AlUla has an extraordinarily rich and varied cultural heritage landscape that both surprises and intrigues the visitor in equal measure. The ambitious archaeological research programme currently consisting of twelve survey, excavation and scientific projects with over 200 archaeologists and specialists working across the landscape are deepened our understanding of the past environment, land use and human occupation of the region.

The exhibition curated specifically for the AlUla World Archaeology Symposium 2024 shows that for millennia peoples have crossed through the region. Whether following herds, driving camel caravans laden with incense, or as devotes following the Hajj, people have paused here, leaving an enduring legacy. This legacy ranges widely from monumental architecture of the prehistoric periods, rock art and inscriptions to the intangible relics discernible in the influences on art, culture, tradition and belief.

For hundreds of thousands of years peoples moved through the AlUla landscape as itinerant hunter gatherers. Archaeological evidence of these early travellers is sparce, mostly consisting of worked stone tools such as handaxes. But evidence becomes less ephemeral in later prehistory with the appearance of megalithic monuments such as animal traps and enigmatic ritual structures called mustatils that signal a change in relationship with the land. With the emergence of animal domestication and later agriculture the social and economic modality changes dramatically with increased sedentism evidenced by evolution of domestic and urban architecture during the Neolithic and Bronze ages. From that point the relationship between those who settled and those who continued to move becomes more dynamic and in many ways, difficult to decern in the archaeological record. But what is emerging now from archaeological research is a picture of increasingly complex patterns of landscape utilization and interactions between settlements/oases and communities who continued to maintain a mobile, pastoralist lifeway.

Urban centres developed and flourish during the late Bronze and Iron ages following the domestication of the camel that enabled and expanded overland trade that, in turn, elevated the importance of oases that sustained the caravans that carried incense and other high value goods from southern Arabia to Egypt, Levant and the Mediterranean. Strategically positioned along this ‘Incense Road’, Dadan emerged as one of the most prominent urban centres in Arabia during the 1st millennium BCE. Recent archaeological evidence reveals a sophisticated city of complex architectural, social and religious structures, as well as clear influences of art, architecture and belief from the interactions with the trading markets of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Mediterranean. These influences can be seen most clearly in stylistic elements of statuary from Dadan and the associated mountain sanctuary of Umm Daraj.

In the 1st century BCE, trade and cultural exchange in the AlUla valley continued and strengthened with the establishment of the Nabataean city of Hegra. Second only to the mighty trade city of Petra, Hegra controlled the Incense Road and the southern border of the Kingdom. Exotic artefacts discovered during excavations at Hegra including wild silk fabric, ceramics, and coins evidence the interconnected and cosmopolitan nature of the city at that time.

Following the Roman annexation of the Nabataean Kingdom in 106 CE, Hegra became one of the empire’s most remote outposts, further emphasising the economic significance of the area in interregional trade.

The emergence of Islam in the 7th century CE, and the devotional pilgrimage to the Holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, travel through AlUla and wider region intensified considerably. While overland trade dwindled in favour of ships and the Red Sea trade routes, peoples travelled in increasing numbers along the old Incense Road. The communities of AlUla and the other oases pivoted to sustain the caravans of pilgrims that arrived hungry and thirsty in increasing numbers.

Hegra and Dadan were mostly abandoned and the main settlement moved southwards, to Qurh, which became an integral stop on the great Syrian pilgrimage route, described as one of the greatest cities of western Arabia behind Medinah and Makkah. The wonders of this huge city are only just being discovered as its grand houses and well-ordered streets emerge from beneath the sands of the vast Qurh Plain. Greek amphora and Chinese pottery evidence its global connections, and the beautifully decorated Islamic ceramics and decorated courtyard houses show a confident and sophisticated society. But by the 13th century Qurh was deserted and AlUla 'Old Town', located in the centre of the valley near Dadan, became the main settlement and remained so until the 1980s.

In the early 20th Century, modern mobility arrived in the form of a railway that was constructed between Damascus and Medina that carried pilgrims, cutting the Haj journey from over forty days to just four.

Now tourists, drawn to the many cultural and natural wonders of AlUla, are the latest travellers, continuing a 200,000 year tradition.