Al Okhdud (Najran)

Al Okhdood is located in the province of Najran, and estimated to be between 950 km. to 1050 km. from Riyadh.  Visitors may opt to travel by plane since a number of local air service providers are offering daily flights to Najran. Traveling to Najran requires 7 to 8 hours drive passing thru the town of Dilam, Hawtat Bani Tamim, Layla, and Sulayyil, the same road leading to the Asir provinces of Abha and Khamis Mushayt thru Wadi Dawasir. To those who wishes to continue their trip to Khamis via Najran, another route can be enjoyed passing thru Dahran Janoub. Motorists should take extra care on this route but the the sights are very rewarding.

The road to Najran was already reconstructed and widened from Riyadh until Najran, with two separate roads for each directions. Motorists are cautioned to abide by the traffic rules as a number of monitoring devices and patrol cars are positioned along the highway. Al-Okhdood is the site of an ancient city in the southern part of Saudi Arabia, founded in the 6th or 7th century BC.

The farming community survived possibly until they were annihilated by their Jewish rulers. The buildings are in ruins but still carry inscriptions and pictures. Treasures with silver coins, porcelain pottery and obelisks have also been excavated from several locations in the place.

The campaign for a place on the UNESCO list was launched after a recent article in Al-Bilad Arabic daily stressing the historical and cultural significance of Al-Okhdood and shortly taken up by bloggers. They also appealed to the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Archeology to take necessary steps.

"It is my sincere wish to include this extraordinary historical location in the UNESCO World Heritage list," said Mani Dawus, who wrote “Maria," the first historical novel based on Al-Okhdood city.  Leading Saudi intellectuals who are part of the campaign include Turki Al-Hamad, Muhammad Al-Almaei, Saeed Al-Qahtani, Ebtisam Mutawakkil and Ali Sarar.

Ali Sarar, a historian, said Al-Okhdood was the town where Christians were tortured and burned to death about 1,500 years ago.

The charred bones and thick ashes are still found at some ruins that hint at the story of the horrible religious persecutions dating back to 525 AD.

"The Al-Okhdood sites would require at least 30 years of extensive excavations to unearth its buried secrets," director of archeology in the Najran province Saleh Aal Mereah said, adding that what already had been excavated was only a fragment.

A visitor to the site first sees an encircling wall made of clay and square stones and with guard posts at the top. Inside the wall, the ruins of a huge castle are found among cleared bushes of Arak and Samar trees.

Its walls carry inscriptions, names, and engravings of animals and humans. From the top of the castle the whole city and surrounding regions could be viewed.

The story of the people of Al-Okhdood is mentioned in the chapter “Buruj” of the Holy Qur’an, which refers to a Jewish Himyarite king burning alive thousands of his citizens for converting to Christianity.

 

From The Blog Author

It is advisable to visit first Najran museum located veside Okhdud site. Here, you will be able to read the history and glanced at old pictures about Okhdud and Najran which will make your visit more fruitful. It's an unforgettable experience, each steps of every stone staircases that your feet will step in was still untouched. It was as it is thousand of years ago except for the changes made by nature as time passes by.  You will be amazed how inscriptions and early writings made thousands of years ago are preserved from the  damage of civilization and modernization. It is now here, just in front of you, written a long long long time ago.

During my visit, we are not permitted to bring any bags or back packs. One of the locals later told me that it was believed that there are lots of treasures still not yet uncovered in the site. 

 

Images taken by the author :

 

Najran Museum 

 

 

Okhdud Site

 

                                                                       Site Entrance

                                               The first Stairs to the building

                                                            Writings  on the wall

                                                    Another set of writings on the wall

The stones which makes the wall are the original stones thousands of years ago..just touching this bricks is already a history for me.....

                                                                     From The Museum

                                  The same inscriptions taken by the author at Okhdud site

 

 

 

Here are the latest update and project done in Al Okhdud.

(Source : Saudi Tourism website) 

 

 

Project: Excavation Works on Al Okhdood Site

Area: Najran Province

Executing agency: Antiquities Sector

 

 

 

The team carried out tourism readiness work at Al Okhdood Castle and its surrounding western areas. Tasks included:

Pathway created for visitors at Fed Site Arak and Thamar trees are removed from the castle site. Eradicated the roots of these trees completely, and carried them to the waste dump outside the city of Najran.. Western entrance of the castle identified, its external and internal staircases cleaned and rebuilt, and castles’ outer facade identified and some disturbed stones were fixed. Cleaning and preparation of the main street leading from the west gate to the center of the castle. Drawings and carvings of some of the snakes and horses on the walls were cleared as well as cleaned up some sub-path ways. Opening of the main street needs minor attention. It is hoped that it would be possible to finish it in the next season. Thereafter tourists will be able to visit Al Okdood Castle as well as be aware of the most important evidences in the castle. Visitors will also be able to enter and exit through the eastern gate, besides site seeing the castle’s interior corridors and the mosque, which was detected in 1996. The team continued the excavations, which began since the past five seasons in the eastern side of the castle as a continuation of the earlier work. Along with the excavation work in the middle of the castle this began with the preparation of the main street and sub-entrances.

One of the excavation sits after completion

Major findings:

• Treasure: The first ever discovered treasure first in the Arabian Peninsula through the excavations. It goes back to the era before Islam. It is a pottery jar filled with silver coins. Clear from other sources that the trove belonged to the king Qatabani (Yadi Abenif), who ruled in the second half of the first AD, as it appears on the obverse side of the coin the name of the royal palace in Tamanou, and the symbol of a local deity (Ambe) and on the back of the coin the image of the king appears. On some coins, one side shows the code and the name of the royal palace Himiry (Raydan) Dhofar, and the name of the King (Ben Amdan). It is a clear sign of confrontation as there is the name of the other kings of Himiry on some other currencies.

Treasure: A pottery jor filled with coins found during excavation

• Writings on metal plates: These are writings using prominent letters and these are ascribed to the southern style. One of these plates is complete while the other one is incomplete. They both speak of religiious rites and devotional issues.

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A bronze place with engravings of religious practices

• Obelisks with engravings: The most significant ones are Obelisks, which were found near a building in the center of the castle. It believed to have been a temple in the vicinity because the obelisk's writings are speaking about religious rules.

Obelisk with writiings associated with religious practice

• Braziers: A set of braziers were found, most of them were sculpted of granite, on its both the faces of which are written names of types of incense.
• Pottery vessels: The found vessels are not different from the last seasons' discoveries, despite being few. They were covered with various repeating ubiquotiouis zigzag edges that featured the previous jar and pottery styles.
• Altars: Altars are found inside a medium-sized excavation. The altar heads bear animal figures, most prominent of which was of ox-head. Some remains of blood was found on some of these altars.

Ox head - found on the apex of an altar used for worships

• Artistic figures: Various art figures were found. All of them were rusty metal, although these were easy to be identified, such as camels, ox head in addition to human statues.

• Other various materials: These materials were different in terms of figures and substance, some of which were beautifully decorated items on granite plates, in addition to metal rings and ston and gypsum pieces bearing architectural decorations.