Across northwest Saudi Arabia are tens of thousands of monumental tombs. But when were these tombs made? How did they develop over time? When did they stop? Well, we can start to answer those questions! Our new paper on Bronze Age tombs is OUT! 🧵1/ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11… There has been a lot of discussion in both Saudi Arabian and foreign papers about the origins of these tombs. But the only way to address how they developed was to excavate the tombs and date the remains inside. So since 2019, we started excavating tombs. Lots of tombs! 2/

Happy to announce that our new paper “The Bronze Age Tombs of Northwest Arabia: A Chrono-Typological Study from AlUla and Khaybar, Saudi Arabia” has been accepted for publication.This paper, which will be out soon, compiles 40 Bronze Age dates from monumental tombs! 1/ These 40 radiocarbon dates allow us to begin to chart how the thousands upon thousands of tombs in NW Saudi Arabia developed. Starting off as small ‘infilled ringed cairns’ around 2900 BCE and developing into true, architectural masterpieces like the ‘segmented wedge’ tomb. 2/

Across Saudi Arabia are tens of thousands of monumental tombs. But how do we know these are burials? When do they date to? What are the theories about them? Are they related to mustatil? In this thread, lets explore the Bronze Age tombs of Northwest Saudi Arabia. 🧵1/ The tombs are what we call 'Pendant Tombs'. A Pendant Tomb consists of a head (usually a cairn/tower surrounded by a ring wall) with a tail structure. This term was published by Prof. David Kennedy in 2009 in Aramco Magazine. He used 'pendant' because it looks like jewellery! 2/

What do we find in #Mustatil in #AlUla? How old are they? Did Saudi Arabia have locally made pottery 7000 years ago? Why are there bits of human remains in Mustatil? Want the answers? Our NEW ARTICLE IS OUT! With the excavation results of 7 mustatil! 🧵1/ doi.org/10.5334/oq.139 This paper presents the results of 7 mustatil from #AlUla. It was led by @PAKEP_KSA co-director Melissa Kennedy (@Meluhha_K), who for the last several years has excavated and studied the mustatil. So, what is a Mustatil? 2/

New Paper Out! This paper, led by @jane_cmcmahon, is on the Standing Stone Circles, a form of Neolithic domestic structure found in #AlUla. Read for free: Since identifying these structures in 2018, we have excavated lots of them-here is what we found 1/10 doi.org/10.1080/007589…
@jane_cmcmahon There are two types of Standing Stone Circles (or SSC). Single SSC are 4-8m in diameter, with a large central stone, and a doorway. Multi-SSC are much bigger and have lots of orthostat stones inside. You can see both types of structure in this image and a multi in the second.2/10

The @aaksa_project regularly discusses the mustatil and burials located in #AlUla & #Khaybar. But where did the people who built these structures live? Our project has also been focusing on domestic structures from this time period as part of our work for @RCU_SA. Thread! 1/13 When you fly over the region, or look at satellite imagery, the tombs and mustatil are clear. This is because they are massive and regularly sit on slopes or the tops of mountains. But the domestic structures are visible too... you just need to know what you are looking for. 2/13

There are many different types of stone structures in #KSA and it is easy to be confused by all the different shapes and what they were used for. In this thread, we will present the main types of structures our project has documented, the names we use, and some basic information. Mustatil- these large structures are generally rectangular(ish) in shape and consist of two thick platforms at either end connected by 2-5 long walls. These are ritual structures dating to the #Neolithic i.e 7000 years ago. #MustatilMonday.

'The mustatils: cult and monumentality in Neolithic north-western Arabia' is out today. This work is part of the University of Western Australia's @UWAresearch work in #AlUla and #Khaybar as part of @RCU_SA archaeological program. Download here: dx.doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2… Thread 1/ 2/ We have recorded over 1000 of these structures, covering an area of 200,000km². This is remarkable when we consider these Neolithic structures are 7000 years old! So, what is a mustatil?