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The powerful Himyarite Confederation (110 BCE to 525–630 CE), with its capital Zafār was once the mightiest kingdom in Arabia and its rise was based on highly developed irrigation technology. In the centuries after its fall, the city has suffered considerable damage. In order better to understand the culture and history of the Дimyarites, annual research projects have taken place in Zafār since 1998. The University of Heidelberg Expedition to Zafār is made possible by a grant from the German Research Society (DFG).
In Erskine-Loftus Pamela (ed.), Museums and the Material World. Collecting the Arabian Peninsula, Boston, Edinburg: Museums Etc
Archaeological collecting in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in P. Erskine-Loftus (ed.), Museums and the Material World. Collecting the Arabian Peninsula , Boston, Edinburg: Museums Etc, 20142014 •
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The Dhamar Plain, located about a hundred kilometers to the south of Sanaa, is the largest agricultural area in the central highlands of Yemen (fig. 1). The Himyarite Kingdom, which ruled much of Yemen in the period between 100 B.C. and A.D. 600, was built upon this superb agricultural base. Undoubtedly, Himyar benefited from tolls on the camel caravans that passed through its territory laden with frankincense and myrrh from farther south, as well as spices and other goods from beyond the Arabian Peninsula. Although not as famous as Saba (= Sheba), which has become known to the world through the visit of the queen of Sheba to King Solomon, the kingdom of Himyar, which succeeded Saba and extended its control to most of Yemen, played a key role in east-west trade and politics during the period of the Romans. The history and archaeology of the Dhamar area in the period in which it was part of the Sabaean Kingdom (Iron Age) and in even earlier times is only now beginning to be known. Ar...
Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies
Banks, Fradley, Schiettecatte & Zerbini 2017 An integrated approach to surveying the archaeological landscapes of Yemen, PSAS 47: 9-24This paper presents recent research by the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) project at the Universities of Oxford and Leicester, and Jérémie Schiettecatte at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Paris. It critically investigates the contribution of documenting sites through recent remote surveys using freely available satellite imagery to improve our understanding of ancient landscapes in Yemen, and the role of field surveys and excavations in this process. The documentation and recording includes an assessment of the threat to sites with a view to improving their protection in the future.
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The ancient capital Ẓafār lies 130 km south-south-east of Ṣanʿāʾ in the Yemeni southern Highlands at 2800 m altitude. Rich soil and during the greater and lesser monsoons generous rain bless her. Until recently the major historical role and importance of Ẓafār, capital of the Himyarite tribal confederacy (sovereignty 110 BCE – 525 CE), were largely ignored. But 1998 – 2010 in nine field campaigns she revealed herself to be a rewarding source which heralds the arrival of Islam. In 2002 we re-organised the Ẓafār Site Museum and installed an English – Arabic exhibition. We catalogued its 220 Ḥimyarite period inscriptions and 900 reliefs. These date from the 3rd – early 6th centuries CE. 523 – 525 Christians and Jews took up arms against each other. Traditionally the milieu and time of Ḥimyar (and Ẓafār) are believed to be decadent. But more careful examination reveals them to be a direct ancestor of Islam. To be fair, the usual characterisation of ‘decadence’ for the Ḥimyarite period is a many-facetted term which requires detailed value-neutral definition. Diverse sources form the present volume: Survey of Ẓafār and the surrounding areas, cataloguing of excavated finds, excavations especially of tombs (cemetery zc001) and of the Stone Building – our major excavation. As preserved, the c. 30 m x 30 m Stone Building juts into the south-western slope of the Ḥuṣn Raydān. After abandonment, debris from the western slope filled it up. There was no sudden destruction. A precinct enclosure surrounds the Ḥuṣn Raydān complex. A 4.5 km long wall and possibly a trench girth the city. We can trace the former. Numerous tombs and graves form cemeteries and line city entrances. Different sizes and types occur, the largest range up to 12 m in length. 13% of the pottery is imported. Most numerous are late Roman period amphorae from ʿAqaba. Local wares have untreated surfaces and are mostly wheel-turned. Rare post-abandonment Celadon sherds came to light. For chronological reasons the pottery from the Ǧabal al-ʿAwd resembles more that from al-Aḍlaʿ than from Ẓafār. The vast majority of 1066 sculpture pieces and lots retrieved are in relief. The latest are 1.70 m high standing figures of men of Aksumite-Byzantine type which wear a crown. They provide dating evidence for the final major additions to the Stone Building. Pre-Islamic Arabia developed, or at least borrowed royal iconography. Both imports and foreign influences appear in the art at Ẓafār. A ring engraved with a Torah shrine forms the earliest evidence for the arrival of Jewish believers in the area. Imported glass of Roman type is common at Ẓafār. The site was extensively scavenged during and after its abandonment. Thus coins and metallic small finds are rare. A Roman period inscription written in Greek appears to date not earlier than the 2nd century CE. Three new Sabaic texts enable the re-dating of the regency of Šuraḥbiʾil Yakkaf to 465 – 474 CE. Some 16.000 charred plant remains were recovered. The most important cereals are Hordeum (hulled barley) and less so Avena (oats). The Stone Building but also cemetery zc01 yielded some 6000 animal bone fragments. 90% are cattle. A camel hybrid occurred. No early habitation came to light at Ẓafār. The end of the occupation is far more secure by virtue of sculpture, inscriptions, pottery and historical reconstruction. The much-altered Stone Building fell out of use and the entire site declined to a walled medieval squatter settlement. In 2010 we roofed the Stone Building, electrified the site and provided the watchmen’s which we built with beds and blankets. The city’s demise jibes both with the pandemic of 541–543 CE and the general insurrection quelled by Abraha in 548. A series of megadroughts confronted the Ḥimyar, the worst of which took place in and around 530.
A corpus of alabaster sculptures, inscriptions, and archival documentation related to the modern exploration of sites in the Wadi Beihan in Yemen is housed today in research archives and institutions in Washington, DC. In recent years, a team has begun to revisit and study this corpus with the aim to understand the implications of removing materials from the Wadi Beihan, and to improve our current knowledge of the Qataban cultures of the late first millennium BCE and the first centuries of the first millennium CE. This paper will introduce results of a series of ongoing projects that involve multidisciplinary approaches and collaborative international research initiatives. The aim of the presentation is to (1) highlight new technological work on the extent and role of polychromies in ancient South Arabian material cultures, (2) to outline current major challenges and research trajectories when working on the preservation of Yemeni heritage from Washington, DC, and (3), to critically reflect upon current preservation effort narratives of the wider Middle East in the context of Yemen.
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