New Saudi Centre Will Protect Underwater Heritage Sites

Off the coasts of Saudi Arabia, the sunken treasures of the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf will soon be preserved thanks to the establishment of a specialised centre to protect the kingdom's underwater heritage. The preservation centre will work with organisations such as The Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage Center, a key entity under the Saudi Ministry of Culture operating since 2020, in order to survey and protect these key underwater cultural sites.

The centre hopes to explore over 8,000 critical sites with the help of international partners, with the Red Sea coastal area alone exceeding 100,000 km of potential archaeological sites. These studies hope to reveal artefacts and sites like sunken ships with cargoes from Mediterranean cities, which could uncover valuable insights from past eras. Thus far, over eight of these sites have been documented.