The Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) in Hail has said that illegal digging and excavations at archeological sites in the Kingdom is due to a “lack of awareness of the importance of antiquities”. The SCTA Director of Antiquities in Hail, Saad Al-Ruwaishan, said that illegal digging, most of which occurs far from guarded sites, could not yet be described as having reached the level of “looting”. “I've been responsible for Hail antiquities for 26 years now and it's only been in the last ten years that we've started to come across illegal excavations,” Al-Ruwaishan said. “In the past when people were not so conscious of the value of antiquities, and nomadic Bedouins frequently settled and then moved on from areas with archeological sites without touching any of the artifacts there. Nowadays, however, some people have become consumed with greed and readily believe the tales they hear of buried treasure.” Al-Ruwaishan said that the number of security guards at archeological sites was “sufficient” and also praised the role of the public. “The Faid site in Hail, for example, has been protected from illegal practices for 26 years because of the concern of inhabitants of the town,” he said. According to Al-Ruwaishan, recent regulations gave the SCTA control over all archeological sites requiring attention. “Approval from the SCTA is required for any excavation operations, even if it's from the ministries of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Municipal and Rural Affairs, or the Ministry of Agriculture,” he said. The province of Hail boasts over 220 sites of archeological interest from a variety of time periods. The rare thefts from sites, which tend to be conducted at night, have led to widespread tales of riches to be found and an active market abroad where fake treasure maps circulate, designating sites of buried gold. One such site is that at Umm Samnan Mountain near the town of Juba, a small historic settlement in the heart of the Nafoud desert. The town, where tales of buried treasure proliferate, has been the site of many illegal excavations in search of hidden gold. Talk among townsfolk has increased in recent months of persons seen using metal detectors that can trace treasure buried up to ten meters beneath the surface, and one rumor states that an unidentified treasure-seeker unearthed a collection of “invaluable gold artifacts”. Umm Samnan Mountain and surrounding hillsides are peppered with holes from illegal digging and in some cases heavy machinery would appear to have been used to shift large rocks. The area boasts approximately 5,431 Thamudic rock inscriptions and nearly 2,000 rock drawings, some of which date back to the middle of the fifth millennium BC. Of the drawings, there are 1,378 depicting camels of various forms and 262 depicting human forms. The discovery of a rare and valuable coin by a local in the town of Al-Ajfar, 150 km to the east of Hail, has led to increased searches and digging that region, forcing authorities to increase security at important sites. Archeology buffs say, however, that many sites remain unprotected, particularly those lying many miles away from inhabited sites and that are difficult to access. “Searches and digging at those sites is on the rise, and sometimes they dig surprisingly deep using any method they can,” said Naif Thulaij.
