8000-year-old temple unearthed in Saudi Arabia's archaeological ruins, raises questions about idol worship & religions It was found in port town of Al-Faw, south-west of Riyadh.

 

The port town of Al-Faw had acquired infamy due to its strategic position at the entrance of the Shatt al-Arab,leaving it vulnerable to attacks during the many wars fought in the Middle East.

Destroyed extensively in the Iraq-Iran war, it was rebuilt in 1989, and has received special attention from the Saudi government in a bid to bolster its history. Many finds have been made at the site recently, including the remains of a stone temple and an altar, along with the remains of 8,000-year-old Neolithic settlements.

The remains of stone temple and parts of an altar were among the many discoveries at the site, with clear indications that a life of ceremonies, worship, and rituals was once integral to the lives of Al-Faw locals. The rock-cut temple is located on the outskirts of Mount Tuwaiq, also known as Khashem Qaryah, east of Al-Faw.

The team of researchers utilized state of the art technology to record the above finds, adding 2,807 graves from different time periods to the list of finds. These graves have been documented and classified into six distinct groups, as per a press release by the Saudi Press Agency.

For the past 40 years, the archaeological area of Al-Faw has been the focus of archaeological research. The findings of the studies had been published in seven book volumes over time. There had previously been mentions of cultural life at Al-Faw, citing residential and market areas, temples, and tombs,but the new discoveries are far more comprehensive in their findings.

More importantly, the Al-Faw site discoveries show that a culture of temples, rituals, and idol worship predated the monolithic, non-idol worshipers, anti-temple practices of Islam that exist there today. These discoveries can also call into question the widely held belief that the Islamic conquest of Arabia civilized its desert people.