© Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2023, Office 415, The Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX JIA 10.1 (2023) 37–52 Journal of Islamic Archaeology ISSN (print) 2051-9710 http://www.doi.org/10.1558/jia.22546 Journal of Islamic Archaeology ISSN (online) 2051-9729 Keywords: Saudi Arabia, Faid, Darb Zubaydah, C14, artefacts, Abbasid period Dating of Stratifed Settlement Remains in Faid Pilgrim Station, Northwest of Saudi Arabia Ahmed Nassr,* Ahmed Elhassan, Mohammed al-Hajj and Ali Tueaiman University of Haʾil, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ah.nassr@uoh.edu.sa Faid was a major pilgrim Islamic oasis located 120 km southeast of the Ha’il Province, northwest of Saudi Arabia. It was founded on the major Hajj Road between Baghdad/Kufa and Medina and was developed by Zubaydah bint Jaʾfar, granddaughter to the Caliph Abū Jaʾfar al-Mansur (the founder of Baghdad) and wife to the ffth Abbasid Caliph, Hārūn Ar-Rašīd 775–785 CE. There- fore, during the reign of Hārūn Ar-Rašīd Caliph, the major pilgrim road was renamed from Darb Heerah to Darb Zubaydah. The archaeological site in Faid was referenced and described by sev- eral travellers and scholars and excavated by the Heritage Commission, Ministry of Culture, Saudi Arabia 1998–2012. From 2014–2022, the University of Ha’il conducted nine feldwork seasons at the site. The authors directed the last four seasons, which revealed numerous new discoveries from stratifed excavations. This study aims to reconstruct the occupation chronology at the site based on stratigraphic contexts and supported by radiocarbon dating, artefact studies, and writ- ten resources. Three occupation horizons were identifed at the site; the early Abbasid period was the dominant occupation. The resulting radiocarbon calibrated ages were consistent with the preliminary archaeological studies carried out by the authors. The results presented in this paper represent an attempt to reconstruct the chronology of the study site. Introduction Saudi Arabia, where Islam originated, is a special location for Islamic cultures, as major Islamic settlements were established along pilgrim roads in Mecca, Medina, al Taʾif, Afaj, al Kharj, Riyadh, al Rabada, al Haʾit, Khaybar, Tayma, Haʾil, Jubbah, Tabuk and Dumat al-Jandal, as well Thaj in the east and Zabid, Sanaʾa and Aden in southern Arabia (Figure 1). Saudi Arabia expe- rienced seasonal migrations of pilgrims, and more settlements were established on pilgrim trails to Saudi Arabia in the early Islamic era (Peters 1996, 33–56; Petersen 2014, 563–574). Continuous international and national archaeological research projects conducted on the ruins of Islamic archaeological sites have transformed our understanding of this region. * corresponding author