Tayma

Tayma (Arabic: تيماء, romanized: Taymāʾ; Taymanitic: 𐪉𐪃𐪑, tmʾ, vocalized as: Taymāʾ), also spelled Tema, is a Saudi city and governorate, in Tabuk Province, and major oasis with a long history of habitation.

It is located in northwestern Saudi Arabia at the point where the trade route between Medina and Dumah (Sakaka) begins to cross in the western portion of the Nafud desert. Tayma lies about 264 km (164 mi) southeast of Tabuk and approximately 400 km (250 mi) north of Medina.

History

Tayma is one of the largest archaeological sites in Saudi Arabia. It was a major oasis city in ancient times, and its geographic position made it a major point along the trade route that connected South Arabia with the Eastern Mediterranean, and it is also located at the crossroads of southern Arabia, Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Egypt. Though Tayma was not directly one of the stopping points of the Frankincense Road, its constant water supply made it an attractive stopover point for travellers. Both written and archaeological evidence has shown that "the site maintained close economic, political and religious ties with all the regions of the Middle East before the Islamic era".

Bronze Age (3000–1200 BC)

The earliest evidence of sedentary human habitation in Tayma is from the early 4th millennium BC in the Bronze Age. Over the course of the 2nd millennium BC, Tayma was becoming more important: a substantial expansion of the settlement has been documented in the mid-2nd millennium BC, including the construction of a massive wall made of mudbrick and sandstone around it. By the end of the 2nd millennium BC, Tayma had become an economically important site, and was a member of a religious and political confederation.