'Funerary pathways' dating back 4,500 years have been uncovered in Saudi Arabia.

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Hundreds of thousands of pendant-shaped burials were found along the paths.

Archaeologists in northwest Saudi Arabia have unearthed hundreds of pendant-shaped stone graves and 4,500-year-old "funerary avenues" that span 105 miles (170 km).

Funerary avenues get their name from the fact that graveyards often line them. They may have been used during funerals, but this is not known. Researchers believe that they would have connected oases and formed an ancient highway network.

There are some red-rock-delineated avenues, but "the ground was worn smooth" by ancient people's "footfall — and especially by the hooves of their domestic animals," a researcher at the University of Western Australia tells Live Science in an email about a recent study on these pathways published in The Holocene.

Long-distance travel would have been made easier by the network of roads. "People might have traveled from north to south over a distance of at least 530 kilometers (330 miles) by following these networks. Additionally, there are glimmers of such possibilities in southern Saudi Arabia and Yemen. However, more research is needed to rule out the possibility of ancient populations traveling even greater distances, "Dalton stated in the email.

According to Dalton, the ceremonies performed on the funerary avenues and even in the tombs that lined the walkways are mostly unknown to archaeologists. The tombs' human remains are in terrible condition, and many of the tombs have been looted, leaving them empty. According to Dalton, "It's not difficult to conceive that the tombs were used to recall or honor those buried within them, especially given the descendants or relations of those buried within them would have presumably walked by them regularly during their everyday lives."

If we find additional evidence, "we might even envisage funerary procession down avenues from established oase to the graves, but this is merely hypothetical until we find more evidence," Dalton added.

Growth period

The Egyptians erected the pyramids, including the Great Pyramid of Giza, about the same time they built tombs and avenues. Although Mesopotamian civilizations lived north of Arabia in Mesopotamia, many towns and enormous pyramid temples known as ziggurats were constructed. Because of the flourishing civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia, Dalton believes the inhabitants of Saudi Arabia weren't influenced by them when they built their elaborate burial grounds.

"We think this phenomenon was an indigenous development," Dalton stated, citing that people in Saudi Arabia had been building massive stone structures for thousands of years before the pyramids were created in Egypt." Archaeological evidence suggests that cattle cults in Arabia may have taken place as early as 7,000 years ago.

The researchers used satellite images, aerial photography, ground surveys, and excavations to make these discoveries. As part of their research, these archaeologists worked with the Royal Commission for AlUla, a Saudi Arabian body focusing on archaeological investigation and preservation at AlUla. AlUla is a huge area that covers 8,711 square miles (22,561 square kilometers) and has countless ancient relics that date back thousands of years.

Reference : https://www.livescience.com/ancient-arabia-funerary-avenues-discovered

Image source : https://pixabay.com/id/photos/mekah-mekkah-arab-saudi-saudi-arab-66965/

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