We take you to the jewel of the ancient Near East in the company of archaeologist Laïla Nehmé, a specialist in Nabataean civilization.

And Saudi Arabia is not the only location to have revealed its secrets. The archeological site of Sedeinga, in northern Sudan, provides unprecedented evidence of the funeral rites of the kingdoms of Napata and Meroe that ruled this region from the seventh to fourth centuries BC. And across the globe, in the Sechura Desert on the Pacific coast of Peru, the Huaca Amarilla archaeological site has yielded a unique—and surprising—glimpse of funerary practices in the pre-Hispanic period. Just a few of this month's focus on archaeology.