'Roads of Arabia' explores the Arabian peninsula's ancient past

A new exhibit "Roads of Arabia," now showing at the Asian Art Museum displays a treasure trove of the Arabian peninsula's largely unknown pre-Islamic past, some of which dates back to the beginnings of human history.The objects on display may radically transform our understanding of the history of that now barren wasteland, still largely closed to Westerners. Although the exhibit is not lacking in beauty, “Roads of Arabia” is an archaeological and historical exhibition, rather than an art show.

In 2009, Australian scholar David Kennedy used Google Earth to identify almost 2,000 unexplored archaeological sites. He was able to focus attention on the battle between the powerful Saudi Arabian clergy for the destruction of that heritage and the determination of the  Saudi Arabian monarchy to protect that inheritance.

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