Archaeologists have uncovered more than 1,700 artefacts at Miqat Al Juhfah, one of the key stations on the ancient Hajj route to Makkah, in a discovery that sheds new light on early Islamic pilgrimage. Saudi Arabia's Heritage Commission announced the findings after completing the first season of survey and documentation work at the site.
Al Juhfah holds particular significance for pilgrims: it is the designated miqat, the point at which pilgrims enter the state of ihram, for those travelling from the direction of Egypt and the Levant. The new discoveries deepen the historical record of a place still woven into the rituals of Hajj and Umrah today.
What the excavation revealed
The finds included pottery, glass and stone fragments, alongside shells, beads, metal objects and other crafted items reflecting daily life along the route. Researchers also documented six pottery kilns and a water channel believed to have served pilgrims and travellers passing through the station.
Among the most striking discoveries were 13 tombstones, some dating back to the Umayyad and Abbasid periods. The excavation yielded artefacts originating from regions including the Levant, Egypt and Abyssinia, in present-day Ethiopia, indicating that pilgrims from across the Islamic world converged on the miqat.
The work was carried out by the Heritage Commission in collaboration with the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. According to the commission, the material evidence confirms Al Juhfah's role as a major waypoint on the historic Egyptian Hajj route during the early Islamic era.
Why Al Juhfah matters to pilgrims
Located about 187 kilometres northwest of Makkah, Al Juhfah has served as a pilgrimage station since the earliest years of Islam. Historical sources connect the site to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and record that it flourished in the second century after Hijrah, with water facilities and shops catering to travellers.
The miqat is one of several fixed boundary points established for pilgrims approaching Makkah from different directions. For those coming from the northwest, Al Juhfah, or the nearby locality of Rabigh used in its place today, marks where the intention for Umrah or Hajj is made and the ihram garments are worn.
The survey forms part of the Heritage Commission's wider effort to identify and document landmarks along the Hijrah Route between Makkah and Madinah. Officials say the project aims to advance scientific research while preserving sites that connect modern pilgrims to the long history of the journey they undertake.
The discovery adds to a series of recent finds along Saudi Arabia's ancient pilgrimage corridors, including early Islamic inscriptions and Abbasid-era objects uncovered elsewhere in the Kingdom. Together they are building a fuller picture of how pilgrims once travelled, rested and traded on the long overland routes to Makkah, centuries before air travel and high-speed rail transformed the journey.
For the Heritage Commission, documenting these stations is also about safeguarding them. As Saudi Arabia expands infrastructure around the holy sites, cataloguing and protecting historic waypoints ensures that the physical memory of the pilgrimage is preserved alongside modern development. The kilns, water channels and tombstones at Al Juhfah offer rare, tangible evidence of the communities that once sustained travellers on their way to the Kaaba.
Understanding the miqat today
For pilgrims planning Umrah or Hajj, the practical lesson of Al Juhfah endures. Every pilgrim must enter ihram before crossing their designated miqat, and doing so afterwards without valid excuse carries a penalty under the rulings of the Sunni schools of jurisprudence.
Travellers arriving by air should confirm in advance whether their route crosses the miqat boundary before landing, as many pilgrims flying into Jeddah must enter ihram in the aircraft or before departure. Those travelling overland from the northwest pass through the Rabigh area, which now serves the function historically held by Al Juhfah.
Pilgrims are encouraged to prepare their ihram garments, perform ghusl where possible, and make their intention clearly at or before the miqat. Understanding these boundaries, first marked in the era the Al Juhfah excavation has now illuminated, remains an essential part of a valid pilgrimage.