Dadan
Dadan was the capital of the Dadanite and then the Lihyanite kingdoms, and its ruins lie at the site now called al-Khuraybah in AlUla. The Lihyanites ruled much of north-west Arabia until the second century BC, and the city was a hub on the Incense Road.
Its best-known tombs are cut into the red cliff faces, some nearly 50 m above the ground. The Lion Tombs take their name from the seated lions carved into the rock and are thought to have belonged to the Dadanite elite. Nearby, Mahlab al-Naqa is a circular basin cut into the rock and reached by carved steps, while pottery and stone carvings show influences from Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Jabal Ikmah
Jabal Ikmah, on the AlUla to Hail road, is known as AlUla's open-air library. Its cliffs carry hundreds of inscriptions from the Dadanite and Lihyanite periods, dated to the second half of the first millennium BC, recording language, dialect and literary practice alongside images of daily life, musical instruments and animals.
UNESCO's inscription of Jabal Ikmah on its Memory of the World Register was announced on 24 May 2023. The two sites are seen together on a guided two-hour tour, since self-driving is not permitted; visitors keep to marked paths and may take only photographs.