TABUK, SAUDI ARABIA—Saudi Arabian officials announced that archaeologists discovered the oldest known human settlement on the Arabian Peninsula, the Saudi Gazette reports. The site, known as Masyoun or Musaywin, was located northwest of Tabuk City and dates back at least 10,300 years, a period scholars categorize as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. Excavations led by the Saudi Ministry of Culture Heritage Commission, in partnership with Kanazawa University, revealed semicircular stone structures, hearths, arrowheads, knives, and grinding mills, as well as decorative ornaments fashioned from amazonite, quartz, and shell. The collection of artifacts has provided new insight into both subsistence activities and early craftsmanship. Several human skeletons that were uncovered had been arranged in a variety of burial positions that reflect Neolithic funerary practices in the region. Authorities described the findings as a milestone that attests to the kingdom’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and said that the Masyoun site stands as powerful evidence that the Arabian Peninsula was an ancient cradle of civilization. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Asian Journal of Paleopathology. To read about the earliest evidence of burning harmala that archaeologists found at an oasis site in northwestern Saudi Arabia, go to "Ancient Air Freshener."
