An ancient town named al-Natah has been discovered after millennia hidden within the Khaybar oasis in Saudi Arabia.
A multinational research team led by archaeologist Guillaume Charloux from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) has uncovered a previously unknown town spanning approximately 1.5 hectares during the excavation of Khaybar, a historically significant oasis in the Arabian region.
As a rare green spot amidst the arid desert of Saudi Arabia, Khaybar is renowned for its archaeological sites from various periods.
3D reconstruction of al-Natah town – (Graphic: AFALULA-RCU-CNRS).
The recently discovered town named al-Natah represents “slow urbanism” in the region during the Bronze Age, according to researchers.
Although its scale is “modest” compared to the impressive urban centers throughout the Levant and Mesopotamia from the same period, the size of this town remains quite significant on a global scale.
Al-Natah has been inhabited since around 2400 BCE, covering a total area of about 1.5 hectares.
It features a central district and nearby residential areas, all enclosed by protective city walls.
It is estimated that around 500 people lived in al-Natah before it was abandoned approximately 1500-1300 years ago.
The scale and organization of al-Natah are similar to other sites of the same age in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula; however, these sites are smaller and less complex in terms of socio-political structure compared to the larger urban centers in the region.
Scientists believe that al-Natah represents a transitional phase between nomadic pastoralism and more complex urban settlements.
In a publication in the scientific journal PLoS ONE, archaeologists noted that this is the first “transitional” settlement they have found in Khaybar.
This town also shows connections to other fortifications in the area, indicating that ancient peoples in this region had early forms of tightly organized kingdoms.
