NEW Study Into The STANDING STONE CIRCLES Of Saudi Arabia

A new study details comprehensive research into the Standing Stone Circles in AlUla County, Saudi Arabia. These megalithic structures were built during the Neolithic by nomadic pastoralists as domestic dwellings. Excavations have yielded numerous flint tools, animal bones and stone objects and radiocarbon testing has given a date range of between the 6th and 5th millennia BCE. This new research is incredibly important because archaeological excavations of this specific area have been limited so little was known about the nomadic pastoralists that inhabited the region during the Neolithic.

#ancienthistory #archaeology #megalithic

✨ IN THIS EPISODE

00:00 Introduction
00:54 00:54 Harrat ‘Uwayrid
03:11 Standing Stone Circles
07:29 Neolithic Lifestyle

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✨ REFERENCES

McMahon, J., Stileman, F., Shipton, C., Strolin, L., Nassr, A., Porr, M., AlBalawi, Y., Kennedy, M. and Thomas, H., 2024. New evidence for Neolithic occupation in north-west Arabia: Standing Stone Circles on the Harrat ‘Uwayrid. Levant, pp.1-19.

✨ PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS

Images about the Standing Stones Circle research, credit: McMahon, J., et al, in the paper referenced above.

Mustatil structure, credit: Kennedy et al.

Google Earth
Location of Harriet ‘Uwayrid

[redcruben]

I worked in Saudi in 1982-83ans spent a lot of time in the desert. We came across a lot of interesting places and things.once we came across a large stone circle or oval, it was about 100 metres long by 50 m with a group of standing stones in the centre standing up to 4ft. I also found 2 portable rock carvings depicting a person with out stretched arms and ibex, they where 12 inches dia approx.

[adamgriss]

I have had the chance to explore large parts of Saudi Arabia over the last twenty years, and I have to say that there’s a plethora of similar sights across the Kingdom. Unfortunately, some of these sights have been vandalized because of a lack of awareness of the importance and value of the Kingdom’s prehistoric past.

[dl]

Very interesting indeed. Some time ago I recall there being some talk of discoveries dating to the paleolithic scattered about on the intact surface as well and while not necessarily related to the current subject, both help to paint an interesting picture of what life was like in a region we currently think of as relatively inhospitable. Thanks for sharing your investigations. Cheers.

[mhowie]

I really enjoy and appreciate all the wonderful updates from the archaeological world you bring us. Thank you for taking the time to do so.

[leonardbakers]

Thanks for keeping us up to date with the current research.
I always look forward to your new videos.

[MrEthan]

Standing stone circles could have functioned not only as observatories, but as a form of navigation compass, giving the visitor a near immediate understanding of their position and where they want to go, whether there were clouds or not.

[barrywalser]

Very interesting structures. I think Lynn suggested that they were seasonal sites. There seems to be some indication of that. Perhaps they herded domesticated animals in and out of the area. Thanks Laura! Always superior information. 😊

[jeffbartlett]

Excited when your live shows appear on my time off - best way to enjoy

[Grumpyoldman]

Wouldn't the climate in this area been much wetter that long ago? If so, that would make it more understandable how so many ruins are found. A climate favorable to farming and pasture, I would think.

[waynesworldofsci-tech]

Oh, it’s today! Hi Laura. Hopefully I won’t be napping during the premiere.

[ralphstern]

Thank you for your consistent high quality research and presentation

[pixelspring]

This is great. I have spent about a week of my life pouring over Google earth in this region but especially up in the Jordon Syria border zones. There you will see ample evidence of a vast early civilisation that built in exactly the same way as described here. I say civilisation because I have documented well over a few hundred thousand such dwellings.. (estimated on density and land area) .. there are simply too many to humanly count without machine learning. The evidence also shows the builder / inhabitants built what appear to be roads, or protected fenced avenues connecting various larger sites. . I believe these were used for corralling and moving and retaining animals under capture. Why do I say this? Because at each of these sites, interspersed between each settlement are vast long stone fences that stretch for many kms . They are in pairs and each pair are set at an angle to each other so that they create a funnel trap. They all face open towards a roughly easterly direction. At their open end, they are many kms wide at the narrow end they end up only a few tens of meters wide. The narrow open end always funnels into another round enclosure which has smaller round structures surrounding it. I puzzled over these structures for days until it hit me. Why would Neolithic people spend so much energy building such vast walls and structures. I estimate the surrounding population had to be in the hundreds of thousands. I figured these structures had to have something to do with feeding such a large population. You would need many people to be able to build walls of large stones which stretch for many kms anyway. The stone structures I describe take the same geometric form of an eel trap, albeit in 2.5 dimensional form. A wide opening which narrows down to a funnel which protrudes into an enclosure. I believe these have to be Neolithic hunter gatherer mega fauna animal traps. I’m guessing, but it’s a damn good guess. They would probably send out parties out to the east and with large teams scare large herds of cattle or whatever was out there into the open ends of the traps … they are many kms wide at their largest openings. Before the animals even knew they were being herded and trapped they would get moved ever more progressively towards the enclosure where waiting men with spears would be on the elevated smaller circles which surround the larger enclosure walls. Appologies for the length of this. I have hundreds of images of the structures .. There are somewhere between 50 to 100 of the traps I have identified. Each one is unbelievably huge. … the amount of dwellings surrounding them is simply staggering. We are talking basically a Neolithic civilisation.. a full city of people. No joke. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants . I can share images and google earth coordinates.

[dominicmcauley]

This one sounds very interesting don't know any pre history of the Arabian peninsula.

[craigsurette]

Lots of stone arrowheads, without many hunted animal bones with butcher marks showing they were eaten, and lots of domesticated animal bones with butcher marks, implies that those arrows were not used for hunting for food, and thus were probably used as weapons for warfare

[aidanmacdougall]

Fascinating, makes me wonder how they survived in presumably, still a fairly arrid climate, just milking animals or had invented a skin water bottle by that time?! 600bc sounds late for Neolithic, but perhaps I misunderstood! Glad that Britain wasn't the only ones far behind the fertile crescent 😊 many thanks

[darranwilkins]

a channle not full of cospiricy rubbish nice work and factual information

[madderhat]

Can we stop the stone shaming please? After 5 thousand years standing up, I would feel like a lie down, wouldn't you?😮

[darranwilkins]

there is thaught that proto yhwh worship evolved in the north arabian area and the area of elam so this is very intresting especialy stone worship/ circle construction

[praveenb]

Mobile pastoralism -- is that like, they used an app to track their cows?

[jimmumford]

Laura, will you be doing any joint videos with Kayleigh?