The rise of the Islamic Arabic epigraphic habit in the ninth–eleventh century: new evidence from Wādī Nakhlah (AlUla [al‑ʿUlā] County, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

The study of the epigraphic material from the Wādī Nakhlah area (AlUla region) reveals a remarkable predominance of early Islamic Arabic graffiti executed in Kufic script, numbering approximately 500 inscriptions, compared to only about fifty-three in pre-Islamic scripts. Palaeographic and prosopographic analyses indicate that at least part of this corpus can be dated to the ninth/mid-second–late third and tenth/late third–late fourth century. This chronology is further supported by six dated graffiti from the area, all of which fall within the same time frame. This paper aims to contextualize the proliferation of ninth- to tenth-century Kufic graffiti within its broader historical setting. Since Wādī Nakhlah does not appear to have been connected to major pilgrimage or trade routes, it is plausible that the area functioned primarily as pastureland and that the graffiti were produced by pastoralists. Additionally, this period of intense graffiti production coincided with the prosperity of the nearby town of Qurḥ, located close to Wādī Nakhlah, which remained occupied until the eleventh century (Weigel et al. 2025: 41). The involvement of semi-nomadic pastoralists with Qurḥ appears likely, as it is well attested that sedentary oasis dwellers and nomadic pastoralists often shared ownership of palm groves surrounding such settlements (McPhillips & Chung-To 2024). Regional comparisons further suggest that the political and economic decentralization in the Ḥijāz, reflected in the abandonment of key Islamic settlements, such as al‑Khuraybah, or Khaybar, tended to coincide with a decline in written culture.