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DAMMAM: The World Heritage Committee of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has added the rock art in Hail to the World Heritage List.
The addition was made during the committee’s 39th session in Bonn, Germany, and became the fourth site in the Kingdom to be included in the list.
Other local sites include Madain Saleh, Dirriyah and Jeddah’s Al-Balad historic district.
Prince Sultan bin Salman, chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH), said: “Global recognition for the huge historic value of this global heritage site will reflect positively on the whole Hail region.”
He said that the SCTNH had worked for two years with specialized international teams and partners in the Kingdom to prepare this site to meet all UNESCO’s requirements. “The commission has established centers to serve tourists and increased the number of employees there.”
Prince Sultan said: “There are a number of ideas and programs that will lead to highlighting this site as a living witness of the Kingdom’s heritage as well as its ancient civilization.”
Rock art in the Hail region includes two components situated in a desert landscape — Jabel Umm Sinman at Jubbah and the Jabal Al-Manjor and Raat at Shuwaymis.
A lake once situated at the foot of the Umm Sinman hill range has now disappeared but was formerly a source of fresh water for people and animals in the southern part of the Great Nafoud Desert.
Jubbah includes numerous petroglyphs and inscriptions on rock faces. Shuwaymis shows numerous representations of human and animal figures from the prehistoric period.
The ancestors of today’s Arab population have left traces of their presence in numerous petroglyphs and inscriptions on rock faces.
Jabal Al-Manjor and Raat form the rocky escarpment of a wadi now covered in sand. They show numerous representations of human and animal figures covering 10,000 years of history.
UNESCO’s 22 member state representatives lauded the Kingdom’s care for its heritage and early civilization, praising the richness and density of rock art in the Hail region.