THE Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) started the development and renovation of the Al-Mabiyat archeological site as part of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' program to take care of the cultural heritage of Saudi Arabia and renovate archeological sites listed in the national transformation program.
The first phase of the program started in the beginning of 2017 with the renovation of 42 sites.
The Al-Mabiyat archeological site is one of the most important early Islamic sites in the northern part of Saudi Arabia and is south of Al-Ula city. It dates back to the Umayyad and Abbasid periods when it was known as Qarah.
The site gained historical importance because Qarah flourished during the pre-Islamic period and became a famous commercial market. It achieved a high degree of growth and prosperity in the Islamic era.
Al-Maqdisi described it as the second city in Hijaz after Makkah in the fourth century, and Al-Istakhri described it as the fourth city after Makkah, Madinah and Yamamah.
The city was a main station on the Haj route. It was renowned for being unique, as it combined different cultures, most importantly Egyptian, Iraqi and Syrian.
This gave it a special cultural character. Its birth pre-dates Islam but it prospered and flourished between 800 and 1100 AD (2nd and 5th centuries Hijri). It declined toward the end of the Abbasid caliphate, after the inhabitants of Syria stopped embarking on Haj pilgrimage because of the Crusades.
The excavations carried out by the Antiquities and Museums Agency in 1984 indicated that Qarah was a large Islamic city rich in archeological and cultural components. The findings revealed that its streets were narrow with shops, houses decorated with facades and other frescoes similar to the famous Samarra.
The excavation tasks were then assigned to King Saud University. In the first season of 2004, the archeological site, which consists of a group of scattered hills of varying heights that spread over an area of land surrounded by ancient walls that determine the area's size.
Source: http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/517309/SAUDI-ARABIA/Al-Mabiyat
