28 August 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Uncovering the ritual past of ancient mustatils: Cult, herding, and ‘pilgrimage’ in the Late Neolithic of north-west Arabia

Mustatils—stone monuments from the Late Neolithic period thought to have been used for ritual purposes—have been the subject of new research following a thorough analysis of an archaeological site in Saudi Arabia.

A team of archaeologists has now published the findings of extensive excavations of one of these massive structures near AlUla, revealing previously unknown evidence of ceremonial customs in Saudi Arabia thousands of years ago.

Melissa Kennedy of the University of Western Australia, Perth, and colleagues, in conjunction with The Royal Commission for AlUla present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on March 15, 2023.

Mustatils are rectangular, low-walled stone structures that range in length from 20 to 600 meters and were built around 7,000 years ago. Researchers first discovered mustatils in the 1970s, and over 1,600 have now been discovered, primarily in northern Saudi Arabia.

These structures have long been associated with ritualistic activities like animal sacrifices and fertility and rain-related ceremonies. Similar to the square platforms of ancient Mesoamerica, some researchers have hypothesized that they might have been utilized for astronomical observations and the creation of calendars.

Plan of the Saudi Arabian mustatil site near Alula excavated for the study. ( Kennedy et al. - PLOS ONE / CC-BY 4.0 )
Plan of the Saudi Arabian mustatil site near Alula excavated for the study. ( Kennedy et al. – PLOS ONE / CC-BY 4.0 )

The new study is based on a thorough excavation at a sandstone-built mustatil that is 140 meters (451 feet) long and 88.5 kilometers (55 miles) east of AlUla.

Recent excavations in the city of AlUla suggest that mustatils were used for ritualistic purposes involving placement of animal offerings. Now, Kennedy and colleagues have conducted an extensive excavation at a mustatil located 55 east of AlUla. This mustatil is 140 meters long and is constructed from local sandstone.

The researchers’ analysis included identification of 260 fragments of animal skulls and horns, primarily from domestic cattle, as well as from domestic goats, gazelle, and small ruminants. Nearly all of these remains were clustered around a large upright stone interpreted to be a betyl.

Radiocarbon dating suggested that the betyl is one of the oldest identified in the Arabian Peninsula, and the bones provide some of the earliest evidence for domestication of cattle in the northern Arabia.

This study also uncovered evidence for several phases of offerings at the mustatil, as well as interment of an adult male human, suggesting that the site may have been the destination of repeated pilgrimages.

Spatial relationships between the main and secondary chamber. Credit: Kennedy et al., 2023, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0
Spatial relationships between the main and secondary chamber. Credit: Kennedy et al., 2023, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0

Taking all the new data into consideration, the researchers suggest that ritualistic belief and economic factors were more closely intertwined for Neolithic people in northwest Arabia than previously thought, and that this entanglement was shared over a broad geographic area.

The authors concluded that the ritual interment of animal horns and upper craniums discovered within the mustatil suggest “a profound intersection of belief and economic life-ways in the Late Neolithic of Northern Arabia,” over a vast geographic distance.

According to the researchers, this indicates far more, “The incorporation of these two facets suggests a deeply rooted ideological entanglement, one which was shared over a vast geographic distance, indicating a far more interconnected landscape and culture than had previously been supposed for the Neolithic period in north-west Arabia.”

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281904

Public Library of Science

Related Articles

Archaeologists Discovered Medieval Silver Communion Set and 70 Silver Coins in Hungary

16 June 2024

16 June 2024

A 14th-century silver communion set (chalice and wafer holder) and a treasure trove of 70 silver coins were discovered in...

The 11-meter giant statue of the island of Naxos “Dionysus of Apollonas”

22 March 2023

22 March 2023

One of the two ancient marble quarries, thought to have begun the sculpture, the greatest art of antiquity, is located...

An Ancient Site Found in UAE may be Sixth-Century Lost City of Tu’am

18 June 2024

18 June 2024

Ruins from the sixth century have been discovered during excavations in the United Arab Emirates Umm Al Quwain region, which...

In the new images, Scotland’s biggest Pictish fort is “reconstructed.’

2 November 2021

2 November 2021

Stunning new reconstructions have revealed how Scotland’s largest known Pictish fort may have looked over one thousand years ago. Three-dimensional...

Archaeologists discover medieval a tableman gaming piece in Bedfordshire, England

26 April 2023

26 April 2023

Archaeologists in Bedfordshire, England, have made an intriguing discovery: a tableman gaming piece was discovered at a medieval site. Cotswold...

The New Study Says the Iranian Plateau in the Pleistocene is a Bridge Between East and West

19 May 2021

19 May 2021

Iranian researchers say the Iranian plateau served as a migration route between East and West during the Pleistocene period, which...

KIŠIB: A Digital Archive From 80,000 Mesopotamian Seals is Being Created

19 December 2024

19 December 2024

Over the next 16 years, a research team from the Institute for Near Eastern Archaeology at the Free University of...

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...

The world’s oldest wine discovered in liquid form was found in a Roman tomb in Spain

18 June 2024

18 June 2024

Archaeologists discovered an urn with a reddish liquid in a family mausoleum dating to the 1st century AD in the...

A 7,500-year-old settlement has been discovered in Turkey’s Domuztepe Mound

11 September 2021

11 September 2021

During the most recent excavations at Domuztepe Mound in the Türkoğlu district of southern Turkey’s Kahramanmaraş province, a settlement and...

Norse Runic Text found in Oslo could be Prayer!

30 December 2021

30 December 2021

Archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Studies (NIKU) have unearthed two objects inscribed in Norse runic text in...

The three-headed statue of Goddess Hecate discovered in Turkey’s Mersin

18 August 2023

18 August 2023

In the ancient city of Kelenderis in Mersin, located in the south of Turkey, the statue of the 3-headed goddess...

Restoration of the Duomo of Florence has revealed original polychrome paint

1 December 2022

1 December 2022

During the restoration of the Porta dei Cornacchini and the marble cladding of the northern side of Florence’s Duomo, extensive...

New fibula types discovered at prehistoric Kopilo graves in Bosnia

26 August 2022

26 August 2022

An archaeological dig at Kopilo, a hill settlement founded around 1300 BC about 70 miles west of Sarajevo, has discovered...

3,500-Year-Old Tomb of King Thutmose II Discovered: The First Royal Burial Unearthed Since King Tutankhamun

19 February 2025

19 February 2025

Egyptian officials have announced a groundbreaking discovery: the long-lost tomb of King Thutmose II, marking the last of the royal...