Ḥarrat Khaybar ( ar, حَرَّة خَيْبَر) is a
volcanic field
A volcanic field is an area of Earth's crust that is prone to localized volcanic activity. The type and number of volcanoes required to be called a "field" is not well-defined. Volcanic fields usually consist of clusters of up to 100 volcanoes ...
located north of
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...
in the
Hejaz,
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. It covers an area approximately . The most recent eruption occurred between 600 and 700 AD. Man-made stone structures dating to the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
period have been studied in Harrat Khaybar.
Geography
The basaltic lava fields of Harrat Khaybar were formed by a series of eruptions over the course of 5 million years. These eruptions took place along a series of
volcanic vent
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...
s stretching over a 100-kilometer (62 mile) north-south linear vent system. The fields cover an area of approximately 12,000 km
2. The most recent volcanic eruption took place between 600 and 700 AD.
The White Mountains of Harrat Khaybar, Jabal Abyad and Jabal Bayda, derive their light appearance from
comendite
Comendite is a hard, peralkaline igneous rock, a type of light blue grey rhyolite. Phenocrysts are sodic sanidine with minor albite and bipyramidal quartz. Iddings, Joseph Paxson, 1913, ''Igneous rocks: composition, texture and classification'', ...
.
Jabal Abyad, at an elevation of 2,093 metres (6,867 ft), is the tallest volcano in Saudi Arabia. These mountains contrast with the darker appearance of the
hawaiite
Hawaiite is an olivine basalt with a composition between alkali basalt and mugearite. It was first used as a name for some lavas found on the island of Hawaii.
It occurs during the later stages of volcanic activity on oceanic islands such as Ha ...
lava flows and domes which dominate the lava fields, such as Jabal Qidr.
IUGS geological heritage site
In respect of it being 'the largest historic basaltic volcanic cone in intracontinental settings within a Pleistocene rhyolitic tuff ring and lava dome field', the
International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) included 'The historic scoria cone of the Jabal Qidr' in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022. The organisation defines an IUGS Geological Heritage Site as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history.'
Human activity
Evidence of early human habitation has been found in the lava fields of Harrat Khaybar. The remains of Neolithic human communities have been studied there, including habitations, fences, and funerary structures built out of volcanic stones. The structures are believed to have been constructed by pastoral tribes who lived in the area.
Similar Neolithic structures have been studied throughout Arabia,
Syria, and
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
, and are collectively referred to as "The Works of the Old Men".
These structures were first observed by
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
pilots in the 1920s, although they did not gain much academic or media attention at the time.
Sandstone
mustatils associated with early
cattle cults have also been studied in Harrat Khaybar. Because the uneven lava plains are poorly suited to the construction of mustatils, many were built resting against volcanic vents.
Pendant shaped tower tombs or
cairns in Harrat Khaybar have been dated back to the third millennium BCE.
Similar funerary structures dating to the Middle
Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...
are found within a range spanning across northwestern Arabia, although a particularly high density have been found in Harrat Khaybar.
These groupings of structures are associated with the oases along the fringes of Harrat Khaybar. Keyhole and trumpet tombs, tomb structures not found elsewhere, have also been discovered in Harrat Khaybar.
Researchers have studied hundreds of large stone structures nicknamed "
desert kite
Desert kites () are dry stone wall structures found in Southwest Asia (Middle East, but also North Africa, Central Asia and Arabia), which were first discovered from the air during the 1920s. There are over 6,000 known desert kites with sizes ran ...
s" and "gates", but their exact purpose and function is still unknown.
The gates of Harrat Khaybar are so named because they resemble horizontally laid barred gates. This type of structure is rarely attested to outside of Harrat Khaybar.
The largest of the gates measure over 304 metres (1,000 ft) in length and 75 metres (250 ft) in width.
It has been theorized that desert kites may have been used to trap and hunt wild animals. In particular, it has been theorized that they were used to corral herds of
gazelle
A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, '' Eudorcas'' and '' Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third ...
s.
The kites found in Harrat Khaybar are similar to other stone structures found in neighboring Syria and Jordan. However, many of the kites of Harrat Khaybar are built in a different shape than those found elsewhere.
In 2004, neurologist Abdullah al-Saeed first began studying the structures in the lava fields and found them to be unimpressive, but reassessed their importance after reexamination of the area by the use of
Google Earth. According to al-Saeed, he and his team did not observe the pattern and importance of the structures until observing them from an aerial viewpoint.
Al-Saeed and his team later collaborated with British archaeologist
David L. Kennedy, who had used aerial archaeology to study similar structures in Jordan, but had not been allowed to cross the border into Saudi Arabia. According to Kennedy, the structures in the Harrat Khaybar were created between 2,000 and 9,000 years earlier than those in Jordan.
As of 2017, the team of researchers had reportedly discovered more than 900 kites in Harrat Khaybar.
Umm Jirsan lava tube
Within the lava field is the Umm Jirsan
lava tube, with a length of in three sections including two pieces of collapsed roof. It is Saudi Arabia's longest lava tube system.
[Umm Jirsan: Arabia's Longest Lava Tube System](_blank)
John Pint, Saudi Geological Syrvey, January 2021, accessed 2021-08-29 In August 2021, the analysis of many thousands of animal and human bones from the cave system revealed that striped hyenas (''
Hyaena hyaena'') had used this as a den for around 7,000 years.
[Taphonomy of an excavated striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) den in Arabia: implications for paleoecology and prehistory](_blank)
Stewart, M., Andrieux, E., Clark-Wilson, R. et al. Taphonomy of an excavated striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) den in Arabia: implications for paleoecology and prehistory. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 13, 139 (2021)
/ref>
See also
* List of volcanoes in Saudi Arabia
This is a partial list of active and extinct volcanoes in Saudi Arabia.
References
{{Asia topic, state=uncollapsed, List of volcanoes in
Saudi Arabia
Volcanoes
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, ...
* Khaybar
KhaybarOther standardized Arabic transliterations: / . Anglicized pronunciation: , . ( ar, خَيْبَر, ) is an oasis situated some north of the city of Medina in the Medina Province of Saudi Arabia. Prior to the rise of Islam in the 7th ...
* Sarat Mountains
** Hijaz Mountains
The Hijaz Mountains ( ar, جِبَال ٱلْحِجَاز, Jibāl al-Ḥijāz ()) or "Hejaz Range" is a mountain range located in the Hejazi region of western Saudi Arabia. The range runs north and south along the eastern coast of the Red Sea, ...
Sources
*
*
{{Mountains in the Arabian Peninsula
Volcanic fields
Al Harrah
Holocene volcanoes
Lava tubes
First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites