DASI

digital archive for the study of pre-islamic arabian inscriptions

Editor: Jérémie Schiettecatte


SITE INFORMATION

Ancient nameUnknown
CountryYemen
Geographical areawādī Bayḥān
GovernorateShabwa
KingdomQatabān
CoordinatesLatitude: 14° 55' 14"    Longitude: 45° 46' "    
Coordinates accuracyassumed
Type of siteSettlement
DeitiesWrfw
ʿm
StructuresDwelling (indeterminate)
Dwelling (concentrated)
Light hydraulic structure (ex. canal, well)
Rock inscriptions
LanguageQatabanic, Ḥaḍramitic
Location and toponomyAl-Ḥinû can be found on the right bank of wâdî Bayḥân, 15 km north-north-east of the city of Bayḥân, and about 1.5 km north-east of Hajar ibn Ḥumayd.
History of research1950: survey by the expedition of the American Foundation for the Study of Man (dir. W. Phillips)
General descriptionAl-Ḥinû is a small mound 100 m long and 80 m large, and about 3 to 4 m high. The surface is covered with pottery sherds.
The inscriptions from this site mention the presence of tower-houses (MuB 537, CIAS 47.82/j 1).
Inscription CIAS 47.82/o6 is a dedication by the inhabitants of the nearby city of dhât-Ghaylum (Hajar ibn Ḥumayd) in the temple of the deity Wrfw, probably on the site of al-Ḥinû.
ChronologyAccording to R.L. Bowen (1958: 6), the pottery collected on the surface of the site is dated to the last centuries before Christ.
The three inscriptions from the site are dated to a period included between the 5th century BC and the 3rd century AD:
MuB 537 (Qatabanic), B1 writing style (Avanzini), i.e. 5th-3th century BC.
CIAS 47.82/j 1 (Qatabanic), C writing style (Avanzini), i.e. 1st century BC/AD.
CIAS 47.82/o6 (Hadramitic), D writing style (Avanzini), i.e. 2nd-3rd century AD.

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RELATED MATERIAL

Epigraphs in CSAI
Objects in CSAI

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Avanzini 2004 a: 104-105, 292-293Avanzini, Alessandra 2004. Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions I-III. Qatabanic, Marginal Qatabanic, Awsanite Inscriptions. (Arabia Antica, 2). Pisa: Edizioni Plus-Università di Pisa.
Bowen 1958 b: 6Bowen, Richard LeBaron 1958. Archaeological survey of Beiḥân. Pages 3-33 in Richard LeBaron Bowen and Frank P. Albright (eds). Archaeological Discoveries in South Arabia. With foreword by Wendell Phillips. (Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, 2). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.