Archaeologists discover ancient tombs of a powerful Chinese clan 0:54
(CNN) --
Archaeologists have discovered a 4,500-year-old network of roads in Saudi Arabia that lined well-preserved ancient tombs.
Researchers at the University of Western Australia have carried out extensive research over the past year, including aerial surveys conducted by helicopter, ground surveys and excavations and examinations of satellite images.
In findings published in the journal Holocene in December, they said "burial avenues" stretching over vast distances in the northwestern Arab counties of Al-'Ula and Khaybar had received little recognition until very recently.
A dense "burial avenue" flanked by Bronze Age tombs leading out of the Khaybar Oasis in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
Credit: Royal Commission for AlUla/AAKSA
"The people who live in these areas have known about them for thousands of years," researcher Matthew Dalton told CNN.
"But I don't think it was really known until we got satellite images of how widespread they are."
Dalton said that the funeral avenues, which he had seen from a helicopter, stretched for hundreds, "maybe even thousands of miles" and that the same routes were often followed by those traveling along today's major highways.
advertising
"You'll often find that major roads tend to follow the same routes as avenues because they tend to be the shortest route between the two places they go," Dalton said.
"And in fact, in some cases, the tombs themselves are so dense that you can't help but walk the ancient route itself, because you're hemmed in by the tombs."
A pendant-shaped burial from the 3rd millennium BC at the southern edge of the Khaybar oasis in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
Credit: Royal Commission for AlUla/AAKSA
The tombs themselves are mostly pendant or ring burials.
Ring tombs involve a burial mound surrounded by a wall up to two meters high, while hanging tombs have "beautiful queues".
Using radiocarbon dating, the researchers determined that a concentrated group of samples dated back to between 2600 and 2000 BC.
C., although the tombs continued to be reused until about 1,000 years ago.
"These graves are 4,500 years old and still retain their original height, which is really unheard of," researcher Melissa Kennedy told CNN.
"So I think that's what particularly sets Saudi Arabia apart from the rest of the region: the level of conservation is incredible."
Kennedy believes that individuals or small groups were buried in the graves, and the team has observed around 18,000 graves along the burial avenues, while 80 of them have been sampled or excavated for research.
A filled ringed cairn from the Khaybar Oasis in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
Credit: Royal Commission for AlUla/AAKSA
The researchers believe that the use of the routes long preceded the tombs, and they are still not sure why the tombs were built along the route, although Kennedy noted similar customs linked to land ownership in Greece. and Rome in later history.
"Perhaps a way of showing ownership could be one of the reasons the tombs were built," Dalton said.
"And there can be an element of, you bury your nearest and dearest along the route, because you'll be passing them frequently and you have a place to remember them."
A dense "burial avenue" flanked by Bronze Age tombs leading out of the al Wadi Oasis near Khaybar in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
Credit: Royal Commission for AlUla/AAKSA
The next step for the team will be to perform more radiocarbon dating and return to the field before analyzing their data.
And more discoveries are likely to follow, as Dalton says the avenues may even extend as far as Yemen, especially since similar tombs are found both in that country and in northern Syria.
"The third millennium is such an important period of time," Kennedy said.
"That's when the pyramids are built. And that's where a lot of different cultures interact with each other for the first time on a large scale. So to see what this monumental burial landscape looks like in this period is really exciting. And huge new avenues of research to pursue basically." ".
Saudi ArabiaTombs
