Abstract
The al-Ula Cultural Oasis Project (UCOP) led by Archaïos, funded and steered by the French Agency for AlUla Development (AFALULA) on behalf of the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU), is investigating since 2021 a hitherto unknown network of qanats surrounding the well-known city of Qurḥ, today known as al-Mābiyāt, in the al-ʿUlā valley (northwestern Saudi Arabia). Well documented in Islamic sources, Qurḥ was situated on the pilgrimages routes and described as a main power center in the region until the end of the 12th century AD.
As a first step, remote sensing and photo-interpretation were combined with a systematic pedestrian survey to identify the qanats. As a second step, chronological evidence was obtained through the study of the ceramic and glass assemblages collected during the survey. Our preliminary results suggest that these qanats supplied water to the hinterland of Qurḥ and were probably abandoned simultaneously with the city. They therefore form the largest network of qanats, and overall the most extensive waterscape, known from the Early and Middle Islamic periods (7th to 13th century AD) in the Arabian Peninsula.
The creation of the morphological map and the study of local hydrology, combined with the analysis of the spatial organization of these qanats, also suggest that they collected several underground water sources.
This ongoing study thus highlights the role played by water management in the urban development in the northern Hejaz during the Early and Middle Islamic periods.