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Understanding Inscriptions

This inscription notes the date a family performed a pilgrimage and gave alms, 13 days after a man named Khalaf attempted to assassinate the King of Dedan, Talyani, Talim bin Lazhan

A family performs the pilgrimage

This inscription indicates a Lihyanite priestess gave alms to the deity Dhu Ghaybah in the fifth year of King Shahr, son of Hanas’ rule

A Lihyanite priestess gives alms

This inscription indicates a Lihyanite gave alms to Dhu Ghaybah, Lihyan’s chief deity

A Lihyanite, Mahra Bin Jiddan, gave alms

This inscription indicates the partnership between a man and a woman, giving alms together for their shared agricultural land

A partnership between a man and a woman

This inscription indicates two Lihyanites gave alms to Dhu Ghaybah, Lihyan’s chief deity

Inscription of Saad El’s children

This inscription indicates that a Dedanite performed a pilgrimage to the deity Dhu Ghaybah, bringing with him a statue as an offering

Pilgrimage and offerings

The Famed Nabataean Kingdom

Understanding AlUla’s Rock Art with Maria Guagnin and Tahani Almahmood

Rock Art Expert

Acting Evaluation & Compliance Manager

VIEW 360

A Walk Through Old Town with Ahmed Alimam

A Walk Through Old Town with Ahmad Aliman 

Old Town Conservation with Ahmad Aliman and Michael Jones

Content Management Manger at Heritage site management

Cultural Heritage Conservation Manager

The Evolution of Language

Professor of ancient writings 

 Professor of archaeology

Life and Death, the Nabataean Kingdom with Dr Leila Nehme

Dadan and Lihyan: Unravelling the Mystery of the Two Kingdoms

From prehistoric civilisations to ancient kingdoms, explore AlUla, a unique archaeological landscape and a living museum transformed through millennia.

AlUla showcases history from prehistoric rock art to ancient kingdoms, the Nabataean city of Hegra, and the Old Town's Islamic heritage.

AlUla - Saudi Cultural Heritage

Ancient Kingdoms of North Arabia

Prehistory

The Age of the Nabataeans

The Islamic Era

A Heritage of Pilgrimage 

	 The Hijaz Railway Archive

This rare album, comprising photographs of various scenes across the Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt and Palestine. The majority of the photographs were taken by the author, a German archaeologist Bernhard Moritz (1859-1939), between 1905 and 1915. Here we can see statues and the cistern at Dadan, the police force at AlUla Hijaz Railway Station and the approach to AlUla from the south.

	 Bilder aus Palästina, Nord-Arabien und dem Sinai

	
Early 20th century This brass pocket watch, with an image of a steam engine facing left, was given to workers on the Hijaz Railway.

	 Pocket Watch

Early 20th century
 
The Ottoman Empire was on the verge of bankruptcy when Sultan Abdul Hamid II declared the commencement of construction of the Hijaz Railway in 1900. He declared the railway a charitable enterprise, to enable the pilgrimage to Makkah. Muslims from across the Islamic community donated money and received a Hjjaz Railway Medal in recognition.

Hijaz Railway Medal

The Hijaz Railway suffered major damage during World War One. After the war, attempts were made to repair the track for trains to operate again. An infrequent service ran until 1925, when heavy rains permanently closed the railway. The station buildings at Hegra were restored in 1983 - 1984.
 
Copyright Credit Line: Photographed by A. Schmidt-Colinet, 1982 RCU.2018.1.4

Station Buildings at Hegra, 1982

The station at Hegra was a major complex of 16 buildings, including accommodation, repair workshops, barracks, water tower and a large engine shed. The rolling stock left in the Engine Shed was restored in 1983-1984.
 
Copyright Credit Line: Photographed by A. Schmidt-Colinet, 1982 RCU.2018.1.23

	 Engine Shed at Hegra, 1982

Copyright Credit Line: Photographed by A. Schmidt-Colinet, 1982 RCU.2018.1.17

Hijaz Railway steam Engine at Hegra, 1982

This is the last remnant of a complete locomotive (Swiss-built SLM 2-8-0), a tender, a flat-bed truck, a high-sided wagon and bogies.

	 Hijaz Railway Wheel (Iron)

	
This rare album, comprising photographs of various scenes across the Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt and Palestine. The majority of the photographs were taken by the author, a German archaeologist Bernhard Moritz (1859-1939), between 1905 and 1915. Here we can see statues and the cistern at Dadan, the police force at AlUla Hijaz Railway Station and the approach to AlUla from the south.

Bilder aus Palästina, Nord-Arabien und dem Sinai

	
The Hijaz Railway line was completed into Madinah in August 1908. On 1st September 1908 more than 30,000 people attended the Hijaz Railway’s official inauguration ceremony.

The railway at Medina, the holy city, 3 October 1908

The Hijaz Railway line was completed into Madinah in August 1908. On 1st September 1908 more than 30,000 people attended the Hijaz Railway’s official inauguration ceremony.

AlUla was the farthest point south that non-Muslims were permitted to travel on the Hijaz Railway.

	 The Islamic Railway, L’Illustration, 14th March 1908

This photograph was taken by Raphael Savignac (1874-1951) looking southwards from Dadan. The Hijaz Railway and telegraph line can be seen running across the middle of the image.
 
By the kind permission of EBAF: Ecole Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem

The Oasis of AlUla, 1907

This photograph was taken by the French Dominicans Antonin Jaussen (1871-1962) and Raphael Savignac (1874-1951) during their first archaeological mission to Hegra and Dadan in 1907.
 
By the kind permission of EBAF: Ecole Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem

Five local men crossing the Hijaz Railway track in the Oasis of AlUla, 1907

Part of Hijaz Railway Engine Abandoned

After the hostilities ended, the line in the Hijaz was repaired up, with a few trains able to run through to Madinah. However, the condition of the track meant that the journey could take up to 12 days rather than the customary four days prior to the war.
 
In 1925, following heavy winter rains, the section of the railway in AlUla, and indeed the line throughout the whole of Saudi Arabia, was severely damaged and became permanently impassable.

	 Landscape

A Walk Through Old Town with Ahmed Alimam1

AlUla’s Rock Art, a Document of Human and Natural History

AlUla’s Ancient Wildlife, Captured in Rock Art

The layering of rock engravings here showcase the passage of time and the evolution of cattle breeds.
 
The later engravings with thick, short, forward pointing horns are presumed to be from the Late Neolithic period, between 5000/4000 BCE.

Cattle

The age of engravings without superimpositions is often hard to identify, but the light colour of this engraving suggests that it was engraved in the last 2000-3000 years.

Cheetahs

These engravings depict a number of arid and migratory animals.
 

Species local to the environment at the time include the oryx, ibex, and ostrich.
 
Migratory geese would have passed through Arabia and stopped near a temporary water source; a migration route echoed by the birds across Arabia to this day.
 
The light colour of the engraving suggests that it was created in the first millennium CE; perhaps slightly earlier or later. It cannot be dated with precision, however, as it lacks chronological identifiers such as script.

Geese

These engravings depict a number of arid and migratory animals.
 
The depiction of weapons helps us to estimate a time period for the engravings. In the Middle East, curved swords were in use from the 14th century CE onwards.

Guinea Fowl & Camel

This rock panel shows the prehistoric engraving of a humped cattle breed.
 
Capable of surviving in extreme heat conditions, this cattle breed was historically found in South Asia and in East Africa as early as 1600BCE.

Humped Cattle

A prehistoric engraving of an ibex.
The engravings are layered, showing that the animal was etched once again after its initial depiction. Small cupules were added to show eyes on the animal.
 
Dates to the 6th millennium BCE or earlier.

Ibex

Kudu, a species of spiral-horned antelope, are depicted across a rock art panel that is layered with multiple later engravings. In some cases only the wavy horns of the kudu can be seen along the top of the panel. The most recent layers also include engravings of camels and Thamudic inscriptions. The layering on this panel suggests that the kudu were depicted during the Holocene humid period, between 8000 and 5000 BCE.
 
Ecological studies suggest the depictions show lesser kudu – Tragelaphus imberbis – rather than greater kudu – Tragelaphus strepsiceros. Today lesser kudu are only known from the forests of East Africa but the rock art shows that they once thrived in Arabia.

Kudu

The lion engraving here dates between the 1st millennium BCE and the 4th century; the same time as the inscription in Ancient North Arabian script that can be seen above the lion’s head.

Journey Through Time

AlUla’s Rock Art, a Document of Human and Natural History

AlUla’s Ancient Wildlife, Captured in Rock Art

Understanding AlUla’s Rock Art with Maria Guagnin and Tahani Almahmood

Dadan and Lihyan: Unravelling the Mystery of the Two Kingdoms

Discover in 360: Dadan, the Ancient Capital

Understanding Inscriptions

Jabal Ikmah, The Open Air Library

The Evolution of Language

The Famed Nabataean Kingdom

Discover in 360: Jebal Itlib, Hegrea - Site of Ritual and Memory

Discover in 360: Jabal AlBanat Hegra - Carved Wonders

Life and Death, the Nabataean Kingdom with Dr Leila Nehme

Diaries of AlUla’s Travellers

Diaries of AlUla’s Travellers

A Heritage of Pilgrimage

The Hijaz Railway Archive

A Walk Through Old Town with Ahmad Aliman

Old Town Conservation with Ahmad Aliman and Michael Jones

Discover AlUla in 360: The Old Town

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