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Saudi excavation shows horses were domesticated
9,000 years ago
By Asma Alsharif
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia is excavating a new archaeological site that will show
horses were domesticated 9,000 years ago in the Arabian Peninsula. The discovery of the
civilization, named Al-Maqar after the site’s location, will challenge the theory that the
domestication of animals took place 5,500 years ago in Central Asia.
“This discovery will change our knowledge concerning the domestication of horses and the
evolution of culture in the late Neolithic period,” said Ali al-Ghabban, vice president of Antiquities
and Museums at the Saudi Commission for Tourism & Antiquities in Jeddah. “The Maqar
Civilization is a very advanced civilization of the Neolithic period. This site shows us clearly, the
roots of the domestication of horses 9,000 years ago.”
The remains of the civilization were found close to Abha, in southwestern Asir province, an area
known to antiquity as Arabia Felix.
The civilization, Ghabban added, used “methods of embalming that are totally different to known
processes.”
Among the remains found at the site are statues of animals such as goats, dogs, hawks, and a
meter-tall bust of a horse, the official said: “A statue of an animal of this dimension, dating back to
that time, has never been found anywhere in the world.” The site also includes remains of
mummified skeletons, arrowheads, scrapers, grain grinders, tools for spinning and weaving, and
other tools that are evidence of a civilization skilled in handicrafts.
The remains were found in a valley that was once a riverbed, at a time when the now-arid
Arabian Peninsula was more humid and fertile.
An international team of archaeologists published an article in January that suggested human
beings could have been present on the Arabian Peninsula about 125,000 years ago.
The world’s largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia is trying to diversify its economy away from oil and
hopes to increase its tourism. Last year the SCTA launched exhibitions in Barcelona’s
CaixaForum museum and Paris’s Louvre museum showcasing historic findings of the Arabian
Peninsula.
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27/08/2011