An interesting feature of this statuette is the saddle, which is essentially a chair which has
been positioned in front of the hump. Saddles of this type are found in North Africa but were and still are extremely rare in the Middle East. In riding a camel, three positions are possible: behind the hump on a pad resting on the crupper (as among the Bedouin in Oman and in camel-racing throughout Arabia); on a saddle made up of a frame which fits over the hump (as used throughout Arabia except parts of Oman); and on a chair-like structure tied in front of the hump (as used principally in north Africa). Bareback riding normally consists of lying flat on the crupper, clinging onto the hump, but theoretically could also be done sitting on, or in front of the hump, though both the latter positions are very unstable. There are representations of all these positions, both bareback and with saddles, in ancient rock drawings and relief. A rock-drawing from near Tabuk in north-western Arabia shows a camel with a rectangular object strapped in front of the hump by a triple girth. This drawing is part of a composition which could date to as early as the 8th century BC. An unpublished rock-drawing from north-eastern Jordan dated roughly to the 1st or 2nd century AD shows a rider perched on what looks like a pad held onto the front slope of the hump by a triple girth. Both these drawings are very detailed and were the work of nomads, who might be expected to have an accurate knowledge of camel trappings. A South Arabian relief (see BM 102601) showing a man apparently riding bareback in front of the hump might be treated as fanciful if it were not that riders are occasionally portrayed in the same position in rock-drawings by nomads in northern Arabia. The type of saddle most commonly portrayed both in North Arabian rock-art and on South Arabian stelae is the frame which fits over the hump, of which there were several sub-varieties, as in CIH 698, 705, 708, 718, 719, etc. (cf. Simpson 2002: 99).