A jaw-dropping discovery has been made beneath the world's longest, driest desert, revealing a 5,000-year-old civilization hidden in plain sight.
The incredible find, in the country's Rub al-Khali, known as the ‘Empty Quarter,' was made possible thanks to a machine-learning algorithm developed by researchers at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi.
Rub al-Khali consists of more than 250,000 square miles on the Arabian Peninsula, and is the largest area of continuous sand in the world.
While it lies predominantly in Saudi Arabia, the desert stretches into Yemen and Oman on to the south and the United Arab Emirates in the east.
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By combining satellite imagery with artificial intelligence, the team was able to map out archaeological features, which show signs of human activity dating back thousands of years.
Dr. Diana Francis, who leads the university’s Environmental and Geophysical Sciences Lab, explained: “The driving force behind this research was to enable the UAE to discover archaeological sites and features hidden under the sand.
"Given the climate and the fact that much of the country is desert, it was too difficult logistically to inspect the desert from the ground.
"That’s why satellite data was key. Then, we needed to have technology that can see beneath the sand."
While Dubai Culture, the country's governmental department, has already announced plans to excavate the area, experts are issuing a serious warning before anyone starts digging.
Drawing parallels to excavation projects in Arizona in the US - another extreme desert environment - researchers stress that unearthing ancient remains in arid regions can come with major challenges and hidden risks.
As explained by Eagle Rock Excavating, desert terrain itself is notoriously unstable. Little water and sparse vegetation means that once soil is disturbed, erosion can happen fast.
Elsewhere, wind-blown dust can quickly escalate into dangerous storms.
Add Saudi Arabia's extreme heat into the mix - which can cause soil to crack and shift - and both the site and workers' safety are at serious risk.
Water scarcity is another huge obstacle, Eagle Rock explains.
Excavation requires water to help control dust and soil compaction, but in deserts like the Rub al-Khali, that’s in rather short supply.
Without enough water, stabilizing the site and preserving artefacts could become an incredibly mean feat.
Experts say excavation in these challenging conditions demand highly specialized equipment and careful environmental planning.
Techniques like chemical and mechanical soil stabilisation, and water-saving dust suppression systems, could be vital to keeping both the site and the surrounding ecosystem intact.
While the technology breakthrough behind the Rub al-Khali discovery is a massive win for archaeology, the next step could be the most dangerous.
Topics: History, Science, Technology, Travel
Ellie Kemp