Lost Cities of Arabia

[Towers]

hi i was wondering are there any ancient lost cities in saudi arabia, i know they found one near border of oman, are there any more

[Gilgamesh]

here: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=174573

[HiJazzey]

Lost city, near Oman? I doubt there was any civilisation in the Rub' al Khali!
You probably mean the lost city of Hajr ( هجر ) also known as Gerrha , which as the "lost city" description suggests, isn't found. It was the main city of the Dilmun civilisation and it is believed to be somewhere in the eastern province, most likely in Ahsa oasis. However no city with the right characteristics attributed to the city has been found.

[Saudi guy]

we have intristing one it calld Mdain Saleh(Saleh Cites)

[Skoulikimou]

Ubar the lost city of Arabia

The other Older half of Petra (Ancient Madain Saleh)

[jadeed]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Age_of_Caliphs.gif

[jameskk]

interesting thread, i love history of arabia, any news on Ubar?

[Yaghuth]

Originally Posted by HiJazzey

Lost city, near Oman? I doubt there was any civilisation in the Rub' al Khali!
You probably mean the lost city of Hajr ( هجر ) also known as Gerrha , which as the "lost city" description suggests, isn't found. It was the main city of the Dilmun civilisation and it is believed to be somewhere in the eastern province, most likely in Ahsa oasis. However no city with the right characteristics attributed to the city has been found.

in fact there was a civilisation in the Rub' al Khali! , not near Oman it was deep inside alrob3 al5aly ..
Qaryat al-Fāw

[Yaghuth]

LEUCE COME

The Nabataean Port City in Arabia
The Nabataeans maintained two ports that we know about. The first was Aila at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba. This port was used almost exclusively by Arab boats as the Gulf of Aqaba was known for its foul winds, making it a very difficult port for the square rigged European boats. (Casson, Periplus page 144) Arab dhows however, could sail much closer to the wind, and could better utilize Aila, providing it with goods from southern Arabia. It is interesting to note that the Romans ended their road at Aila, rather than continuing farther down the Arabian coast.

The Nabataeans also maintained a port on the Red Sea known as Leuce Come (meaning white village.) This harbor later served as a port of trade for European ships as well as the smaller Arab dhows that would come loaded with freight from Arabia. (Periplus 19) The Nabataeans/Romans maintained a customs office at Leuce Come as well as a centurion and a detachment of soldiers. The usual customs on luxury goods was 25%. This port may have been located at the modern village of Khuraybah. (See Where was Leuce Come?) From Leuce Come a caravan route wound it's way north to Petra. (Strabo 16.781)

To date, no one has established the exact location of Leuce Come. The Periplus describes briefly describes it, mentioning that there was a fort there where taxes were collected. It also mentions that small ships used this port. Perhaps this was due to coral reefs. Strabo mentions Leuce Come in his narration about the Roman attempt to take Arabia. He tells how the Romans had trouble navigating their ships through the coral reefs to land.. "After enduring great hardships and distress, he arrived on the fifteenth day at Leuce-Come, a large mart in the territory of the Nabataeans, with the loss of many of his vessels, some with all their crews, in consequence of the difficulty of the navigation, but by no opposition from an enemy. These misfortunes were occasioned by the perfidy of Syllaeus, who insisted that there was no road for an army by land to Leuce-Come, to which and from which place the camel traders travel with ease and in safety from Selah, and back to Selah, with so large a body of men and camels as to differ in no respect from an army." XVI.iv.24

The fort and taxation center at Leuce-Come demonstrates to us that foreign caravans would frequent the place, and that they would be taxed. Nabataean caravans and boats were part of internal trade, and may not have been taxed in the same way. Interestingly enough, to date this is the only reference we have of the Nabataeans taxing goods passing through their land.

http://nabataea.net/come.html

[Yaghuth]

Lost City of Gerrha

Lost City of Gerrha Still Attracts Searchers

The mystery beckons. Clues appear then contradict each other and often
themselves. Somewhere beneath the sands of Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province lie
the remains of the fabled city of Gerrha. For Rami Kamal, determining their
location has been both a dream and source of intellectual stimulation for
several years. As he explained to members at a recent meeting of the Arabian
Natural History Association, “The whereabouts of Gerrha is one of the most
important unanswered questions on the Arabian Peninsula.”


Gerrha (Al Jarha? in Arabic) was strategically situated on the trade routes
passing north from what is now Oman and through Yabrin. Well supplied with water
and food, the city became a natural magnet for caravans laden with frankincense
and myrrh form Oman, spices form India and silk from China. From Gerrha these
luxury goods of the ancient world would be transshipped by sea through the
Arabian Gulf or follow land routes to Mesopotamia and Asia Minor through modern
day Iraq or cross north through Al Jawf to Petra, Gaza and beyond.


By the late third century BC, Gerrha was the principal commercial center in
the Gulf. Its inhabitants grew fabulously wealthy from the duty (typically forty
percent) imposed on the goods passing through its streets. The desert and the
vast sand sea that surrounded it on all sides provided a natural barrier that no
conqueror could breach despite the temptation of the city’s vast wealth.


The Greek geographer Strabo called it the “white-walled city” and wrote that
“the people [of Gerrha] live in houses made of salt; and ? the people frequently
sprinkle the houses and thus keep the walls firm.” Classical writers Polybius
and Pliny the Elder also wrote of Gerrha’s affluence and her hegemony over the
region. But fame and fortune were fleeting. By the third century, commerce had
fallen as the Roman and Parthians warred and internal dissension wracked the
Empire. The Romans also re-routed all trade through Palmyra, severely
undermining a number of old trade centers, including Petra and Gerrha. In the
face of economic collapse, Gerrha was abandoned. Its location was forgotten. Its
name became the stuff of legend.


“The search for Gerrha is complicated,” said Kamal, “because none of the
classical authorities can agree on where it was.” Strabo, writing in 25 BC,
places it 50 miles from the sea. Pliny, a hundred years later, states that
Gerrha was 50 miles from Al Hasa and 50 miles from Bahrain. The British
historian Edward Gibbon, equates Gerrha with Qatif. Other candidates include
Gerrayah, Al Hasa and Qariyat Al-Fau.


Kamal has focused his attention and efforts in nondestructive exploring on an
area at the eastern end of Half Moon Bay. There he believes he has found the
remnant of an ancient breakwater in an area that may have served as Gerrha’s
port. Further inland, fellow explorer Robert Gex, introduced him to an area of
ancient ruins not far from the mouth of an old riverbed and past old salt
deposits. Kamal points out that the locales he is presently examining are ideal
for trade with a protected port, easy access to both the sea and land routes,
plentiful potable water and agriculture. The nearby salt deposits may have been
the quarry for the salt blocks used to build the city.


The question of whether or not Kamal’s site is Gerrha will require years of
archaeological investigation to answer. Still the challenge of Gerrha has taken
Kamal on a personal voyage of discovery and intellectual growth that is hard to
equal and easy to envy.


–David W. Tschanz

http://www.aramcoexpats.com/articles...cts-searchers/

[Yaghuth]

can we change the name of the thread to "ancient lost cities of Arabia"

[Yaghuth]

Dilmun


Dilmun or Telmun[1] (Arabic: دلمون) is a land mentioned by Mesopotamian civilizations as a trade partner, a source of the metal copper, and an entrepôt of the Mesopotamia-to-Indus Valley Civilization trade route. Although the exact location of Dilmun is unclear, it might be associated with the islands of Bahrain, the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and nearby Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf.[2] It is also noted that Gilgamesh had to pass through Mount Mashu to reach Dilmun in the Epic of Gilgamesh, which is usually identified with the whole of the parallel Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges, with the narrow gap between these mountains constituting the tunnel.[3]
History

Dilmun appears first in Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets dated to the late third millennium BC, found in the temple of goddess Inanna, in the city of Uruk. The adjective Dilmun is used to describe a type of axe and one specific official; in addition there are lists of rations of wool issued to people connected with Dilmun.[2]
One of the earliest inscriptions mentioning Dilmun is that of king Ur-Nanshe of Lagash (c. 2300 BC) found in a door-socket: "The ships of Dilmun brought him wood as tribute from foreign lands."[4]
Dilmun was mentioned in two letters dated to the reign of Burnaburiash (c. 1370 BC) recovered from Nippur, during the Kassite dynasty of Babylon. These letters were from a provincial official, Ilī-ippašra, in Dilmun to his friend Enlil-kidinni, the governor of Nippur. The names referred to are Akkadian. These letters and other documents, hint at an administrative relationship between Dilmun and Babylon at that time. Following the collapse of the Kassite dynasty, Mesopotamian documents make no mention of Dilmun with the exception of Assyrian inscriptions dated to 1250 BC which proclaimed the Assyrian king to be king of Dilmun and Meluhha, as well as Lower Sea and Upper Sea. Assyrian inscriptions recorded tribute from Dilmun. There are other Assyrian inscriptions during the first millennium BC indicating Assyrian sovereignty over Dilmun.[5] One of the early sites discovered in Bahrain suggests that Sennacherib, king of Assyria (707–681 BC), attacked northeast Arabia and captured the Bahrainian islands.[6] The most recent reference to Dilmun came during the Neo-Babylonian dynasty. Neo-Babylonian administrative records, dated 567 BC, stated that Dilmun was controlled by the king of Babylon. The name of Dilmun fell from use after the collapse of Babylon in 538 BC.[5]
There is both literary and archaeological evidence of trade between Ancient Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley civilization (probably correctly identified with the land called Meluhha in Akkadian). Impressions of clay seals from the Indus Valley city of Harappa were evidently used to seal bundles of merchandise, as clay seal impressions with cord or sack marks on the reverse side testify. A number of these Indus Valley seals have turned up at Ur and other Mesopotamian sites. The "Persian Gulf" types of circular, stamped (rather than rolled) seals known from Dilmun, that appear at Lothal in Gujarat, India, and Failaka, as well as in Mesopotamia, are convincing corroboration of the long-distance sea trade. What the commerce consisted of is less known: timber and precious woods, ivory, lapis lazuli, gold, and luxury goods such as carnelian and glazed stone beads, pearls from the Persian Gulf, shell and bone inlays, were among the goods sent to Mesopotamia in exchange for silver, tin, woolen textiles, olive oil and grains. Copper ingots from Oman and bitumen which occurred naturally in Mesopotamia may have been exchanged for cotton textiles and domestic fowl, major products of the Indus region that are not native to Mesopotamia. Instances of all of these trade goods have been found. The importance of this trade is shown by the fact that the weights and measures used at Dilmun were in fact identical to those used by the Indus, and were not those used in Southern Mesopotamia.
Mesopotamian trade documents, lists of goods, and official inscriptions mentioning Meluhha supplement Harappan seals and archaeological finds. Literary references to Meluhhan trade date from the Akkadian, the Third Dynasty of Ur, and Isin-Larsa Periods (c. 2350–1800 BC), but the trade probably started in the Early Dynastic Period (c. 2600 BC). Some Meluhhan vessels may have sailed directly to Mesopotamian ports, but by the Isin-Larsa Period, Dilmun monopolized the trade. The Bahrain National Museum assesses that its "Golden Age" lasted ca. 2200-1600 BC. Discoveries of ruins under the Persian Gulf maybe of Dilmun.[7]
[edit]
Dilmun and mythology

Dilmun, sometimes described as "the place where the sun rises" and "the Land of the Living", is the scene of some versions of the Sumerian creation myth, and the place where the deified Sumerian hero of the flood, Utnapishtim (Ziusudra), was taken by the gods to live forever. Thorkild Jacobsen's translation of the Eridu Genesis calls it "Mount Dilmun" which he locates as a "faraway, half-mythical place".[8]
Dilmun is also described in the epic story of Enki and Ninhursag as the site at which the Creation occurred. The promise of Enki to Ninhursag, the Earth Mother:
For Dilmun, the land of my lady's heart, I will create long waterways, rivers and canals, whereby water will flow to quench the thirst of all beings and bring abundance to all that lives.[9]
Ninlil, the Sumerian goddess of air and south wind had her home in Dilmun. It is also featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
However, in the early epic "Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta", the main events, which center on Enmerkar's construction of the ziggurats in Uruk and Eridu, are described as taking place in a world "before Dilmun had yet been settled"

Locating Dilmun

As of 2008, archaeologists have failed to find a site in existence during the time from 3300 BC (Uruk IV) to 556 BC (Neo-Babylonian Era), when Dilmun (Telmun) appears in texts. Despite the scholarly consensus that ancient Dilmun encompasses three modern locations: (1) the eastern littoral of Arabia from the vicinity of modern Kuwait to Bahrain; (2) the island of Bahrain; (3) the island of Failaka east of Kuwait, few have taken into account the radically different geography of the basin represented by the Persian Gulf before its reflooding as sea levels rose about 6000 BCE;[10] the earliest known site is Qal'at al-Bahrain which is dated no earlier than c. 2200 BC according to Flemming Hojlund. Failaka was settled after 2000 BC following a drop in sea level.[11] No settlements exist in the Arabian littoral 3300-2000 BC according to Hojlund. Thus, despite Dilmun's appearance in ancient texts dating from 3300-2300 BC archaeologists have failed to find a site for Dilmun dating to this period. Hymns regarding the Sumerian god Enki of Eridu in Sumer speak of his assaulting and deflowering Dilmun's maidens as they stand by a river bank, he reaching out of nearby marsh to clasp them to his bosom. Of Bahrain, Failaka, and the eastern littoral of Arabia, none possess marshes and a riverbank. Dilmun, furthermore, is said to lie "in the east where the sun rises," a situation that does not apply to the eastern Arabian littoral, Failaka or Bahrain, all of which lie south of Sumer and Eridu.
Theresa Howard-Carter (1987) realizing that these three locations possess no archaeological evidence of a settlement dating 3300-2300 BC, has proposed that Dilmun of this era might be a still unidentified tell near the Shatt al-Arab between modern-day Qurnah and Basra in modern day Iraq.[12] In favor of Howard-Carter's proposal, she noted that this area does lie to the east of Sumer ("where the sun rises"), and the riverbank where Dilmun's maidens would have been accosted aligns with the Shat al-Arab which is in the midst of marshes. The "mouth of the rivers" where Dilmun was said to lie is for her the union of the Tigris and Euphrates at Qurnah

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilmun

[Pakdubai]

There was some city or civilization discovered in the waters of the gulf last year, I think it was very very old

[Yaghuth]

Lost civilization may have been beneath Persian Gulf
Area may have been home to some of the earliest humans outside Africa

Veiled beneath the Persian Gulf, a once-fertile landmass may have supported some of the earliest humans outside Africa some 75,000 to 100,000 years ago, a new review of research suggests.
At its peak, the floodplain now below the Gulf would have been about the size of Great Britain, and then shrank as water began to flood the area. Then, about 8,000 years ago, the land would have been swallowed up by the Indian Ocean, the review scientist said.
The study, which is detailed in the December issue of the journal Current Anthropology, has broad implications for aspects of human history. For instance, scientists have debated over when early modern humans exited Africa, with dates as early as 125,000 years ago and as recent as 60,000 years ago (the more recent date is the currently accepted paradigm), according to study researcher Jeffrey Rose, an archaeologist at the University of Birmingham in the U.K.
"I think Jeff's theory is bold and imaginative, and hopefully will shake things up," Robert Carter of Oxford Brookes University in the U.K. told LiveScience. "It would completely rewrite our understanding of the out-of-Africa migration. It is far from proven, but Jeff and others will be developing research programs to test the theory."
Viktor Cerny of the Archaeogenetics Laboratory, the Institute of Archaeology, in Prague, called Rose's finding an "excellent theory," in an e-mail to LiveScience, though he also points out the need for more research to confirm it.
The findings have sparked discussion among researchers, including Carter and Cerny, who were allowed to provide comments within the research paper, about who exactly the humans were who occupied the Gulf basin.

More here

[Yaghuth]

Can we please change the name of this thread to "lost cities of Arabia" since those cities could be anywhere in Arabia and maybe beyond

[Yaghuth]

Majan (civilization)

Majan (also Makkan[1]) was an ancient region which was referred to in Sumerian cuneiform texts of around 2300 BC as a source of copper and diorite for Mesopotamia.
The location of Magan is not known with certainty, but most of the archeological and geological evidence suggests that Magan was part of what is now Oman.[2] However, some archaeologists place it in the region of Yemen known as Ma'in,[3] in the south of Upper Egypt, in Nubia or the Sudan, and others as part of today's Iran or Pakistan.[4] Ranajit Pal holds that Oman and part of Iran was Magan. In his view king Manium of Magan who, according to Poebel, was also known as Mannu, was the famed Manu, the first sacrificer in the Indian sacred text Rigveda. The name Oman may, in fact, be a memory of Ooumi Manu, one of the several Manus. Pal also states that Magan is the ancient Magadha of the Indian texts.[5] The Indian texts name the Sishunaga and Kakavarna kings of Magadha who have no trace in the Patna area but in the Magan area Elamite kings named In-Susinak and Kak-siwe-Tempti etc. are known.
With the disappearance of trade from the Indus region, the copper from Magan was later replaced by copper imports from ancient Cyprus.
Trade was common between Magan and Ur before the reigns of the Gutian kings over Ur. After they were deposed, Urnammu of Ur restored the roads and trade resumed between the two nations (c. 2100 BC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majan_(civilization)




Digging in the Land of Magan