This section provides the visitor with the content and background for the subjects in the petroglyphs, such as humans, animals, and plants. It also provides interpretations of complex scenes that incorporate many figures that together convey an event. The scenes mostly depict activities relating to hunting and warfare. In this section, the visitor will learn about the people who created the rock art of Saudi Arabia and their environment.
Subjects & Scenes
Examples:
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Striped Hyena
The hyena has a dog-like body with strong forequarters and a back that slopes down in the rear. The neck is long and powerful and the muzzle is blunt, with powerful dentition for crushing bones. This species has a pale gray or beige body with black stripes on its sides and a black and white tail. The body hair is long and shaggy, with a crest from head to tail that stands erect [...]
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Gazelle
In ancient times, there were three species of gazelle in Saudi Arabia: the Mountain Gazelle, the Saudi Gazelle, now extinct, and the Sand Gazelle. Gazelles were once much more abundant on the Arabian Peninsula, but the combination of hunting and overgrazing by livestock have greatly depleted their numbers, leaving only small relict populations
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Domestic Cattle
The domestic cattle depicted in Saudi rock art are similar in appearance to those shown in Egyptian art from the New Kingdom. Their horns are relatively long, lyre-shaped and more or less vertical. There is often a small bump at the shoulders most likely reflecting elongated thoracic spines, rather than a true hump like that found in Zebu cattle from India.
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Warfare
Interpersonal conflict is not obvious in Neolithic panels at Jubbah and Shuwaymis, where hunting scenes prevail. There is one panel …



