Research in social anthropology

Vincent Battesti

Saudi Arabia

Everything about Saudi Arabia on this web site

Foundational genomic resources for date palm Phoenix dactylifera: A gap-free, telomere-to-telomere phased assembly of Ajwa and 19 high-quality genome assemblies

Art. (in English) in Scientific Data journal (Nature), Aug. 2026 🌴

Ethnobotany collection in al-ʿUlā

Deposit in the French National Herbarium (MNHN) – Ethnobotany (PAT)

Date palm agrobiodiversity collection in al-ʿUlā

Deposit in the French National Herbarium (MNHN) – Ethnobotany (PAT)

Hidden Richness, Ongoing Erosion, The Paradox of Date Palm Agrobiodiversity in al-ʿUlā Oasis, Saudi Arabia

Lecture (in English) 💬 given as part of the Society for Ethnobotany Annual Congress 2026 (Undisciplined Ethnobotany), Institut de Botanique, MSH (…)

Cultiver le désert : Analyse agronomique et sociale des systèmes de production de l’oasis d’al-ʿUlā, Arabie saoudite

Socio-agronomic book/report (in French) 📕 on oasis agriculture from al-ʿUlā AS project, Dec. 2025, CNRS.

Cultiver le désert : Analyse agronomique et sociale des systèmes de production de l’oasis d’al-ʿUlā, Arabie saoudite

Socio-agronomic book/report (in French) 📕 on oasis agriculture from al-ʿUlā AS project, Dec. 2025, CNRS.

al-ʿUlā Oasis Agriculture: Agronomic Survey Dataset (Saudi Arabia, 2019–2024)

Dataset 📀 on oasis agriculture of the project al-ʿUlā AS, Dec. 2025, CNRS, open access on Zenodo.

Cultivating the Desert: Agronomic and Social Analysis of Production Systems in the Oasis of al-ʿUlā, Saudi Arabia

Socio-agronomic report on oasis agriculture from al-ʿUlā AS project, Dec. 2025, CNRS.

Cultiver le désert : Analyse agronomique et sociale des systèmes de production de l’oasis d’al-ʿUlā, Arabie saoudite

Rapport socio-agronomique sur l’agriculture oasienne du projet al-ʿUlā AS, déc. 2025, CNRS.

Cultivating the Desert: Agronomic and Social Analysis of Production Systems in the Oasis of al-ʿUlā, Saudi Arabia

Socio-agronomic book/report 📕 on oasis agriculture from al-ʿUlā AS project, Dec. 2025, CNRS.

al-ʿUlā Oasis Agriculture: Agronomic Survey Dataset (Saudi Arabia, 2019–2024)

Dataset on oasis agriculture of the project al-ʿUlā AS, Dec. 2025, CNRS, open access on Zenodo.

al-ʿUlā DPA Project Final Report (2019–2025)

Final report for the project al-ʿUlā Date Palm Agrobiodiversity, Dec. 2025

al-ʿUlā DPA Project Final Report (2019–2025), Ethnographic, genetic, and morphometric analyses of the date palm agrobiodiversity in al-ʿUlā oasis

Final Report 2025

al- ʿUlā AS Project Final Report (2019–2024)

Final report for the project al-ʿUlā Anthropological Survey, Nov. 2025

al- ʿUlā AS Project Final Report (2019–2024)

Final report for the project al-ʿUlā Anthropological Survey, Nov. 2025

Date Palms and Palm Groves in Saudi Arabia, An Ethnobotanical Perspective

Chap. (in English) solicited by al-Qassim Palms and Dates Museum and submitted Feb. 2025

Digging deeper into the impacts of different soil water systems on the date palm root architecture and associated fungal communities

Art. (in English) A. Robin-Soriano et al. in Symbiosis (2025)

Fifth-year Report—Dec. 2024. Ethnographic, genetic, and morphometric analyses of the date palm agrobiodiversity in al-ʿUlā oasis

Annual Report 2024

Book in progress: Practices, Categorization, and Agrobiodiversity: Date Palms in al-ʿUlā Oasis (Saudi Arabia)

A book (in English) from the project al-ʿUlā DPA; the work has been reviewed, accepted and is currently being published by the University of (…)

Practices, Categorization, and Agrobiodiversity: Date Palms in al-ʿUlā Oasis (Saudi Arabia)

A book (in English) from the project al-ʿUlā DPA; the work has been reviewed, accepted and is currently being published by the University of (…)

Varietal diversity and cultivation practices of the date palm in the al-ʿUlā oasis

Chap. (in English) in AlUla : Wonder of Arabia (2023), Vincent Battesti & Muriel Gros-Balthazard.

From Holocene Agroecosystems to Contemporary Oasis Patterns: Archaeological Keys and Perspectives on the Past

Lecture (in French) given as part of the workshop “Paleo-environment: Past climates, landscape dynamics, and human-environment interactions in the (…)

Harvesting the Biocultural in Palm Groves…? Collection and Ethnobotany of the Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.)

Lecture (in French) given at the Herbarium, National Botanical Collection, National Museum of Natural History, Jardin des Plantes, on April 30, (…)

埃尔奥拉绿洲中椰枣品种多样性与栽培实践

Chapter (in Chinese) in 埃尔奥拉：阿拉伯半岛的奇迹绿洲 (AlUla : Wonder of Arabia) (2024), Vincent Battesti & Muriel Gros-Balthazard.

Strontium isotope evidence for Pre-Islamic cotton cultivation in Arabia

New! Art. in English. In Frontiers in Earth Science journal.

Fourth-year Report—Dec. 2023. Anthropological survey of al-ʿUlā community and its oasis system

Annual Report 2023 — Unveiling al-ʿUlā: Deepening Understanding of Anthropological Dynamics

Fourth-year Report—Dec. 2023. Ethnographic, genetic, and morphometric analyses of the date palm agrobiodiversity in al-ʿUlā oasis

Annual Report 2023

Emergence and evolution of date palm cultivation in Northwestern Arabia

Lecture (in English) given for the international conference “Human-Environment Interactions in Ancient Arabia” (HEIAA), at the University of (…)

Emergence and evolution of date palm cultivation in Northwestern Arabia

Lecture (in English) given for the international conference “Human-Environment Interactions in Ancient Arabia” (HEIAA), at the University of (…)

Job offer at the CNRS: Technician for heritage collections at the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle

Position starting: February 1, 2024. Application deadline: Nov. 23, 2023.

Perceptions and practices of the environment, oasis and desert contrasts (Sahara and Arabia)

Art. in French. submitted to… Parcours anthropologiques journal.

The oasis of al-ʿUlā between two waves of change

Ed. book of al-ʿUlā AS project, work in progress.

Comparison of the agricultural area of Muġayrāʾ (al-ʿUlā, KSA) between 1972, 1986 and 2023

Testing the JuxtaposeJS slider tool.

Bedouins and Sedentaries today in al-ʿUlā (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia): al-diyār and al-Dīrah in the rear-view mirror

Art. (in English) in Arabian Humanities journal.

Publication of the first anthropological and social study on al-ʿUlā

Bedouins and Sedentaries today in al-ʿUlā (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia): al-diyār and al-Dīrah in the rear-view mirror | Art. in English in Arabian (…)

Bédouins et Sédentaires aujourd’hui à al-ʿUlā (Royaume d’Arabie saoudite), al-diyār et al-Dīra dans le rétroviseur

Art. (in French) in Arabian Humanities in 2023, Vincent Battesti & Léo Marty

Working list of named types of date palms cultivated in al-ʿUlā oasis (KSA)

Research report 2023 (in English).

Comparison of al-ʿUlā oasis valley (KSA) between 1965 and 2023

Testing the JuxtaposeJS slider tool.

Sampling date palms in al-ʿUlā (Saudi Arabia)

Video 🍿 of ethnobotanical/genetic fieldwork.

Position Agricultural Engineer (M/F): 6 months at al-ʿUlā in Saudi Arabia

Start date: February 1, 2023. Application deadline: January 23, 2023.

What lies behind a fruit crop variety name? A case study of the barnī date palm from al-ʿUlā oasis, Saudi Arabia

Art. in Plants, People, Planet journal, vol. 5 (1), Jan. 2023, p. 82-97

Third-year Report—Dec. 2022. Anthropological survey of al-ʿUlā community and its oasis system

Annual Report 2022

Third-year Report—Nov. 2022. Ethnographic, genetic, and morphometric analyses of the date palm agrobiodiversity in al-ʿUlā oasis

Annual Report 2022

Investigating the date palms of a three thousand year old oasis

What lies behind fruit crops variety names? The date palm as a case study

Lecture (in English) with Muriel Gros-Balthazard given for the EUNOPS (European Network of Palm Scientists) Conference, October 2022, Geneva (…)

Project participants to al-ʿUlā DPA Project

Addition and convergence of scientific expertise for a research on the agrobiodiversity of date palms and their history in al-ʿUlā oasis in Saudi (…)

Perceptions and practices of its environment, contrasted in the oases and in the desert (Sahara, Arabia)

Lecture (in French/English) given for the workshop “The contour of the senses. Subjectivities, representations and sensitive experience of (…)

Project participants to al-ʿUlā AS Project

Addition and convergence of scientific expertise for a research on al-ʿUlā oasis in Saudi Arabia.

On the field for al-ʿUlā-AS: Dr. Joëlle Brochier-Puig

March 2022 Social geography of water and irrigation in al-ʿUlā

Postdoctoral contract offer: Ecological knowledge and know-how of communities in al-ʿUlā oasis region, Saudi Arabia

Effective date: April 1st, 2022. Application deadline: March 24th, 2022 Date passed, but if interested, contact me.

Urban Anthropology: The MENA Region (Middle East and North Africa)

Chap. with Nicolas Puig (2021) for The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology

A Timelapse Landsat of al-ʿUlā 1985-2020

The changes in exploiting the environment in the region of al-ʿUlā, KSA

Second-year Report—Sept. 2021. Anthropological survey of al-ʿUlā community and its oasis system

Annual Report 2021

Second-year Report—Sept. 2021. Ethnographic, genetic, and morphometric analyses of the date palm agrobiodiversity in al-ʿUlā oasis

Annual Report 2021

Is Barnī, a date palm cultivated in the oasis of al-ʿUlā, a true-to-type cultivar or an ethnovariety? Arguments from ethnographic and genetic data

Report (2021) (in English)

First-year Report—Sept. 2020. Ethnographic, genetic, and morphometric analyses of the date palm agrobiodiversity in al-ʿUlā oasis

Annual Report 2020

First-year Report—Sept. 2020. Anthropological survey of al-ʿUlā community and its oasis system

Annual Report 2020

Date palm genetic and diversity: The case of al-ʿUlā oasis

Research Report 2020.

Anthropological Issues among the Communities of the Oasis of al-ʿUlā: Scientific Synthesis Report

Scientific Synthesis Report May 2020. Preliminary Considerations on a Project for an Oasis Museum in al-ʿUlā

Origins and diversity of the Date Palm in al-ʿUlā Oasis, Saudi Arabia: a multidisciplinary approach combining Genomics, Ethnobotany and Archaeobiology

Unfinished doctoral thesis (Feb. 2020-Sept. 2021): Matthieu Breil

PhD/ CNRS Doctoral contract offer: Origins and diversity of the Date Palm in al-ʿUlā Oasis, Saudi Arabia: a multidisciplinary approach combining Genomics, Ethnobotany and Archaeobiology

Effective date: February 1st, 2020. Application deadline: January 13th, 2020

The functioning of an oasian community, and its relations toward the environment: al-ʿUlā oasis

Doctoral thesis (Nov. 2019-April 2024): Léo Marty

Doctoral contract offer: Functioning of an oasis community in Saudi Arabia and its relationship to the environment: al-ʿUlā oasis

Effective date: November 1, 2019. Application deadline: October 9, 2019

Mapping and Interpreting Bibliographic Knowledge, The Oasis of al-ʿUlā in Saudi Arabia

Master thesis 1st year, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, by Doria Bellache (dir. Vincent Battesti)

Photographs taken during a first fieldwork reconnaissance mission in al-ʿUlā (KSA). April 2019

See al-ʿUlā oasis, Saudi Arabia.