RIYADH: The Royal Commission for AlUla has launched a project to analyze and document more than 25,000 inscriptions discovered across various sites in the region, dating from the Iron Age to the late Islamic period.
The RCU wants to safeguard cultural heritage and advance research into the history of writing in northwestern Arabia, it announced in a press release recently.
The project aims to establish a comprehensive digital record of AlUla’s inscriptions through linguistic analysis and 3D scanning, while connecting each finding to its historical and cultural context.
The diversity of languages and scripts — 10 in total — underscores AlUla’s historic role as a crossroads of civilizations and a hub for cultural exchange.
Among the most prominent sites is Jabal Ikmah, home to Dadanitic and other ancient North Arabian texts, recognized by the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2023 for their documentary value.
