Saudi Arabia is becoming a go-to destination for history buffs.
On Saturday, Unesco announced the kingdom's Hima Cultural Area has been added to its list of World Heritage Sites.
The news means Saudi Arabia is now home to six locations on the prestigious list, which also features international landmarks such as India's Taj Mahal, the UK's Tower of London and Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
These sites, with history stretching back to the first century BC, underscore Saudi Arabia’s importance in the region’s ancient and modern history.
Here we take a more in-depth look at each of these locations:
1. Hima Cultural Area: listed in 2021
Located between Najran and Wadi Addawasir in the country's south-west, Hima is home to one of the largest rock art complexes in the world, with more than 34 sites featuring inscriptions.
Situated along the route taken by ancient Arabian caravans, these images derive from various scripts, including Musnad, Aramaic-Nabataean, South-Arabian, Thamudic, Greek and Arabic.
The works portray everyday life of 7,000-year-old communities, with images depicting hunting, fauna and flora.
2. Al Ahsa Oasis: listed in 2018
A visual feast, this vibrant site in the eastern Arabian Peninsula is not only the largest oasis in the world but is a microcosm of Saudi Arabia's archaeological and ecological features.
In addition to its undulating sands and popular tourist site, Al Qarah Mountain, Al Ahsa Oasis has 2.5 million date palms as well as a network of springs, wells and canals.
3. Rock art in Al Hail region: listed in 2015
The kingdom’s northwestern Al Hail Region is home to several rock art sites. Two of which, located in Jabal Umm Sinman, and the Jabal Al-Manjor and Raat at Shuwaymis, have images engraved within the rock face.
According to Unesco, the inscriptions – detailing the lives of ancestors of today's Arab population – were made from items such as stone hammers and span 10,000 years of history.
4. Historic Jeddah: listed in 2014
There is Jeddah and Al Balad. The latter description, meaning "the town", is what people from Jeddah (or "Jeddawis") use to refer to the Unesco heritage-listed Historic Jeddah, the Gate to Makkah.
Established in seventh century AD and located on the eastern shore of the Red Sea, Historic Jeddah began as both a hub for traders and pilgrims.
It was initially a thriving port and major stopover as part of the Indian Ocean trade routes, while worshippers sea-fared their way to the city on their journey to Makkah, to observe the Hajj pilgrimage.
That history is reflected today with greater Jeddah being one of the kingdom's most multicultural cities.
Historic Jeddah remains a busy marketplace and bustling tourist location.
5. Al Turaif: listed in 2010
This is a site dear to the hearts of Saudi Arabia's people and archaeology buffs.
Located north-west from the kingdom's capital Riyadh, Al Turaif is the original seat of power of Saudi Arabia’s Al Saud family and forms the historic centre of Ad Diriyah region.
It was founded in the 15th century and influenced by the Najdi architectural style. Visitors can still see remnants of Al Turaif's historical mudbrick houses and walk through its labyrinthine alleyways.
6. Hegra: listed in 2008
The crown jewel of Saudi Arabia's spectacular desert site of Al Ula, Hegra is essentially an open-air museum and home to a vast complex of tombs carved by Nabatean tribes, dating back to the first century BC.
Established in 2018, the location – also known as Madain Saleh – became the kingdom’s first Unesco World Heritage Site and its archaeological riches have been compared to Jordan's Petra.
The site will be accessible again to tourists from October, following a June decree from The Royal Commission for Al Ula.
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What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
