Scientists discover ancient life-size animal rock art in Saudi Arabia

Researchers have uncovered life-size rock carvings of camels, gazelles and other animals in the Saudi Arabian desert, dating back nearly 12,000 years.

The monumental engravings, some standing over six feet (1.8 meters) tall, were crafted using wedge-shaped stones to produce sharp and detailed lines. Remarkably, several were etched onto narrow ledges, making it impossible for the artists to step back and view their work in progress.

"To engrave that much detail with just a rock takes real skill," said Maria Guagnin, archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Germany, who was part of the research team.

The discovery suggests people inhabited the area about 2,000 years earlier than previously believed. How they survived in the arid environment remains uncertain — whether by relying on seasonal shallow lakes or water trapped in deep rock crevices.

Guagnin noted that while Saudi Arabia has a long tradition of rock art, dating such ancient engravings is difficult since they lack writing and associated materials like charcoal that can be analyzed in laboratories.

Michael Harrower, an archaeologist at Johns Hopkins University not involved in the study, observed: "We know relatively little about art in the Middle East during this very ancient period of the human past."

The breakthrough came when scientists discovered a rock pick directly beneath the carvings, allowing them to date both the tool and the artwork. Their findings were published Tuesday in Nature Communications.

One carving depicted an auroch — a large wild ancestor of cattle that never inhabited the desert and is now extinct. This raised questions about whether the artists may have traveled to greener regions during dry seasons.

"They must have been fully established communities that knew the landscape really well," Guagnin said.