FWD: “The Mysteries of the Mustatils” - AramcoWorld

Library > Community Presentations

Presenter: Lenna Nashif

Delivered: NYC on October 15, 2023

Mustatils are among the oldest of the world’s known, large-scale stone structures. Built of local, undressed rocks, they typically consist of two platforms, each about 2 to 3 meters wide, set on each end of the rectangle. They are connected by thin, parallel walls that vary in length from tens to hundreds of meters.

Sources & Future References

• Monumental landscapes of the Holocene humid period in Northern Arabia: The mustatil phenomenon - Huw S Groucutt, Paul S Breeze, Maria Guagnin, Mathew Stewart, Nick Drake, Ceri Shipton, Badr Zahrani, Abdulaziz Al Omarfi, Abdullah M Alsharekh, Michael D Petraglia, 2020

• ‘Gates’: a new archaeological site type in Saudi Arabia - Kennedy - 2017 - Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy - Wiley Online Library

Note: All community presentations are prepared & presented by non-experts on the subject. They are sharing information in the hopes of spurring interest in that subject.

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About Afikra Community Presentations

Delivered and prepared by afikra Community members, the presentation’s goal is to showcase the presenter’s curiosity and research and share some knowledge on a ‎topic related to the Arab world’s histories and cultures. The presentation is the ‎culmination of the afikra coaching process to help identify a topic, find research, and develop the ‎presentation. afikra presentations come in two forms, a long question-driven afikra Feature, and a short afikra FWD with the purpose of sharing something interesting.