17 June 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Lost 4,000-Year-Old Bronze Age Settlement Uncovered at Khaybar Oasis in Northern Saudi Arabia

A team of archaeologists led by Guillaume Charloux of France’s National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) announced Wednesday the discovery of a 4,000-year-old fortified town in an oasis in modern-day Saudi Arabia.

Al-Natah, a remarkable Bronze Age fortified site, was discovered during the Khaybar Longue Durée Archaeological Project’s (AFALULA-RCU-CNRS) recent exploration of the Khaybar oasis.

The walled oasis of Khaybar, a verdant and fertile speck encircled by desert in the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula, long obscured the remnants of the town, called as Al-Natah.

Researchs has revealed a fortified 2.6-hectare town built around 2400–2000 BCE which lasted until at least 1500 BCE and possibly 1300 BCE.

Archaeologically rich regions like the Levant and Mesopotamia have made it easier to study urbanization, a turning point in the history of human civilizations. However, because there aren’t many well-preserved sites in northern Arabia, it has been harder to find and examine evidence of this change. For the first time in north-western Arabia, this research allows the characteristics of a third/second-millennium settlement to be assessed over a large area.

Aerial view of the walled settlement. Credit: AFALULA-RCU-CNRS
Aerial view of the walled settlement. Credit: AFALULA-RCU-CNRS

Al-Natah, which had about 500 residents, was a model of compact and defensive settlement because of its spatial organization, which included a central district, residential areas, and a cemetery. A 14.5-kilometre-long ancient wall was also discovered in the area.

The researchers say that this settlement represents an intermediate stage, between nomadism and the complex urban settlements seen in other ancient Middle Eastern regions. In the Early and Middle Bronze Ages, when other parts of the world were already displaying greater degrees of social and architectural complexity, this kind of fortified settlement was prevalent in northern Arabia.

The discovery of El Natah is also significant as it suggests that the small fortified towns in the region may have been part of a wider trade network. The “incense route,” which involved the trade of spices, frankincense, and myrrh from southern Arabia to the Mediterranean, may have even been founded on such exchanges.

Al-Natah was still small compared to cities in Mesopotamia or Egypt during the period.

But in these vast expanses of desert, it appears there was “another path toward urbanization” than such city-states, one “more modest, much slower, and quite specific to the northwest of Arabia,” Guillaume Charloux told AFP.

Plos One

Doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309963

Cover Image Credit: Reconstruction of the Bronze Age settlement of al-Natah in Saudi Arabia. Image Credit: AFALULA-RCU-CNRS

Related Articles

From Tengri to Teshub: Sacred Yada Stone and Elemental Power in Ancient Anatolia

19 May 2025

19 May 2025

From the windswept steppes of Central Asia to the sacred temples of Anatolia, ancient civilizations shared a powerful belief: that...

A 2,000-year-old monumental Roman villa Found Under a Seaside May Be Pliny the Elder’s house

23 January 2024

23 January 2024

Researchers have discovered the remnants of a massive Roman villa thought to have ties to Pliny the Elder while working...

Roman road network spanning the South West of England identified in new research

7 August 2023

7 August 2023

A Roman road network spanning across Devon and Cornwall has been discovered by the University of Exeter archaeologists. A Roman...

Archaeologists discover three extraordinary 1,800-year-old residential-style tombs featuring rooms and windows, Filled with Han Dynasty Treasures

19 May 2024

19 May 2024

Archaeologists discovered three remarkable 1,800-year-old, residential-style tombs featuring rooms and windows, where a wealthy family was laid to rest alongside...

Rare and Unusual Fossil Shows Small Mammal Attacking Larger Dinosaur

20 July 2023

20 July 2023

An unusual fossil from about 125 million years ago that depicts a dramatic event when a carnivorous mammal attacked a...

Magnificent Discovery: A Major Tomb Filled with Gold and Ceramic Artifacts was Discovered in Panama

3 March 2024

3 March 2024

In an archaeological find in the El Caño Archaeological Park, located in the district of Natá, province of Coclé, in...

Excavations at Körzüt Castle unearth 2 cuneiform inscriptions and a new Urartian Susi temple

25 October 2023

25 October 2023

During the rescue excavations carried out at the Körzüt Castle in the Muradiye district of Van province in eastern Turkey,...

Water Cultu in Hittites and Eflatunpınar Hittite Water Monument

4 February 2021

4 February 2021

The Hittites, which left their mark on the Bronze Age period in Anatolia, is a society that draws attention with...

4,000-year-old Snake-Shaped Pottery Handle Found in Taiwan

20 February 2024

20 February 2024

National Tsing Hua University archaeologists in Taiwan have discovered a snake-shaped pottery handle dating back approximately 4000 years. Researchers uncovered...

Hoysala temples inch closer towards UNESCO recognition

7 February 2022

7 February 2022

The Indian Union government recently proposed the Somanathapura temple in Mysuru district and Chennakeshava and Hoysaleshwara temples in Belur and...

Evidence of a Roman shrine dating back was discovered during dig at Leicester Cathedral

7 March 2023

7 March 2023

Excavations by the University of Leicester archaeologists for have uncovered evidence that the site of Leicester Cathedral has been used...

Lost sketches by Leonardo Da Vinci show that he understood gravity long before Newton

19 February 2023

19 February 2023

Leonardo da Vinci’s centuries-old sketches show that he may have understood key aspects of gravity long before Galileo, Newton, and...

A 4,000-year-old treasure map of France’s

17 October 2023

17 October 2023 1

Overlooked for millennia, a rock fragment adorned with enigmatic inscriptions has emerged as a valuable “treasure map” for archaeologists. After...

Neanderthals of the North

13 May 2022

13 May 2022

Were Neanderthals really as well adapted to life in the cold as previously assumed, or did they prefer more temperate...

1500-year-old Medallion Rescued From Treasure Hunters on Display in Çorum Museum

3 May 2021

3 May 2021

A 1,500-year-old gold medallion portraying a figure of Jesus Christ has been exhibited at a museum in Turkey’s northern province...