Who Created These Strange, Ancient Sculptures Hidden in the Saudi Desert?

There's a place in the desert where the ghosts of camels seem to loom out of ancient rocks. Their faint smiles, humped bodies and even their heads are so old and eroded that a visitor could be forgiven for thinking their eyes were playing tricks on them. But the camel reliefs, along with perhaps some horse-like creatures, are real, the faded remnants of at least two schools of ancient sculptors on the Arabian Peninsula.

The Camel Site, as researchers call it, is spread across the Sakaka basin in Saudi Arabia's Jawf province. Time, human interference and erosion have worn away all tool marks and other signs of the camel reliefs' creation, making their authors difficult to identify and their origin difficult to date, according to a paper published Feb. 9 in the journal Antiquity.

The researchers estimate the creatures were sculpted some time between 100 B.C. and A.D 100, based on the similarities in artistic style with cultures that flourished during that era. [In Photos: See Other Mysterious Stone Structures in Saudi Arabia].


Source: Yahoo News