Kingdom of Kinda

The Kingdom of Kinda was an ancient Arabian entity built on a federal organisation of Arabian desert tribes, and the archaeological city of Qaryat al-Faw was its capital.[1]

The Cultural Landscape of the Al-Faw Archaeological Area, the site that preserved the remains of the Kindite capital, lies in the south of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the junction of the Empty Quarter desert with the sandstone outcrops of the Tuwaiq Mountains plateau and its escarpment.[1]

Administratively the site belongs to Riyadh Region – Wadi ad-Dawasir Governorate, and its centre lies at the coordinates 19°46'56.59" N and 45°8'52.50" E.[2]

The inscribed Cultural Landscape covers an area of 4,847 hectares, about 48.5 km², and holds more than 99% of the documented archaeological features.[2]

The city of Qaryat al-Faw appeared in the middle of the first millennium BCE and lasted about a millennium until its water resources were exhausted, and the site bears witness to the succession of three different peoples and their adaptation to changing environmental conditions over those centuries.[1]

Around the fifth century CE the site was suddenly abandoned, the period in which the Kingdom of Kinda came to an end as a civilisational centre at al-Faw.[1]

Qaryat al-Faw was an important caravan relay on the route extending from Najran to the centre and east of the Arabian Peninsula, a commercial role that linked the city to the network of ancient land routes.[1]

The site holds about 12,000 archaeological remains extending from prehistoric times to the late pre-Islamic era, and among its landmarks is the sacred mountain known as Khashm Qaryah, which bears rock inscriptions in a variety of languages.[1]

Archaeological missions from King Saud University carried out the documentation of the archaeological site.[4]

The Cultural Landscape of the Al-Faw Archaeological Area was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2024 CE on the basis of criteria (ii) and (v), by World Heritage Committee decision 46 COM 8B.14.[3]

The site is protected by the Law of Antiquities, Museums and Urban Heritage, was registered as a National Heritage Site in 2014 CE, and is wholly owned by the State.[1]

Responsibility for its management is shared between the Heritage Commission of the Ministry of Culture and the National Centre for Wildlife, and a circular buffer zone with a radius of twenty kilometres from the centre of the site has been defined around it to protect the quality of the visual setting.[1][4]

Q: What is the Kingdom of Kinda? A: An ancient Arabian entity built on a federal organisation of Arabian desert tribes, whose capital was the archaeological city of Qaryat al-Faw.[1]

Q: Where is Qaryat al-Faw, the capital of the Kingdom of Kinda, located? A: In the south of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the junction of the Empty Quarter desert with the sandstone outcrops of the Tuwaiq Mountains plateau and its escarpment, and administratively it belongs to Riyadh Region – Wadi ad-Dawasir Governorate.[1][2]

Q: When did the city of Qaryat al-Faw appear and when was it abandoned? A: It appeared in the middle of the first millennium BCE and lasted about a millennium until its water resources were exhausted, and the site was suddenly abandoned around the fifth century CE.[1]

Q: What is the area of the site and how many archaeological remains does it hold? A: Its area is 4,847 hectares, about 48.5 km², and it holds about 12,000 archaeological remains.[1][2]

Q: When was the site inscribed on the World Heritage List and on which criterion? A: In 2024 CE on the basis of criteria (ii) and (v), by World Heritage Committee decision 46 COM 8B.14.[3]