Just recently, the Heritage Commission discovered one of the oldest Arabic engravings in Saudi Arabia named the Al Haqqan inscription. According to the most recent records, the engraving is considered to be the sixth earliest and was found at Al Haqqan mountain in the Hima cultural area of the Najran location.
This is thought about a significant discovery as those particular Arabic engravings were first documented method back in 380 advertisement by Ka’b bin Amr bin Abd Manat, an Arabian merchant. Back then Abd Manat made sure to tape-record and seal the Arabic engraving with the date of its implementation.
Beyond the Al Haqqan engraving, throughout the Kingdom, numerous other pre-Islamic engravings preceding that of Al Haqqan were also discovered including three in AlUla, one in Najran and a couple of others at Jouf and Tabuk. All these discoveries are part of the Heritage Commission’s efforts to discover the heritage and history of the areas of Saudi Arabia.
Together with these websites, the Hima cultural location, the site at which the current discovery was made, is house to a treasure trove of rock art and thousands of engravings and it was even registered as a UNESCO World Heritage List. Today, it stands tall as one of the most essential historical sites in the Najran area.