Saudi Arabian Camel Carvings Redated to 8.000 Years Old

I first made a video about the huge animal sculptures found in the Saudi Arabian desert more than a year ago, when experts believed they were around 2.000 years ago, but this week, these sculpted rock outcrops have made the headlines again as fresh studies show they are in fact 7.000 to 8.000 years old.

Erosion has eaten away at the carved rock faces but here you can still see the legs and underside of a camel in great detail. Precisely dating rock sculptures is of course a huge challenge, but researchers have re-evaluated the dating based on weathering and erosion patterns, used portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, as well as luminescence dating of fallen fragments.


The new age estimate of 7-8,000 years ago means these huge, impressive sculptures pre-date the pyramids of Egypt, Stonehenge and so on. Interestingly, they even pre-date when experts say that humans first domesticated the camel in this region, which may force us to re-evaluate this in the future.


Watch the video to learn more about these ancient Saudi Arabian camel carvings and please subscribe to Ancient Architects, Like the video and please leave a comment below.


All images are taken from the below sources and Google Images for educational purposes only.


Matt Sibson
544K subscribers