the animals are known to scavenge through burial grounds in search of food. They normally will consume everything except for the top of the skull.

“The size and composition of the bone accumulation, as well as the presence of hyena skeletal remains and coprolites, suggest that the assemblage was primarily accumulated by striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena),” the authors wrote in a study published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.

It’s highly unlikely that the six skullcaps with gnaw marks on them found at the site belong to humans who were killed by a hyena hunting party.

The mammals are mostly scavengers but when they do hunt they prefer to target hares, birds, and antelopes. However, the possibility that some hunter-gatherers were killed by hyena packs cannot be entirely ruled out.

Today, striped hyenas are a threatened species in Saudia Arabia but thousands of years ago they were common across the Arabian Peninsula.

The current investigation at Umm Jirsan was undertaken as part of the Paleo deserts Project, a large-scale research initiative aimed at tracking environmental and climate change in the Arabian Desert region over the past one million years.

Of particular interest is how human and animal migration in the region waxed and waned with the changing climate. This is a challenging goal since the unforgiving desert climate in the region tends to destroy any exposed organic matter.  Luckily, the Umm Jirsan lava tubes create a perfect time capsule that will give scientists material to work with for years to come.

Roman Military Camps Discovered in Arabia

Archaeologists have identified three undiscovered Roman fortified camps across northern Arabia.

The University of Oxford School of Archaeology made the discovery in a remote sensing survey, using satellite imagery.

It said it could be evidence of an “undocumented military campaign” across southeast Jordan into Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Michael Fradley, who led the research, said: “We are almost certain they were built by the Roman army.”

In the report, published in the journal Antiquity, he explained his conclusion was based on the “typical playing card shape of the enclosures with opposing entrances along each side”.

Dr. Fradley added that the westernmost camp was significantly larger than the two camps to the east.

The research team believes they may have been part of a previously undiscovered Roman military campaign “linked to the Roman takeover of the Nabataean Kingdom in 106 AD, a civilization centered on the world-famous city of Petra, located in Jordan”.

The university’s Dr. Mike Bishop, an expert on the Roman military, said the camps were a “spectacular new find” and an important new insight into Roman campaigning in Arabia.

“Roman forts and fortresses show how Rome held a province but temporary camps reveal how they acquired it in the first place,” he explained.

Dr. Fradley added that the preservation of the camps was “remarkable”, particularly as they may have only been used for a matter of days or weeks.

Archaeologists still need to confirm the date of the camps through investigation on the ground, the researchers said.

The camps were identified by the university’s Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa project and were later photographed by the Aerial Archaeology in Jordan project.

A Rare Inscription in an Ancient Arabian Script Was Uncovered by Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia

Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia have discovered one of the longest-known plaques baring Musnad, or the pre-Islamic southern Arabian script, at the Al Ukhdud excavation site in the country’s Najran region.

Other artifacts, including three gold rings and a bronze bull’s head, were also uncovered.

The country’s heritage commission announced the finding of these pre-Islamic artifacts on Twitter, stating that the discoveries “shed a unique light on the ancient culture” that was present in southern Saudi Arabia. The commission called the discovery “exciting” and the finds “rare.”

كشوفات أثرية مهمة في موقع الأخدود الأثري بمنطقة نجران؛ تؤكد العمق الحضاري لمنطقة جنوب المملكة.#هيئة_التراث pic.twitter.com/i2yfIV61rM

— هيئة التراث (@MOCHeritage) February 15, 2023

Measuring seven-and-a-half feet long and one-and-a-half feet wide, the ancient inscription is the longest of its kind ever discovered at the site. It originally belonged to Wahib Eil bin Magan, who lived locally and worked as a water carrier, whose biography is detailed in the carving.

The term Musnad originated in early Islamic times to describe inscriptions written in the ancient script’s characters. Some of the earliest examples date back to the first half of the first millennium BCE.

The three rings each have a delicate golden butterfly-shaped lobe at the top and a small lock on the side connecting the ends of the circles. Other pieces found at the site include several ceramic jars and a ceramic pot believed to be from the third century BCE.

The bull’s head was commonly depicted in art across the pre-Islamic kingdoms of southern Arabia, as it symbolized power, fertility, and reproduction, as well as wisdom and divinity.

The artifact at Al Ukhdud has traces of oxidation and is currently being restored.

Saudi Arabia unveils reconstructed face of a 2000-year-old Nabataean woman

Saudi Arabia is unveiling a reconstruction of the face of an ancient Nabataean woman after several years of work by historians and archaeologists.

The reconstruction, which is the first of its kind, is modeled on the remains of Hinat, a Nabataean woman who was discovered in 2015 in a 2,000-year-old tomb in Hegra, an archaeological site located in the ancient oasis city AlUla, northwestern Saudi Arabia.

Funded by the Royal Commission for AlUla, the reconstruction of Hinat began in the United Kingdom in 2019.

A multidisciplinary team of experts rebuilt bone fragments found in the tomb to reconstruct an image of her appearance using anthropological and archaeological data. A sculptor then used a 3D printer to bring her face to life.

The Nabataeans were an ancient Arab civilization that inhabited northern Arabia and the Levant over 2,000 years ago. The ancient Jordanian city of Petra was the capital of their kingdom, which became a vibrant and commercial international trading hub for spices, medicine and fabric, facilitated by the Nabataeans.

Starting Monday, history buffs will have the opportunity to meet Hinat on display at the Hegra welcome center in AlUla.

Once a thriving hub for international trade and home to the Nabataeans, Hegra, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was opened in 2020 as a tourist site.

The Nabataean civilization didn’t leave significant historical texts, and information about it comes from inscriptions on tombs and on rocks throughout the Middle East, or from archaeological discoveries.

“The Nabataeans are a bit of a mystery: We know a lot, but at the same time we know very little because they didn’t leave any literary texts or records,” Lebanese-French archeologist Laila Nehme, the director of the project, told National Geographic. “Excavating this tomb was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about their idea of the afterlife.”

According to Nehme, the Nabataeans’ alphabet evolved into modern-day Arabic.

“This tomb has a very nice inscription carved on its facade, which says it belonged to a woman called Hinat,” added Nehme.

But not everyone believes this historical breakthrough is necessarily an accurate representation of the ancient Nabataeans.

Laurence Hapiot, an archaeologist at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, tweeted that “there is still some non-scientific interpretation in face reconstruction.”

The AlUla Royal Commission didn’t respond to CNN’s request for comment.

SOURCE: https://edition.cnn.com/

Hima, a rock art site in Saudi Arabia, added to the UNESCO World Heritage List

The rock art site Hima in Najran has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, becoming the sixth registered site in Saudi Arabia.

The site is located in southwestern Saudi Arabia and has one of the largest rock art complexes in the world.

Saudi Arabia’s rock art has gained popularity in recent years and is considered to be one of the richest in the world, in addition to other rock paintings in Australia, India, and South Africa.

Hima was a conduit for caravans on the Hajj and trade routes going to and from the southern parts of Arabia, to the ancient world markets of Arabia, Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Egypt.

People who passed through the area between prehistoric and post-historic times have left behind a substantial collection of rock art depicting hunting, wildlife, plants, symbols, and tools used at the time, as well as thousands of written inscriptions in various ancient writings including Musnad, Thamudic, Nabataean, and the early Arabic.

Dr. Jasir Alherbish, CEO of the Heritage Commission, stated, “The region has great global significance, providing us with numerous lessons regarding the evolution of human civilization and life in ancient times.” (Saudi Gazette)

“We are thrilled to have this exceptional ancient site recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

“We are working to preserve the area and conduct research to further understand the rock inscriptions, and are looking forward to welcoming more local and international visitors to come and see this historic cultural site for themselves.”

The Kingdom’s 2030 Vision prioritizes the preservation and protection of the Kingdom’s cultural and natural assets.

A slew of fresh finds, overseen by the Heritage Commission, has reinforced the country’s status as a go-to destination for archaeologists, historians, and scientists interested in regional human history.

The Kingdom has also taken significant steps to safeguard national and international cultural assets.

The Ministry of Culture signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UNESCO in 2019, agreeing to donate $25 million to the organization’s global heritage protection plan.

Hundreds of Monumental “Kites” Spotted in the Arabian Desert

Archaeologists at the University of Oxford’s School of Archaeology have used satellite imagery to identify and map over 350 monumental hunting structures known as ‘kites’ across northern Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq – most of which had never been previously documented.

Led by Dr Michael Fradley, a team of researchers in the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) project used a range of open-source satellite imagery to carefully study the region around the eastern Nafud desert, an area little studied in the past. The surprising results, published in the journal The Holocene, have the potential to change our understanding of prehistoric connections and climate change across the Middle East.

Termed kites by early aircraft pilots, these structures consist of low stone walls making up a head enclosure and a number of guiding walls, sometimes kilometres long. They are believed to have been used to guide games such as gazelles into an area where they could be captured or killed. There is evidence that these structures may date back as far as 8,000 BCE in the Neolithic period.

Kites cannot be observed easily from the ground, however, the advent of commercial satellite imagery and platforms such as Google Earth have enabled recent discoveries of new distributions.

While these structures were already well-known from eastern Jordan and adjoining areas in southern Syria, these latest results take the known distribution over 400km further east across northern Saudi Arabia, with some also identified in southern Iraq for the first time.

Dr Fradley said: ‘The structures we found displayed evidence of complex, careful design. In terms of size, the ‘heads’ of the kites can be over 100 metres wide, but the guiding walls (the ’strings’ of the kite) which we currently think gazelle and other games would follow to the kite heads can be incredibly long. In some of these new examples, the surviving portion of walls run in almost straight lines for over 4 kilometres, often over very varied topography. This shows an incredible level of ability in how these structures were designed and built.’

Evidence suggests considerable resources would have had to be coordinated to build, maintain, and rebuild the kites over generations, combined with hunting and returning butchered remains to settlements or camps for further preservation.

The researchers suggest that their exaggerated scale and form may be an expression of status, identity and territoriality. Appearances of the kites in rock art found in Jordan suggest they had an important place within the symbolic and ritual spheres of Neolithic peoples in the region.

Desert kite research is a very active field just now – Michael and colleagues explore a significant extension to their distribution pattern, which has major implications for our understanding of the relationship of the kite builders with new mobile pastoralists and the occupation of the region.

Bill Finlayson, Director of EAMENA and Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Oxford 

From the design of the kite heads to the careful runs of guiding walls over long distances, these structures contrast markedly in scale with any other evidence of architecture from the early Holocene period.

The researchers suggest that the builders of these kites dwelt in temporary structures made from organic materials that have left no trace visible on current satellite imagery data. 

These new sites suggest a previously unknown level of connection right across northern Arabia at the time they were built. They raise exciting questions about who built these structures, who the hunted game was intended to feed, and how the people were able to not only survive but also invest in these monumental structures.

In the context of this new connectedness, the distribution of the star-shaped kites now provides the first direct evidence of contact through, rather than around, the Nafud desert. This underlines the important of areas that are now desert under more favourable climatic conditions in enabling the movement of humans and wildlife. It is thought the kites were built during a wetter, greener climatic period known as the Holocene Humid Period (between around 9000 and 4000 BCE).

The largest number of kites were built on the Al Labbah plateau in the Nafud desert, where the absence of later Bronze Age burial monuments suggests that a shift into a drier period meant some of these areas became too marginal to support the communities once using these landscapes, with game species also potentially displaced by climate change.

Whether the patterns of kite construction over space and time represent the movement of ideas or people, or even the direction of that movement, remain questions to be answered.

The project, supported by the Arcadia Fund, is now extending its survey work across these now arid zones to further develop our understanding of these landscapes and the effect of climate change.

The study Following the herds? A new distribution of hunting kites in Southwest Asia is published in The Holocene.