4,000-Year-Old Fort City Discovered Beneath an Oasis in Saudi Arabia, Breakthrough in Archaeology

4,000-Year-Old Fort City Discovered Beneath an Oasis in Saudi Arabia, Breakthrough in Archaeology

A French-Saudi research team unearthed the ancient Bronze Age town of al-Natah under an oasis in Saudi Arabia's Madinah province. The remains of the town were hidden beneath the walled oasis of Khaybar, surrounded by desert in the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula. French archaeologist Guillaume Charloux led the study, which was published in the journalPLOS One.

According to The Independent, researchers wrote in their study, "For the first time in north-western Arabia, a small Bronze Age town (2400-1300 BC) connected to a vast network of ramparts was discovered by archaeologists, raising questions about the early development of local urbanism."

Knewz.com noted that after studying the oasis site, the excavators found a historical 14.5-kilometer-long wall at the site. Charloux explained that the town covered 3.7 acres, with about 500 people living there. The town had a central area and nearby homes, all surrounded by long protective walls. However, the city was likely abandoned around 1,000 years after it was first settled. Regarding the town's abandonment, Charloux said, "No one knows why it happened."

The walls of al-Natah were covered by black volcanic rocks called basalt, which protected the site from illegal excavation. Some ramparts were even as high as 16 feet, suggesting that the town was ruled by a powerful local authority. While al-Natah was small compared to cities in Mesopotamia or Egypt, it showcased a unique shift toward urbanization in the northwest Arabian desert.

The discovery also unearthed several tombs containing metal tools like axes and daggers, along with stones such as agate. This suggested that the people of al-Natah were quite advanced for their time. Additionally, pottery pieces found at the site indicated their nomadic simplicity, even after settling. Charloux noted per CBS News, "But in these vast expanses of desert, it appeared there was another path toward urbanization than such city-states, one more modest, much slower, and quite specific to the northwest of Arabia."

The finding suggested that northern Arabia had many small fortified towns during the Early-Middle Bronze Age. Researchers believed these towns may have helped create the incense route, a trade route for spices, frankincense, and myrrh, stretching from southern Arabia to the Mediterranean.

The ruins of al-Natah were discovered in the dry, volcanic Harrat Khaybar region, where three valleys met. The nearby cemetery, with stepped tower tombs and agate stones, indicated that the people there were skilled in metalworking and might have traded beyond the Khaybar Oasis. The city of Khaybar became famous for the 7th-century battle between Prophet Muhammad and local Jewish tribes. After the excavation, the site was being developed as a major tourist attraction to draw more visitors.

Al-Natah was probably abandoned between 1500 and 1300 BC, and not many details about the site’s final phase had been uncovered. Researchers speculated that changes in the environment, lack of resources, or shifts in trade routes could haveled to its abandonment. However, these excavations proved to be a game-changer, offering a better understanding of how cities developed in northwestern Arabia. Juan Manuel Tebes, a historian at Argentina's Catholic University, called the Khaybar project important for understanding the region's social evolution.