Shuwaymis

Rock art site with several hundred prehistoric and historic rock art panels, inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2015.

Location and context

The site is located along the banks of a wadi course (Fig. 1), north of the basalt lava fields of the Harrat Khaybar.

History of research

The site first received recognition in 2001 when it was brought to the attention of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities. The site has since been documented in several surveys (Bednarik and Khan, 2005, Olsen, 2013, Jennings et al., 2014, Guagnin et al., 2015), but the archaeological context is still largely unexplored.

Rock art

Most of the rock art in Shuwaymis can be dated to the Pre-Neolithic and Neolithic periods and shows a sequence portraying hunting and herding imagery, with herds of up to 22 cattle superimposed on earlier hunting scenes (Fig. 2, Fig. 3). After a hiatus, rock art production resumed in the Iron Age, when depictions of horses and camels with riders, and the use of Ancient North Arabian Script are common (Fig. 2) (Guagnin et al., 2015, Khan, 2007). The rock art also includes the oldest representations of domesticated dogs and the earliest archaeological evidence for the use of leashes (Fig. 3) (Guagnin et al., 2018).

Maria Guagnin

References and suggested reading

• Bednarik, R.G. & M. Khan 2005. Scientific Studies of Saudi Arabian Rock Art. Rock Art Research 22: 49–81.
• Guagnin, M., R.P. Jennings, L. Clark-Balzan, H.S. Groucutt, A. Parton & M.D. Petraglia 2015. Hunters and herders: Exploring the Neolithic transition in the rock art of Shuwaymis, Saudi Arabia. Archaeological Research in Asia 4: 3–16. DOI: 10.1016/j.ara.2015.08.001.
• Guagnin, M., A.R. Perri & M.D. Petraglia 2018. Pre-Neolithic evidence for dog-assisted hunting strategies in Arabia. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 49: 225–236. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2017.10.003.
• Jennings, R., A. Parton, H.S. Groucutt, L. Clark-Balzan, P. Breeze, N.A. Drake, A. Alsharekh & M.D. Petraglia 2014. High-resolution geospatial surveying techniques provide new insights into rock-art landscapes at Shuwaymis, Saudi Arabia. AAE 25: 1–21. DOI: 10.1111/aae.12041.
• Khan, M. 2007. Rock art of Saudi Arabia across twelve thousand years. Riyadh: Deputy Ministry of Antiquities and Museums.
• Olsen, S.L. 2013. Stories in the Rocks: Exploring Saudi Arabian Rock Art. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

_{Alternate spellings: al-Shuwaymis, as-Shwimes, Shwimes}