Saudi Arabia’s Hima Cultural Area has been added to Unesco’s list of World Heritage Sites, making it the country’s sixth site on the UN organization’s list of landmarks that are of cultural and historical significance.
Hima is located between Najran and Wadi Addawasir in the country’s southwest. Hima is home to one of the largest rock art complexes in the world.
“New site inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage List: cultural area of Hima, Saudi Arabia. Mabrouk!” Unesco announced on Saturday.
Hima has more than 34 separate sites including rock inscriptions and wells along the route of the ancient Arabian caravans. The area includes a substantial collection of rock art images depicting hunting, fauna, flora, and lifestyles in a cultural continuity of 7,000 years.
“Travellers and armies camping on the site left a wealth of rock inscriptions and petroglyphs through the ages and until the late 20th century, most of which are preserved in pristine condition,” Unesco said.
“Inscriptions are in different scripts, including Musnad, Aramaic-Nabataean, South-Arabian, Thamudic, Greek, and Arabic. The property and its buffer zone are also rich in unexcavated archaeological resources in the form of cairns, stone structures, interments, stone tool scatters, and ancient wells.
“This location is at the oldest known toll station on an important ancient desert caravan route, where the wells of Bi’r Ḥima date back at least 3,000 years and still produce fresh water.”
Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al Saud welcomed the listing. The kingdom has a “rich heritage (of) human civilizations. Efforts have borne fruit in making it known to the world,” he said. Hima was a conduit for caravans on the trade and Hajj routes to and from the southern parts of Arabia.
Other Unesco sites in Saudi Arabia include rock art in the Hail region, historic Jeddah, Al-Turaif District, Al-Hijr Archaeological Site, and the Al-Ahsa Oasis.
The World Heritage Committee is currently in its annual session, during which members assess the condition and management of more than 1,100 existing sites, as well as accept nominations from countries for new World Heritage Sites.