Petroglyphs (prehistoric rock arts) are very prominent as you set to trek in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. These drawings or carvings provide us very interesting information about the lives of people inhabited in the area in ancient times.
This location had been named by previous travelers as Graffiti Rocks though I believe it will be apt to call it petroglyphs as the right terminology. Name of the place where the petroglyphs exist will be added to the location which makes it Musayqirah Petroglyphs. Moreover, there are numerous rock arts in the kingdom and calling it by its name will make it easy to identify.
An about 110 Km drive from Riyadh City Center along the Makkah Road, you can come across these rock arts. Here, a good number of mixed up petroglyphs like hunters, a family of ostrich, ibex and other animals provide us clues of the life around the area when most of the deserts were covered in vegetation as recorded. These petroglyphs are said to be of neolithic period, after 3000 BC.
The Location
The Musayqirah petroglyphs is on an inselberg (isolated hill) which makes it easy to locate in a vast area of plain land surrounding it. Southwestern part of this huge rock has a good collection of petroglyphs as well as its northeastern side where a less number of it could be found.
A Rock Canvas
This large rock is a wide canvas of petroglyphs of the ancients. Prehistoric people started to engrave and paint long before the invention of writing.
Camel and horse riders
Petroglyphs of camels and horse riders. It is reasonable to assume that prehistoric people initially depicted animals that were part of their environment, life and economy.
Family of Ostrich
One of the very impressive images among the collection is a family of ostrich.
Hyena-like animals, animals with long horns including ibexes, human figures and more could be found on the flat surface of these reddish black rocks.
The plain below the rock was a vast grassland during the Neolithic period that began when humankind first developed agriculture and settled in permanent enclaves.
Over the escarpment that runs at a distance of around 200 meters from these rocks, you can find tumuli (ancient burial mounds). A little bit of additional effort to get to the top of the escarpment could worth your visit to Riyadh Petroglyphs.
Tumuli are common sights in Najd on rocky platforms. A very good example of circular tumuli can be found just around 8km away from Riyadh Checkpoint on the western part of Tuwaiq escarpment.
It is quite amazing to see isolated rocks with scripts and drawings of the ancients which transmit information to the following generations.
As of 2007, it has been recorded that Saudi Arabia has over 1200 sites with enormous number of carved and pecked Petroglyphs. Major petroglyphs from different parts of the Kingdom will be published in its own provincial pages.
