Jebel Qurma Safaitic Rock Art — Black Desert
جبل قرمة · Qurma Petroglyphs · Jebel Qurma Black Desert Petroglyphs · Safaitic Carvings Qurma
Hellenistic to Early Islamic (Safaitic literacy 100 BCE–400 CE)·Nomadic Safaitic pastoralists (North Arabian Old Arabic literate nomads)·🇯🇴 Zarqa Governorate, Black Desert (Harra), Jebel Qurma hill, 30 km east of Azraq oasis, Jordan
About
About Jebel Qurma Safaitic Rock Art — Black Desert
13), where 4500+ petroglyphs on basalt boulders document Hellenistic–Early Islamic (200 BCE–800 CE) Badia pastoralists of the Harra. Jebel Qurma Archaeological Landscape Project (Leiden, 2012–2023) mapped Safaitic Old Arabic graffiti + camel, horse, ibex, hunting with dogs, and desert kites: stone walls 100–800 m long for gazelle drive hunting. Basalt pecked through patina; camel depiction frequency tracks pastoral wealth vs. Nabataean sedentarization.
Cairn burials with OSL date 300 BCE–400 CE tie rock art to funerary rites. Largest Safaitic corpus systemically studied (Brusgaard 2019 'Carving Interactions' Archaeopress 4500 petroglyphs). Kite–cairn–petroglyph triad shows Harra hunting–pastoral ritual landscape.
Why it mattersLargest systematic Safaitic corpus documenting Harra nomadic literacy–hunting landscape and desert kite–cairn architecture in situ.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why camels over horses dominate after 0 CE
- 02Literacy function: memorial vs. pastoral poetry
Theories
- 01Petroglyphs as Badia pastoral territorial markers on seasonal Harra–Azraq movement
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.200 BCE – 800 CE (Hellenistic Nabataean to Early Islamic), peak 100 BCE–400 CE Safaitic
- Period
- Hellenistic to Early Islamic (Safaitic literacy 100 BCE–400 CE)
- Culture
- Nomadic Safaitic pastoralists (North Arabian Old Arabic literate nomads)
- Builders
- Harra nomadic tribes (Badia pastoralists, Nabataean fringe)
- Purpose
- Pastoral identity marking on Black Desert harra along wadi water pans, hunting magic (kite), camel status display before sedentarization
- Abandoned
- c.800 CE early Islamic sedentarization and Qur'a script replacement
- Rediscovered
- 1858 Wetzstein; 1929 Littmann Safaitic; 2012 Leiden Brusgaard–Akkermans systematic
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
200 BCE
Safaitic graffiti begins on harra boulders
2012
Leiden Jebel Qurma Project surveys 300 km2
2019
Brusgaard monograph Carving Interactions 4500 petroglyphs
On the ground
Structures & features
31.8500° N · 37.1300° E · 710 m · 2 mapped features
Jebel Qurma — Safaitic Inscription and Camel Hunt Panel
safaitic panelBasalt boulder with 5-line Safaitic graffito and dromedary camel herd with rider hunting oryx with dogs, basalt desert patina pecked
31.8510° N · 37.1310° EJebel Qurma — Desert Kite and Cairn Alignment
kite cairnDesert kite hunting trap 150 m wall associated with burial cairn with petroglyph ibex, linking rock art to kite hunting architecture
31.8490° N · 37.1290° E