Firman
José Javier Carreño Soler (autor de contenidos)
Alexander Kabelindde (autor de contenidos)
José María Moreno Narganes (autor de contenidos)
Hesham Nasr (autor de contenidos)
Agustín Sánchez García (autor de contenidos)
Yolanda Ferro Vázquez (autora de contenidos)
Mikel Herrán Subiñas (autor de contenidos)
Resumen
This paper presents the methodology and first results of the archaeological survey conducted over 3,000 km² in the desert south of AlUla (Medina Province, Saudi Arabia), initiated in 2025. AlUla is a historic oasis inhabited since the Bronze Age and an obligatory stop for the caravans that crossed the Arabian Peninsula along the incense route. The survey forms one branch of the AlUla Pilgrimage Routes project, carried out by INCIPIT-CSIC with funding from the Royal Commission for AlUla. The project’s main goal is the archaeological study of the pilgrimage route to Mecca—the Hajj—from its origins up to the early 20th century, when the Ottoman Empire built the Hejaz Railway between Damascus and Medina. The aim of the survey is to conduct a diachronic study of the landscape and its human occupation, as well as the transit routes that predate and postdate the establishment of the Hajj route. To achieve this, a multiscale methodology is applied, ranging from satellite imagery and historical photography to surface survey. The initial results have provided valuable methodological and theoretical insights for the ongoing debate on the usefulness of surface survey—its drawbacks and advantages—in a context of increasingly widespread access to new remote sensing technologies.
Palabras clave
Prospección arqueológica. Teledetección. Arqueología del Paisaje. Arabia Saudí.