Inscriptions on the rocks of the Hama cultural area in Saudi Arabia are replete with a number of ancient scripts
An archaeological site in the Hima region, southwest of Saudi Arabia, has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The site abounds with treasures of ancient rocks that have been engraved with artistic representations representing hunting works, animals and plants, and an aspect of the way of life that was known in that region about seven thousand years ago.
In the heat of an old road, caravans of merchants and pilgrims came from the south of the Arabian Peninsula, heading north and back, and the caravans limped in a fever to draw from the fresh water of their wells, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The Hama Cultural District is the sixth site to be added by UNESCO to the World Heritage List after the sites of: Mada’in Saleh, the Turaif neighborhood in the old Diriyah, Historic Jeddah, the rock arts in the Hail region, and the Al-Ahsa Oasis.
In recent years, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has strengthened the steps it has taken on the path of exploring its ancient history, preceding the emergence of Islam, as part of its cultural identity as well as a way to encourage tourism.
Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, the Saudi Minister of Culture, welcomed the decision to include the Hima region on the World Heritage List announced by UNESCO on Saturday.
The minister said, “The Kingdom is rich in important heritage sites on the map of human civilizations, and efforts are complementary to make the world aware of them,” quoting the Saudi Press Agency.
The site of Hima includes tens of thousands of rock inscriptions written in several ancient scripts, including inscriptions in the Thamudi pen, Nabataean, Syriac and Greek, in addition to the early Arabic inscriptions, which are the beginnings of modern Arabic calligraphy, according to the Saudi Agency.
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