Saudi Arabia

Himā Cultural area

WHS Score 2.33 Votes 16 Average 2.72

The Ḥimā Cultural area comprises rock inscriptions and rock art left behind in an arid area.

Hima contains significant wells in the desert along one of the ancient caravan trade routes of the Arabian Peninsula. The people passing by engraved human figures, animals and texts in different languages on the rocks. The oldest engravings are said to date back to 7,000 years ago.

Community Perspective: These rock art sites have the interesting addition of ancient wells. Access to the petroglyphs is usually fenced off but the gates seem to be open or easy to bypass. The location near Hima Wells is the easiest to reach.

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Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Ḥimā Cultural Area (ID: 1619)
Country
Saudi Arabia
Status
Inscribed 2021 Site history
History of Himā Cultural area
WHS Type
Cultural
Criteria
  • iii
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Archaeological site: Rock Art
Travel Information
No travel information
Recent Connections
View all (17) .
Connections of Himā Cultural area
Geography
  • Desert Cultural Landscapes
    The OUV of the nominated Property derives from several factors. The overarching cultural role implied by its name reflects the site's historical function as one of the most important desert wells in the Middle East, if not the world. The passage of vast armies and myriad caravans has resulted in an unequalled historical 'library on rock', comprising massive numbers of rock inscriptions and petroglyphs that reflect Arabia's history over the duration of the Holocene period. (...) The pristine preservation and spectacular desert setting also add to the OUV of the Property. (nom file p5)
History
  • Neolithic age
    An ancient Palaeolithic and Neolithic site, the Bir Hima Complex covers the time period of 2500–1000 BC

    See en.wikipedia.org

  • Mousterian
    The presence of Acheulian hand-axes and Mousterian implement types from the Cultural Rock Arts in Ḥimā Najrān has been reported, e.g. at ʿĀn Jamal and Sha'ib Hinmat. (nom file p.14)
Architecture
  • Dry Stone Construction
    The intensive traffic of caravans over millennia has resulted in great concentrations of archaeological surface evidence, particularly stone cairns, dry-laid stone tombs and extensive stone arrangements. (nom file p.15)
World Heritage Process
Religion and Belief
  • Goddesses
    he culture underwriting the rock art production still continues today. This is amply evident, for example through the continuing veneration of the fertility goddess Alia, which is a prominent feature in the Ḥimā rock art (nom file p12)
  • Living indigenous religions
    The Bedouins living there are the descendants of some of the authors of the rock art and inscriptions, and the culture underwriting the rock art production still continues today. This is amply evident, for example through the continuing veneration of the fertility goddess Alia, which is a prominent feature in the Ḥimā rock art. (nom file p.12)
Human Activity
  • Bedouin
    "Due to the highly arid environment of the Hima Cultural Area and the Bedouin custodianship since time immemorial, its Outstanding Universal Value has been exceptionally well preserved." (OUV) - The Bedouins living there are the descendants of some of the authors of the rock art and inscriptions, and the culture underwriting the rock art production still continues today. (Nomination file, p. 12)
  • Petroglyphs
    wealth of rock inscriptions and petroglyphs (AB ev)
  • Multilingual inscriptions
    The intensive traffic channeled through the property is reflected in tens of thousands of rock inscriptions. They occur in various scripts, such as the Al-Musmad alphabet of 29 letters, Aramaic-Nabatean, South-Arabian scripts, Thamudic and even in Greek, as well as Arabian. (nom file p.12)
  • Writing systems
    The inscriptions are an invaluable source of epigraphic understanding concerning the development of alphabetic writing. (nom file p.12)
  • Irrigation and drainage
    Hima Wells: "This location is at the oldest known toll station on an important ancient desert caravan route, where the wells of Bi’r Ḥimā date back at least 3,000 years and still produce fresh water." (brief description).
Constructions
  • Tumuli
    Ceramic remains of mid-to later Holocene times occur widely, and are especially common at a series of rock tumuli at Najd Sahi. (nom file p.14)
Timeline
Science and Technology
  • Recorded cultural discoveries
    The area was explored by the Philby-Ryckmans-Lippen expedition of 1951 and published by E. Anati (1969–72). Its rich heritage of rock petroglyphs caught the attention of Saudi Arabia's Department of Antiquities only after 1976 when Jubba and other sites were investigated.

    See en.wikipedia.org

  • Archaeological potential
    The property and its buffer zone are also rich in unexcavated archaeological resources in the form of cairns, stone structures, interments, stone tool scatters and ancient wells. (AB ev)
WHS Names
  • Name changes
    Upon inscription, on suggestion by ICOMOS: from "Cultural Rock Arts in Himã Najrãn " to "Ḥimā Cultural area"
News

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Community Reviews

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First published: 03/03/23.

Stanislaw Warwas

Himā Cultural Area

Himā Cultural area (Inscribed)

Himā Cultural area by Stanislaw Warwas

Visited January 2023.

Solo traveller without a driving license spends more (money and time) in Saudi Arabia than those who rent cars and have a travel pal to share a hotel room. But Saudi Arabia is still a country where you can enjoy hitchhiking and meeting people like anywhere in so called civilised countries…

Hima Cultural Area is pretty remote and not connected to the outside world with any kind of public transportation. I took the night bus from Riyadh to Najran and asked the driver to stop at the conjunction to Hima. I was not alone to leave the bus there and other passengers offered me a lift to Hima site, although it was not on their way. And they offered me a morning coffee in a local restaurant, found a guide in Hima village to show me around, informed the local imam that I was there in case I do not come back before night (😊) and arranged a place to sleep if I’d decide to stay… I left my backpack at the gas station – the local guide said it was safe, and it was! – I started exploring the area.

Here you are free to wander. There are some places with fences but my “guide” told me: it means there something interesting there behind, so let’s go! And he was right – but I do not recommend breaking Saudi laws of not crossing the line without Saudi citizens…

Local people do not …

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First published: 21/02/23.

Jarek Pokrzywnicki

Himā Cultural Area

Himā Cultural area (Inscribed)

Himā Cultural area by Jarek Pokrzywnicki

Area visited recently, November 2022. Certainly one of the best example of rock art (similar to those in the Hail region) with interesting addition of ancient wells. As located quite far from main roads site requires organised transport to get there.

It consist of several petroglyph’s sites located near small village of Hima (southern Saudi Arabia, around 120 km from Najran, and some 25 km from main Riyadh – Najran highway) and historical wells (5 cut in the rock, 2 of them looked as still in use).

Wells as a historical site are fenced but the gate is always open. It is probably because they are still in use, during my visit there were several cisterns pumping water from the tank. The site is located near the village mosque, access by asphalted side road. Entrance to Hima Wells – Google coordinates 18°15'01.9"N 44°27'05.3"E.

Adjacent to wells there is another archaeological reserve – Jabal Hima petroglyphs. Also fenced, access from Hima village by the same road leading to the wells on the left, entrance - same coordinates as above - doors may be closed but they are not locked. On the main rock there are Arabic inscriptions, different animals and humans. English / Arabic table explains that petroglyphs depict military raid, written in Musnad Fort around 518. Frankly speaking there is also a bilingual table (English and Arabic) informing that visiting the site is not permitted. But I noticed that just after leaving the site.

Another site …

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First published: 05/10/19.

Zoë Sheng

Himā Cultural Area

Himā Cultural area (Inscribed)

Himā Cultural area by Zoë Sheng

It is hard to figure out where these rock art sites really are. The only place I found was the Hima wells area and nearby the well was one, fenced off, with a sign stating tourist visits should be arranged with some phone number. Well, too bad. I noticed there is an opening to the right of that place and it was clearly used by others before. Not much climbing required. I don't want to promote breaking rules, especially in the KSA where you can get into deeeeeeep problems for doing this, but it is the only easy way to actually see them close up. Okay so you don't need to break the law if you have binoculars or a zoom lens. What I saw wasn't impressive either and there are a staggering 7 "similar sites" listed on the document alone, showing not just me that there are enough of rock arts like this. Sure, it's not the same, yes, it does show there was someone here before and lived in the area - but, hello, that's not enough for me looking at the site.

So I did some checking online and the rock art could potentially be impressive if it's open for us to visit. The Mediterranean rock art is open to visit while still being fenced off so we should be able to look at it without a 60m barrier around it that also protects sand. There is a lot of pre-Islamic rock art in the country …

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