Ma'sal Valley

Ma'sal Valley is located 50 km southeast of Al-Dawadmi town, and 383 km from the city of Riyadh. It is in a pastoral desert region, a home for tribes since ancient times.

Prominent rock inscriptions were found on the facades of Jabal Ma'sal (62 km south of Al-Dawadmi), the most notable of which are two large inscriptions documenting major political events in the history of the Arabian Peninsula before Islam, particularly in the 6th century AD, when the region witnessed the Abyssinian takeover of the South, the eruption of tribal wars, and the rise of the Kindah State's power in central Arabia.

The First Inscription: Dated between 400 – 415 AD during the reign of King Abu Karib Asa'ad and his son Hassan Yuhan'im, it mentions the construction of a fortress in Ma'sal Al-Jamh.

The Second Inscription: Dated to 516 AD, it documents the power of Kindah and the expansion of its influence until the seizure of the throne of Al-Hirah in 525 AD.

The inscriptions mention prominent Arab tribal names such as Kindah, Sa'd, Taghlib, Mudhar, and Ma'ad, making them an important source for understanding the map of tribal and political powers at that time.

The first to transcribe the inscriptions was Fouad Hamza in 1950 AD, then Harry St John Philby visited, studied, and published his findings. Later, subsequent studies were thoroughly conducted by specialized research centers.