As part of the Green Arabia Project, Griffith University archaeologist Michael Petraglia and his associates recognized more than 60 rock art panels consisting of 176 inscriptions in 3 formerly uncharted locations– Jebel Arnaan, Jebel Mleiha, and Jebel Misma– along the southern edge of the Nefud Desert in northern Saudi Arabia.

The inscriptions, mainly portraying camels, ibex, equids, gazelles, and aurochs, consist of 130 life-sized and naturalistic figures, some determining up to 3 m long and more than 2 m high.

The inscriptions date to in between 12,800 and 11,400 years earlier, a duration when seasonal water bodies came back in the area following severe aridity.

These water sources, validated through sediment analysis, supported early human growths into the desert interior and provided unusual chances for survival.

“These big inscriptions are not simply rock art– they were most likely declarations of existence, gain access to, and cultural identity,” stated Dr. Maria Guagnin, an archaeologist at limit Planck Institute of Geoanthropology.

“The rock art marks water sources and motion paths, perhaps representing territorial rights and intergenerational memory,” included Dr. Ceri Shipton, an archaeologist at University College London.

Unlike formerly understood websites where inscriptions were concealed in crevices, the Jebel Mleiha and the Jebel Arnaan panels were engraved onto imposing cliff deals with, some as much as 39 m high, in aesthetically commanding areas.

One panel would have needed ancient artists to climb up and work precariously on narrow ledges, highlighting the large effort and significance of the images.

Numerous artifacts, consisting of Levantine-style El Khiam and Helwan stone points, green pigment, and dentalium beads, recommend long-distance connections to Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) populations in the Levant area.

The scale, material, and positioning of the Arabian inscriptions set them apart.

“This special kind of symbolic expression comes from an unique cultural identity adjusted to life in a difficult, dry environment,” stated Dr. Faisal Al-Jibreen, a scientist with the Heritage Commmission at Saudi Ministry of Culture.

“The job’s interdisciplinary technique has actually started to fill a crucial space in the historical record of northern Arabia in between the Last Glacial Maximum and the Holocene, clarifying the durability and development of early desert neighborhoods,” Dr. Petraglia stated.

The group’s paper was released in the journal Nature Communications

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M. Guagnin et al2025. Significant rock art highlights that people grew in the Arabian Desert throughout the Pleistocene-Holocene shift. Nat Commun 16, 8249; doi: 10.1038/ s41467-025-63417-y