RIYADH: Prince Sultan Bin Salman, President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), has said that a Royal Order has been issued to protect Islamic archeological sites and artifacts in Makkah and Madina. Making the announcement at the opening of the 12th forum of the GCC History and Archeology Society in Riyadh Tuesday, Prince Sultan said that new laws would “protect Islamic antiquities from vandalism and illegal sale”. “The project is a historical step forward in terms of protecting culture and history in the Kingdom,” the prince said. “It involves a large number of programs, with the 17 exploration projects being some of the most significant. That is in addition to the setting up of an architectural heritage commission and plans to convert state palaces from the time of King Abdul Aziz into museums.” The three-day forum of the GCC History and Archeology Society at the Intercontinental Hotel in Riyadh has gathered specialists on history and archeology from across the Arab World. Muhammad Al-Haj, an archeologist from Sana'a University in Yemen presented a paper on the first day in which he described engravings found in Yemen containing mentions of ancient settlements in the north of the Arabian Peninsula, including the Dhat Kuhl village. “The engravings date back to two centuries B.C., having only previously been found mentioned in engravings dating back to two centuries C.E.,” he said. Other speakers on the first day included Layla Al-Haddi from the National Museum of Bahrain, who spoke on “The Sword Across History” and other traditional weapons from the time of the ancient Dilmoun civilization in the east of the Arabian Peninsula. Researcher Abdul Khaliq Al-Janabi spoke on the role of ancient Arabic poetry in helping researchers to identify the locations of sites of historical interest, and cited as an example the location of an ancient ship-building village in the east of the Kingdom. The Gulf Cooperation Council's History and Archeology Society is based in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) Monday announced it had recovered in recent times some 14,000 archeological artifacts from abroad and will display some of the pieces at a special National Museum exhibition for the 2012 Janadriya Festival. “In recent times great efforts have been made to bring back archeological pieces to the Kingdom. Approximately 14,000 pieces have been returned from abroad, some of them taken during explorations and when experts have come to the Kingdom, others which had been missing for 50 years. Work has been stepped up this year with all the relevant authorities in the Kingdom and abroad to recover more pieces which will be displayed at the exhibition,” said Prince Sultan.
