The mustatils: cult and monumentality in Neolithic north-western Arabia

North-western Arabia is marked by thousands of prehistoric stone structures. Of these, the monumental, rectilinear type known as mustatils has received only limited attention. Recent fieldwork in AlUla and Khaybar Counties, Saudi Arabia, demonstrates that these monuments are architecturally more complex than previously supposed, featuring chambers, entranceways orthostats. These structures can now be interpreted ritual installations dating back to late sixth millennium BC, with recent excavations revealing earliest evidence for a cattle cult Arabian Peninsula. As such, amongst globally one oldest monumental building traditions yet identified.