Mustatil

Mustatils
	Map of Saudi Arabia showing the location of the mustatils
Location	northwest Saudi Arabia
Coordinates	25°52′54″N 39°23′38″E / 25.88167°N 39.39389°ECoordinates: 25°52′54″N 39°23′38″E / 25.88167°N 39.39389°E
Type	Monument
Length	20–600 metres (66–1,969 ft) long
Height	1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in) high
History
Material	sandstone
Founded	Neolithic

Mustatils are prehistoric monuments made of sandstone walls which are found in northwest Saudi Arabia. Over 1,000 of them, clustered in groups of two to 19, are spread out across a ritual landscape covering 200,000 square kilometres. They range from 20 to over 600 metres in length, with walls that are 1.2 metres high. Some of the sandstone blocks weigh more than 500 kilograms. Named after Mustatil (Arabic: مستطيل, lit. 'rectangle'), the mustatils have walls surrounding a long central courtyard with a rubble platform at one end and entrances at the other end, with some entrances closed off with stones.^[1]^[2]

The mustatils first came to the attention of researchers in the 1970s. Excavation of the platform of one mustatil revealed a chamber at the center containing pieces of cattle skulls, which are believed to be the first evidence of a cattle cult in the Arabian Peninsula. Radiocarbon dating of the skulls revealed that the mustatil, and maybe the others, was built between 5300 and 5000 BCE, during the Holocene Humid Phase, a time when the area was a grassland that went through frequent droughts. This would make the mustatils one of the oldest-known large-scale ritual landscapes in the world.^[1]^[3]^[4] The research was funded by the Royal Commission for Al-'Ula.^[4]

References[]

^ ^a ^b Sawal, Ibrahim (April 30, 2021). "Arabian cult may have built 1000 monuments older than Stonehenge". New Scientist. Retrieved May 2, 2021. If so, the monuments would together form the earliest large-scale, ritual landscape anywhere in the world, predating Stonehenge by more than 2500 years.
^ Thomas, Hugh; Kennedy, Melissa A.; Dalton, Matthew; McMahon, Jane; Boyer, David; Repper, Rebecca (2021). "The mustatils: cult and monumentality in Neolithic north-western Arabia". Antiquity. doi:10.15184/aqy.2021.51. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
^ Gershon, Livia (April 30, 2021). "Did a Neolithic Cattle Cult Build These Sprawling Structures in Saudi Arabia?". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved May 2, 2021. Thousands of monuments scattered across northwestern Saudi Arabia may represent the earliest known large-scale ritual sites in the world, predating Stonehenge by millennia.
^ ^a ^b Metcalfe, Tom (April 30, 2021). "These mysterious stone structures in Saudi Arabia are older than the pyramids". NBC News. Retrieved May 2, 2021. Thousands of monumental structures built from walls of rock in Saudi Arabia are older than Egypt's pyramids and the ancient stone circles of Britain, researchers say – making them perhaps the earliest ritual landscape ever identified.

[Arabian_cult_may_have_built_1000_monuments-1] Sawal, Ibrahim (April 30, 2021). "Arabian cult may have built 1000 monuments older than Stonehenge". New Scientist. Retrieved May 2, 2021. If so, the monuments would together form the earliest large-scale, ritual landscape anywhere in the world, predating Stonehenge by more than 2500 years.

[2] Thomas, Hugh; Kennedy, Melissa A.; Dalton, Matthew; McMahon, Jane; Boyer, David; Repper, Rebecca (2021). "The mustatils: cult and monumentality in Neolithic north-western Arabia". Antiquity. doi:10.15184/aqy.2021.51. Retrieved May 2, 2021.

[3] Gershon, Livia (April 30, 2021). "Did a Neolithic Cattle Cult Build These Sprawling Structures in Saudi Arabia?". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved May 2, 2021. Thousands of monuments scattered across northwestern Saudi Arabia may represent the earliest known large-scale ritual sites in the world, predating Stonehenge by millennia.

[These_mysterious_stone_structures_in_Saudi_Arabia_are_older_than_the_pyramids-4] Metcalfe, Tom (April 30, 2021). "These mysterious stone structures in Saudi Arabia are older than the pyramids". NBC News. Retrieved May 2, 2021. Thousands of monumental structures built from walls of rock in Saudi Arabia are older than Egypt's pyramids and the ancient stone circles of Britain, researchers say – making them perhaps the earliest ritual landscape ever identified.

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