Editor: Alessio Agostini; Jérémie Schiettecatte
Ancient name | Mḏbm |
Country | Yemen |
Geographical area | Western Ḥaḍramawt |
Governorate | Ḥaḍramawt |
Kingdom | Hadramawt |
Coordinates | Latitude: 15° 36' 28.6" Longitude: 48° 9' 12.3" |
Coordinates accuracy | certain |
Type of site | Settlement |
Tribe | Tribe: Rmy Tribe: Yrmyhn (nisba for Rmy) Lineage: ʾlḥ Lineage: F[.]ḥm Lineage: Hys¹n |
Deities | ʾlmqh ḏt-Ḥmym Hwl S¹yn S¹yn ḏ-Mḏbm Wd Wdm |
Structures | Dwelling (indeterminate) Dwelling (concentrated) Dwelling isolated Light hydraulic structure (ex. canal, well) Large hydraulic structure (ex. dam) Small temple Large temple Graveyard Rock inscriptions |
Language | Qatabanic |
General description | Extension n.a.; The site is in wādī ʿAmd, one of the major tributaries of wādī Ḥaḍramawt. Like other sites of this area (e.g. Raybūn), the settlement was probably not fortified, because the geomorphology of the region permitted to efficiently control the access to the main valleys through some well fortified posts or fortresses. The site has been the first one to be scientifically excavated in former Southern Yemen. |
Chronology | The excavated temple has indicated at least three major phases, the first of which has been dated by archaeologists to the 5th century BC, but it is highly probable that this dating should be now raised up to 7th or 8th century BC, according to the recent discoveries which have helped in clarifying ancient South Arabian chronology. |
Archaeological missions | 1937: G. Caton Thompson (UK) |
[By A. Agostini] The temple is dedicated to the Hadramitic principal deity and lies within a group of pre-Islamic buildings, houses and farmsteads on the northern edge of the wādī. The temple is oriented to the cardinal points and the main façade in on the SW side. The excavation has showed three major phases. In the earliest, the building consisted of a rectangular stone paved platform (about 12.5 x 9.8) on which are five roughly hewn stone plinths remaining of six original pillars, probably in wood and now disappeared. During the second phase the entrance of the temple was extended southward of 2.6 m, and again of other 2 m in the last phase. Stone blocks originating from the first phase had been roughly worked, while in the subsequent phases more refined blocks have been used, and even the older ones have been often newly chiselled along the margins and pecked in the centre. Two flights of stone steps lead up to the platform. A complete length of pavement survives outside the NW and SE retaining walls. No complete pottery have been found, but the potsherd found have been recognized as the same forms and shapes discovered in the nearby tombs (see here below). Nearby the SW side a series of small apsidal shrines have been unearthed, they probably continued to be in use after destruction of the temple. |
[By A. Agostini] Several tombs have been positioned in the lower part of the northern cliff, they have been realized as artificial caves on the hillside, whose entrance is irregular (often oval). One of the excavated tombs seemed to be intact and not pillared (A5), the inner chamber is at 8 m of depth into the hillside, and its plan is horse-shoe in shape and the walls are curved inward. The more orderly group of burials had been arranged on a rock-cut bench on the eastern side of the tomb just inside the entrance. The tomb probably later became an ossuary for secondary burials, because bones have been found disarticulated and incomplete. Cosmetic palettes in alabaster and metal ornaments have been found amongst the burial goods together with obsidian microliths. |
Epigraphs
in CSAI Objects in CSAI |