1600 Massive Neolithic Monuments Sit In The Deserts Of Saudi Arabia
These stone ritualistic structures give a glimpse of a land of large cattle herds and plentiful water
“By day the hot sun fermented us; and we were dizzied by the beating wind. At night we were stained by dew, and shamed into pettiness by the innumerable silences of stars.”
― T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom
I recently read T.E. Lawrence’s book Seven Pillars of Wisdom, about his time in WWI as a British liaison working with the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire. It is a story of politics, war, betrayal, failure, and triumph, but also a tale of geography.
The epic's chief character is the desert itself. Its lack of water, blazing sun, endless sand dunes, and long, infinitely repeating landscapes require a special type of skill to navigate. Moreover, Lawrence’s Arab allies only gained this ability through generations of experience.
This idea of living in such inhospitable conditions made me ask a simple question: Why would someone first settle here? Researchers may have answered this question about a hundred years after Lawrence’s exploits in the region.
