Sakaka, Saudi Arabia

Sakaka is considered one of the oldest inhabited sites within the Arabian peninsula, settled as far back as 4000 years ago. The city was mentioned in the 8th century - 7th century BCE as an Assyrian civilization's site. Sakakah is an oasis town on an ancient caravan route across the Arabian peninsula, which ran from the Mediterranean sea coast and Mesopotamia to the central and southern parts of the Arabian Peninsula. Historical places Sakaka is the home of historic & prehistoric archaeological sites such as Zabal Castle, Sisira Well and Hadra Cave or Hudrah Cave, a small rock shelter under a prominent overhang whose front ledge contains some petroglyphs and Arabic writing. The Umar ibn al-Khattab Mosque and Marid Castle, located in Dowmat Al-Jandal. The Camel Site, a small sandstone spurs located about 8 km north-east of Sakaka, contains panels with low-relief engravings of near-life-size dromedaries and equids. There are also the ancient Rajajil standing stones near Sakaka, dating back nearly 6,000 years. ==Modernization==

In recent years, the Saudi government has been providing more seed capital to Al-Jawf region, especially in Sakaka in hopes of developing the economically starved region of the kingdom. For this reason, the city has new government buildings, schools and hospitals and are built adjacent to crumbling ruins of older buildings. One major feature of the city is the rapidly expanding Al Jouf University (Jami'at Al-Jawf), founded in 2005. Sakaka is a small but expanding city with much construction in progress. It has three major hospitals: King Abdul Aziz Specialist Hospital, Prince Mutaib Hospital and child and maternity care hospital. There is a newly established Oncology Center and a Cardiac Center. A big ongoing project is the 1,000-bed Prince Muhammed Bin Abdulaziz Medical City which is under construction. ==Education==

The King hopes that Al Jouf University will become a pillar of social, cultural, and intellectual advancement in Saudi Arabia. There are several government-run schools and some private schools. The city has three English schools, Sakaka International School, which is an international, mostly Egyptian School and has an American curriculum, the other Al-Jouf International school with British curriculum and the third one is Al Motaqadimah International School with American curriculum. ==Transportation==

The city is served by Al-Jawf Airport which has domestic flights and International flights to some of the major cities in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia Railways also has a station in Sakakah on its Riyadh–Qurayyat line. {{Collapsible list | expand = | framestyle = | titlestyle = | title = Services at Jouf station | liststyle = | hlist = | bullets = | 1 = ==Agriculture==

Al-Jawf is notable for its abundant agricultural water, making possible the cultivation of dates (200,000 palms) and olives (12,000,000 trees), as well as other agricultural products. Farms number around 16,000, and agricultural projects around 1,500. It is the home to agribusiness farms such as Watania Farms, the largest organic farm in the kingdom. The fertile agricultural land of Al-Jawf is due largely to underground water, which drew delegates of King Abdul Aziz. They were sent to the town of Sakaka and Dumat Al-Jandal and Qurayat, requesting resident tribes there to join the nascent kingdom. Sakaka is home to many Saudi families that can proudly trace their lineage to a few large, old tribes that have dominated the area since time immemorial. ==Climate==

The Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (BWh). }} == Gallery ==

File:أعمدة الرجاجل 1.jpg|Rajajil standing stones File:Omar Mosque.jpg|Omar Mosque in Dumat Al-Jandal File:Jouf castle.jpg|Mard Castle in Dumat Al-Jandal == See also ==