Guns and graffiti: Saudi 'punks' deface priceless ancient rock art in Hail

Saudi vandals have defaced 3000-year-old inscriptions written in ancient script in the Hail region in northwest Saudi Arabia with graffiti and gunshots.

The ancient Thamudic inscriptions, the oldest script of the Arabian peninsula, were defaced with what appears to be white spray paint and the names of three people.

The vandals seem to have fired live ammunition at the millennia-old cultural heritage site.

"This is disgusting. Ancient Thamudic rock art and inscriptions (KSA) have survived millennia (the changing of peoples, languages, religions, ideologies) undisturbed, only to be effaced by some punks today," Ahmad Al-Jallad, a specialist in the early history of Arabic and North Arabian, said.

"They left their names so let's hope the authorities hold them accountable."

The graffiti also defaced symbols of camels, part of an ancient rock-system of communication using signs and symbols as ideograms.

The rock art of the Hail Region is the fourth site in Saudi Arabia to be inscribed on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites.

Experts says the Umm-Sinman mountain in the city of Jubbah and Al-Manjoor and Raat at Shuwaymis contain some of the best examples of Neolithic rock art in the world.