Editing History of Saudi Arabia (section)

==Pre-Islamic Arabia==
{{Main|Pre-Islamic Arabia}}

There is evidence that human habitation in the [[Arabian Peninsula]] dates back to about 63,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite web|title=Early humans settled in Arabia|url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2012/07/early-humans-settled-in-arabia-some-55000-years-ago/1#.WCeplfkrJPY|website=usatoday|access-date=12 November 2016|archive-date=2 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602110402/http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2012/07/early-humans-settled-in-arabia-some-55000-years-ago/1#.WCeplfkrJPY|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Saudi Embassy US Website">[http://www.saudiembassy.net/about/country-information/history/ Saudi Embassy (US) Website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304062348/http://www.saudiembassy.net/about/country-information/history/ |date=4 March 2016 }} retrieved 20 January 2011</ref> Nevertheless, stone tools from the [[Middle Paleolithic]] age, along with fossils of other animals discovered at Ti's al Ghadah, in northwestern Saudi Arabia, might imply that hominids migrated through a "Green Arabia" between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Roberts |first1=Patrick |last2=Stewart |first2=Mathew |last3=Alagaili |first3=Abdulaziz N. |last4=Breeze |first4=Paul |last5=Candy |first5=Ian |last6=Drake |first6=Nick |last7=Groucutt |first7=Huw S. |last8=Scerri |first8=Eleanor M. L. |last9=Lee-Thorp |first9=Julia |author-link9=Julia Lee-Thorp |last10=Louys |first10=Julien |last11=Zalmout |first11=Iyad S. |last12=Al-Mufarreh |first12=Yahya S. A. |last13=Zech |first13=Jana |last14=Alsharekh |first14=Abdullah M. |last15=al Omari |first15=Abdulaziz |date=29 October 2018 |title=Fossil herbivore stable isotopes reveal middle Pleistocene hominin palaeoenvironment in 'Green Arabia' |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution |volume=2 |issue=12 |pages=1871–1878 |bibcode=2018NatEE...2.1871R |doi=10.1038/s41559-018-0698-9 |pmid=30374171 |s2cid=53099270 |hdl-access=free |last16=Boivin |first16=Nicole |last17=Petraglia |first17=Michael |hdl=10072/382068}}</ref>

[[Archaeology]] has revealed some early settled civilizations: the [[Dilmun]] civilization on the east of the Arabian Peninsula, the [[Thamūd]] north of the [[Hejaz]], the [[Kingdom of Kinda]] in the centre, and the [[Al-Magar]] civilization in the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula. The earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the peninsula into neighbouring areas.<ref>Philip Khuri Hitti (2002), ''History of the Arabs'', Revised: 10th Edition</ref>

There is also evidence from [[Timna Valley|Timna]] (Israel) and [[:de:Tell el-Kheleifeh|Tell el-Kheleifeh]] (Jordan) that the local Qurayya/Midianite pottery originated within the Hejaz region of northwestern Saudi Arabia, which suggests that the biblical Midianites originally came from the Hejaz region of the peninsula, before expanding into Jordan and southern Israel.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Levy |first1=Thomas E. |last2=Higham |first2=Thomas |last3=Bronk Ramsey |first3=Christopher |last4=Smith |first4=Neil G. |last5=Ben-Yosef |first5=Erez |last6=Robinson |first6=Mark |last7=Münger |first7=Stefan |last8=Knabb |first8=Kyle |last9=Schulze |first9=Jürgen P. |last10=Najjar |first10=Mohammad |last11=Tauxe |first11=Lisa |title=High-precision radiocarbon dating and historical biblical archaeology in southern Jordan |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |date=28 October 2008 |volume=105 |issue=43 |pages=16460–16465 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0804950105 |pmid=18955702 |pmc=2575442 |bibcode=2008PNAS..10516460L |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>Bimson, John J.; Tebes, Juan Manuel, [http://bibliotecadigital.uca.edu.ar/repositorio/revistas/timna-revisited-egyptian-chronology.pdf ''Timna revisited : egyptian chronologyand the silver mines of the southernArabah''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181101041034/http://bibliotecadigital.uca.edu.ar/repositorio/revistas/timna-revisited-egyptian-chronology.pdf |date=1 November 2018 }} Antiguo Oriente Vol. 7, 2009</ref>

On 9 June 2020, the discovery of a 35-metre-long triangular megalithic monument in [[Dumat al-Jandal]], dated back to the seventh millennium BC, presumably dedicated to ritual practices, was published in the [[Antiquity (journal)|journal ''Antiquity'']]. Archaeological researchers from France, Saudi Arabia, and Italy, headed by Olivia Munoz, believe that these findings illuminate a pastoralist nomadic lifestyle and a ritual used in prehistoric Arabia.<ref>{{Cite web|title=6th millennium BC structure discovered in Saudi Arabia|url=https://phys.org/news/2020-06-6th-millennium-bc-saudi-arabia.html|access-date=11 September 2020|website=phys.org|language=en|archive-date=29 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929095508/https://phys.org/news/2020-06-6th-millennium-bc-saudi-arabia.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Munoz|first1=Olivia|last2=Cotty|first2=Marianne|last3=Charloux|first3=Guillaume|last4=Bouchaud|first4=Charlène|date=2020|title=Marking the sacral landscape of a north Arabian oasis: a sixth-millennium BC monumental stone platform and surrounding burials|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/marking-the-sacral-landscape-of-a-north-arabian-oasis-a-sixthmillennium-bc-monumental-stone-platform-and-surrounding-burials/E1E0BB6B88D2F6025935F8587633E9FA|journal=Antiquity|volume=94|issue=375|pages=601–621|doi=10.15184/aqy.2020.81|s2cid=225721042|access-date=11 September 2020|archive-date=3 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903202350/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/marking-the-sacral-landscape-of-a-north-arabian-oasis-a-sixthmillennium-bc-monumental-stone-platform-and-surrounding-burials/E1E0BB6B88D2F6025935F8587633E9FA|url-status=live}}</ref>

In May 2021, archaeologists announced that a 350,000-year-old [[Acheulean]] site named An Nasim in the [[Ḥaʼil Province|Hail region]] could be the oldest human habitation site in northern Saudi Arabia. The site was first discovered in 2015 using remote sensing and palaeohydrological modelling. It contains paleolake deposits related to [[Middle Pleistocene]] materials. 354 artefacts discovered by researchers, including hand axes, stone tools, and flakes, provide information about tool-making traditions of the earliest living humans inhabiting southwestern Asia. Besides, [[Paleolithic]] artefacts are similar to material remains uncovered at the Acheulean sites in the [[An Nafud|Nefud Desert]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Scerri|first1=Eleanor M. L.|last2=Frouin|first2=Marine|last3=Breeze|first3=Paul S.|last4=Armitage|first4=Simon J.|last5=Candy|first5=Ian|last6=Groucutt|first6=Huw S.|last7=Drake|first7=Nick|last8=Parton|first8=Ash|last9=White|first9=Tom S.|last10=Alsharekh|first10=Abdullah M.|last11=Petraglia|first11=Michael D.|date=12 May 2021|title=The expansion of Acheulean hominins into the Nefud Desert of Arabia|journal=Scientific Reports|language=en|volume=11|issue=1|pages=10111|doi=10.1038/s41598-021-89489-6|pmid=33980918|pmc=8115331|bibcode=2021NatSR..1110111S|issn=2045-2322|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=12 May 2021|title=Saudi Arabia discovers new archaeological site dating back to 350,000 years|url=http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/606576|access-date=17 May 2021|website=Saudigazette|language=English|archive-date=17 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517125158/https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/606576|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=13 May 2021|title=Saudi Arabia discovers a 350,000-year-old archaeological site in Hail|url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/gulf/saudi-arabia/saudi-arabia-discovers-a-350-000-year-old-archaeological-site-in-hail-1.1221864|access-date=17 May 2021|website=The National|language=en|archive-date=17 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517125138/https://www.thenationalnews.com/gulf/saudi-arabia/saudi-arabia-discovers-a-350-000-year-old-archaeological-site-in-hail-1.1221864|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Ancient site in Nefud Desert offers glimpse of early human activity in Saudi Arabia|url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/1858031/amp|access-date=17 May 2021|website=Arab News|language=en|archive-date=13 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513063910/https://www.arabnews.com/node/1858031/amp|url-status=live}}</ref>