Wadi ad-Dawasir

Wadi ad-Dawasir is a governorate in the far south of Riyadh Province in Saudi Arabia. It takes its name from the broad valley on which it lies and from the Dawasir tribe, which has lived there for centuries. It is several hundred kilometres from the city of Riyadh and stands on the road linking central Saudi Arabia with Najran and Asir. Its administrative centre is the town of Al-Khamasin.

The valley runs across the southern end of the Tuwaiq mountains and is bordered to the south and east by the margins of the Empty Quarter. Palm oases dependent on wells have existed here since early times. Farming expanded greatly in the last decades of the twentieth century with the use of deep groundwater and centre-pivot irrigation, and fields of fodder, wheat and vegetables now cover large areas.

Towns and villages are spread along both sides of the valley. To the south lies the archaeological site of Qaryat al-Faw, an ancient caravan city on the trade routes of the Arabian Peninsula.