The proto-agricultural herders of Arabia probably did not speak Akkadian. Yet like the Sumerians they had a similar religious culture to the Neolithic farmers but one more focused on life-powers instead of motion powers due to their herding life-style. This life-power bias would continue to influence the whole region (including Israel) into historic times.
Since the 1970s, monumental structures now called mustatil have been documented across Saudi Arabia. Concentrated in northern Arabia, over 1600 mustatils have been identified through remote sensing, aerial photography, and ground survey. Ranging from 20-600m in length, these monumental structures were constructed from locally available stone, such as sandstone desert pavement or basalt.
The excavated contents of the chambers of this mustatil indicates one was the focus of ritual activity. These chambers were closed to sky making them cave-like (Thomas and all 2021). To date, limited radiocarbon evidence has been presented for these structures, with available assays indicating a Middle Holocene, Late Neolithic date of between 8600–4000 BCE.
The animal remains from this mustatil indicate this culture was based upon hunting alongside cattle and goat herding. The presence of cattle herding indicates the land had greater rainfall than today because cattle need to be watered every two-to-three days. Yet the hunting of gazelle indicates a semi-arid landscape. This again suggest the wetter Holocene Humid Period.
Animal remains numbering 260 were recovered inside the two chambers of this mustatil (ritual and storage rooms) of this mustatil which included 89 remains of domestic cattle (Bos taurus), 128 remains of Bos sp., five remains of domestic goat (Capra hircus), 19 remains of undetermined caprines, one remain of gazelle (Gazella sp.), and five remains of undetermined small ruminants.
The divine life power focus of these temple complexes is indicated by their orientation. Mustatils were orientated towards water sources like wadis and intermittent lakes (playa). They are not orientated with any motion powered celestial feature. Neolithic farmers needed to watched the night skies in order to know the time when to plant crops. This orientation pattern was determined by an aerial survey after heavy rains on the Harrat Khaybar plateau. Likewise, this mustatil (IDIHA-F-0011081) appears to be orientated towards an intermittent lake 700m due east.
