The province of Al - Jouf in the northwest Saudi Arabian desert is home to 21 tremendous 3D cutting into the rockface . These limning of camel and horses were detect in 2018 andfirst believedto be around 2,000 age sometime . Subsequent examination , however , revealed they belike antedate Egypt ’s pyramid and even Stonehenge .
Despite uttermost weathering as a effect of the harsh desert conditions , the carvings can still be made out to be life - sized depictions of preponderantly camel , with some cutting also appear to be of donkeys or horses .
The impressively accurate and detailed art are conceive to draw some of the camels during mating time of year – with bulging necks and pear-shaped bellies – which could suggest the site ’s cultural ties with the seasons or with fertility .
During the Neolithic period , the body politic surrounding the rocks was pepper with tree and lakes , possibly a lacrimation priming for the hazardous camels shown in the carvings . With the tameness of camels not appearing until1200 BCE , local people likely hunted wild camels in the surrounding area .
It ’s believed the camel were carved from tools made from chert , a character of Edward Durell Stone thought to be take to the area from at least 14.5 kilometers ( 9 miles ) away . They were estimated to each take between 10 and 15 twenty-four hour period to carve , and their symbolism was think to make a communal coming together land for the people of the Neolithic .
In place , the life - sized carving are heap two or three bed on top of one another , suggesting the need for some form of scaffold during building . Additionally , there were no sign of clayware or alloy tools find at the land site , leading investigator to conclude the initial 2,000 - year - old estimate to be inaccurate .
Difficulties in dating stone sculpture led to an initial estimate establish on the August 15 of relation to the carved rock at Petra , Jordan – think to be the work of the Nabataeans , contemporaries of the Romans .
A subsequentpaperpublished in 2022 , however , detail a figure of tests conducted on the website with the aim of establishing a more accurate age . X - electron beam fluorescence spectrometry and glow date stamp were used to help oneself age the rock and roll , while the situation ’s animal remains were radiocarbon date and the rock analyze for wearing away patterns and tool mark .
The findings of this composition conclude the eld of the rock carvings to be between 7,000 and 8,000 age old , well older than the gauge 5,000 - yr - old age of the UK ’s Stonehenge .
