Researchers have found a 4,000-year-old fortification defending an oasis in the North Arabian Desert, at the ancient Khaybar Oasis. It is officially one of the longest known structures – 14.5 kilometers (9 mi), dated to the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. What is left of the rampart’s remains have been dated to between 2250 and 1950 BC, at a time when sedentary populations inhabited the area and oases were common.
Archaeologists from the CNRS and the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) have stated that this discovery, alongside the Tayma Oasis, marks one of the two largest walled oases in Saudi Arabia. They have published these finds in a new study in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, which has shed new light into human habitation in north-western Arabia during the pre-Islamic era.
Utilizing a combination of field surveys, remote sensing data, and architectural studies, the research team approximated the original dimensions of the fortifications, revealing a structure stretching 14.5 kilometers (9 mi) in length, 1.70 to 2.40 meters (5.5-8.7 ft) in thickness, and standing at approximately 5 meters (16.5 ft) in height.
Hellbound and Down 