Before World War I, the Ottoman Empire ruled the southwestern region of the Arabian Peninsula. However, unlike other Ottoman territories in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, the fate of this region was not decided during the Paris Peace Conference. This created a vacuum of power that allowed the local elites of Arabia to engage in a lengthy process of conflict, negotiations, peace talks, and the exchange of ideas to resolve issues of legitimacy, sovereignty, borders, and cultural differences. This article argues that these local elites of Arabia developed an alternative model of statehood and sovereignty that persisted until the outbreak of the Gulf War in 1990. The immediate result of this new model was the separation of al-Mikhlāf al-Sulaimānī region and the transformation of the people of the Najrān region into a sectarian group.

The Arabian leopard Panthera pardus nimr is categorized as Critically Endangered, with < 200 individuals estimated to remain in the wild. Historically the species ranged over an extensive area of western Saudi Arabia but, with no confirmed sightings since 2014, investigating potential continued presence and distribution is of critical conservation importance. We present the results of a comprehensive survey designed to detect any remaining Arabian leopard populations in Saudi Arabia. We conducted 14 surveys, deploying 586 camera-trap stations at 13 sites, totalling 82,075 trap-nights. Questionnaire surveys were conducted with 843 members of local communities across the Arabian leopard's historical range to assess the presence of leopards, other predators and prey species. Predator scats were collected ad hoc by field teams and we used mitochondrial DNA analysis to identify the originating species. We obtained 62,948 independent photographs of animals and people, but none were of Arabian leopards. Other carnivores appeared widespread and domestic animals were numerous, but wild prey were comparatively scarce. Three questionnaire respondents reported sightings of leopards within the previous year, but targeted camera-trap surveys in these areas did not yield evidence of leopards. Of the 143 scats sent for analysis, no DNA was conclusively identified as that of the leopard. From this extensive study, we conclude there are probably no surviving, sustainable populations of Arabian leopards in Saudi Arabia. Individual leopards might be present but were not confirmed. Any future Arabian leopard conservation in Saudi Arabia will probably require reintroduction of captive-bred leopards.

North-western Arabia is marked by thousands of prehistoric stone structures. Of these, the monumental, rectilinear type known as mustatils has received only limited attention. Recent fieldwork in AlUla and Khaybar Counties, Saudi Arabia, demonstrates that these monuments are architecturally more complex than previously supposed, featuring chambers, entranceways and orthostats. These structures can now be interpreted as ritual installations dating back to the late sixth millennium BC, with recent excavations revealing the earliest evidence for a cattle cult in the Arabian Peninsula. As such, mustatils are amongst the earliest stone monuments in Arabia and globally one of the oldest monumental building traditions yet identified.

Prehistoric stone structures are prominent and well-studied in the Levantine desert margins. In northern Arabia, however, such structures have received less attention. This article presents the results of investigations of a 35m-long stone platform, first constructed in the mid sixth millennium BC, overlooking the oasis of Dûmat al-Jandal in northern Saudi Arabia. Excavation of the platform has yielded bioarchaeological and cultural remains, along with evidence for several phases of construction and intermittent use down to the first millennium BC. Analysis of the platform and nearby tombs highlights the persistent funerary and ritual use of this area over millennia, illuminating nomadic pastoralist lifeways in prehistoric Arabia.

Over the past decade, a growing interest has developed on the archaeology, palaeontology, and palaeoenvironments of the Arabian Peninsula. It is now clear that hominins repeatedly dispersed into Arabia, notably during pluvial interglacial periods when much of the peninsula was characterised by a semiarid grassland environment. During the intervening glacial phases, however, grasslands were replaced with arid and hyperarid deserts. These millennial-scale climatic fluctuations have subjected bones and fossils to a dramatic suite of environmental conditions, affecting their fossilisation and preservation. Yet, as relatively few palaeontological assemblages have been reported from the Pleistocene of Arabia, our understanding of the preservational pathways that skeletal elements can take in these types of environments is lacking. Here, we report the first widespread taxonomic and taphonomic assessment of Arabian fossil deposits. Novel fossil fauna are described and overall the fauna are consistent with a well-watered semiarid grassland environment. Likewise, the taphonomic results suggest that bones were deposited under more humid conditions than present in the region today. However, fossils often exhibit significant attrition, obscuring and fragmenting most finds. These are likely tied to wind abrasion, insolation, and salt weathering following fossilisation and exhumation, processes particularly prevalent in desert environments.

The origins of agriculture in South-west Asia is a topic of continued archaeological debate. Of particular interest is how agricultural populations and practices spread inter-regionally. Was the Arabian Neolithic, for example, spread through the movement of pastoral groups, or did ideas perhaps develop independently? Here, the authors report on recent excavations at Alshabah, one of the first Neolithic sites discovered in Northern Arabia. The site’s material culture, environmental context and chronology provide evidence suggesting that well-adapted, seasonally mobile, pastoralist groups played a key role in the Neolithisation of the Arabian Peninsula.

Modern scholarship on Arabs in the pre-Islamic period has focused on Rome's Arab allies—the so-called “Jafnids” or “Ghassānids,” with much less attention paid to Persia's Arab allies, the so-called “Naṣrid” or “Lakhmid” dynasty of Arab leaders at al-Ḥīrah in Iraq. This article examines select pre-Islamic sources for the Persian Arabs, showing that even with the meager evidence available to us, and the lack of archaeological material, it is possible to draw a relatively complex portrait of the Persian Arabs. This article situates the Persian Arabs as important figures in some key themes and phenomena of late antiquity, such as the growth of Christian communities, the conflict between Rome and Persia, and the struggle for influence in the Arabian peninsula.

Recurrence of peste des petits ruminants (PPR) was diagnosed in the United Arabian Emirates in several wild ruminants confirmed by morphological, immunohistochemical, serological and molecular findings. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the virus strain belongs to lineage IV, which is different to some previously isolated PPR strains from the Arabian Peninsula. This study shows that wild ruminants may play an important epidemiological role as virus source for domestic small ruminants.

Lectotypes are selected for the following names in the Apocynaceae from the Arabian Peninsula: Adenium arabicum Balf.f., Adenium obesum (Forssk.) Roem. & Schultes, Caralluma adenensis (Deflers) A.Berger, Cryptolepis intricata (Balf.f.) Venter, Cryptolepis volubilis (Balf.f.) O.Schwartz, Kanahia laniflora (Forssk.) R.Br., Leptadenia arborea (Forssk.) Schweinf., Marsdenia robusta Balf.f., Rhazya stricta Decne. and Tylophora yemensis Deflers. For Secamone socotrana Balf.f., it is noted that a previous citation of a holotype is rather an effective designation of a lectotype. Neotypes are selected for Caralluma hexagona var. septentrionalis Lavranos & L.E.Newton, Glossonema boveanum (Decne.) Decne., Leptadenia pyrotechnica (Forssk.) Decne. and Orbea chrysostephana (Deflers) Bruyns.

Marine reptile remains occur in the Upper Cretaceous (lower Campanian to lower Maastrichtian) Adaffa Formation of NW Saudi Arabia. This is the first detailed report of late Mesozoic marine reptiles from the Arabian Peninsula. The fossils include bothremydid (cf. Taphrosphyini) turtles, dyrosaurid crocodyliforms, elasmosaurid plesiosaurs, mosasaurs (Prognathodon, plioplatecarpines) and an indeterminate small varanoid. The assemblage is compositionally similar to contemporary faunas from elsewhere in the Middle East/North Africa, and comprises taxa that are typical of the southern margin of the Mediterranean Tethys.

Three shrubby, succulent, spiny Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae) species from western Saudi Arabia are described and illustrated as new: Euphorbia madinahensis Fayed & D.Al-Zahrani, Euphorbia saudiarabica Fayed & D.Al-Zahrani and Euphorbia taifensis Fayed & D.Al-Zahrani. Diagnostic characters, descriptions and taxonomic comments on each are given, and they are compared with closely related species. The geographical distribution of the three new species is shown.

As a result of recent genetic work, four taxa previously described by the author within Orobanche are now transferred to Phelipanche Pomel (Orobanchaceae); in addition, one of them, originally described as a subspecies, is raised to specific rank.

The Middle Palaeolithic record of the Arabian Peninsula can provide crucial evidence for understanding human dispersal. The authors summarise the archaeological evidence and suggest some of the routes taken by the earliest humans coming out of Africa, including one implying the use of boats. Early populations adapted to a hospitable environment, but had later to adapt to the advance of the desert.

Hitherto the genus Limonium (Plumbaginaceae) was thought to be represented by eight species in Arabia. While preparing the account of Limonium for Volume 1 of the Flora of Oman, one of the present authors (S.A.G.) identified two new species from Oman, in addition to the three already known. The new species, L. sarcophyllum Ghaz. & J.R. Edm. and L. milleri Ghaz. & J.R. Edm., are described and illustrated, and the new combination L. paulayanum (Vierh.) J.R. Edm. & Ghaz. based on Statice paulayana Vierh. from Soqotra is published. A key is provided for all 10 species in Arabia.

Ethnohistoric and representational as well as egg-shell evidence shows that the ostrich was widely distributed in Arabia. However, the absence of ostrich bones in the archaeological record suggests that they were not hunted for meat.

Two new species of Orobanche (Orobanchaceae) are described from the Arabian Peninsula: O. dhofarensis M.J.Y. Foley sp. nov. and O. hypertomentosa M.J.Y. Foley sp. nov., whilst O. abyssinica Richard is lectotypified.