Camel Carvings Discovered in Saudi Arabian Desert Found to be 8,000 Years Older Than Stonehenge, Archaeologists Baffled Over Origin

The ancient camel carving found in the Saudi Arabian desert that has been carbon-dated as older than Stonehenge places it as an oddity. One goal of scientists is to place archeological discoveries in a time frame.

Camel carvings in Saudi Arabia found to be older than Stonehenge

Considering its age at 8,000 from 6,000 years old from initial analysis, which is far older than the Stonehenge monument brought to its present shape only 2,500 years ago. Between Stonehenge and the desert carvings, the time gap is relatively large. Researchers are perplexed at this discovery until more evidence to analyze this ancient mystery comes.

The stone camel carving was thought to be two millennia old, but the later analysis estimated it to be whopping 8,000 years old, reported the Daily Mail. Researchers formerly dated the 21 carvings of a camel, horse, and equip figures all covered in stone in Saudi Arabia in 2018 at 2,000 years old, which is at the tail end of the Iron Age.

Scholars compared the stone artworks to the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, which featured the same motif as the animal-shaped rocks. Rock art is not easy to date, as the camel site in the Al Jawf province in northwestern Saudi Arabia. An arid desert whose dry climate contributes to the erosion of the three-dimensional artworks. Examination of the oldest ancient camel carving found Saudi Arabian desert with dating method will put it at 6,000 years when the climate at that time was not arid landscapes but instead savannah grasslands with lakes and trees, cited the U.K. News.

Camel carvings were used for ritual celebrations

One of the methods to analyze the age is the tool marks, weathered surfaces on the sculptures, including the fragments left over, checking the rock itself and its density on exposed parts. The carvings were made with the 6th century stone tool technology when herding cattle, sheep, and goats was common. Many camels and equids that lived in the savannah areas were hunted for millennia.

Authors of the study have attributed the camel site to prehistoric times during the prevalence of pastoral communities in Northern Arabia. These prehistoric Arabians had made the rock and mustatil, which are large stone structures.

One guess is the site is where many desert nomad groups would be gathering for rituals and ceremonies that give them a function. It is a joint research effort that involves the Saudi Ministry of Culture, Max Planck Institute, King Saud University, and the French National Centre to study the site. Three-dimensional carvings on stone formations have been found in Turkey, but these are not commonplace in Saudi Arabia. Some suggest more than one group did the carving, not just one group, assuming it was maybe a place of ritualist celebration each year in the Neolithic period cited Science Daily.

Stonehenge was completed about 3,500 years ago in its final phase, while the camel monument was in four stages, starting in 3100 BC and ended 1500 BC. Indicators show it was used for a long time when anonymous people repaired it. By the later part of the 6000 years, most of the relief was done. It could be the oldest ancient camel carving found in the Saudi Arabian desert now, said one of the study's authors in the Journal of Archaeological Science Reports.