19 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Researchers reveal the 4,500-year-old network of funerary avenues in Arabian Peninsula

Archaeologists from the University of Western Australia (UWA) have determined that people living in ancient northwest Arabia built long-distance “funerary avenues” (major pathways flanked by thousands of burial monuments).

This complex network of funerary rites found in northwestern Arabia points to the existence of social and economic links between the region’s populations in the 3rd millennium BC.

The UWA search is part of a larger effort involving 13 archaeological and conservation project teams from across the world, all working under the auspices of the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU).

The researchers recorded more than 17,800 ‘pendant’ tombs in their primary study areas of AlUla and Khaybar counties, using a combination of satellite imagery, aerial photography, ground surveys, and excavations to survey an area of 160,000 square kilometers. Around 11,000 of the tombs formed part of funerary avenues from 4,500 years ago.

(a) A dense funerary avenue with ‘wedge-tailed’ pendants and infilled ringed cairns emanating from Khaybar Oasis. (b) A sparse funerary avenue consisting of various pendant types oriented towards a series of pathways formed over sandstone terrain. Photo: © AAKSAU/AAKSAK and Royal Commission for AlUla.

The highest densities are found on basalt plains or mountain passes, where the avenues are oriented between oases such as Khaybar, AlUla, and Tayma and are located near permanent water sources.

The development of funeral pathways implies that sophisticated social perspectives existed throughout a large stretch of the Arabian Peninsula 4,500 years ago. The discovery adds to the steady progress made by archaeologists working under the aegis of RCU in unraveling the buried tale of north Arabia’s ancient kingdoms and older civilization.

Schematic drawings of pendant morphologies common in AlUla and Khaybar counties
Schematic drawings of pendant morphologies common in AlUla and Khaybar counties. Photo:© AAKSAU/AAKSAK and Royal Commission for AlUla

Dr. Hugh Thomas, project director, said: “The research by the UWA team and our colleagues working across AlUla and Khaybar shows how important the archaeology of this region is for our understanding of the Neolithic and Bronze Age across the Middle East. Our findings demonstrate that these structures linked various populated oases, situated across a vast area and that the funerary avenues were established around 4,500 years ago. They are especially dense around Khaybar, which is one of the densest visible funerary landscapes anywhere in the world.”

The findings were published in the journal The Holocene. The new article is the UWA team’s fourth publication in less than a year in a peer-reviewed scientific journal on research at AlUla and Khaybar.

Dr. Rebecca Foote, Director of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Research for RCU, said: “Projects that have been conducting fieldwork in AlUla and Khaybar for over three years, such as the UWA team, have started publishing their results, and it is terrific to see how analyses of the data are elucidating so many aspects of life from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age in north-west Arabia. These articles are just the beginning of the many publications that will advance our knowledge of prehistoric to modern times and have significant implications for the wider region.”

Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)

Related Articles

Evidence of Rare Romano-Celtic Temple Near Lancaster Castle -may be only the second of its type –

10 March 2023

10 March 2023

A study exercise for students from Lancaster University has uncovered a Romano-Celtic temple, only the second of its type in...

Archeologists unearth largest rare wooden “Haniwa” Statue in Japan

10 December 2022

10 December 2022

The remains of a 3.5-meter-tall wooden “haniwa” statue have been discovered at one of the “kofun” ancient burial mounds that...

A new study reveals more than one person was buried in a tomb where the famous Nestor’s Cup was found

6 October 2021

6 October 2021

The Tomb of Nestor’s Cup, a burial that contained one of the oldest known Greek inscriptions, was more crowded than...

Earliest Multiplication Formulas Discovered in a 2,300-Year-Old Chinese Tomb

27 December 2023

27 December 2023

Archaeologists excavating a tomb in the Qinjiazui archaeological site of Jingzhou City, Hubei Province, China, have found the earliest multiplication...

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Celebrates 151th Anniversary of Its Establishment

13 April 2021

13 April 2021

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the few museums in the world, celebrates the 151st anniversary of its establishment....

Beyond Roman Exaggerations: Ancient Genomes Reveal an Iron Age Society Centered on Women in Britain

5 February 2025

5 February 2025

A team of researchers led by Dr. Lara Cassidy and Professor Daniel Bradley from Trinity College Dublin has uncovered evidence...

History, geography, and evolution are rewrites thanks to an incredible dinosaur trove discovered in Italy

2 December 2021

2 December 2021

A dinosaur trove in Italy rewrites the history, geography, and evolution of the ancient Mediterranean area. Italy is not exactly...

Rare gladiator tombs were discovered in the Ancient City of Anavarza in southern Türkiye

10 August 2022

10 August 2022

Archaeologists have discovered rare gladiator tombs in the ancient city of Anavarza, known as the “Invincible city” in history, which...

4,400 Years Old Shaman Snake Staff Found in Finland

29 June 2021

29 June 2021

A very well-preserved 4,400-year-old Shaman Snake Staff made of wood has been found in Finland. The “Snake Staff” found is...

In Germany, a well-preserved octagonal tower unearthed, which may have been inspired by towers on the city walls of Constantinople

5 September 2023

5 September 2023

During excavations at Neuenburg Castle near the town of Freyburg (Burgenlandkreis) in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the extraordinarily well-preserved,...

In Poland’s “Death Valley,” new evidence of Nazi atrocities

18 August 2021

18 August 2021

In October 1939, between 30,000 and 35,000 Polish intellectuals, Polish civilians, Jews and Czechs, and German prisoners from psychiatric institutions...

Archaeologists in Iraq find 2,700-year-old wine press

24 October 2021

24 October 2021

Stone bas-reliefs carved into the walls of an irrigation canal some nine kilometers (5.5 miles) long, and the remains of...

Jomon Ruins Adding to UNESCO World Heritage List

26 May 2021

26 May 2021

An international advisory panel has recommended that a group of ruins from the ancient Jomon period in northern Japan is...

A pre-Hispanic ceremonial center with unknown characteristics was discovered in the Andes

15 April 2023

15 April 2023

While investigating at Waskiri, near the Lauca River and the Bolivian-Chilean border, archaeologists found an impressive circular construction on a...

Archaeologists identified the first known tomb of a Warrior Woman with weapons in Hungary

5 January 2025

5 January 2025

A team of archaeologists led by Balázs Tihanyi of the Department of Biological Anthropology and the Department of Archaeology at...