Jubbah () or Jubbat Ha'il (, ''Jubbah of Ha'il'') is a city in Ha'il Region,

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, north-west of the city of Ha'il. The city lies on the old caravan road between

Najd Najd is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes most of the central region of Saudi Arabia. It is roughly bounded by the Hejaz region to the west, the Nafud desert in Al-Jawf Province, al-Jawf to the north, ...

and the eastern

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

. Although completely surrounded by the vast

Nefud Desert The Nafud desert or simply The Nafud () is a desert in the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula is , occupying a great oval depression. It is long and wide, with an area of . The Nafud is an erg, a desert region located in north-central Saudi ...

, Jubbah is known for its abundant agriculture and plentiful water and has a population of 5,622. Jubbah lies on an ancient lake bed (

paleolake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

) that measures at least 20 km by 4 km with its full extent concealed beneath wind-swept sand on its northern, southern and eastern boundaries. The exposed part of the paleolake lies downwind of the mountain of Jebel Umm Sanman to the west, which has diverted the westerly flow of sand around it, leaving a sand-free depression that filled with water during past humid periods. Several archaeological sites of human settlement from the

Middle Paleolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle P ...

period were found around the margin of the paleolake. Stone artifacts found at these sites are pertinent to ongoing debates about the timing, nature and routes of

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division ...

human migrations. JUBBAH 12

Jubbah is surrounded by large sandstone outcrops that are filled with ancient

petroglyphs A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

and inscriptions on the rock face. Especially at Jebel Umm Sanman, which is designated a

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

along with other locations of Rock Art in the Ha'il Region. Some of these rock carvings show men wearing headgear, birds, monkeys,

gazelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . There are also seven species included in two further genera; '' Eudorcas'' and '' Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third former subgenus, ' ...

s, and two animals pulling a wheeled cart. Jubbah, a large tent in the desert serves as guest house JUBBAH 08

Jubbah was visited by Finnish orientalist and explorer

Georg August Wallin Georg August Wallin (also Yrjö Aukusti Wallin, Abd al-Wali; 24 October 1811 – 23 October 1852)Shammar The tribe of Shammar () is a tribal Arab Qahtanite confederation, descended from the Tayy, which migrated into the northern Arabian Peninsula from Yemen in the second century. It is the largest branch of the Tayy, and one of the largest and mos ...

tribe. They looked pale and skinny, and lived a similar life to

Bedouins The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

, although they were settled in permanent houses. The town was frequented by many bedouins especially during the

date Date or dates may refer to: * Date, the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'') * Jujube, also known as red date or Chinese date, the fruit of ''Ziziphus jujuba'' Social activity *Dating, a form of courtship involving social activi ...

season (although Wallin thought their dates were not as good as those in Al Jawf and

Tayma Tayma (; Taymanitic: 𐪉𐪃𐪒, , vocalized as: ) or Tema is a large oasis with a long history of settlement, located in northwestern Saudi Arabia at the point where the trade route between Medina and Dumah (Sakakah) begins to cross the Na ...

), but also for its fertile grazing lands.

References

Populated places in Ha'il Province {{SaudiArabia-geo-stub