Archaeological surveys in the Red Sea have revealed shipwrecks and submerged remains that provide new insights into Saudi Arabia’s maritime heritage and its connections with ancient civilisations.
For thousands of years, the Red Sea served as an important maritime corridor connecting the Arabian Peninsula with Africa, Asia and the Mediterranean.
Vessels travelling along these routes transported goods and people between distant regions, while the sea also facilitated migration and pilgrimage. Evidence of these journeys now survives on the seabed in the form of shipwrecks, cargoes, structures and archaeological deposits.
Underwater cultural heritage generally encompasses traces of human activity of cultural, historical or archaeological significance that have remained completely or partially submerged for at least 100 years.
Saudi Arabia ratified the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage in 2015, supporting efforts to document and preserve submerged archaeological remains within its waters.
Archaeological investigations along the Saudi Red Sea coast have since identified evidence dating to several historical periods.
In 2012, a joint archaeological survey was conducted along the coastline between Rabigh and Shoaiba by the Saudi authority then responsible for antiquities and Philipps University of Marburg in Germany.
The project, which continued through subsequent survey campaigns, identified the remains of several shipwrecks, including examples dating from the Roman and early Islamic periods.
Further underwater investigations were conducted during 2015 and 2016 at the Umluj shipwreck site in collaboration with researchers from the University of Naples L’Orientale.
The wreck has demonstrated how submerged archaeological sites can preserve evidence capable of providing detailed information about historical maritime activity centuries after vessels disappeared beneath the waves.
More extensive investigations followed in 2022, when Saudi Arabia’s Heritage Commission launched a survey covering the waters between Umluj and Ras Al-Sheikh Hameed.
Working alongside national and international scientific institutions, archaeologists surveyed approximately 400 square kilometres of the Red Sea.
The project resulted in the identification and documentation of more than 25 underwater archaeological sites, highlighting the considerable archaeological potential of Saudi Arabia’s western coastline.
Researchers are using a combination of marine sonar and bathymetric mapping to locate submerged structures and identify anomalies on the seabed.
GPS positioning allows sites to be precisely mapped, while underwater photography, high-definition video and photogrammetry are used to produce detailed records of archaeological remains.
Photogrammetric techniques can also generate three-dimensional models of shipwrecks and other submerged sites, enabling archaeologists to examine their condition and spatial organisation while minimising physical disturbance.
Where further investigation is required, archaeological divers can undertake controlled excavations, examine exposed remains and collect samples for scientific analysis.
Maintaining the context of discoveries is particularly important in underwater archaeology, as the position and relationship of artefacts can reveal information about a vessel’s cargo, construction, use and possible circumstances of its loss.
The Heritage Commission is continuing to survey and map underwater cultural heritage sites in partnership with universities, research centres and specialist organisations.
The programme also aims to expand Saudi expertise in archaeological diving and underwater documentation while producing digital models that can assist with the long-term monitoring and preservation of submerged sites.
According to the Saudi Press Agency, the discoveries demonstrate the importance of the Red Sea as an archaeological landscape in its own right.
Rather than representing a boundary at the western edge of the Arabian Peninsula, the sea functioned for centuries as a major route of cultural and commercial interaction.
The shipwrecks and archaeological remains preserved beneath its waters provide material evidence of those connections and offer an increasingly detailed picture of Saudi Arabia’s role in the maritime networks that linked some of the ancient world’s major civilisations.
Sources : Saudi Press Agency
