Follow in the footsteps of pioneering, historic travellers to Arabia and contemporary explorer and TV presenter, Levison Wood by snapping up limited edition tickets to a one-day exhibition called ‘AlUla: A Journey Through Time’.
Visitors to this unique, one-day exhibition will be among the first in the UK to take a journey through time, learning about early British explorers to visit the remote, unique geological landscapes of AlUla, in the North West region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The area includes Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site. Many ancient civilisations have left their mark here with more than 100 monumental Nabataean tombs and an open-air library at Jabal Ikmah near Dadan, which houses more than 500 inscriptions left by travellers spanning thousands of years.
Artefacts and imagery from the Royal Geographical Society's almost 200-year-old archive will tell the story of Arabian exploration. Awe-inspiring imagery and displays from the Royal Commission for AlUla will showcase the vast landscapes of AlUla showcasing both its history and its geographical marvels, from wind-eroded rocks resembling an elephant to ancient tombs and rock art.
A short exclusive film with first-hand impressions of the region by the renowned explorer and TV presenter, Levison Wood will be shown throughout the day. Visitors will also enjoy a world-first face-to-face encounter with a member of one of the world’s most fascinating historical civilisations and culture.
The world’s first reconstruction of a woman’s face from the Nabataean era will be unveiled to the world for the first time at the Royal Geographical Society, in London. One of the problems of studying Nabataean archaeology and people is that archaeologists lack images of them.
When more than 100 tombs were surveyed in Hegra in the nineteenth century a female skull was found in one tomb, accompanied by a description dating the tomb to about 2,000 years ago. Now, a multi-disciplinary team of historians, archaeologists, forensic scientists and sculptors have worked together to reconstruct the woman’s face; rebuilding the skull from bone fragments, reconstructing missing sections and using forensic techniques and facial anatomy to build a complete three-dimensional model.
AlUla: A Journey Through Time is at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) in London on Friday October 29.
