The discovery by archaeologists from France and Saudi Arabia sheds light on the gradual transition from a nomadic lifestyle to urban living thousands of years ago.
The ruins of a city known as Al-Natah had been hidden for centuries behind the walls of the Khaybar oasis—a lush and fertile spot on the map, surrounded by desert in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula.
What Did the Researchers Report?
According to a study led by French archaeologist Guillaume Charleux, an ancient wall measuring 14.5 kilometers in length had previously been discovered in this area. The team has now presented evidence that this wall protected the ancient city of Al-Natah.
Scientists state that the large city, which housed around 500 residents, was built around 2400 BCE during the early Bronze Age. However, approximately a thousand years later, the population abandoned the city. “No one knows why this happened,” said Guillaume Charleux.
When Al-Natah was constructed, many cities were thriving in the Levant—a region along the Mediterranean from modern-day Syria to Jordan.
For many years, scholars believed that northwestern Arabia was a barren desert, roamed by nomadic herders and dotted with burial sites. This perception changed 15 years ago when archaeologists discovered Bronze Age mounds in the oasis of Tayma, north of Khaybar.
According to Charleux, this was “the first significant discovery” that prompted researchers to take a closer look at these oases.
Map of the Al-Natah site with a layout of architectural features marked on the surface (black lines), reconstructions (gray lines), and a model of the wall (dashed red line).
Slow Urbanization
The black basalt rocks characteristic of this region had long concealed the walls of Al-Natah, protecting the city from illegal excavations. However, images obtained through lidar technology helped archaeologists identify potential streets and house foundations. This provided clues on where to dig, as reported by Science Alert.
According to Monsieur Charleux, the team discovered foundations “strong enough to easily support single- or two-story houses.” The researchers concluded that the city covered an area of 2.6 hectares, containing around 50 buildings. All were constructed on a hill and surrounded by a separate wall.
The team meticulously studied the urban necropolis. In its tombs, they found metal weapons (primarily axes and daggers), as well as precious stones, including agate. The discovered pottery was not only beautifully crafted but also quite simple in design. All of this indicated the existence of a relatively advanced society in the Arabian oasis 4,000 years ago.
Meanwhile, the dimensions of the 5-meter-high fortification walls suggested a powerful local authority in ancient Al-Natah. As the researchers noted in their report, these findings illustrated the process of “slow urbanization”—the transition from a nomadic to a settled lifestyle.
Such fortified cities, according to scientists, could have interacted with one another in an area largely populated by nomadic herding groups. These interactions may have laid the groundwork for trade routes, including the famous “Incense Route,” which transported spices, frankincense, and myrrh from southern Arabia to the Mediterranean.
It should be noted that Al-Natah was not as large as the city-states of Mesopotamia or Egypt during that period. However, the recently uncovered city had “a different path to urbanization,” Guillaume Charleux pointed out: “more modest, significantly slower, and very characteristic of northwestern Arabia.”
The results of the study were published in the journal PLOS ONE.