Figure 5. Panel 2 showing a camel (left) and a young equid (right) nose to nose. On the head of the camel the nostril and lips have been preserved, showing extraordinary attention to detail. The bulging neckline identifies this carving as a male camel in rut. Of the equid on the right only the head is clearly visible, although the shape and outline of the body and front leg are still visible. Around the muzzles of both animals tool marks can still be clearly identified.

Analysis of these toolmarks revealed that the reliefs were likely carved using stone tools – for us a first indication that the reliefs may be older than initially thought. Where the rock varnish is preserved, a portable XRF device was used to measure the density of the main elements making up the varnish – specifically manganese and iron. Results suggest that the varnish on Panel 1 is close to maximum density, a process that is known to have taken up to 8000 years. These findings were further supported by the fact that a detailed survey of the site revealed finds of Neolithic and Middle Palaeolithic stone tools, but no later material culture such as pottery. We also found a number of stone tools, with traces consistent of having been used to carve sandstone. Finally, excavation of a test trench at the base of one of the rock spurs revealed Neolithic stone tools and arrowheads, a small number of beads and rich faunal remains which could be radiocarbon dated to around 5300 BCE.

The combined evidence thus suggests that the site was in use in the late 6th millennium BCE, although it remains unclear how much earlier or later the reliefs were carved. Differences between individual animal reliefs, and the presence of grooves and alterations suggest that the site and its reliefs were carved and re-carved over a prolonged period, perhaps centuries or even millennia. Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating of the sediment beneath one of the fallen fragments – a method that calculates when sand was last exposed to sunlight – also revealed that the fragments fell at least 3000 years ago, and that erosion of the reliefs must have already been at an advanced stage.

The carved reliefs at the Camel Site are unique – not only for the rock art of Arabia, but across the world. Carving of reliefs of this size would have required extraordinary technological skill. Carvers had to work at height. While remains of small working platforms are visible at two of the panels, most would have been carved either using simple ladders or some sort of scaffolding or rigging. While working on any body part carvers were also unable to see the whole sculpture, making it all the more astonishing that the reliefs are completely naturalistic and in proportion.

Where the original rock surface is preserved, the carvings show an extraordinary level of detail; lips, eyes and even the ligaments beneath the skin were depicted. Reliefs were likely carved by teams, with one person working on removing the bulk of the rock to reveal the shape of the body – particularly below the abdomen and between the legs many of the reliefs required the removal of substantial amounts of rock (see for example Figure 2 and Figure 8). Working practises of modern stonemasons suggest that the finer work of carving the surface and polishing it was likely carried out by a different, more experienced person. High-reliefs would have taken up to two weeks to carve, and involved a whole team working to procure the raw material for the stone tools, shaping the stone tools, and then frequently re-sharpening them, building rigging, and bringing water and food. The investment of time and effort and the level of planning that would have been involved clearly sets the Camel Site apart from conventional, two-dimensional rock art sites in the region, which would have been produced over a much shorter time span.

Engravings, rather than reliefs, of large, naturalistic camels are also known from other sites in northern Arabia, in the region near the Camel Site, as well as from sites south and west of the Nefud desert. In some cases, these carvings have part of the body carved in low relief. It therefore appears that the Camel Site is a three-dimensional, monumental expression of a more widespread tradition of camel representations. As two-dimensional carvings tend to be better preserved, this provides further insights into the reliefs at the Camel Site. In most cases camels are clearly depicted with a bulging neck, a sign of a male camel in rut.

In feral camels the mating season coincides with the end of the wet season, when vegetation is most abundant. The fact that all camel representations show animals that are clearly well fed appears to support this seasonal correlation. At the Camel Site, the neck is only preserved in two of the camel carvings, and in both cases the bulging neckline is clearly visible (Figure 5 and Figure 6). It is therefore possible that the reliefs are part of a symbolism that references either the mating season, or the end of the wet season.

The reliefs at the Camel Site thus provide unique insights into the yearly rhythm of the seasons and their symbolism for Neolithic populations, who appear to have come together at this location to make reliefs, to modify older reliefs, and to mark reliefs with grooves, repeatedly and over many generations.

Maria Guagnin is a post-doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. Guillaume Charloux is a researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Abdullah M. AlSharekh is Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology and Museums at King Saud University.

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank HRH Prince Badr Bin Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Farhan Al-Saud, Minister of Culture, and to HRH Prince Sultan Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, the former President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) for giving us permission to carry out research at the Camel Site. Main funding bodies of fieldwork and research were a grant from the Gerda Henkel Foundation (Grant No AZ 43_V_18, to MG and GC), the CNRS (to GC), Labex Resmed ANR-10- LABX-72 / ANR-11-IDEX-0004-02 (to GC), the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the French embassy in Riyadh (to GC), and the Dahlem Research School at Freie Universität Berlin (to MG).

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