A team of French archaeologists from the National Center for Scientific Research discovered a small 4,400-year-old city called al-Natah in the Khaybar oasis in western Saudi Arabia. The study was published in the scientific journal PLOS One.
Scientists have excavated a central area and a residential area surrounded by protective ramparts. The residential area contained large quantities of pottery and grinding stones, as well as the remains of at least 50 dwellings that may have been made of clay.
In the center of al-Natah there were two buildings that could have been used as administrative offices. A necropolis was found to the west of this place. Tall round tombs, similar to stepped towers, have been preserved.
The city in the Khaybar oasis was abandoned between 1500 and 1300 BC for an unknown reason.
According to scientists, the find suggests that urbanization in the Arabian Peninsula was slower. In that era, larger cities were already thriving in Mesopotamia, Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean, while al-Natah's population was no more than 500 people.
