This is probably a set of knives
I've found at the site south of Saudi Arabia and I want to know its history Approximate
Thank you

Nice looking tools I am sure Roger will be able to help you out with these. I have no idea but I cannot wait to see what he says.
Welcome to the forum.

I agree with Hoss. I know very little about artefacts from your region but our International expert can help I am sure. Thanks for sharing and fell free to post more.

Hoss wrote:

Thanks for your review and Trahipk

rmartin wrote:

Thank you very much
I will try to add some images

Hi mtwan

Human habitation on the Arabian Peninsula probably dates back at least 100,000 years, but most sites (which we know about) are Neolithic.
For this area, the Palaeolithic is generally considered as having ended 10,000 years ago and moves straight into the Neolithic with very
little Mesolithic period in between. Most sites are no older than 11,000 years – especially those near coastal regions. Truly Palaeolithic
tools are rare and normally isolated finds. They may even represent people who were “passing through”, rather than indicative of “camps”.

For South Arabia, there are three generally accepted sub-periods of the Neolithic which can be defined by the tool-forms found:

Stage 1 (7,000 – 8,500 years ago): characterized by projectile points and other tools created from a blade tradition,
also known as “Fasad Points”.
Stage 2 (5,500 – 7,000 years ago): defined by bifacial tools and points with pressure retouching on both faces,
often called the “Arabian Bifacial Tradition” or “ABT”.
Stage 3 (5,500 years ago onwards and into the “Chalcolithic” or Copper Age): defined by the presence of very finely knapped,
slightly notched points called “trihedral rods”.

Note that those stages will all overlap in date and that Stage 1 and Stage 2 tools can both extend as far back as 10,000 - 11,000 years ago.
Nevertheless, I would say that what you are showing here is very clearly “Stage 1” with a likely age in the region of 7,000 – 8,500 years.

It’s not possible to reliably assign them to a particular culture in this case without knowing more about the site.

Thank you very much for showing.

And here's a pic that shows the progression of points from Neolithic I through to Neolithic III - top to bottom.



[pic from Arabian Archaeology website] Sorry about the poor quality, but it should give you some idea.

Thanks for the explanation and answer
I think that the site per may alternate him more than the era have found some pieces very large perhaps axes grenade and stones Giralsoan and sloppy at the same locations and found pieces polite and nice as also found scattered pieces of pottery in the same locations and strange I did not find heads arrows polite and nice, but cut maybe it's a heads arrows
And there is a clear settlements and factories to make stone tools
Overall I thank you for answering my questions and maybe if Azvt some other pieces may guide us to a more accurate time
I am very happy to chat with you
For your information the area and found stone tools is not close to the sea, where rising from the sea of 2400-2500 meters
A mountainous region has no desert sands such as North Africa or the Empty Quarter desert of the Arabian Peninsula which is close to the city of Abha also reported
Sorry for poor English
Thank you

Thanks for confirming the location. I would still regard this as “coastal”. I didn’t mean “on the beach”, I just meant this as a distinction from the interior and the empty quarter where the availability of suitable lithic materials and other resources was low. By contrast, the Asir Mountains along the coast of SW Saudi and down into Yemen are areas where such resources are more readily available and likely to attract semi-permanent settlement – as opposed to nomadic occupation.

That’s also the distinction in tool size. Small opportunistic tools indicates the nomadic existence of the interior whereas large items indicate stable settlement. The latter is much more likely in “coastal” areas - in general. The fact that you are also finding large axes supports the case that you are searching in an area of “permanent” settlement and so you should expect to find a range of occupation dates. I’m still confident about the dating of your items as “Stage 1” Neolithic. I emphasised that the picture I provided represented points rather than knives only to be clear that your items – as knives - will not exhibit the same kinds of “tang”. Both knives and points will however exhibit the same blade-form shape and knapping style.

If you are not finding points then that’s probably an indication of lifestyle of the people concerned. Less reliance on hunting small game and more reliance on fruits and plants, or perhaps agriculture. The presence of pottery is also often taken as a general indicator for an agricultural existence. Pottery didn’t really become possible until permanent settlements existed or necessary until the move to an agricultural existence.

There is a distinct gap in our knowledge about prehistoric cultures in the Middle East. Mainly that’s because the sites (and there are lots of them) are under-explored in many Muslim countries, where the museum authorities have been discouraged from taking too much interest in pre-Islamic history. Reliable published information is also hard to find. About 3 years ago, I spent a couple of weeks touring Syria and its museums in the company of a local archaeologist. I learned more that way than I could have learned from books or from the web.

The earliest know settlement in the Abha region dates to 9,000 years ago and is from the al-Maqar culture that I mentioned. Extensive pottery pieces have been found there too. Pottery is also a good indicator for stable settlement as opposed to nomadic camps and helps on dating. The earliest pottery vessels you will find in the Middle East date from 7,000 years ago (Hassuna period). So, if you are finding “Stage 1” tools in direct association with pottery items then that narrows them down to the very end of that period, overlapping into “Stage 2” – although your tools are very much “Stage 1” in style.

I am no pottery expert, but early pottery (known as “Arabian coarseware”) was initially hand formed from slabs, is thick-walled, undecorated, unglazed, low-fired and made from coarse reddish-brown clays. Sometimes it has the impressions of woven material or basketware on the bottom. It then progresses to having a cream slip with reddish paint in linear designs. Normally, only purely functional utility items are found. Forms beyond pots/bowls and decoration with elaborate painted designs, incising and burnishing don’t begin to become common until about 6,500 years ago (Halaf period).

At sites in the North and East, the influence of interaction with the Mesopotamian Ubaid culture is also apparent. Ubaid pottery is usually fine, pale brown or yellow-greenish in colour, and often has complex motifs in dark paint. It’s clear that there was trading between Arabian and Mesopotamian people, but some of the finds are so thin-walled and delicate that it is believed the items must have been transported by boat down the Arabian Gulf.

Thanks for the answer
I noted that I often looked for arrow heads, but unfortunately I can not find a perfect dart heads made
But a sharp cut relatively small and may fit to be arrow heads and these are a picture of a sample of pieces that may express arrowheads

As for their dependence on agriculture and plant maybe that's true ... But noted that the area where a lot of prey, and show that many rock drawings (primitive) of deer and mountain goats in the same location and here are some pictures

It is noted that an old mountain goat graphics where discoloration color the same color as the rock
When compared with some fees from the same location, we find that they did not take the color of the rock
Here are some other fees on the site

I may have caused you trouble

Thank you very much

Hi again mtwan

No, you’re not creating any trouble here… this is very interesting, and thank you for showing the rock art. I wish I had a site like that on my doorstep!

The pictures of tools again show material which is consistent with “Stage 1” Neolithic. I can see a fair amount of what may be debitage (waste flakes,
not tools), a lot of knife/scraper forms, some burins (gravers), a few drills/perforators and a few items which might have been projectile points.
The possible points lack the characteristic tang which is normally seen, but that doesn’t rule them out.

There are all kinds of possible reasons why you may not be finding projectile points in larger numbers. Agricultural lifestyle just is one of them.
But don’t forget that – at their simplest – spears or arrows may have just been wood with a sharpened end. Curved boomerang-like wooden throwing sticks
were also in use for hunting (and are depicted in rock art at other Arabian sites). And don’t forget trapping and snaring as a hunting method.

Saudi Arabia’s extensive heritage of rock art has been virtually unknown in the West until recent times. The 1998 Cambridge Illustrated History of
Prehistoric Art doesn’t even mention Saudi Arabia, and its map of prehistoric rock-art sites shows the whole of the Arabian Peninsula as a blank.
We now know that Saudi Arabia is one of the four richest regions in the world for rock art and it’s almost always carved or pecked into the rock – not
painted.

Most of the petroglyphs in the Asir Mountains date from no earlier than 7,500 years ago, but more recent carvings (up to about 2,000 years ago) also
exist - sometimes found on top of older ones. Again, that’s consistent with the age of the lithics you are finding although the lithics and the rock
art do not have to be the same age when we’re talking about a permanent settlement.

The 4th petroglyph picture shows a row of men with what is sometimes called the “broken arm” (their right arms – on the left sides, in the pictures)
which is also seen in petroglyphs elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula. Archaeologists are not sure what this means. Are they throwing something?
Clearly not spears. Is it some kind of ritual? A “keep out” warning sign (since this depiction is often found at the edges of settlements)?



The 5th petroglyph shows what I would suggest is possibly a cart (or - less probably - a chariot, since it has no horse associated with it). That would
have to be of more recent age. The wheel originates in Mesopotamia no earlier than 6,000 years ago and was adopted in Arabia a little later (and the
earliest know depiction of a wheeled vehicle is from Poland, dating to perhaps 5,500 years ago). Again this suggests that the site was permanent and had
occupation through a series of ages. The figure at the bottom right is holding what might be a spear or staff – but in a passive manner. Not in the
gesture of hunting or aggression.



In general, when hunting activities were sufficiently important to people’s lives that they depicted themselves in rock art engaged in these pursuits
then it is normally obvious. Spears are raised above heads; bows are held out in front and pulled to shoot; animals and people are shown running; animals
often have arrows or spears stuck into them and may be shown in a fallen position. I don’t see any of that here. It all looks very sedate and peaceful.
The Asir Mountain depictions are frequently of stationary mountain goats, long or short-horned cattle, horses, camels and dogs (rather than deer or
gazelles) and taken as evidence of domestication of these species. An agricultural lifestyle is not just about growing crops – it also includes the
keeping of animals.

Thank painshill
I'm happy to talk to you
There are many rock drawings scattered at the site, as well as stone circles and stone micelles (I do not know if the translation is correct)
For example, here rocky fee does not know whether fishing shows

For arrowheads It certainly breaks up because most of the site is a volcanic rock Istadm (maybe)

Thank you very much

Mtwan,that is some amazing Rock Art.
Thank you for sharing those.

I honestly don’t know the answers to those questions about the rock art. Here’s a few more easily recognisable hunting scenes from other
Saudi Arabian sites. All the pictures are by Lars Bjurstrom from the “saudiaramcoworld” website.

This one of a man spearing an animal (from the Jubbah site). Note also the chariot, pulled by 2 horses:


This one of the bow in use (from the Shuwaymas site):


This one showing an ostrich being hunted by a man on horseback (from the Bir Hama region):

Thank painshill
Beautiful pictures and thank you ... you have information about my perhaps more than me
Unfortunately, there is no great interest in this art here
And that there was finally some improvement
This site, which I found there are many pieces of stone and fees and some broken pottery
Unfortunately there is an attempt to put a sewage!!! And some residential projects
And tried objection to keep this site or there is a chance for consideration by the experts