Naqb al-Hajar
Editor: Jérémie Schiettecatte
City walls.
Catalogue 2000: 142
Catalogue 2000: 142
SITE INFORMATION
| Ancient name | Myfʿt |
| Country | Yemen |
| Geographical area | Wādī Mayfaʿa |
| Governorate | Shabwa |
| Kingdom | Hadramawt Himyar |
| Coordinates | Latitude: 14° 19' 11" Longitude: 47° 30' 00" |
| Coordinates accuracy | certain |
| Type of site | Settlement |
| Tribe | S¹ybn |
| Deities | Ḥlyʾl Ḥwl S¹yn Wdm bʿl Myfʿt |
| Structures | Dwelling (indeterminate) Dwelling (concentrated) Light hydraulic structure (ex. canal, well) Large hydraulic structure (ex. dam) Wells, cisterns Rampart Small temple Graveyard Rock inscriptions |
| Language | Ḥaḍramitic |
| Location and toponomy | Naqb al Hajar, ancient Myfʿt, is located on the upper reaches of the wādī Mayfaʿa, in the governorate of Shabwa, 127 km southeast of Shabwa and 95 km northwest of Biʾr ʿAlī. |
| General description | Extension: 6 ha. The fortified settlement stands on the upper course of wādī Mayfaʿa distant 40 km from the Indian Ocean. It extends on two mounds with a small intersecting valley, embracing an area of 330 x 150 m. Northward it faces the wādī bed and southward a large irrigated area, which was intensively exploited in ancient times. |
| Chronology | In absence of archaeological excavations, it is possible to sketch an historical evolution of the settlement only with the help of the inscriptions. The site appears in the c. 5th-4th centuries BCE in inscriptions B-L Nashq, MAFYS-Naqb al-Hagar 1 to 4 and RES 3869. It is probable that, in view of its strategic position, this site rapidly became a useful stronghold against Qatabān, before, and Ḥimyar, after. It was an important fortified settlement on the road linking the Hadrami capital, Shabwa, to the seashore and the site of Qanīʾ from the 1st cent. BCE onwards. The latest mention of the ancient name of the site is ʿAdaban 1/43, in AD 360. |
| Classical sources | Claudius Ptolemy, Geogr. 6.7.10 Μαίθάθ κωμη or 6.7.41: Μέφα (?) (2nd cent. AD) Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae 23, 6, 47 (4th cent. AD): Maephe |
| Identification | 1835: J.R. Wellsted and C. Cruttenden |
| Travellers | 1870s: H. von Maltzan; S.B. Miles; M.W. Münziger |
| Archaeological missions | 1960s: G. Lankester Harding (UK) 1970s: B. Doe (UK) 1987: Mission Archéologique Française |
MONUMENTS
| [By A. Agostini] The walls line is continuous and long 710 m. The structure shows two different techniques: one is based on thinner walls (0.5 m) made with roughly squared blocks jointed without mortar, the second instead is based on very thick double walls (about 3 m) with mortar. On the southern side, facing the cultivated area, ramparts and towers are more regularly positioned and more high (up to 11 m) and use more refined pecked blocks. Two gates are located in the middle of the long axis in correspondence of the central depression between the two mounds, plus a postern on the eastern edge. Two bastions are flanking the entrances, of which the South Gate was probably the main one, in view of its massive construction and bent access. A well was in use close to the North Gate: it is a stone walled circular tower, 5 m in diameter. Within the site, on the eastern slope near the North Gate, stands a small square building (10.6 x 9.3 m) with a front wall 3.6 m high, the structure was realized with very refined masonry. On the ancient silt at a short distance, SE from the site, a necropolis has been detected, formed by a group of rectangular structures of cut masonry – it is probably pre-Islamic. |
Southern walls.
Southern gate.
Western walls.
Tower no.17.
MAP
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RELATED MATERIAL
| Epigraphs
in CSAI Objects in CSAI |