Saudi Arabia unveils face of 2,000-year-old Nabataean woman Hinat

Dubai: Saudi Arabia has announced that the first ever digital and physical reconstruction of a Nabataean woman, Hinat, has been completed by a team of archaeologists, experts in forensic science, and model-makers, local media reported.

Hinat, believed to have been a prominent woman who lived in the first century BC and was interred in a tomb at Hegra for over 2,000 years, is now on display at the Hegra Welcome Centre in AlUla.

The site of Hegra, a Unesco World Heritage Site and former bustling city of the north Arabian kingdom, is known for its significant cultural exchanges in architecture, decoration, language, and trade.

The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) said it is anticipating more exciting discoveries in archaeology in the region, as AlUla has been inhabited by successive communities and civilizations over time and was a hub of trade routes for incense, spices, and other luxury goods.

Hinat’s tomb was excavated in 2008 and contained around 80 individuals, with her nearly complete skeleton among them. The inscription on her tomb highlights the importance of women in Nabataean Hegra society, who owned property and commissioned their own tombs.

The reconstruction of Hinat was based on a one-day scientific roundtable with experts in Hegra, the Nabataeans, and AlUla archaeology, who discussed her appearance, status, and attire.

The process involved forensic anthropology and reconstruction, and physical model-making.