Wasfy Mustatils Complex
The Wasfy Mustatils Complex, also referred to as the Al Badi Mustatils Complex or Wasfy Al Badi Necropolis, is the name used for a large concentration of stone monuments identified through satellite-based remote survey near Al Badi' and Al Khasrah in the Riyadh Region of central Saudi Arabia.1Al Badi Mustatils Complex, The Megalithic Portal
The name originated during remote mapping of the landscape and should not be interpreted as meaning that every structure within the area is archaeologically confirmed to be a mustatil. Subsequent assessment has suggested that the landscape contains several different monument types and probably monuments from different periods, including possible mustatils, cairns, pendant or tailed tombs and other funerary structures.Hugh Thomas et al., The Bronze Age Tombs of Northwest Arabia: A Chrono-Typological Study From AlUla and Khaybar, Saudi Arabia, Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 2025
Location
The group lies in the desert landscape around Al Badi' and Al Khasrah in central Saudi Arabia.
The Megalithic Portal uses approximately:
- 23.021305° N, 44.050456° E
as the reference position for the Al Badi Mustatils Complex.
The Zenodo geospatial dataset gives a general project location of:
- 23° 1' 41.30" N, 44° 4' 33.20" E
These coordinates should be understood as reference locations within a much wider archaeological landscape rather than as defining the geographical limits of the monument concentration.
Remote survey and documentation
The structures were documented through examination of high-resolution satellite and aerial map imagery by Tarek Wasfy.
The first public catalogue description on the Megalithic Portal described more than sixty circular and rectangular stone structures distributed through the area. Wasfy later reported that continued remote survey had increased the number of identified stone monuments to more than one hundred.
A geospatial dataset was subsequently deposited on Zenodo on 13 May 2026 under the title Wasfy Mustatils Complex, Mustatils of Al Badi, Knetsch Pendants, Pendants, Wasfy Pendants.
The dataset contains several formats intended for GIS, mapping and remote-sensing use, including:
KML
GPX
CSV
GeoJSON
GeoTIFF
OpenStreetMap XML
overview imagery
The dataset describes stone features distributed particularly on or near elevated ground and hilltops and characterises the Al Badi concentration as geographically far south-east of the best studied mustatil landscapes of north-western Saudi Arabia.
Because the documentation was primarily produced through remote sensing, precise archaeological dating and typological identification of individual structures require ground survey and, where appropriate, excavation.
The Wasfy Pyramid
A conspicuous feature near the centre of the originally mapped concentration is the pyramid-like structure known as the Wasfy Pyramid, also called the Wasfy Al Badi Pyramid or Al Badi Pyramid.
The original Megalithic Portal description of the complex specifically notes that many structures are circular and that a pyramid-like formation is situated in the middle of the mapped group.
The feature has its own catalogue entry, where it is listed as a "Pyramid / Mastaba" and described as an approximately 120 × 120 metre pyramid-like structure.Wasfy Pyramid, The Megalithic Portal
Its approximate catalogue coordinates are:
- 23.021305° N, 44.050456° E
The term pyramid is primarily a descriptive name referring to the apparent pyramidal, mound-like or terraced morphology visible in remote imagery. It does not establish that the feature is an archaeologically confirmed purpose-built pyramid.
Possible interpretations of the structure remain open pending ground investigation. It could represent a cairn or other stone monument, a partly natural geological formation, an artificial structure constructed around natural bedrock, or another type of archaeological feature.
For OpenStreetMap purposes, the distinction between a documented name and an uncertain archaeological classification is important.
Monument types
The wider Al Badi landscape contains structures of several different apparent morphologies.
Remote mapping and individual catalogue entries include circular cairns, ring-like monuments, rectangular features and structures consisting of a circular or cairn-like "head" combined with one or more elongated stone tails.
Examples documented in the wider landscape include:
Mustatil of Al Badi 2
Wasfy Al Badi Mustatil West
Al Badi Mustatil 6
Al Badi Mustatil 11
Al Badi Mustatil XV
Al Badi Mustatil 27
Al Badi Mustatil 28
Al Badi Mustatil 31
Tarek Al Badi Mustatil
Tarek Al Badi Mustatil 2
Individual catalogue entries show considerable variation. For example, Mustatil of Al Badi 2 is described as having an approximately 40 m circular component and a roughly 120 m tail.Mustatil of Al Badi 2, The Megalithic Portal
Wasfy Al Badi Mustatil West is described as having a roughly 46 m circular feature and an elongated tail of approximately 200 m.Al Badi Mustatil West, The Megalithic Portal
Other catalogued features are considerably smaller. Al Badi Mustatil 31, for example, is recorded as an approximately 13 m circular stone feature on elevated terrain.Al Badi Mustatil 31, The Megalithic Portal
These names are useful identifiers for mapping individual objects but do not by themselves demonstrate that all objects are true Neolithic mustatils.
Archaeological interpretation
The initial interpretation of the area as predominantly a mustatil complex was questioned shortly after the structures were publicised.
On 17 May 2026 archaeologist Hugh Thomas, whose research focuses on prehistoric and Bronze Age monuments in Arabia, examined imagery of a number of the structures and commented:
Hugh Thomas, comment on the Al Badi monuments, X, 17 May 2026
The comment was subsequently reproduced on the Megalithic Portal page for the complex.
Wasfy later stated that closer inspection had identified three structures considered to be mustatils and that many of the other monuments appeared to be pendants or tombs. He referred to the central object as a "pyramid like looking thing".Tarek Wasfy, response concerning the Al Badi monument classifications, X, 19 May 2026
The name Wasfy Mustatils Complex should therefore be treated as the established mapping/project name for the surveyed landscape rather than a claim that the entire concentration consists of mustatils.
Mustatil context
Confirmed mustatils are monumental rectangular stone structures best documented in north-western Saudi Arabia.
Large-scale archaeological research in AlUla and Khaybar has demonstrated that mustatils can contain courtyards, chambers, entrances and orthostats or stone pillars. Excavated examples date to the late sixth millennium BCE and are interpreted as ritual monuments.Hugh Thomas, Melissa A. Kennedy, Matthew Dalton, Jane McMahon, David Boyer and Rebecca Repper, The mustatils: cult and monumentality in Neolithic north-western Arabia, Antiquity 95(381), 2021, pp. 605–626
More than one thousand examples were documented in the north-west Arabian study region, particularly around AlUla and Khaybar.
The Al Badi monuments lie considerably farther to the south-east. Similar appearance in satellite imagery does not therefore establish identical age, function or cultural affiliation.
Pendant and Bronze Age tomb context
Many stone monuments in Arabia consist of a circular funerary component combined with an elongated "tail". Archaeological literature generally refers to these forms as pendants or tailed tombs.
Large remote-sensing surveys in north-western Arabia have recorded many thousands of pendant structures. Research by Dalton and colleagues identified approximately 17,300 pendants in their wider survey dataset and demonstrated that many form parts of extensive "funerary avenues".Matthew Dalton et al., The Middle Holocene ‘funerary avenues’ of north-west Arabia, The Holocene 32(3), 2022
Radiocarbon evidence from excavated examples indicates that a major phase of pendant construction occurred during the mid-to-late third millennium BCE.
A later chrono-typological study of Bronze Age tombs in AlUla and Khaybar distinguishes cairn tombs, tower tombs, ringed cairns and pendant tombs. The study dates the earliest currently documented pendant burial in that region to approximately the late 27th to early 26th century