Qaryat al-Faw

Qaryat Dhat Kahl

Saudi Arabia · Riyadh

Ancient cityIntermittent excavationUNESCO · 2024
Approximate period2,500 BCE — 500 CEPrehistoric remains and a pre-Islamic caravan city See on the map ↓

In brief

Qaryat al-Faw is an oasis and caravan city that developed along Arabia's trade routes. The excavated settlement, cemeteries and water management remains are parts of the wider Al-Faw cultural landscape.

What was found?

  • 1Gilded bronze funerary bed

    It is a piece of furniture associated with burial, dated to the 3rd century BC. It documents the city's metalworking and funerary furnishings.

  • 2Limestone incense burner

    It is an object used to burn incense, dated to the 6th century BC. It is a tangible example of incense use in the region.

  • 3Paintings

    The paintings found in the city show traces of Greek and Hellenistic art. They are important visual documents for studying relationships with distant cultures.

  • 4Stone temple and altar fragments

    These remains identified during field surveys document areas set aside for worship. They help us understand the city's religious life through architecture.

  • 5Votive inscriptions

    These are inscriptions identified together with temple and altar remains. They provide direct written evidence of religious practices.

What does it point to?

Karyetü'l-Fav was an oasis city supported by agriculture and caravan trade together. Furniture, paintings, and finds associated with worship indicate that local life developed through cultural relationships with distant regions.

What did it teach us?

  1. It showed that agriculture was important alongside trade in a pre-Islamic oasis city.
  2. It documented connections with distant artistic traditions in paintings and objects.
  3. It revealed tangible traces of worship activities through temples, altars, and votive inscriptions.

Images

Fragment of a mural painting from Qaryat al-Faw with the Ancient South Arabian inscription
JRB2023 · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Lion door knockers - Qaryat al-Faw - 3rd Century BCE - 20180430
Nesnad · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Latest news / selected archive

In 2022, the Heritage Commission announced that stone temple remains, altar fragments and votive inscriptions had been identified during research at Al-Faw.

Record

Culture
Especially Kindah and the cultures of pre-Islamic Arabia
Team / historical
Saudi Heritage Commission
Coordinates
19.7649°, 45.1634°

Sources

  1. whc.unesco.org
  2. saudipedia.com

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12.000

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