Saudi officials on Sunday announced the discovery of the country's first-ever artefact from pharaonic culture - a 3100-year-old inscription carrying the signature of King Ramses III.
The inscription was found near the northwestern Saudi oasis town of Tayma, about 200 kilometres southeast of Tabuk, a key stop on ancient trade routes, said Ali al-Ghabban, a senior museums and antiquities official.
The inscription was found on a rock and carries the royal signature of Ramses III with a double cartouche, Ghabban said in a statement.
Ramses reigned between 1192 and 1160 BC, according to Ghabban, though the dates vary slightly according to different archaeological sources.
The inscription was unearthed four months ago near Tayma, an area which has given up many pre-Islam archaeological discoveries from regional cultures.
