Riyadh, 27 March 2019 SPA -- Saudi-French archaeological mission at the site of Thaj in the Eastern Region, which works since 2016 according to an agreement between the Antiquities and Museums Department of Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage and French National Center for Scientific Research, has explored the antiquities of the largest archeological site in the east of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. French scientist specializing in archeology, Dr. Jerome Romer, said during a lecture organized by the Antiquities and Museums Sector at Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage on the results of archaeological excavations at the site of Thaj in the Eastern Region of the Saudi-French mission recently held at the National Museum in the presence of a number of the mission's members and researchers said that the excavation project at the archaeological site of Thaj showed that Thaj was a major urban center in the last centuries BC and the first centuries AD. He said that the exploration of this city highlights a new chapter in the history of the Arabian Peninsula, pointing out that the three seasons of exploration in the site from 2016 until 2018 revealed that Thaj is the only site as a city on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula and one of Arab kingdoms in the period before Islam. He added, "In ancient times, just like today, the eastern Arabian Peninsula was a commercial and cultural center at the crossroads of the great civilizations of that time, south of the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Mesopotamia and India, and its cities hosted rich convoys and strong commercial kingdoms''. The head of the Saudi-French mission for archaeological excavations at the site of Thaj in the Eastern Region said that the archaeological site of Thaj is located 90 km west of the city of Jubail and features the remains of an exceptionally large old city. It is worth mentioning that the joint Saudi-French mission to explore the Thaj site during the three seasons of excavation on the site has carried out many works, including survey of the archaeological area and its surrounding , the excavation within the archaeological area during which a number of archaeological sites, writings, drawings and inscriptions, in a number of tombs and hills around the site of Thaj, the implementation of a geological survey of the site and the surrounding terrain collected samples of some rocks and soil from the northern part and studying the level and components of water wells, and the cumulative deposition. -- SPA 12:48 LOCAL TIME 09:48 GMT 0005 www.spa.gov.sa/w1073721