Historic Jeddah is situated on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. From the 7th century AD, it was established as a major port for Indian Ocean trade routes, channeling goods to Mecca. It was also the gateway for Muslim pilgrims to Mecca who arrived by sea. These twin roles saw the city develop into a thriving multicultural Centre, characterized by a distinctive architectural tradition, including tower houses built in the late 19th century by the city’s mercantile elites and combining Red Sea coastal coral building traditions with influences and crafts from along the trade routes.

Located in an arid, mountainous area of southwest Saudi Arabia, on one of the Arabian Peninsula’s Ancient Caravan routes, Ḥimā Cultural Area contains a substantial collection of rock art images depicting hunting, fauna, flora, and lifestyles in a cultural continuity of 7,000 years. Travelers and armies camping on the site left a wealth of rock inscriptions and petroglyphs through the ages and until the late 20th century, most of which are preserved in pristine condition. Inscriptions are in different scripts, including Musnad, South-Arabian, Thamudic, Greek and Arabic. The property and its buffer zone are also rich in unexcavated archaeological resources in cairns, stone structures, interments, stone tool scatters and ancient wells. This location is at the oldest known toll station on an important ancient desert caravan route, where the wells of Bi’r Ḥima date back at least 3,000 years and still produce fresh water.