AN ARCHAEOASTRONOMICAL APPROACH TO THE MEGALITHIC SITES OF SAUDI ARABIA

Abstract

This study attempts to decipher the cultural significance of standing stones left by the past civilizations in

late Stone Ages. It provides a statistical list of 16 megalithic sites within Saudi Arabia with more focus on the

site of Rajajil in northwest Saudi Arabia. Speculation as to their purposes differ, some were used for religious

activities, burial sites, and astronomical observatories for celestial bodies.

In this study a field survey was conducted to the late 5th millennium B.C.E. site of Rajajil in Al-Jawf Region

(Arabic: الجوف al-Ǧawf), and some of the well preserved groups of megaliths in the site were measured in an

attempt to shed some light on the bearings to know if astronomical interpretation is possible. Measurment

indicated that there is a clear alignment along the north-south axis In one of the megalithic groups on the

site. The general layout of the site applies to this description to a high extent too. The site belong to the

Neolithic period, where societies began to think in a more complex way than before. The majority of

megalithic sites including Rajajil belong to the era of agricultural revolution where agricultural activities

demand astronomical knowledge, therefore its logical to see traces of astronomy dating back to that stage.

Petroglyphs of celestial objects carved on some standing stones e.g. the figures carved in Kubat Altamathil

megalithic site in Tabuk (Arabic: تبوك Tabūk) indicate that ancients observed the sky and recorded what they

perceived. To ensure that the functional purposes of ancient archaeological sites might affect the type of

inscriptions in the surroundings, I traced examples of ancient natural observatories still used to the present

time e.g. (Majarda observatory, Taif) and (Hilat Alshams observatory, ABaha) and the result was positive.

The aim of this studey is to give an overview of existing possibilities of astronomical indications to stimulate

further archaeoastronomical studies in saudi arabia.