National Antiquities Register

The National Antiquities Register is a digital archive that is intended to archive archaeological sites in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by documenting and registering immovable and movable relics, historical locations, and folk heritage sites, using fill-in forms to gather data and link them to a digital archaeological map containing detailed information, images, and reports on registered archaeological and historical sites.

The National Antiquities Register aims to achieve several duties, including documenting, registering, and then mapping archaeological sites on digital maps to facilitate their management, protection, and preservation; archiving documents and photographs of cultural heritage sites in the Kingdom; building a spatial database of registered archaeological sites and preserving and documenting work carried out therein; developing practical solutions for managing the work of the National Antiquities Register; providing supporting information for making decisions conducive to the conservation and maintenance of archaeological sites; and making information readily accessible for researchers and specialists.

The Heritage Commission of the Ministry of Culture is the supervising entity of the National Antiquities Register, which is also responsible for accounting for all antiquities, under three categories: immovable and movable antiquities, historical sites, and folk heritage sites.

The provinces that documented archaeological sites in the National Antiquities Register by 2021 included Riyadh Province (342 archaeological sites), Makkah al-Mukarramah Province (thirty-eight sites), al-Madinah al-Munawarah Province (five sites), Hail Province (forty-eight sites), al-Jawf Province (fifty-four sites), Aseer Province (fifty-two sites), Tabuk Province (thirty-five sites), Northern Borders Province (four sites), Eastern Province (twenty-five sites), Qassim Province (eighteen sites), and Jazan Province (three sites).

The total number of archaeological sites registered in the registry since its establishment until the first quarter of 2023 amounted to about 8,788 archaeological sites in various provinces of the Kingdom.

The National Antiquities Register operates in two stages; the first is identifying data sources, which encompasses eight elements: archaeological research and studies, Atlal "Remains" Periodical, Archaeological Research and Excavation Center database, archaeology and museums sector archives (currently the Heritage Commission), on-site inspection reports compiled by specialists, archaeological finds, scanning electronic microscopy, and archaeological surveys.

The second stage includes the sorting and disaggregation of data into ten categories: archaeological trespasses information, cultural heritage site information, archaeological excavation information, archaeological survey project information, museum information, inspection information, heritage trafficking information, archaeological offices’ information, project and maintenance information, and archaeological studies information.