Tabuk: The Saudi Ministry of Culture has announced an extraordinary archaeological find, the oldest architectural settlement in the Arabian Peninsula, located at the Masyoun site northwest of Tabuk. This site is believed to date back to the Neolithic period, approximately 11,000 to 10,300 years ago, and the excavation was a collaborative effort with Kanazawa University of Japan and the NEOM project.
According to Bahrain News Agency, the excavation uncovered semi-circular granite architectural units that included residential buildings, storage facilities, passageways, and fire pits. These findings reflect an advanced level of functional planning, indicative of a community that engaged in hunting and grain cultivation.
The site also yielded a variety of stone tools, such as arrowheads, knives, and grinding stones, along with ornaments crafted from amazonite, quartz, and shells. In addition to these artifacts, remains of human and animal skeletons were found, as well as decorated stone pieces engraved with geometric patterns, suggesting a vibrant social and cultural existence.
The Ministry of Culture emphasized that this discovery significantly enhances the understanding of the origins of settled human life in the region. It underscores the importance of northwest Saudi Arabia as part of the Fertile Crescent and as an early hub for human transition to settled communities.