Hidden 4,000-year-old fortified town discovered in the Khaybar Oasis of Saudi Arabia

A new archaeological study has revealed that the ancient fortified town of al-Natah, located in the Khaybar Oasis of Saudi Arabia, signifies a period of "slow urbanization" during the Bronze Age, offering insights into how life gradually changed from nomadic existence to urban living in the region. Occupied from around 2400 to 1500 BCE, al-Natah is the first of its kind that allows extensive examination of the characteristics of an ancient settlement in northwestern Arabia.

The research, led by Guillaume Charloux, an archaeologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), highlights the transitional stage between mobile pastoralism and complex urban settlements in the area. In a study published in the journal PLOS One, Charloux provided "evidence that these walls are organized around a residential area."

Al-Natah covered approximately 2.5 hectares, with a maximum length of 250 meters and a width of 130 meters. The town included a central district and nearby residential districts surrounded by protective ramparts, with walls ranging in width from 3.5 to 6 meters. The ramparts, which could reach around five meters (16 feet) high, suggest that al-Natah was the seat of some kind of powerful local authority. The southern boundaries of the site are defined by a wall or dry stone structure, and the presence of two large towers distinguishes it from nearby protective walls.

The town featured organized urban planning, where houses were connected by small streets, facilitating movement and communication among residents. This planning indicates a relatively developed urban pattern at that time. Observation of the site from above revealed potential paths and remnants of house foundations, indicating where excavation is needed. The houses were built according to a uniform design interspersed with narrow streets, indicating a level of urban organization.

Approximately 500 residents lived in al-Natah, residing in around 50 houses. Shards of pottery found at the site "suggest a relatively egalitarian society," and the pottery is described as "very pretty but very simple ceramics," according to Charloux. No examples of writing have been found so far at al-Natah. The preliminary study of the site showed functional divisions within the settlement, including a residential area, an area believed to be a decision-making center, and a cemetery.

In the western part of the central area, a necropolis was found with large and high circular tombs called "stepped tower tombs," indicating some degree of social stratification. Graves in the cemetery contained metal weapons such as axes and daggers, as well as crystal stones like agate, indicating a society relatively advanced for such an early period. Several wells and water sources were identified near the site, including three wells located at the base of the slope, indicating the presence of good water supplies.

Researchers have unearthed only a few traces of cereals at al-Natah, but based on finds at other sites, it's likely that al-Natah's people grew crops near the site, Charloux said. The area today contains abandoned agricultural lands and a few farms, reflecting changes over time.

Despite these developments, al-Natah was still small compared to cities in Mesopotamia or Egypt during the same period. "While urbanization began in Mesopotamia and Egypt in the 4th millennium B.C., our study tends to show that social complexity increased late in north-western Arabia," Charloux said, noting that urbanization didn't begin on the peninsula until the second half of the third millennium B.C. The process of urbanization in northern Arabia has proven difficult to study due to a lack of well-preserved archaeological sites compared with better-understood areas such as the Levant and Mesopotamia.

Research from al-Natah and other sites indicates that urbanization on the Arabian Peninsula moved at a slower pace compared to Mesopotamia and Egypt, particularly during a time when cities were flourishing in those regions. In the vast expanses of desert, there appears to be "another path towards urbanisation" different from the giant city-states, one "more modest, much slower, and quite specific to the northwest of Arabia," according to Charloux. Fortified oases like al-Natah could have been in contact with each other in an area still largely populated by pastoral nomadic groups. "These were small towns connected to networks of monumental ramparts surrounding the large local oases," Charloux explained.

The discovery of al-Natah has garnered praise from other archaeologists. Juan Manuel Tebes, the director of the Center of Studies of Ancient Near Eastern History at the Catholic University of Argentina, told Live Science, "The archaeological project at Khaybar is a most significant study that follows and expands the conclusions of excavations and surveys that have been carried out in north-west Saudi Arabia during the last 20 years." He noted that other projects in the region, such as the Saudi-German expedition at the city of Tayma and the Saudi-Austrian expedition at Qurayyah, have also provided valuable information about the region's archaeology.

Similarly, Robert Andrew Carter, a senior archaeology academic and fieldwork development specialist at Qatar Museums, commended the team's work. "We only have a sketchy understanding of the Bronze Age and the origins of urbanism in the [Hejaz area of western Saudi Arabia] and this study goes a long way in providing primary data, and improving our theoretical understanding," Carter said.

Charloux emphasized that there was much more work to be done to understand the site of al-Natah. "No one knows why" the city was abandoned, he stated, noting that "we have very few clues about the last phase of occupation." The study highlighted the need for additional excavations throughout Arabia to determine the timing of this urban transition and the subsequent changes in social and architectural structure.

This study opens new horizons for understanding the early stages of urbanization in Arabia. The authors add, "For the first time in northwestern Arabia, a small Bronze Age town (circa 2400-1300 BCE) connected to a vast network of ramparts has been discovered by archaeologists, raising questions about the early development of local urbanism."

Sources: France 24, Asharq News, livescience.com, Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012, Sci.News: Breaking Science News, Phys.org

This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq