(Web Desk) – Archaeologists have made a stunning discovery of a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age town in the Arabian Peninsula where nearly 500 people used to live.
The discovery has shed light on how ancient societies transitioned from nomadic lifestyle to urban living. French archaeologist Guillaume Charloux, along with Saudi researchers, discovered the al-Natah settlement close to the Khaybar Oasis.
According to the researchers, al-Natah spans around 2.6 hectares (6.4 acres) and was constructed in 2400 BCE. The town remained inhabited till roughly 1300 BCE.
“Our findings suggest that the people of al-Natah engaged in a slower, region-specific process of urbanisation,” Charloux said while speaking to AFP.
He emphasised that the structure and stone barriers of the town suggested that inhabitants were socially organised and the area was traditionally dominated by nomadic communities.
The site near the city of Al-Ula in western Saudi Arabia's Hejaz region was found by the archaeologists and it was named "al-Natah."
A 9-mile-long (14.5 kilometre) wall is believed to have encircled Al-Natah and protected it.
According to the archaeologists, a carefully planned settlement was created which had a central administrative zone, walled gardens, a necropolis and a residential district with interconnected streets.
There were circular stepped tower tombs and multiple artefacts in the necropolis.
Archaeologists also discovered axes, daggers, precious stone rings made of agate and pieces of pottery on the site.
In the research conducted in al-Natah and other sites, it was found that urbanisation was slow in the Arabian Peninsula.
"Settlements in northern Arabia were in a transitional stage of urbanisation during the third to second millennium [B.C.]," said the researchers, in the statement.
This phase was called "low urbanisation" because it described a transitional stage between pastoralism and complex urban settlements.
"While urbanisation began in Mesopotamia and Egypt in the 4th millennium B.C., our study tends to show that social complexity increased late in north-western Arabia," said Charloux.
A similar fortification from the same epoch was found by the archaeologists in the neighbouring Tayma Oasis in January.
Archaeologists have still not figured out why al-Natah was abandoned between 1500–1300 BCE. “It’s a pertinent question that we can’t answer at the moment,” said Charloux, adding that extensive work is still required in this area.