Saudi Arabia
Al-Faw
Al-Faw by Jarek Pokrzywnicki
The Cultural Landscape of Al-Faw comprises the remains of a pre-Islamic caravan station, which was important for the frankincense trade. It lies at the fringe of the Empty Quarter.
Community Perspective: Zoë has described her non-visit, one of Tamas's party crawled in but found nothing of note, and Philipp has confirmed that in 2024 the site still is fully closed to tourists and nothing of its OUV can be seen from behind the fence. For future reference on how to get there once it opens (2030?), there's an airport relatively nearby at Wadi Al-Dawasir with daily flights to Riyadh and Jeddah.
Site Info
Official Information
- Full Name
- The Cultural Landscape of Al-Faw Archaeological Area (ID: 1712)
- Country
- Saudi Arabia
- Status
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Inscribed 2024
Site history
History of Al-Faw
- WHS Type
- Cultural
- Criteria
- ii
- v
Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org/
Community Information
- Community Category
- Cultural Landscape: Relict
Travel Information
Not open to tourists
Recent Connections
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Tumuli
"The rich archaeological remains reflec… -
Tower-houses
"Tower houses are found in detached are… -
Transhumance
"A large number of tapered structures a…
Connections of Al-Faw
- Geography
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Desert Cultural Landscapes
Criteria ii "The rich collection of archaeological findings and inscriptions is a tangible manifestation of the role of the site as an important meeting place for different groups of people who built the caravan city of Qaryat al-Faw and the influences and cultural exchanges between the tribes of the desert and the trading groups that occupied and resided in the area over time." - AB Evaluation -
Contiguous National Sites
Located in the buffer zone of 'Uruq Bani Ma'arid.
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- History
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Neolithic age
"Neolithic tools of early people" (AB ev) -
Bronze Age
"Around 2000 to 1900 BCE, a large number of cairns and tumuli appeared at the western base of Jabal Tuwayq, testifying to the second major phase of human occupation. The unearthed objects indicate the long-distance connections of the local community with Eastern Arabia and Yemen in the Bronze Age (...)." (AB Ev) -
Located in a Former Capital
"From the 1st century BCE to the 1st century CE, the ancient city became the capital of the kingdom of the Qahtan-Madhhij. Between the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, under Abyssinian pressures in the Hejaz, the city became the capital of the kingdom of Kinda, which reinforced its position as a key milestone for caravans crossing Arabia." (AB Ev) -
Palaeolithic and Mesolithic
"(...) nearly 12,000 archaeological features testifying to the successive human occupation of the region since the Palaeolithic period" - "The earliest human traces are the stone tools with heavy patina found on the plateau, dating back to the Palaeolithic and early Neolithic periods." (AB Ev)
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- Ecology
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Hyper-arid
"The Cultural Landscape of Al-Faw Archaeological Area is an organically evolved relict landscape encapsulated by the extremely arid desert environment since its abrupt abandonment around the 5th century CE." (AB Ev) -
Extreme temperatures
"ICOMOS notes that the historic conditions of the nominated property were significantly different from the present, which is one of the harshest places in the world for human habitation." - AB Evaluation
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- Architecture
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Earth Architecture
"The religious and administrative sectors feature a monumental building named "souk", which might have functioned as a market. It has a square layout with projected corner towers and bastions, as well as thick mudbrick walls six to seven metres above the plain." (AB Ev) -
Dry Stone Construction
"Tapered structures - These structures consist of three dry-stone walls forming an empty triangle as the head, attached to which is a long tail of the dry-stone wall varying in length from one up to seventy metres. (...) More than 552 tapered structures have been recorded within the nominated property." (AB Ev)
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- Damaged
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Damaged by Landslide
"The partial collapse of the cliff and landslides have altered the shape of the historic landscape and buried some sites on the escarpment." (AB Ev)
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- World Heritage Process
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Reconstruction regarded as unsatisfactory
"Two tower tombs have been restored in the past with the construction of a circular dry-stone wall at the foot of the mudbrick cores. These interventions aimed at strengthening the cores and avoiding their collapse but have proven problematic both visually and technically as they risk trapping water on the bases of the mudbrick towers." (AB Ev)
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- Religion and Belief
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Sacred Mountains
"sacred mountain of Khashm Qaryah" (AB ev)
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- Human Activity
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Ongoing Archaeological digs
"The excavation of the site began in 1972 and lasted until the present (...)" (AB Ev) -
Petroglyphs
"Besides the rock carvings at the Khashm Qaryah, a significant number of petroglyphs and rock inscriptions are found in various parts of the nominated property. The petroglyphs exhibit rock carvings of images of camels, humans, chariots, and wild animals (ibex, oryx, and gazelles) (...)" (AB Ev) -
Historical Graffiti
"(...) the ninety-eight recorded rock inscriptions carry Ancient South Arabian inscriptions, Thamudic graffiti, and Arabic inscriptions." (AB Ev) -
Transhumance
"A large number of tapered structures are dated to the second half of the 3rd millennium BCE and continued into the early 2nd millennium BCE. These possibly suggest the presence of transhumance routes radiating in different directions around the proto-oasis." (AB Ev) -
Irrigation and drainage
"The rich archaeological remains reflect the multifaceted lives of the occupants, including (...) the oasis and its ancient water management system" - "7,535 plantation pits, together with at least eleven primary water channels and thirty-three wells, testify to the scale and water management of this vast oasis" (AB Ev) -
Multilingual inscriptions
Khashm Qaryah: "The sacredness of the place is confirmed by eight fragments of Ancient South Arabian inscriptions in Sabaic and Old Arabic, other inscriptions, rock art, and rock engravings." - "(...) the ninety-eight recorded rock inscriptions carry Ancient South Arabian inscriptions, Thamudic graffiti, and Arabic inscriptions." - "The presence of various groups is manifested by the linguistic diversity of inscriptions" (AB Ev)
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- Constructions
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Tumuli
"The rich archaeological remains reflect the multifaceted lives of the occupants, including (...) the funerary landscape of tumuli and cairns in the valley" - "There are 178 tumuli (or cruciform tombs) and 2,657 cairns at the foot of Jabal Tuwayq" (AB Ev) -
Necropolises
"Located at the centre of the oasis is the ruin of the city of Qaryat. (...) A funerary ring of necropolises surrounds the urban and religious sectors and is, in turn, encompassed by the oasis." (AB Ev) -
Stelae
"Outside the urban and religious areas, there is a funerary ring. The burial materials and tomb stela provide valuable information on the origins of the residents of the ancient city, the language they used, the deities they worshipped, and their funerary rituals." (AB Ev) -
Tower-houses
"Tower houses are found in detached areas to the south, west, and north of the city, some of which may have been used for defence purposes." (AB Ev) -
Caravanserai
"Between the ancient city and the Jabal Tuwayq (...), two rectangular forts/caravanserais, and two other structures are found in an isolated archaeological sector." (AB Ev)
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- Timeline
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Late Pleistocene
"the presence of a group of flint scatters and other stone tools dating between 100,000 and 10,000 years BP" (AB ev)
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- Science and Technology
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Archaeological potential
"Considering the great archaeological potential of the site to be explored and the numerous gaps in knowledge that remain to be filled, ICOMOS considers that, in addition to the research already undertaken in the past by the KSU and the Heritage Commission, a long-term research strategy should be envisaged for the future." (AB Ev)
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- Visiting conditions
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Not open to tourists
"Currently, the nominated property is not open to visitation." (AB Ev, March 2024)
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News
No news.
Recent Visitors
Reserved for members.Community Reviews
Show full reviews
On our trip to Saudia Arabia we tried to visit Al-Faw in October 24 and did not succeed. The site is double fenced with the standard yellow ca. 3m fence with barb wire on top, the Saudis use to protect their cultural sites. The outer fence is is the problem. It’s minimum 200m from the site, which make it impossible to get to the core zone or even see more than a few walls. The building closest to the main street, about 200m from the fence, is a Ranger Station. Around 10 Ranger cars were parked there, so we tried our luck and went in. The ranger was very friendly, but would not let us pass even the outer fence under any circumstances. There are some info panels inside the station, but it’s clearly no visitor center.
We have seen a few places the Saudis have ready for visitors and Al-Faw is far away from that. I am sure there will be a visitor center, parking lot and access road to the site. None of these exist in 2024. The ranger was talking about “maybe” 2025, but I don’t think this is realistic. I would rather bet on 2030.
There is currently no legal or semi legal way to get to the core zone. As much as it hurt, we could not tick this site off (and neither should anybody else). I will try again, when the site officially opens. I will obviously also not rate it, as …
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I gave one star, because the artefacts from al-Faw in the National Museum in Riyadh are really impressive, so MAYBE the site also has some value. But as for now -DO NOT GO THERE. Do not even try. My travel mates almost punched me there, but they were gentlemen. So how we did not visit al-Faw? During our Sausi trip, we saw the sculptures in the museum, which really looked interesting, and even some reconstructed parts of a shrine - all from al-Faw. I remembered the name from the tentative list. So I suggested to my friends, to take the longer road from Abha - so that we could stop at al-Faw and Himá. The road was loooooong. I tried to contact the saudi authorities to give some hint how to visit al-Faw, but they did not answer. We were not discouraged, as - just a month after Saudi Arabia opened up for tourism - a lot of sites were formally closed, but absolutely accessible. We crawled into Jubba under the fence, visited Turaif quarter through a back door left unintentionally open, and Dhee Ain without any restrictions. So why not to try al-Faw too? We tried to call the caretaker when we were there, but - surprise, surprise - did not answer the phone. Then we tried to look for holes on or under the fence. One looked good enough to send in our smallest thinest friend. She sneaked in - with the promise, that if she finds anything …
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This non-review from my misadventures is to point out a few things. During my visit in December 2018 I had tried to visit Al-Faw (Faw/Fao however you want to romanize it) to no avail. First off it's far out near the Empty Quarter but the now-inscribed rock art at Ḥimā made me drive the outer loop anyway. There is also a wildlife sanctuary that you cannot enter beyond it that might one day be a WHS.
As you drive along the 177 there is a clear sign for the archaeological site as if it was a tourist attraction. You can see it in my picture. Once you drive off the road here though, it is suddenly all fenced off - see the second sign, with no visit center, no parking - well you can park ANYWHERE in the desert I suppose, lots of broken tires and an interesting sign to call if one needs information. Well I called and nobody answered and I kinda doubt I would have come far this way. I believe it's the caretaker's phone number who lives in the area - anyway it wasn't of much use. I took some pictures but one is just too far away to see anything - maybe flying a drone over would be the way to go to at least something - but be aware it's still quite ways off from the "parking lot" so your drone needs to have decent range so unless you have a high-end model …
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