AL-ULA OASIS AND THE LOST CIVILIZATION

Abstract

This article firstly explores how Al-Ula, an ancient city in northwestern Arabian Peninsula, thrived historically despite little rainfall, and reviews the historic civilizations ruled this oasis. Then, it points out that the misuse of limited water resource degraded the environmental capacity of the oasis, resulting in the imbalance between humans and the land and eventually the decline of civilizations. Finally, the article concludes that the oasis and the watershed it depends on is an integral system, whose lifeblood is maintained by water cycle restoration. It is also one of the key tasks of Landscape Architecture to explore ecological restoration and sustainable management of watershed in the sense of hydrology.

Keywords

World Cultural Heritage / Al-Ula / Oasis / Civilization / Watershed

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Higher Education Press