Dubai: Saudi Arabia has announced a new archaeological discovery in Mecca. The Islamic inscription found dates back to the third Caliph Uthman bin Affan, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The Heritage Authority in the Kingdom said the inscription dated to the 24th year of the Hijrah (migration) and was found by a group of people interested in antiquities and heritage within the boundaries of the Olaya Palace archaeological site in Mecca.
The1419-year-old inscription is considered one of the most important archaeological finds of late, documenting one of the major events at the beginning of Islamic history.
The authority said archaeological studies conducted by Dr Nayef Al Qanour, Director of the Protection Department at the Heritage Authority, provided a reading of the inscription. The mystery of the first line of the inscription reveals the name of the flag (Zuhair). “I Zuhair believe in God and wrote a time – Amr bin Affan in the year twenty-four.”
The inscription appears similar to the content of the Zuhair inscription in Al Ula Governorate, in which the writer documented the time during which Caliph Omar Ibn Khattab passed away.
The Heritage Authority said it studying the inscription as it is the third oldest dated rock document of Islamic inscriptions after the Salamah inscription in Yanbu Al Nakhl dated 23 AH and the Zuhair inscription in the Al Ula governorate (24 AH).
