Amid the arid desert and mountains of Al Ula in northwest Saudi Arabia, archaeologists are working to excavate the remnants of the ancient and long-forgotten kingdoms of Dadan and Lihyan.
Al Ula, a flagship tourist destination since it opened in 2019, is known for the majestic rock-hewn tombs of Madain Saleh, a 2,000-year-old city carved into desert rocks by the Nabateans, the pre-Islamic Arab people that also built Petra in neighboring Jordan.
But now, a team of French and Saudi archaeologists is focused on excavating five nearby sites related to the Dadanite and Lihyanite civilizations, important regional powers that flourished 2,000 years ago but have lain in obscurity since.
Dadan is mentioned in the Old Testament and the Lihyanite kingdom was one of the largest of its time, stretching from Medina in the south to Aqaba in the north in modern-day Jordan, according to the Royal Commission for the project.
(Reuters)
