Qaryat is the name, mentioned in ancient sources, for the place now known as al-Fau. Qaryat (al-Fau) lies about 700 km to the southwest of Riyadh. It stands at the place where Wadi al-Dawasir intersects with the Tuwaiq Mountains, at the mouth of a dry channel, called al-Faw. The city overlooks the northwestern edge of the Empty Quarter. There is mention of Qaryat in modern and Islamic sources, while   reference to it is made in early South Arabian written sources.  These sources indicate that Qaryat was the capital of the first kingdom of Kinda (1st. Cent. B. C. to 4th Cent. A. D.). Qaryat was of great importance, both commercially and politically; commercially as a major station on the land trade route extending from South to North Arabia, and politically as the capital of one of the major Arabian kingdoms in Pre – Islamic times. The city of (al-Fau) extends ca. 5 km. from north to south and 2 km. from east to west. It comprises two major areas; one is a residential, formed of houses, squares, streets, channels and two markets (internal and external), and the other, non-residential, containing the temples and cemeteries.  Architecturally, the city is a proto-type of the Arabian city in the Arabian Peninsula, in Pre-Islamic times.