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The Camel site is located in the north of Saudi Arabia in the province of al- Jawf and is characterized by three decaying sandstone hillocks on which ancient craftsman have carved high and bas-reliefs depicting camels and equids of life-size stature dating possibly to the Late Neolithic (Guagnin et al. 2021). In 2019, an international team of specialists conducted excavations and surveyed the immediate vicinity of the sandstone formation as well as documenting the engravings/reliefs. Survey in the central area of the site identified clusters of flakes and knapping debris in the lower areas between the sandstone spurs as well as larger silcrete tools directly underneath the animal reliefs. Some of these tools presented abraded edges, possibly from prolonged contact with the soft and abrasive sandstone that constitutes the rock spurs. To test this hypothesis and in order to have a reference collection for further traceological analysis experiments were performed. Here we will present the results of these exploratory experiments conducted to classify traces from sandstone carving using silcrete tools. We will compare the traces from the experimental sample with the archaeological material in order to address the function of the tools found at the Camel site. The chaine opératoire of the experimental engraving tools, from raw material procurement, tool manufacture and use was conducted on site with locally available materials comparable to the archaeological specimens. Specific experimental variables including how the force was applied, in what direction the movement took place and the orientation of the stone tool during the experiment were also recorded. Three different time intervals were used to perform the activities and understand wear development during use. Macro and microscopic analysis of the experimental collection and of a sample of twelve artefacts was performed in order to assess if the ancient tools where used in the making of the camelid and equid reliefs at the site.

The Camel Site, near Sakaka, is a monumental and enigmatic rock art site in northern Arabia with 20 life-sized reliefs of camels and equids. The carvings are unparalleled in the region, making an assessment of their age difficult. Moreover, erosion is advanced, and many reliefs have lost their entire surface, preserving only the three-dimensional shape of the body of the animals. Where surface areas remain, naturalistic details such as nostrils, eyes, muscles and tendons provide some insight into the skill and craftsmanship that went into their production.All reliefs were exclusively carved with stone tools and radiocarbon dates obtained during archaeological excavations suggest that site was in use in the Neolithic period. This age assessment has also been confirmed by portable Xray fluorescence spectrometry of the rock varnish. Luminescence dating suggests that the first panels began to fall by 1000 BCE.The camel carvings reference the mating season and it is possible that the site served as a seasonal meeting place. The reliefs at the Camel Site can be linked to a wider tradition of life-sized naturalistic engravings of Camels that has recently been documented across northern Saudi Arabia. Although two dimensional, these depictions share the symbolism, naturalism and detail visible at the Camel Site, and give important insight into the context of the site. Remarkably, the documentation of near-identical panels, produced and re-worked in a near-identical pattern but located hundreds of kilometres apart also provides the first direct evidence that individual engravers repeatedly crossed the Nafud desert to create these monumental representations.The presence of a small number of equid reliefs may also be linked to a (Pre-?) Neolithic tradition of depicting wild equids in the rock art. Evidence for possible on-site processing and cooking of equids suggest that the symbology of equids, and perhaps camels, likely extended beyond their depiction in the reliefs.The advanced state of erosion at the Camel Site now requires further investigations into the weathering and erosion processes that affect the site to identify strategies for their conservation.

Today the austere deserts of Saudi Arabia evoke images of wandering nomads. But in late prehistory Saudi Arabia was surprisingly green and hospitable, the product of a humid period that lasted for at least four thousand years. One familiar figure, however, that unites the two scenes are camels.

Supplemental material, Groucutt_et_al_SI_revised_without_track_changes for Monumental landscapes of the Holocene humid period in Northern Arabia: The mustatil phenomenon by Huw S Groucutt, Paul S Breeze, Maria Guagnin, Mathew Stewart, Nick Drake, Ceri Shipton, Badr Zahrani, Abdulaziz Al Omarfi, Abdullah M Alsharekh and Michael D Petraglia in The Holocene

Rock art is undoubtedly one of the most impressive testimonies left by the ancient inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula over the course of several millennia. While the study of this rich heritage is still in its early stages, the present paper would like to draw attention to the existence of a remarkable and almost unknown artistic phenomenon attested in the western part of the Peninsula, which consists of large-sized representations of camels (Camelus dromedarius), arguably the most ‘characteristic’ animal species of Arabia. Life-size, and sometimes larger-than-life, carvings of camels have been reported across a large area that stretches from the Najrān area in southern Saudi Arabia northwards to Petra, in southern Jordan. Although they might share a common cultural substratum, these different figures clearly do not form a homogeneous group. At least six different regional rock art traditions can be identified. The present paper provides a first characterization of their stylistic features, chronological setting, and the technical skills involved, and also considers the epigraphic inscriptions which occasionally accompany large-sized camel engravings. In addition, we explore the cultural and environmental background of the communities and individuals that created them and examine this monumental rock art theme over the longue durée.

Rock Art is undoubtedly one of the most impressive testimony left by the ancient inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula who decorated the desert rocks with innumerable drawings for millennia. While the study of this rich heritage is still in its early stage, the present paper would like to draw attention on the existence of a remarkable habit attested in the whole western half of the Peninsula which consists in the representation of large-sized figures of the most characteristic animal species of Arabia, the dromedary camel. Life-sized, sometime larger-than-life, drawings of camels have indeed been reported from the Najrān area until to that of Petra in southern Jordan. Although they might share a common cultural substratum, these different figures are clearly not forming a homogenous group. They rather belong to a number of different regional rock art traditions which the present paper would like to define in studying their stylistic features and technical treatments and taking into account the epigraphic documents which occasionally accompany them and provide us information about the artists’ cultural background. Such a study may have important implications after the recent and intriguing discovery of large-sized reliefs of camelids at the so-called “Camel Site” in the al-Jawf province, northern Saudi Arabia.