An international team of archaeologists has discovered a series of mysterious, 12,000-year-old rock art pictographs they believe served as ancient road signs pointing the way to ancient desert water sources that sustained humans and animals during the end of the last Ice Age.
The research team behind the discovery suggests that the ancient rock art signs, etched onto towering cliff faces, were likely also markers of territory and may represent the cultural identity of the communities responsible for carving them.
According to a statement announcing the discovery, the research team was studying previously unexplored areas along the southern edge of the Nefud Desert in northern Saudi Arabia when they spotted over 60 rock art panels containing 176 engravings. Unlike previously undiscovered rock art examples from the region, which are often hidden in crevices and other obscured areas, the newly discovered works were etched onto towering cliff faces that approached 40 meters in height, often making them challenging to create.
“One panel would have required ancient artists to climb and work precariously on narrow ledges, underscoring the sheer effort and significance of the imagery,” the researchers explain.
A closer examination of the 12,000-year-old rock art panels revealed 130 life-sized and naturalistic figures, including images depicting camels, ibex, equids, gazelles, and aurochs. The team employed several techniques to date the work to a period between 12,800 and 11,400 years ago. The researchers said this date was significant because it marked a period when seasonal bodies of water, confirmed by sediment analysis, reappeared in the area after an extended period of arid climate. Offering a potential lifeline to humans and animals.
According to Dr Ceri Shipton, co-lead author from the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, the panels appear to mark water sources and movement routes, “possibly signifying territorial rights and intergenerational memory.” The study’s lead author, Dr Maria Guagnin from Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, agreed.
“These large engravings are not just rock art – they were probably statements of presence, access, and cultural identity,” Guagnin said.
After the team performed excavations of the area, they discovered several artefacts likely left behind by the people responsible for the 12,000-year-old rock art. According to the research team’s statement, the finds included Levantine-style El Khiam and Helwan stone points, green pigment, and dentalium beads. The team’s statement said the presence of these artefacts in the region suggests “long-distance connections to Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) populations in the Levant region.”
In the study’s conclusion, the researchers conceded that these are not the first examples of rock art from that time. However, the scale, content, and placement of these newly discovered artworks “set them apart.” Understanding their purpose and the people who created them offers previously unavailable insights into how ancient humans survived and even thrived in challenging environmental conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), which separates the last Ice Age from the modern Holocene era.
“This unique form of symbolic expression belongs to a distinct cultural identity adapted to life in a challenging, arid environment,” said Dr Faisal Al-Jibreen, from the Heritage Commission, Saudi Ministry of Culture.
Michael Petraglia, lead of the Green Arabia project, agreed, noting that the team’s interdisciplinary approach “has begun to fill a critical gap in the archaeological record of northern Arabia between the LGM and the Holocene, shedding light on the resilience and innovation of early desert communities.”
The study, “Monumental rock art illustrates that humans thrived in the Arabian Desert during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition,” was published in Nature Communications.
Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.