National Geographic
A man climbs a towering date palm tree, his feet nimbly navigating the trunk, also known as a stem, like a ladder until he reaches the canopy. Amid the palm leaves, he pulls a long, curved blade to expertly cut away a cluster of dates that he lowers to the ground. It’s a scene almost unchanged for millennia in the oasis of AlUla, northwest Saudi Arabia. The region is renowned for its dates, which have been essential to oasis life for almost as long as humans have lived here. The oasis of AlUla was always more than a vital watering hole for travelers: It was a community and kingdom built on farming the desert.
In the oasis of AlUla, dates have been harvested in the same way for thousands of years. The date palm tree remains one of the region’s most important cultivated crops.
Photograph by Matthieu Paley
AlUla’s oasis was formed by a wadi, a desert ravine that brings water from faraway rains into the valley. Archaeological evidence shows that its soil was originally more fertile than it is today, filled with minerals washed from neighboring basalt plains in wetter times. Migrating birds, drawn to the water, deposited seeds from distant plants and the oasis sprung to life. We’re unsure what the earliest humans would have found, but edible plants likely thrived beneath the sprawling canopies of acacia trees. These plants would have attracted animals, including gazelle, that enabled AlUla’s first inhabitants to maintain the hunter-gather lifestyle depicted in their enigmatic rock art.
Around 5,000 years ago, the first signs of potential crops appear in the form of cereal grains. The challenge for archaeobotanists, who specialize in studying archaeological plant remains, is the scarcity of material to work with. Most plants decompose and disappear without leaving a trace. But sometimes grains, seeds, and wood survive, especially when carbonized by fire. So, where early humans settled and cooked and discarded rubbish, we find clues to what they were growing―and eating.
Date stones and fragments of date palm trees appear in AlUla around 3,000 years ago. We don’t know if these trees were domesticated locally or introduced, but their appearance coincides with evidence of building in AlUla, perhaps marking the start of the oasis’ development. The presence of date palms is significant because these tall trees are an essential enabler for desert agriculture. As well as providing food, they offer shade against a burning sun and help reduce evaporation to preserve precious water. In the wild, this allows more delicate plants to thrive beneath their canopies, and AlUla’s inhabitants learned from nature. They developed a three-layer farming system: The tall date palms sheltered shorter trees, and below these trees grew even smaller shrubs and plants. The crops grown at these lower heights changed over time, but a top layer of date palms remains a constant to this day.
Whether domesticated locally or introduced from elsewhere, the appearance of date palm trees around 3,000 years ago coincides with the development of the oasis in AlUla.
Photograph by Matthieu Paley
Piecing together what was grown at the oasis becomes easier with the emergence of the Dadanite and Lihyanite kingdoms after 800 BCE. Centered on the city of Dadan, these kingdoms hosted substantial populations that must have been supported by agriculture. Inscriptions in the rocks offer prayers for good rains and harvests, and include references to the seasons, water, produce, and the lease of parcels of land, probably to farmers.
Dadan’s archaeobotanical record suggests that date palms were widespread at this time, and there were grapevines, pomegranate, and fig trees. Also found here were annuals, including lentils and cereals identified as barley and wheat—though a variety closer to durum wheat used for pasta.
Sometime after 500 BCE, the town of Hegra began to emerge. The same plants discovered at Dadan were here as well, but with the addition of olive trees. At this time, the people were probably using wild plants more than cultivated crops for their fuel needs. After the Nabataeans arrived and made Hegra their regional capital, the townspeople became more reliant on agriculture. Fruit trees were more numerous in Hegra, suggesting they were being actively cultivated. This change was supported by developments in irrigation: 130 wells were dug at Hegra, and huge cisterns stored water for use throughout the year.
Beneath the shading canopy of towering date palms, farmers over millennia have cultivated citrus, mangoes, pomegranate, and other fruit along with cereals, vegetables, herbs, and even cotton.
Photograph by Krystle Wright
By the end of the first century BCE another crop appears in Hegra—cotton. Geochemical analyses of cotton seeds and textiles found there confirm that cotton plants were cultivated and processed locally. Modern cotton is a thirsty crop, making it an unusual find for the deserts of Arabia: But
modern cotton comes from the U.S., whereas the cotton found in Hegra
originated in either Africa or India, and probably arrived along trade routes. A small tree rather than shrub, this cotton was suited to drier conditions and seems to have grown well, its abundance suggesting economic importance until Hegra was abandoned around 500 BCE.
The cultivation of cotton continued at Dadan when it was reoccupied from around the fifth century and into the Islamic period. Again, we find date palms, fruit trees, and cereals demonstrating a logical continuity: AlUla’s inhabitants knew what grew well and cultivated plants that met their needs. To these, they added useful new species revealed by tantalizing charcoal fragments belonging to an apple, pear, or quince tree, as well as further remains that are either apricot or peach. That we don’t know which species is indicative of the challenge facing archaeobotanists: Many of AlUla’s cultivated crops have left little or no evidence.
During the Islamic period, from the seventh century onward, irrigation leaped forward with the construction of qanats, gravity-fed underground channels bringing water from the mountains to the valley, where it was channeled to water large areas of farmland. In the 12th century, a visiting Islamic pilgrim was moved to describe the region as “a valley with lush vegetation” where “freshwater springs irrigate the crops.”
Water brings life to the oasis and the oasis brings life to the desert. Across millennia, the cultivation of crops has enabled communities and even kingdoms to emerge and thrive in AlUla.
Photograph by Matthieu Paley
Today, 80 percent of AlUla’s inhabitants work in agriculture. The oasis is swathed in the verdant green of two million date palm trees producing over 90,000 tons of dates annually. The palms provide shade for thousands of citrus trees laden with fruits ranging from the sweet Jaffa orange to the Bin Zihr lemon used in kabsa, the national dish of Saudi Arabia. Also among these are the wispy-branched Moringa peregrina trees, a native species long cultivated for the luxurious oil extracted from its seeds. But still, towering above everything, remains the date palm tree—the key to farming the desert for thousands of years.
Journey through time to discover the rich history of AlUla here.
