Editor: Jérémie Schiettecatte
| Ancient name | Kmnhw |
| Country | Yemen |
| Geographical area | Jawf - Wādī Madhab |
| Governorate | al-Jawf |
| Coordinates | Latitude: 16° 10' 05" Longitude: 44° 41' 21" |
| Coordinates accuracy | certain |
| Type of site | Settlement |
| Tribe | Tribe: Ḥnkyn (nisba) Tribe: Kmnhw Tribe: Krryn (nisba) Tribe: S¹bʾ Lineage: ʾdwn Lineage: ʿf Lineage: Ḫṭṭ Lineage: Ḥdd Lineage: Ḥḍr Lineage: Ḥṯrm Lineage: Qrnm Lineage: Ṣmr Lineage: Ṯbrn Lineage: Yhr |
| Deities | ʾldll ʾlmqh ʿṯtr ʿṯtr ḏ-Rḥbh ʿtṯr Ḥgr ʿṯtr S²rqn ḏ-Mdhww ḏ-Rḥbh ḏt-Ḥmym Mdhww Mdhww Rdʿt Nbʿl Nbʿl bʿl Ṣyrn Nbʿl S²bʿn Qbḍ Qbṭ Wd Wdm |
| Structures | Dwelling (indeterminate) Dwelling (concentrated) Light hydraulic structure (ex. canal, well) Wells, cisterns Building with political function Rampart Small temple Large temple Rock inscriptions |
| Language | Sabaic, Minaic |
| Location and toponomy | This site is located in the middle valley of the Jawf, 107 km north-west of Maʾrib, 9 km west of al-Ḥazm, on the left bank of wādī Madhāb, north-east of as-Sawdāʾ, ancient Nashshān. Toponymy The name Kaminahū (Kmnhw) used to indicate at the same time a tribe, its territory and probably also its ancient capital-city, today called Kamna. For the identification of the ancient toponym: Halévy 1873: 602-603; D. H. von Müller (1880: 1004-1005); Robin 1992: 155. Al-Hamdānī mentions Kamna twice as a maḥfad (stronghold) in the 10th century (al-Hamdānī, Sifāt, ed. Müller 1884: 167; al-Hamdānī, al-Iklīl vol. 8, ed. Faris 1940: 104). |
| History of research | Discovery J. Halévy (Halévy 1872: 79; 1873: 602-603) – or more probably his guide, H. Ḥabshūsh. Visits and surveys 1947: A. Fakhry (1952: 147), short description. 1980's: MAFRAY: epigraphic exploration (Robin 1981a: 151-152; Robin 1992: 149-194), plan of the rampart (Breton 1994: 99-102). If epigraphic knowledge provides a first picture of the city of Kamna, the stratigraphy and remains of the site are largely unknown, apart from the rampart. The knowledge of the site has been improved thanks to the numerous inscriptions coming from the looting of the site and reappearing today at antique markets. 2004: project for the protection of the sites and artefacts in danger from the region of Jawf (UNESCO, social development funds in Yemen): visit by R. Audouin and M. Arbach who described the area as being heavily plundered and in an alarming state of decay. |
| General description | Kamna is a rectangular hillock with an elongated shape, c. 10 m high. The site is surrounded by a wall of which only isolated parts still exist, each about 30 m long. It measures 400 x 140 m. The rampart is 1350 m long and is made of several curtain walls each being in recess to the previous one. It was built in stone and presented a large gate. Several construction phases can be identified on the rampart thanks to architectural features (Breton 1994). The remains of dwellings are still visible. The houses were built with a wooden structure filled in with mudbricks. Three temples are known in Kamna either thanks to their remains or by epigraphic sources: - the intra muros temple called Ys¹mʿqhl. The deity to which it was consecrated is unknown. Some pillars decorated with reliefs provide the name of the building and that of its builder, Yhzḥ Rdʿn bn S¹mhs¹mʿ, probably a king of Kmnhw. From its decoration scheme, this temple is related to the type of temples called “Banāt ʿĀd” (Arbach, Schiettecatte 2006: 18-20). - the temple S²bʿn dedicated to Nbʿl, the tutelary deity of the pantheon of Kmnhw. - the extra muros temple consecrated to Mdhww. It is located in Ḥizmat an-Naṣāʾib, 1100 m from Kamna. Inscriptions grant the dating of its activity to the 8th-5th century BC. From its decoration scheme, this temple is also related to the type of temples called “Banāt ʿĀd” (Robin 1981: 151-152 ; 1992: 150, 165-166). It is possible that the Sabaean god ʾlmqh had his own temple in the city of Kmnhw during the 7th century (Arbach & Rossi 2015). Among the other deities worshipped in Kamna, it is worth mentioning ʿṯtr Ḥgr, ʾldll, Qbḍ/Qbṭ, Wd and ʿṯtr ḏ-Rḥbh. The site is surrounded by an ancient irrigated area witnessing a thick sedimentary accumulation. An inscription (Kamna 12) mentions the consecration of a water inlet and a channel. |
| Chronology | The occupation of the site is dated to the 8th century BC at the latest (Kamna 1, Kamna 13+14). If we consider that the basis of the rampart lies on anthropogenic accumulation layers, and that the rampart dates back to the 7th century BC, the site foundation may precede the 8th century BC. Kmnhw was the seat of an autonomous and independent political entity in the 8th-6th centuries BC, and at the end of the 1st millennium BC. The Madhābian language was spoken. The tribe had its own pantheon. In the 8th century BC, Kmnhw appeared as one of the most important political entities in the Jawf valley together with Nashshān, upon which it eventually imposed itself until, supported by the Sabaean ally, Nashshān finally stated its domination by force upon Kmnhw. Kmnhw became an ally of the Sabaean mukarrib Krbʾl Wtr bn Ḏmrʿly. This alliance quickly took the appearance of a vassalage relationship under which Kmnhw paid tribute to the Sabaean kings (CIH 377). With the decline, and then the disappearance of the kingdom of Maʿīn, Kmnhw flourished once again in the 2nd-1st century BC. The identification of Caminacus, according to Pliny the Elder, with Kmnhw leads to the supposition that the site was destroyed by the expedition of Aelius Gallus, and that it never recovered from this event. No mention of the site is attested in South Arabia after the passage of the Roman expedition. |
| Classical sources | Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, VI, 32, 160: Caminacus Claudius Ptolemy, Geogr. 6.7.34 (2nd cent. AD): Κάρμαν βασίλειον (?) [identification proposed by Von Wissmann (1964, p. 140-141); this identification is uncertain if we consider that there is no evidence showing that the site was occupied at that time, and if we consider that the phonetic resemblance is only approximate]. |
| west of Ḥizmat an-Naṣāʾib (Unknown) |
| Epigraphs
in CSAI Objects in CSAI |