Discovery of what is believed to be the oldest Arabic script.

This rare discovery is extremely significant as it reflects the combination of two writing systems: that of the Nabateans and the Arabs. The Nabateans expanded trade routes, creating more than 2,000 trading posts that today make up Jordan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. The remarkable development of the Nabateans remains a mystery to researchers to this day.

This text is inscribed on a stone tablet estimated to date back to around 470 BC, roughly the period when the connection between Nabatean and Arabic scripts was lost.

To date, no Nabatean literary works have survived; however, images of Nabatean hieroglyphs and letters have been found in various Nabatean cities, including the Negev, Wadi Rumm, Petra, and Meda, providing evidence of widespread literature during the period when Nabatean culture flourished and expanded northward as far as the Dead Sea.

Archaeologists are continuing to unravel the historical mysteries surrounding the Nabateans, which remain a great enigma to this day. Their transition from a nomadic lifestyle to a settled one, and their construction of magnificent cities at an astonishing pace, has led scientists to question whether they were the true creators of these great cities and structures.

This project, funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the French Agency for International Development, connects a network of international archaeologists. The program has supported 148 projects in 60 different countries around the world.

The Thanh