The Tihamah Coastal Plain of South-West Arabia in its Regional Context c. 6000 BC – AD 600 9781841718941, 9781407329031

Table of contents :
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Abstract
Table of Contents
List of Tables and Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction
CHAPTER 1: ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN SOUTH WEST ARABIA: AN HISTORIOGRAPHICAL OVERVIEW
CHAPTER 2: THE TIHAMAH AS A REGION: PHYSICAL AND HISTORICAL EVIDENCE
CHAPTER 3: A SYNTHESIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND THE CULTURE HISTORY OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA FROM THE 6TH MILLENNIUM BC TO THE 6TH CENTURY AD
CHAPTER 4: THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH IN THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD FROM THE 6TH TO THE 1ST MILLENNIA BC
CHAPTER 5: THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH IN THE IRON AGE
CHAPTER 6: RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA FROM THE 6TH MILLENNIUM BC TO THE 6TH CENTURY AD
CHAPTER 7: SYNTHESIS: THE PRE-ISLAMIC TIHAMAH IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT FROM THE 6TH MILLENNIUM BC TO THE 6TH CENTURY AD
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Citation preview

BAR S1456 2005

Society for Arabian Studies Monographs No. 4 Series editors D. Kennet & St J. Simpson

DURRANI

The Tihamah Coastal Plain of South-West Arabia in its Regional Context c.6000 BC - AD 600

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH-WEST ARABIA

Nadia Durrani

BAR International Series 1456 2005 B A R red cover template.indd 1

25/01/2012 16:28:48

Society for Arabian Studies Monographs No. 4 Series editors D. Kennet & St J. Simpson

The Tihamah Coastal Plain of South-West Arabia in its Regional Context c.6000 BC - AD 600 Nadia Durrani

BAR International Series 1456 2005

Published in 2016 by BAR Publishing, Oxford BAR International Series 1456 Society for Arabian Studies Monographs No. 4 Series Editors D. Kennet & St J. Simpson The Tihamah Coastal Plain of South-West Arabia in its Regional Context c. 6000 BC – AD 600 © N Durrani and the Publisher 2005 The author's moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of the Publisher.

ISBN 9781841718941 paperback ISBN 9781407329031 e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841718941 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library BAR Publishing is the trading name of British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd. British Archaeological Reports was first incorporated in 1974 to publish the BAR Series, International and British. In 1992 Hadrian Books Ltd became part of the BAR group. This volume was originally published by Archaeopress in conjunction with British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd / Hadrian Books Ltd, the Series principal publisher, in 2005. This present volume is published by BAR Publishing, 2016.

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ABSTRACT The Tihamah coastal plain of South West Arabia in its regional context: c.6000 BC-AD 600 The Tihamah plain extends some 500km down the western coast of modern Yemen and about 100km along its southern coast. This publication presents the first long-term culture-history of the Tihamah, through the exploration of socioeconomic, cultural and political developments and of the region's relation to the rest of South West Arabia to its east, and to the Horn of Africa lying to its west, across the Red Sea. This research assimilates and analyses all of the available data for an archaeological understanding of the pre-Islamic Tihamah. This comprehensive study, taken in a long-term perspective, enables the identification of patterns, discontinuities, changes and current interpretive problems related to the development of the Tihamah in its relation to neighbouring regions. The analysis is based on published and unpublished archaeological research - including field research undertaken by the author - and on a range of historical sources, which include South West Arabian pre-Islamic inscriptions and Graeco-Roman sources. It also draws on a disparate range of relevant data from the rest of South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa over an equivalent period. This publication demonstrates the importance of the Tihamah to wider cultural, economic and political developments within the rest of South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa. It adds to the emerging pre-Islamic history of other regions of South West Arabia that have been studied more fully elsewhere.

i

CONTENTS Abstract Contents List of Tables & Figures Acknowledgements Introduction

i iii vii ix 1

CHAPTER 1 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN SOUTH WEST ARABIA: AN HISTORIOGRAPHICAL OVERVIEW 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.4.1 1.4.2 1.4.2.1 1.4.2.2 1.4.2.3 1.5

Introduction The chronology An historiographical overview of pre-Islamic research in South West Arabia Historiographic overview of research into the prehistoric archaeological record of the Tihamah The prehistoric archaeological record of the Tihamah The historic archaeological record of the Tihamah Sites Coins Inscriptions An overview of the dominant models for the study of the Tihamah plain

5 6 6 8 9 12 12 15 16 16

CHAPTER 2 THE TIHAMAH AS A REGION: PHYSICAL AND HISTORICAL EVIDENCE 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.3.1 2.3.2 2.3.3 2.3.4 2.3.5 2.4 2.5

Introduction Physical and environmental character Textual sources for a study of the Tihamah Egyptian sources Greek and Roman sources Epigraphic South Arabian sources Pre-Islamic Ethiopian sources Medieval Islamic accounts An historical over-view of the Tihamah from the 16th–20th centuries The Tihamah as a region: an historical analysis

19 19 21 21 22 24 26 27 28 29

CHAPTER 3 A SYNTHESIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA FROM TH TH THE 6 MILLENNIUM BC TO THE 6 CENTURY AD 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.3.1 3.3.2 3.3.3 3.4 3.4.1 3.4.2 3.4.3 3.5

Introduction Chronology A regional study of pre-Islamic archaeological research The Sayhad region The Hadramawt The Central Highlands A synthesis of South West Arabian archaeology by period The Neolithic The Bronze Age The Iron Age Overview

CHAPTER 4 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TH ST FROM THE 6 TO THE 1 MILLENNIA BC 4.1 4.2. 4.2.1 4.2.2 4.2.3

Introduction The Neolithic Chronology Jizan area Neolithic middens The Hodeidah area middens

31 31 32 32 39 39 42 42 43 44 46 TIHAMAH IN THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD 47 47 47 48 50

iii

4.3 4.3.1 4.3.2 4.3.3 4.3.4 4.3.5 4.3.6 4.4 4.4.1 4.4.2 4.4.3

The Bronze Age Chronology The Jizan area Bronze Age: Sihi Midi Al-Midaman Al-Muhandid Sabir Synthesis: the culture-history of the Tihamah in the Prehistoric period The nature and range of occupation on the Tihamah Economic development on the Tihamah Cultural dynamics on the Tihamah

53 53 53 58 58 61 62 67 67 69 71

CHAPTER 5 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH IN THE IRON AGE 5.1. Introduction 5.2 The Iron Age chronology 5.3 The Iron Age sites on the Tihamah 5.3.1 The Jizan area Iron Age evidence 5.3.2 Al-Hamid 5.3.2.1 Al-Hamid: the excavation results 5.3.2.2 Al-Hamid: the material culture 5.3.2.2.1 Environmental evidence 5.3.2.3 Al-Hamid: chronology 5.3.2.4 Al-Hamid: interpretation 5.3.3 Waqir 5.3.4 The Iron Age Hodeidah area middens 5.3.5 STN 5.4 Coin hoards from the Tihamah 5.4.1 The Bajil coin hoard 5.4.2 The al-Madhariba hoard of gold Aksumite and late Roman coins 5.5 Inscriptions from the Tihamah 5.6 Synthesis: the culture-history of the Tihamah in the Iron Age 5.6.1 Iron Age chronology: a review 5.6.2 The Iron Age settlements on the Tihamah 5.6.2.1 The character of the Iron Age sites on the Tihamah 5.6.2.2 The relation of the Iron Age sites to the Bronze Age sites on the Tihamah 5.6.2.3 The relation of the Iron Age sites on the Tihamah to Iron Age sites in the Sayhad region and Central Highlands 5.6.3. Settlement systems 5.6.3.1 The agricultural basis of the sites on the Tihamah 5.6.3.2 Cultural connections between sites on the Tihamah 5.6.3.3 Economic connections between sites on the Tihamah 5.6.3.4 Political connections between sites on the Tihamah 5.6.4 The epigraphic data from the Tihamah: evidence of connections 5.6.5 Relations between the Tihamah and the inland Sayhad region 5.6.6 Relations between the Tihamah and the Horn of Africa CHAPTER 6 RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA FROM THE 6TH MILLENNIUM BC TH THE 6 CENTURY AD 6.1. 6.2

Introduction A history of archaeology in the Horn of Africa

73 73 74 74 75 75 78 79 79 81 83 84 85 86 86 87 87 90 90 92 92 93 94 96 96 97 97 97 98 99 99

TO

101 101

PART I: PREHISTORIC EVIDENCE (c.6th-1st millennia BC) 6.3 6.3.1 6.3.2 6.4 6.5

The dissemination of domesticated plants and animals The dissemination of domesticated plants The dissemination of domesticated animals Obsidian Ceramics iv

103 103 105 107 107

6.5.1 6.5.2 6.5.3 6.6 6.7

African ceramic parallels with pottery from Sihi African ceramic parallels with pottery from the Hodeidah area African ceramic parallels with pottery from Sabir Megalithic monuments An overview of relations between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia in the prehistoric period

108 109 109 112 112

PART II: THE HISTORIC PERIOD (c.1st millennium BC-6th century AD) 6.8 6.8.1 6.8.2 6.8.2.1 6.8.2.2 6.8.2.3 6.8.2.4 6.8.3 6.8.4 6.8.4.1 6.8.4.2 6.8.4.3 6.9 6.9.1 6.9.2 6.9.2.1 6.9.2.2 6.9.3 6.9.4 6.10

The pre-Aksumite culture Chronology Pre-Aksumite data The epigraphic record Architecture Art and iconography Ceramics Pre-Aksumite contacts between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia: the published interpretations Pre-Aksumite contacts between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia: a re-examination Pre-Aksumite cultural contacts with South West Arabia Pre-Aksumite political contacts with South West Arabia Pre-Aksumite economic contacts with South West Arabia The Aksumite culture Chronology The Aksumite data Coins Inscriptions Aksumite contacts between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia: the published interpretations Aksumite contacts between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia: a re-examination An overview of relations between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia from the Neolithic to the 6th century AD

CHAPTER 7 SYNTHESIS: 6TH CENTURY AD 7.1. 7.2 7.3 7.3.1 7.3.2 7.3.3 7.3.4 7.3.5 7.4

THE PRE-ISLAMIC

TIHAMAH IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT FROM THE 6TH MILLENNIUM BC

Summary of research A chronology for the pre-Islamic Tihamah Key themes The pre-Islamic cultures on the Tihamah Pre-Islamic cultural contacts with regions beyond the Tihamah Pre-Islamic economic developments: the Neolithisation of the Tihamah Pre-Islamic economic relations on the Tihamah and with neighbouring regions Pre-Islamic socio-political organisation on the Tihamah Future research

114 114 116 116 117 118 119 120 121 121 123 124 125 125 125 126 126 127 127 128

TO THE

131 132 134 134 136 137 138 140 143 145

BIBLIOGRAPHY

v

LIST OF TABLES & FIGURES Table 1: C-14 dates for Bronze Age levels at Shabwa Table 2: C-14 dates from the western Sayhad sites Table 3: C-14 dates for early Iron Age Raybun Table 4: C-14 Neolithic dates from the Jizan area Table 5: C-14 Neolithic dates from the Hodeidah area shell middens Table 6: C-14 dates from Sihi Table 7: the epigraphic data from the Tihamah Table 8: megalithic monuments in the Horn of Africa

33 35 38 48 50 56 88 113

Fig. 1: Map of South West Arabia, showing key sites mentioned in the text Fig. 2: Map of pre-Islamic arch sites Tihamah, including wadis Fig. 3: Map of Horn of Africa and surrounding areas Fig. 4: Ba’ran Temple in Marib Fig. 5: View of inner zone of the Tihamah, taken near to al-Hamid in 1998 Fig. 6: View of Tihami sabkhas (with thanks to Khalidi and Lewis) Fig. 7: Map of Tihamah - coins and inscriptions Fig. 8: Simplified map showing the prehistoric archaeological sites on the Tihamah Fig. 9: Black burnished C-Group pottery, and black burnished ceramics from Sihi Fig. 10 View of Al- Midaman (with thanks to Ed Keall, and ROM) Fig. 11 Plan of Al-Midaman (by Giumlia-Mair et al. 1999) Fig. 12: Plan of al-Muhandid (by Benardelli and Parrinello, 1970) Fig 13: View of Sabir 2 (with thanks to Vogt) Fig. 14: Plan of Sabir 5 (by Vogt and Sedov, 1998a) Fig. 15: Aerial view of Sabir 5- (with thanks to Vogt). Fig. 16: Plan of Area A (by Carl S. Phillips) Fig. 17: Plan of Area B (by Carl S. Phillips) Fig. 18: View of Area B. . Fig. 19: Looking east across the interior threshold of Room 1, leading into Room 2; Area B Fig. 20: Plan of Waqir (by Carl S. Phillips) Fig. 21: View across STN, looking east (with thanks to Khalidi and Lewis) Fig. 22: View south from al-Hamid. Fig. 23: Gash Group and Jabal Mokram Group ceramics: comparisons with pottery from Sihi Fig. 24: Gash Group and Jabal Mokram Group ceramics: comparisons with pottery from Sabir Fig. 25: A comparison of similar iconography in Yemen and Ethiopia 25 a) Frieze of ibex from the pre-Aksumite Yeha temple in Ethiopia 25 b) Frieze of ibex from the Sabaean Ba’ran temple in Marib

2 3 4 5 20 20 25 47 55 58 59 62 63 64 64 76 77 77 77 83 85 92 110 111 119

vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This publication of this book has only been possible thanks to the kind help of many individuals and organizations. Firstly, for his thorough assistance and kind support in publishing my thesis, my thanks go to Dr St John Simpson of the British Museum. Thank you to Dr Derek Kennet, co-editor with St John Simpson of this monograph series; to Dr Tony Wilkinson for refereeing the text for publication; and to Dr David Davidson. For his help, generosity and encouragement while I was a PhD student, I thank Dr Todd Whitelaw, my principal supervisor. His wisdom and guidance were integral to the completion of my thesis. Thanks to Carl Phillips for initially acting as my PhD supervisor and involving me in two expeditions to the Tihamah. Further thanks are due to the following individuals for answering additional questions related to my research: Dr Janet Ambers; Dr Vittoria Buffa; Dr Dorian Fuller; Dr Iris Gerlach; Dr Abdu Ghaleb; Dr Holger Hitgen; Samir al-Kadasi; Dr Edward Keall; Prof. Kenneth Kitchen; Prof. Andrey Korotayev; Dr Andrea Manzo; Dr Mohammad Maraqten; Dr Louise Martin; Dr Kevin MacDonald; Richard Meager; Dr Dominique de Moulins; Dr Jacke Phillips; Prof. David Phillipson; Alexandra Porter; Dr Andrew Reid; Ahmad Shamsan; and Dr Tony Wilkinson. With added thanks to Dr Niall Finneran for his commentary on Chapter 6. The library staff at the Institute of Archaeology; the School of Oriental and African Studies; and the Society of Antiquaries, London are thanked for their assistance with my research. My gratitude goes to my brother, Dr Matin Durrani, for his sustained editorial help; and to my good friend, Dr Claire Fogg, for additional proof reading. For images, thanks are due to Dr Ed Keall; Lamya Khalidi and Krista Lewis; Carl Phillips; and Dr Burkhard Vogt. I would like to thank the Society for Arabian Studies for providing a grant to help me to update this thesis for inclusion in the monograph series. Financial assistance for my PhD research came from my parents, Prof. Saeed and Ingeborg Durrani; from Hameed Abdullah Al-Ahmar MP in Yemen; and from University College London. I also send kind thanks to the following people for their support in many different ways: Prof. Yusuf Abdullah; Dr Hussein Abdullah al-Amri; Prof. Beatrice de Cardi; Paul Charlton; Dr Harriet Crawford; John Herbert; Matthew Hillier; Dr David Jeffries; Dr Augusta McMahon; Richard Meager; Judy Medrington; David Morgan Evans; Alexandra Nilsson; Jeffery and Jocelyn Orchard; the Selkirk family; Vivienne Sharpe; Nanina Shaw-Reade; Dr Francine Stone; Prof. Ken Thomas; Prof. Peter Ucko; Prof. Ruth Whitehouse; Patricia Wenz; and my family.

ix

INTRODUCTION Breath-taking monumental Iron Age structures and copious Iron Age inscriptions are known from along the margin of the Sayhad desert, in the interior of South West Arabia (Fig. 1). It is hardly surprising, therefore, that South West Arabia pre-Islamic historical, archaeological and architectural interests have focused on the Iron Age data (c.1000 BC–AD 600) from this inland region in preference to other areas or to other periods. This book aims to redress this imbalance by examining the culturehistory of a major, yet relatively poorly known, region of South West Arabia: the Tihamah coastal plain.

to it. The relevant texts include Graeco-Roman accounts, plus South West Arabian and Ethiopian epigraphic sources. Both physical context and written texts are important in the writing of a culture-history of the coastal plain, in terms of understanding how the archaeological record might have formed and in evaluating the origin of published interpretations of the region. Chapter 3 widens out to examine the archaeological record of the rest of South West Arabia, which has been better documented than the Tihamah, and provides the framework for South West Arabian culture-history. It serves as a background for the subsequent two chapters, which assimilate and examine the disparate archaeological material from the Tihamah. Chapter 4 scrutinizes the prehistoric data (c.6000–1000 BC) and Chapter 5 explores the archaeological data from the historic period up to the advent of Islam (c.1000 BC–AD 600). A range of issues develop from Chapters 4 and 5. Three major themes that emerge from the prehistoric data concern the Neolithisation of the Tihamah, contacts between the Tihamah and the Horn of Africa and the development towards cultural complexity. While three key subjects explored from the historic period concern the relationship of the historic period with the prehistoric period on the Tihamah (the two periods are usually discussed within different paradigms), the link between the Sabaean-related data from the Tihamah and the Ethiopian highlands, and the political status of the Tihamah.

Although the geographical parameters of the Tihamah plain have been variously defined through history (Stone 1985), in this study it is taken to refer to the western Red Sea coastal plain, extending some 500km from Jizan in modern Saudi Arabia down the entire western coast of modern Yemen and then 100km east along the southern shore of modern Yemen as far as the port of Aden (Fig. 2). The plain generally stretches between 20km and 50km wide, taking in a variety of environments from marine-side mud-flats to the relatively well-watered zone found just before the Tihamah rises into the spectacular mountains that define its inner-most boundary. The reason for taking in this extension, skirting south past Aden and up into modern Saudi Arabia, is because it incorporates all of the known archaeological data from the western coast and additional data from the southern coast. Our investigation considers some seven millennia (c.6000 BC–AD 600), allowing a long-term perspective that makes it easier to identify cultural patterns or developments over time. The Tihamah is also examined in its wider regional context, that is, in terms of its relation with the rest of South West Arabia and with the Horn of Africa across the Red Sea to its west (Fig. 3). This wider geographic approach is vital to the interpretation of the Tihamah; as an old Yemeni proverb says 'al-Tihamah turuq', 'The Tihamah is all roads' (Keall 1998).

Chapters 4 and 5 reveal the importance of the Horn of Africa to the culture-history of the Tihamah and Chapter 6 therefore examines the relevant archaeological record of the Horn of Africa in detail. Finally, Chapter 7 serves as a conclusion, synthesising the results of this research. This work was submitted as a PhD thesis to University College London some four years ago, in March 2001. Now June 2005, I have offered some minor updates to the text. While I was tempted to revise, polish, and update much more extensively, I decided not to follow that impulse for fear that it would become a disjointed work requiring far greater time than is available. I am therefore conscious that some new discoveries or thoughts, whether published or awaiting publication, are not included here. However, I hope that this book provides a useful culture-history of the Tihamah, and helps to begin to fill a major gap in the existing scholarship, and moreover demonstrates the relevance of the Tihamah to the interpretation of other regions of South West Arabia.

This book draws together a wide range of hitherto unconnected data, comprising published and unpublished archaeological data from the Tihamah and from the neighbouring regions, as well as from a variety of historical sources. To outline the scope of this research, the content of each chapter will now be briefly outlined. The first chapter presents an historiographical study of research of the Tihamah. It identifies the main research biases and expectations. It is only through explicating these perspectives that a more open-ended analysis of the Tihamah can be offered. Chapter 2 discusses the physical character of the Tihamah and the written sources related

1

INTRODUCTION

Fig. 1 Map of South West Arabia, showing key sites mentioned in the text

2

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600

Fig. 2 Map of pre-Islamic arch sites Tihamah, including wadis

3

INTRODUCTION

Fig. 3 Map of Horn of Africa and surrounding areas

4

CHAPTER 1 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN SOUTH WEST ARABIA AN HISTORIOGRAPHICAL OVERVIEW Over the past 20 years, the archaeological picture of the region has improved greatly: about 70 archaeological projects have been undertaken in South West Arabia. Moreover, these projects have considered evidence from beyond the Sayhad spice route and included periods outside of the Iron Age. The textually informed history of South West Arabia has also become more refined, owing to the continual discovery of new local texts, drafted in a script known as ‘epigraphic South Arabian’ (hereafter ESA). To date, about 10,000 pre-Islamic ESA inscriptions have been discovered (Robin 1998). However, it remains the case that the archaeology and history of pre-Islamic South West Arabia form a relatively poorly known and neglected area of study (Ghaleb 1990; Edens and Wilkinson 1998).

1.1 Introduction The archaeologist Coon (1943, 187) described Arabia as the “discarded appendix” of Near Eastern archaeology; so reflecting the near absence of archaeological research in the peninsula by the time of the Second World War. Indeed, by 1975, only seven South West Arabian sites had been excavated – and all of these were, however, of limited temporal and regional scope. (Namely the sites of Marib, Awwam, Ba’ran, Baraqish, al-Huqqa, Shabwa, Hureidha.) All belonged to the historical Iron Age period, the time of South West Arabian civilisation; apart from the temple of al-Huqqa (Rathjens and von Wissmann 1932), and all were centred on the historically attested incense route that led around the Sayhad desert margin lowlands of the interior (see Fig. 4 showing view of the Sabaean Temple of Ba’ran.) Rather than undertaking archaeological work, scholars used the local epigraphic record and external written accounts - the Classical accounts, and later Arabic texts to reconstruct the pre-Islamic (Iron Age) history of South West Arabia.

Since the 1980s and the turn of the current century, archaeological research has also been carried out on the Tihamah, the western Red Sea coastal plain. Scholars have undertaken six Iron Age and pre-Iron Age archaeological projects on the coastal plain (together with additional archaeological surveys and epigraphic studies). However, with so little investigation, especially on the Tihamah, each new project usually adds completely new pieces to the puzzle rather than joining up previously known pieces. At the same time, many of the interpretations offered for the Tihamah have been built on previous hypotheses, and not on actual data, mainly because none of the excavated sites on the Tihamah has been fully published – often because excavations are still ongoing and information is still being processed, or because data from previous excavations are still under individuals’ study. Therefore, interpretations and the assumptions on which they are based become divorced from their intellectual context and ‘fossilised’ as facts in the literature. This chapter therefore aims to unravel the state of play of research on the Tihamah. It reviews the research perspectives, objectives, and underlying assumptions that have informed recent research on the Tihamah. It attempts to identify the often implicit aims and objectives of the researchers. It thereby aims to clarify the various models of how the Tihamah is seen to have functioned as a region. These research perspectives have shaped the ways in which the Tihamah has been interpreted, and it is only through their explicit recognition that past interpretations can be evaluated, or new analyses be offered. Before embarking on this historiographical overview of archaeological research of the Tihamah (Section 1.4) it is necessary to define and introduce the chronological

Fig. 4 Ba’ran Temple in Marib

5

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN SOUTH WEST ARABIA sources. Indeed, all three chronologies are largely in agreement in this range.

framework of this study (Section 1.2), together with a brief look at the way in which archaeology in the rest of South West Arabian archaeology has been approached (Section 1.3). These two sections provide the wider context against which the historiographical account of research on the Tihamah is set. The final section defines the dominant models which have informed interpretations of the culture history of the Tihamah in the literature.

Finally, it is necessary to briefly outline the chronology of the Horn of Africa, the part of Africa lying opposite South West Arabia across the Red Sea, which is today made up of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia (Fig. 3). Evidence from the Horn of Africa is categorised as either prehistoric or historic (following Brandt 1997). The historic period begins at about the start of the 1st millennium BC. It is first represented by a complex society that is culturally comparable to the Sabaean kingdom of South West Arabia. The period and culture of this ‘Sabaean-related’ evidence, is labelled ‘preAksumite’, in line with the Africanist literature.

1.2 The chronology In this book, the entire period before the advent of Islam (AD 622), is termed pre-Islamic. The cut-off date of AD 600 in the title serves as a rough allusion to the end of the pre-Islamic era. Moreover, the 6th century AD is a convenient end-date for the Iron Age since the latest ESA inscriptions are dated to AD 560 (Robin 1997). The whole pre-Islamic era falls into a prehistoric and an historic period.

The exact dates of the pre-Aksumite period are poorly understood, and typically inappropriately based on outdated Arabian chronologies. But if we are to date the pre-Aksumite period on the local inscriptions that draw exact or close parallels to the inscriptions from South West Arabia, then we should give this period a date of approximately the first half of the 1st millennium BC. The Aksumite period is dated to around the first seven centuries AD and is represented by a complex society that is also centred on the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands.1 Finally, we occasionally use the term preIslamic in relation to the African evidence – this is simply shorthand to mean the period before the 7th century AD: Ethiopia and Eritrea have never been Muslim-based countries (but consider how often is BC/AD applied to essentially non-Christian countries).

Within the prehistoric period, this study focuses on the Neolithic (c.6th-4th millennia BC) and the Bronze Age (c.3rd-2nd millennia BC). The historic period is synonymous with the Iron Age. The mighty Iron Age was the period of pre-Islamic complex society and civilisation. It begins roughly in the 1st millennium BC and terminates with the Islamic period, and the new era of caliphs and dynasties, of mosques and geometric art. The South West Arabian Iron Age (historic period) chronology is far more refined than the prehistoric chronology, since the prehistoric period remains disjointed and marginal to archaeological research in the region. The Iron Age chronology has been based on the palaeography, that is the stylistic development, of the local ESA inscriptions. However, there are no secure external anchors on which to base this stylistic chronology. Thus, before recent archaeological research and the discovery of king-lists by archaeologists in the 1980s, three chronologies were in use, known as the ‘long’, ‘medium’ and ‘short’ chronologies. The rationale for these chronologies is discussed in Chapter 3 (Section 3.3.1); it suffices here to observe that the long, medium, and short chronologies propose that the earliest monumental inscriptions date to about the 12th, the 8th and the 5th century BC respectively.

1.3 An historiographical overview of research on pre-Islamic South West Arabia “Until now [epigraphy] has been the main way of increasing our knowledge of Ancient Yemen, for epigraphy is the most important source for the main part of its history” (Korotayev 1995, 12). This section emphasises the key place of Iron Age textual sources to this discipline, as Korotayev’s statement indicates, and observes that historical accounts still motivate and influence Iron Age research. It discusses how prehistoric archaeology has only been undertaken in the region over the past 25 years, and notes how its study is influenced by the theory of local adaptation (as first suggested for South West Arabia by Masry in 1973).

As a result of recent archaeological research, the general dates of the medium chronology are now accepted, although the absolute dates remain imprecise. The absolute dates of the medium chronology are extrapolated from probable (although not certain) references to two Sabaean monarchs mentioned in the Assyrian Annals, i.e. Karibilu (685 BC) and his predecessor Itamar (715 BC), who are correlated with the Sabaean monarchs Karibil Watar and Yitha’amar Bayyin I, respectively (Liverani 1992). The chronology of the 1st millennium AD until Islam is relatively reliable thanks to secure, external, independently dated

Modern antiquarian research of South West Arabia began 1

6

Pre-Aksumite and Aksumite data are only found in Ethiopia and Eritrea. In this thesis, Eritrea and Ethiopia will together be referred to as ‘Ethiopia’. This usage is typical in the literature; it avoids excessive repetition, and reflects the common heritage of the area. It is not, however, intended to ignore modern Eritrean nationhood.

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 back in the late 19th century, by Europeans, including travellers, scholars and officials, who focused on the Iron Age evidence. These individuals, notably Wellsted (1838), Arnaud (1845a; 1845b), Halévy, (1872; 1873) and Glaser (1889; 1890), copied hundreds of pre-Islamic ESA (Epigraphic South Arabian) inscriptions and also described the ruins they encountered. From these inscriptions, late 19th century scholars began to reconstruct the pre-Islamic culture and complex political history of the region. This history was supplemented by external written sources, notably Greek and Roman accounts, from about the 4th century BC to the 2nd century AD (as discussed in Chapter 2). These sources describe the wealth and prosperity of Arabia felix (‘happy Arabia’), which they claim to be the result of lucrative South West Arabian trade in incense, spices, and other local luxury goods.2

domestication of the camel as a beast of burden. In 1973, Masry published an unprecedented paper, in which he tried to explain the development of Iron Age civilisation as the result of long-term processes affecting the local population. (Perhaps this was a consequence of his Saudi Origins, and a wish to give indigenous acclaim for the rise in Arabian civilisation.) He suggested that good environmental conditions led to an agricultural surplus and that this internal prosperity, which developed before the Iron Age, lay behind the cultural developments of the Iron Age. However, his argument had no direct support from the (then) extremely limited archaeological record. Since the 1980s, archaeologists have uncovered Bronze Age and Neolithic evidence, which has been used to support this notion of long-term local development, in opposition to diffusionist theories for the development of complex societies in South West Arabia (Ghaleb 1990; de Maigret 1990; Wilkinson 1997).

Prior to the 1980s, research on pre-Islamic culture was remarkably unsupported by archaeological evidence. Only seven Iron Age sites had been excavated, six of which are on the Sayhad incense route (the seventh, al-Huqqa, is in the north-eastern Central Highlands, to the west of the Sayhad desert margin). In addition to these excavations, various travellers and antiquarians had recorded South West Arabian Iron Age monuments, typically from the Sayhad and Wadi Bayhan-Markha regions (Doe 1971). Scholars and amateurs also recorded the presence of Neolithic stone tools, but such sites remained little explored (e.g. Cambridge 1966), while Gertrude Caton Thompson (1944) innovatively also looked at the Palaeolithic evidence from the Iron Age site of Hureidha in the Hadramawt. But as a result, most of what was known of pre-Islamic South West Arabian culture was Iron Age monumental architecture and epigraphy, which largely came from the Sayhad desert margin.

With respect to the Iron Age evidence, research projects have concentrated around the Sayhad desert margin. Interpretations of these archaeological data have been heavily influenced by the events recorded in the ESA corpus, and by other external accounts, particularly Greek and Roman texts. The internal ESA inscriptions comprise political inscriptions, religious dedications, and references to agriculture and irrigation, but contain almost no references to trade. The external ‘Classical’ accounts (from the 5th century BC) refer to the geography, trade, and the political organisation of South West Arabia. From these sources, scholars have determined the presence of four major kingdoms that lay on the Sayhad desert margin in the 1st millennium BC. These were the Minaean kingdom with its capital at Qarnaw, the Sabaean kingdom with its capital first at Sirwah and later at Marib, the Qatabanian kingdom with its capital at Timna, and the Hadrami kingdom with its capital at Shabwa (see Fig. 1 for locations). A fifth major kingdom, the Himyarite kingdom with its capital at Zafar, was located in the Dhamar region of the Central Highlands, between the 1st century BC and 6th century AD.3

Nothing was known of a pre-Iron Age culture, apart from the random discoveries of lithics, generally by amateurs. It seemed that there was a “long puzzling occupational gap” (Harding 1964, 72) between the Neolithic and the Iron Age. It also appeared that the Iron Age civilisation represented a total cultural transformation from what came before. Moreover, the excavated sites seemed to fit with the historically informed picture that the development of South West Arabian culture was inexorably linked to the Iron Age Sayhadian incense trade. Indeed, three key scholars explained the appearance of Iron Age civilisation in terms of economic relations with outside cultures. Pirenne (1955; 1956; 1975) and Van Beek (1952; 1956; 1969) took a diffusionist stance in their proposal that South West Arabian civilisation was introduced by northern migrants. Harding (1964) also explained the rise of Iron Age civilisation as the result of contact (specifically trade) with the North, but he proposed that this trade occurred after the local South West Arabian 2

Four different languages have been identified from the four major kingdoms, and are referred to as Minaic (or Madhabanic), Sabaic, Qatabanic and Hadramitic; the Himyarite kingdom adopted Sabaic as its epigraphic language. The territory of each kingdom is referred to as Main, Saba, Qataban, Hadramawt and Himyar respectively. The geographic limits of each kingdom are imprecisely known, not least because their territories were continually fluctuating according to their fortunes (or misfortunes). The pre-Islamic history of South West Arabia largely remains the history of these South West Arabian kingdoms.

The Greek and Roman accounts are referred to as ‘Classical’ texts. The inverted commas denote the fact that these texts are not all written in Classical Greek and Latin (Casson 1989).

3

7

This time-span is also known as the Himyarite period.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN SOUTH WEST ARABIA subsequent subjugation of the Hadramawt kingdom by the Himyarites is asserted through the Himyarite titulature ‘king of Saba, Dhu-Raydan, Hadramawt and Yamanat’. It seems that Hadramawt later freed itself from the Sabaean-Himyarite kingdom, but thereafter disappears from the epigraphic record (Müller 1988).

Given the importance of the written sources to research on pre-Islamic South West Arabia, this section now provides a brief overview of the received histories provided by the ESA inscriptions and the ‘Classical’ accounts. Müller (1988) has outlined the textually-informed history of South West Arabia, as summarised below. Thus, early Sabaic inscriptions record that Saba was the supreme kingdom in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. This is supported by the use of the title mukarrib (translated as ‘unifier’ or ‘federator’) by the Sabaean rulers from Karibil Watar onwards. According to the epigraphic record, this title was only ever (legitimately) taken by one kingdom at any given time, while the rulers of the other kingdoms were just entitled ‘king’.

From the 2nd century AD, there are also references to political relations with the Ethiopian Aksumite kingdom. Written sources (discussed in Chapter 2) assert a period of direct Aksumite rule over at least parts of South West Arabia in the 6th century AD. The Persian conquest of South West Arabia in AD 575 is thought to have ended Ethiopian political dominance in the region (Munro-Hay 1991).

However, in the second half of the 1st millennium BC, Saba lost its supreme place among the kingdoms as the Minaean, Qatabanian and Hadrami kingdoms broke free from Saba’s acclaimed control and the four kingdoms, thought to have been of fairly equal strength, rivalled one another. During that period, the mukarrib title was variously claimed by the leaders of Qataban and Hadramawt (Müller 1988). It seems that there was a shift in power towards the end of the 2nd century BC. The Minaean kingdom and parts of western Qataban were conquered by Saba. The remnant of the Qatabanian kingdom continued to decline, and by the 1st century BC, it had fallen to Saba and Hadramawt. At about that time, the new kingdom of Himyar was the emerging power of South West Arabia. During the Himyarite period the territory of the Sabaean kingdom is thought to have been extended into the northern Central Highlands, in the area to the north of Dhamar and south of the Jawf (hereafter the ‘Sana’a region’) (Müller 1988; Korotayev 1996).

The Greek and Roman accounts also add other information about the area. They emphasise the economic resources of South West Arabia, notably the incense that seems to have been grown in the Hadramawt and Dhofar region (in modem Oman) (Groom 1971, 1998). They also mention the trade route that ran around the Sayhad desert, which led from the incense producing regions to the north. They record how the Romans tried, unsuccessfully, to take control of the Sayhad route in 25/24 BC. At that time, a Roman army under Aelius Gallus (governor of Egypt) penetrated Southern Arabia and conquered various Minaean towns but was unable to overcome Marib, the Sabaean capital, and was forced to retreat. Roman sources describe the Red Sea route, which became their method of access to South West Arabia and on to India. This section has discussed how archaeological research has focused on the Iron Age of the inland Sayhad region, which is home to much of the known monumental architecture and epigraphy. It indicated that the history of South West Arabia has largely been reconstructed from this epigraphic record and complemented by the Greek and Roman sources. However, it observed that archaeological research has, since the 1980s, increased dramatically, and now includes pre-Iron Age data as well as evidence from beyond the Sayhad region.

The Himyarites conquered former Qatabanian and some Sabaean territories and established their capital in the Dhamar region, in the southern Central Highlands (Müller 1988). Henceforth, the Himyarites challenged Saba for supremacy and the Himyarite rulers even designated themselves ‘kings of Saba and Dhu-Raydan’,4 a title that from then on the Sabaean kings also adopted, probably to stress their claims as the supreme rulers, argues Müller (1988). By the end of the 2nd century AD, the Qatabanian kingdom ceased to exist, having been annexed by Hadramawt. Hadramawt became a dangerous rival to Saba and Himyar until the start of the 3rd century AD, when Saba defeated Hadramawt. By the middle of that century, Saba also conquered the Himyarites. However, by the last quarter of the 3rd century AD, the Sabaean dynasty came to an end, following its subjugation by Himyar.

1.4 Historiographic overview of research into the prehistoric archaeological record of the Tihamah Before the 1980s, archaeological knowledge of the Tihamah was extremely limited. It was based on two archaeological surveys undertaken in the (then) Aden Protectorate by Hamilton (1943) and Doe (1971) and a survey of the megalithic site of al-Muhandid, 25km south of Zabid (Bernardelli and Parinello 1970), together with a couple of amateur reports of archaeological evidence (Forbes 1923, at Midi; Cambridge 1966, near Sabir). This situation has begun to change since the 1980s, with the undertaking of seven more archaeological projects on the Tihamah, although the sites discovered in these projects remain only preliminarily published (these are listed on Fig. 2).

Thereafter, South West Arabia consisted of only two empires: the so-called Sabaean-Himyarite kingdom based in the Central Highlands, and the Hadramawt kingdom, which extended from the former Qatabanian kingdom to Dhofar in modem Oman. In the 4th century AD, the Himyarites waged war on the Hadramawt kingdom. The 4

Raydan was the name of the castle at the Himyarite capital, Zafar.

8

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 deflated, unstratified aceramic coastal shell midden sites with limited artefactual repertoires. The middens have been dated to between the 6th and 3 rd millennia BC for three main reasons. Firstly, lithics found at the sites have been compared to dated stone assemblages, particularly with the Arabian Bifacial Tradition (hereafter the ABT), which has been dated to the Neolithic at other sites in the Arabian Peninsula. Secondly, C-14 dates taken from these sites fell within this range. And thirdly, this date-range was estimated via the relative distance of the middens (assumed to have once lain on the coastline) from the modern coastline, which extended between c.6000 BC and 2000 BC as the level of the sea gradually fell (see Chapter 2, Section 2.2).

Sections 1.4.1 and 1.4.2 provide an historiographic review of archaeological research on the Tihamah – of the prehistoric and historic periods respectively. They discuss the key models and research aims of archaeological investigations on the Tihamah and investigate whether scholarly interpretations of the region have been informed by the data - or by the expectations of the investigations. They indicate that some of the interpretations, assumptions and research aims of these investigations come from research undertaken in the Sayhad area, while other models have a distinctly Africanist flavour and are allied to research carried out in the Horn of Africa. Within each period-specific section, the northernmost sites are discussed first and the southernmost last. This approach provides a framework that would be impossible to achieve if sites were discussed according to when they were first discovered, investigated, or published.

Despite the inherent similarities between the two groups of middens, they have been interpreted and approached from different perspectives. The Neolithic Jizan area middens were found during an ambitious archaeological survey of the southern province of Saudi Arabia (Zarins et al. 1981). Initially, these investigators aimed to report, rather than to interpret, the archaeology of the region. However, Zarins et al. later indicated that a chief research objective was to explore the Red Sea region in terms of its medial position between Africa and Arabia (Zarins and Zahrani 1985) and thence to the Indian subcontinent (Zarins and Al-Badr 1986). Yet later, Zarins (1990) suggested that the Neolithic Jizan area sites provide early evidence for the initial stages of the historically documented Red Sea trade. Consensus holds that trade with the southern end of the Red Sea is first historically documented in Pharaonic Egyptian sources, which largely date to the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC (Kitchen 1993). The latter refer to trade with Punt, a land of luxury goods, whose true location is unknown, but which is now thought to have been in, or near, Ethiopia (Kitchen 1993; J Phillips 1997). The perception that the Jizan area sites provide early evidence of culture contact with Africa has especially influenced the work of the Africanist archaeologist Fattovich (Fattovich 1991; 1997a; 1997c). It is therefore perhaps ironic that the clearest evidence of Neolithic culture contact from the Jizan area sites is not with Africa, but with the rest of the Arabian Peninsula, via the ABT tools.

1.4.1 The prehistoric archaeological record of the Tihamah The renowned archaeologist Caton Thompson (1957) suggested that the Red Sea corridor may have formed a formidable barrier in prehistoric times.5 This view tallies well with the idea of the cultural isolation of South West Arabia before the Iron Age, after which contacts were formed chiefly with the north. This perspective was only successfully challenged in the 1980s with the discovery of prehistoric evidence dated from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age. This book does not concern the Palaeolithic, a close examination of which would add little to our discussion, but very briefly, the Tihami evidence comprises lithics dated from the Acheulean to the Upper Palaeolithic (Zarins et al. 1981; Bulgarelli 1985; Whalen et al. 1991; 1997). Only the work by Whalen and colleagues was exclusively concerned with the Palaeolithic period. Their research addressed the global question of hominid migration routes out of Africa. It aimed to demonstrate the possibility of an eastward route across the Red Sea, rather than the traditional land-route model of human movement northward out of Africa. Although they failed to find very early (Lower Pleistocene) evidence, their research raised the notion that the Red Sea could have been crossed early in antiquity. This opens up the possibility that the Red Sea was an avenue for connections in later periods.

Investigations at coastal shell middens from the Hodeidah area have been published in two research reports (Tosi 1985; 1986a). They were first published alongside an account of the recently discovered Neolithic and Bronze Age sites from the Hawlan area of the Central Highlands (de Maigret 1985). Section 1.2 observed that, since the 1980s, interpretations of the prehistoric sites from the rest of South West Arabia have emphasised indigenous developments. This perspective has also been taken in the interpretation of the Hodeidah area middens. Thus, Tosi (1985) examined the socio-economic development of the midden economy and argued that there was a radical economic transformation between the late 5th and 4th millennia BC, from a hunting/gathering and fishing economy to a herding, settled economy. This conclusion

Neolithic occupation has been discovered in two locations on the Tihamah: in the Jizan area on the Saudi Arabian Tihamah (Zarins et al. 1981) and from the environs of Hodeidah, some 150km south of Jizan (Tosi 1985; 1986a). (Henceforth these sites are known as the ‘Jizan area’ sites and the ‘Hodeidah area’ sites respectively.) In both regions, this occupation is represented by wind5

As shown on Figure 5, the current distance between the African and South West Arabian coast ranges from c.25km to 400km.

9

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN SOUTH WEST ARABIA because C-14 dates between 790-400 BC are effectively indistinguishable since this period is represented by a flat part of the calibration curve (Ambers 1999, pers. com.). The latter is an important point seemingly not alluded to in the literature.

fitted perfectly with the discoveries in the Hawlan region, where Neolithic evidence for early animal pastoralism and of settled life had been identified. The Hodeidah area shell midden sites were different in character from the highland sites, so they were used to provide evidence of an alternative, coastally oriented, indigenous socio-economic adaptation to that known from the Hawlan region (Tosi 1986a; 1986b; Ghaleb 1990). Despite the Hodeidah area midden evidence for western Asian origin ovicaprids and of bovids of African - and possibly Indian - origin, Tosi did not explore external cultural or economic contacts.

The site of Sihi, has been described as “a large Red Sea coastal midden” (Zarins and Zahrani 1985, 46), measuring c.900m by 100m (Zarins et al. 1985; 1986). Its large size and dense sherd cover distinguish it from the Neolithic midden sites. Four years after Sihi’s discovery in 1980 (Zarins et al. 1981), one week was spent preparing a basic site plan and brief material collection (Zarins and Zahrani 1985); thereafter a further season (of unspecified length) of excavation was carried out (Zarins and Al-Badr 1986).

Here then we have evidence of two alternative research perspectives proposed for comparable midden sites, one emphasising external cultural connections, with the other focusing on local socio-economic developments. These need not be incompatible, but there has been no marriage between the two perspectives.

As for the Jizan area Neolithic sites, Sihi was investigated in the hope that it would provide evidence of Bronze Age Red Sea connections, such as those documented in the Pharaonic Egyptian sources, which, so Zarins and AlBadr (1986) suggested, developed into the Red Sea trade described in the ‘classical’ sources. Thus, Zarins and AlBadr (1986, 51) stated that their intention was to demonstrate “a clear link between the African coast, western Arabia, the southern Hadramawt coast [in eastern Yemen] and Oman/India during the second millennium BC”. In order to show connections with Africa, and to support the notion of Bronze Age Red Sea connections along the Tihamah coastal plain, the investigators drew connections between the ceramics from Sihi and assemblages from Africa (specifically with Nubian CGroup ware) and from the Tihami site of Sabir, some 600km south of Sihi.

Compared to the Neolithic period, a wider range of Bronze Age sites has been identified from the Tihamah. These comprise Bronze Age middens, a stratified tell site and three megalithic monuments. The middens attributed to the Bronze Age also come from both the Jizan and Hodeidah areas (Zarins et al. 1981; 1985; 1986; Tosi 1985; 1986). The stratified tell site of Sabir was discovered some 25km north of the port of Aden on the southern Tihamah plain (Hamilton 1943; Harding 1964; Doe 1971; Vogt 1997b; 1998a; 1998b; Vogt and Sedov 1997; 1998a; 1998b). The megalithic site of Midi is in the Jizan area (Forbes 1923), while alMidaman (Keall 1997; 1998) and al-Muhandid (Benardelli and Parrinello 1970) were discovered just south of Zabid. Al-Muhandid and Midi have been conventionally attributed to the Bronze Age (Fattovich 1990; Vogt and Sedov 1998a), although they remain undated. All three megalithic sites are discussed together, at the end of this section. Finally, the large deflated site of ‘STN’ (Ciuk and Keall 1996; Keall 1998), which lies in the environs of Zabid, has evidence of both Bronze Age and Iron Age occupation, but since most of its material culture has been attributed to the Iron Age, STN is discussed in Section 1.5.

Owing to the parallels between the pottery found at Sihi and Sabir — and partly because of the apparent comparability of the character of Sihi with the then unexcavated wind-deflated site of Sabir - Zarins et al. (1985; 1986) categorised Sihi and Sabir in terms of a common culture, labelled the ‘Sihi/Sabir’ coastal Tihamah tradition. No local antecedents of the Bronze Age ware were known from the Tihamah, because of the putative C-Group parallels from Sihi, they suggested that the ceramics all have an African origin, implying that the ‘Sihi/Sabir’ culture was introduced from Africa (Zarins et al. 1985; 1986). Moreover, because some vessels from Sihi are comparable to Iron Age Sayhadian ceramics, they proposed that the Tihamah, and its connections with Africa, might hold the key to understanding Iron Age ‘state formation’ in the Sayhad region (Zarins and Zahrani 1985). This observation contrasts with the traditional Arabianist migrationist view that South West Arabian civilisation developed from links with the north. However, it was again offered to fill the apparent cultural void between the Neolithic and the Iron Age in South West Arabian culture.

Bronze Age sites have been dated according to two lines of investigation: the presence of distinctive (although cursorily published) ceramics and via C-14 dates. Sabir is the only stratified, reliably C-14 dated archaeological site on the Tihamah and thus provides an anchor for all other Tihami sites. It has implicitly been assumed that the Sabir culture disappeared with the end of Sabir, a tenet that finds some support from the site of Sihi, in the Jizan area, which has comparable pottery to that from Sabir and whose end has been C-14 dated to c. the 8th century BC. However, Sihi is an unstratified, wind-deflated midden site, leaving the relation of the C-14 dates to the cultural materials open to question. Moreover, while not acknowledged in the literature, there are real difficulties in C-14 dating the 1 st millennium BC

Tosi (1986a) compared the pottery found at a number of Hodeidah area middens with ceramics from Sihi (and thus from Sabir). Tosi has not published illustrations of the 10

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 production) - that the excavators have interpreted it as a “town” (Vogt and Sedov 1998a, 262). Twenty-five C-14 determinations from the uppermost 3m of deposit range from the 14th to early 9th centuries BC.

Hodeidah area ceramics, so later scholars have had to trust his verdict that the pottery is comparable to the Sihi/Sabir pottery. Tosi used this comparison to derive a Bronze Age date for those Hodeidah middens with ceramics, which in some cases he supported with C-14 determinations.

Despite the different characters of the sites at Sihi and Sabir, the excavators of the latter have maintained the existence of close ceramic parallels at the two sites (Vogt and Sedov 1998a). Moreover, they have argued that Sabir has close cultural parallels in Africa, and that the site might owe its origin to African connections (Vogt and Sedov 1998a). Their reason for this proposal stems from the absence of a local (Tihami) developmental trajectory towards such a complex site (Vogt and Sedov 1998a). However, Vogt and Sedov have drawn different African ceramic connections to those offered by Zarins et al. for Sihi, since the putative Nubian ‘C-Group’related (black burnished) pottery from Sihi is absent from Sabir. Rather, they have compared the Sabir pottery with ceramics from the Horn of Africa, a connection that they have also drawn based on other data, including art mobilier. The Sabir pottery remains only preliminarily published and none of the comparisons with assemblages from the Horn of Africa have been formally published or assessed (explored in Chapter 6, Section 6.5).

In view of his emphasis on local South West Arabian developments, Tosi (1986a) also argued that the Hodeidah area ceramics provided evidence of local socio-economic developments on the Tihamah, rather than evidence of African-related developments as suggested by Zarins and colleagues. Other Arabianist6 archaeologists have likewise integrated the Hodeidah area Bronze Age middens into wider ideas of South West Arabian socio-economic changes. Ghaleb (1990), for example, has suggested that these sites were left by agriculturalists who migrated from the Central Highlands to the coast (Ghaleb 1990). Edens (1999) preferred to relate them to early farming communities of the Dhamar area of the Central Highlands by suggesting that the unpublished Hodeidah area pottery probably belongs to the same family as the Dhamar Bronze Age ceramics. However, Africanist researchers (notably Fattovich 1991; 1997a), have proposed that, because of the presence of ‘Africanrelated’ Sihi/Sabir-type pottery at the Hodeidah area middens, the latter should be included in the model of a pan-Tihamah Sihi/Sabir African-related culture, which Fattovich (1991) termed the ‘Tihamah Cultural Complex’.

Vogt and Sedov (1998) have maintained that there are almost no cultural parallels between Sabir and sites of the Arabian interior, a view that contrasts with Zarins and AlBadr’s expectation that the Bronze Age (Jizan area) coastal sites should be the (African-derived) forerunners of inland Arabian Iron Age civilisation. It is likely that the discovery of Bronze Age sites in the Central Highlands has meant that it is no longer necessary to use the Bronze Age data from the Tihamah to fill the apparent cultural gap between the Neolithic and the Iron Age records of the interior.

Sabir (also referred to as Subr) is on the southern Yemeni coast, 25km north of Aden, on the stretch of the Tihamah that borders the Gulf of Aden. Sabir was the first archaeological site on the Tihamah to be published (surveyed by Hamilton 1943; Harding 1964; Doe 1961), but it remained unexcavated until 1994. The excavation at Sabir is still underway and work thus far has been published in a number of preliminary reports (Vogt 1997b; 1998a; 1998b; Vogt and Sedov 1997; 1998a; 1998b; Edens 2002).

Vogt and Sedov’s model - which built on the work of Zarins et al. (1981; 1985; 1986) - for an African-influenced Bronze Age culture on the Tihamah, has influenced interpretations of connections between South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa during the early Iron Age, when the Ethiopian highlands are characterised by Sabaean-related data. By arguing for long-term contacts between the two regions, Africanist scholars such as Fattovich (1990; 1997a) have been able to avoid the traditional colonialist model of South West Arabian conquerors who suddenly appeared in the Ethiopian highlands with their superior culture and technology (as proposed by such authors as Conti-Rossini 1923; Michels 1986). Indeed, it was because of such colonist models that the Ethiopian Aksumite civilisation (dated to the 1st millennium AD) has also been attributed to South West Arabians, which Africanists have more recently seen as a denial of indigenous African cultural heritage (Bekerie 1997).

Before its excavation, Sabir was given a mid 1st millennium BC date, based on the assumption that any major coastal site must have been related to Greek and Roman trade, a suggestion that was supported through the comparison of its ceramics with mid 1st millennium BC Palestinian pottery (Doe 1963; Harding 1964). Since the apparently deflated, ceramic-strewn site looked unimpressive, Harding questioned the reality of the wealth of “happy Arabia” described in the ‘Classical’ accounts (Harding 1964). However, excavations have revealed a stratified ‘tell’ site of such size and complexity - replete with monumental architecture and areas of craft specialisation (including metal working and ceramic 6

Finally, three megalithic sites have been discovered on the Tihamah. These comprise standing stones located to the south of Jizan at Midi (Forbes 1923) and two megalithic

Here, the word ‘Arabianist’ is coined to refer to someone who studies Arabia per se (just as an ‘Africanist’ is used in the literature for someone who studies Africa). Arabist is not used since it refers to one who is versed in Arabic literature, science, or medicine etc.

11

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN SOUTH WEST ARABIA complexes from the Zabid area, south of Hodeidah: alMidaman (Keall 1997; 1998) and al-Muhandid (Benardelli and Parrinello 1970; Phillips 1999b). The associated material culture at al-Midaman has suggested to Keall (1998) that the site was in use from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. Both Midi and alMuhandid remain undated but it has been suggested in the Africanist literature that they date to the Bronze Age, although the reasons have not been given (Fattovich 1991; Joussaume 1995).

attested in Greek and Roman accounts and, it has been argued, in Pharaonic Egyptian sources (Zarins et al. 1985; 1986; Zarins 1989; 1990; Fattovich 1991; 1997a; 1997b; 1997c). The second has emphasised broadly local developments and should be understood in terms of the intellectual developments set in motion by Masry (1973). This perspective has related the Tihamah to the wider South West Arabian cultural and economic picture (Tosi 1985; 1986a; Keall 2000a; 2000b). This view has led some of the sites to be interpreted in terms of contacts with - or even migrations from - the interior (Ghaleb 1990; Edens 1999). The third view argues that sites on the Tihamah were closely interlinked to African developments, or were the result of African migrations (Zarins et al. 1981; 1985; 1986; Fattovich; Vogt and Sedov 1998a).

As mentioned, Midi was reported by an amateur (Forbes 1923) and no archaeological work has yet been undertaken on the site. Al-Midaman was discovered during an archaeological project exploring the hinterland of the medieval occupation of Zabid (Keall 1997; 1998). Information on al-Midaman is limited to two publications (Keall 1997; 1998), one of which is for a popular readership (Keall 1997). In addition, two articles on the metal artefacts found at the site (Giumlia-Mair et al. 1999; Shugar 1999), and two brief unpublished reports (Keall 2000a; 2000b) have been produced. Al-Midaman has revealed varied evidence including unique monumental ‘houses’, ‘domestic’ ceramics and burials of both people and metal. Owing to the presence of metal implements assigned to the Bronze Age and a mix of Sabir-related pottery and Iron Age ceramics (see below), Keall has dated the site to the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Although Keall has not examined how al-Midaman might be related to other Bronze or Iron Age sites on the Tihamah or to sites in neighbouring regions, he has taken steps in the latter direction in a recent unpublished paper (Keall 2000b). There, he considers the impact of the local environment on al-Midaman and concludes that the site might have been established at a time of unusual agricultural fertility, a perspective that he relates to the results of environmen tal research undertaken in the Central Highlands Dhamar region (e.g. Wilkinson 1997; 2001).

1.4.2 The historic archaeological record of the Tihamah 1.4.2.1 Sites A diverse range of sites on the Tihamah has been attributed to the Iron Age. One group comes from the Jizan area and a second group comes from the general Hodeidah area, between Wadi Siham and Wadi Rima. Those discovered in the Jizan area are represented by deflated sherd-strewn sites found on the mainland and on the largest of the Farasan islands (some 50km out to sea, west of Jizan). The second cluster constitutes four sites located on the Wadi Siham, namely the ‘Sabaean-related’ sites of al-Hamid and Waqir, and two shell middens (Wadi Urq and ‘Shell Midden II’), plus two sites from the Wadi Rima area, comprising the deflated inland site of STN and the megalithic site of al-Midaman (both of which also have evidence of Bronze Age occupation). In addition, seven groups of Iron Age inscriptions and two pre-Islamic coin hoards have been discovered on the Tihamah. The above sites have been attributed to the Iron Age owing to the presence of Sayhad-related evidence, comprising Sayhadian-related ceramics, Sayhadic ESA inscriptions, or Sayhadian-type architecture. As mentioned above, the Bronze Age site of Sabir is the only stratified, reliably dated site on the Tihamah. Since the end of occupation at Sabir has been dated to the 9th century BC, there is no local dated Iron Age evidence from the Tihamah, which is why scholars have had to turn to parallels with the relatively well-dated Iron Age evidence from the Sayhad to establish the Iron Age chronology of the region. As a result, our impression of the Iron Age of the Tihamah is almost certainly coloured, since it has only been identified by its links with the material culture of the Sayhad region.

Africanists have not yet integrated al-Midaman into theories of cultural connections since details about it have only recently been published. They also have not considered the potential role of Midi in underscoring cultural connections, an oversight that might relate to the fact that it has not been archaeologically examined. In contrast, Al-Muhandid has been discussed in the Africanist literature as evidence for prehistoric cultural contacts between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia (Fattovich 1990; Joussaume 1995). Al-Muhandid was surveyed and recorded by Benardelli and Parrinello (1970) and further documented by Phillips (1999b), who made a second survey of the site. These studies are site-reports and do not interpret the meaning - or relationship - of alMuhandid to other sites or regions.

Before considering the investigation history of each of the Iron Age sites on the Tihamah, it is necessary to appreciate that their interpretation has often been heavily dependent on written sources, as is the case for Iron Age South West Arabian archaeology more generally. Three sources of contemporary documentation refer to

This section has revealed three main and, at times, interlinked interpretive perspectives on the prehistoric sites on the Tihamah. The first perspective has sought to relate the Tihamah to the Red Sea trade that is historically 12

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 the Tihamah. These comprise the ‘Classical’ texts (c.4th century BC-2nd century AD), a few Arabian ESA inscriptions from the interior, which allude to the Tihamah from the 3rd century AD, although they only mention the Tihamah by name from the 5th century (Robin 1995); a few ESA inscriptions from the Tihamah that date from the first half of the 1st millennium BC and seem to refer to places on the Tihamah; and finally, the Tihamah is referred to in a few Aksumite texts, dated to the 1st millennium AD. Of these sources, which are discussed in Chapter 3 (Sections 2.3.2-2.3.4), the ‘Classical’ texts refer to the Tihamah in terms of the mercantile Red Sea trade. The Arabian ESA inscriptions are silent on such matters, and are instead concerned with the politics of the Tihamah, focusing on the changing allegiance of the Tihamah either to the Aksumite kingdom or to the South West Arabian rulers (which in the 1st millennium AD were the Sabaean or the Himyarite kings). A period of apparent allegiance of the Tihamah to Ethiopia is also asserted in the Aksumite inscriptions.

from Farasan Island and, in a reused context, from the Jizan area mainland (Zarins et al. 1981). Of the four sites with Sayhadian-related Iron Age ceramics - Wadi Urq, Shell Midden II, al-Hamid and Waqir identified from the Wadi Siham (Phillips 1998), the latter two may be defined more specifically as ‘Sabaean-related’ sites because of their in situ Sabaic inscriptions. Al-Hamid, located near to the piedmont of the Sirat mountain chain, was first brought to public attention by Jamme (1981), who published five monumental inscriptions, having been alerted to their presence by the site’s landowner in 1975. A sixth inscription - along with a description of the site was published by al-Radi in 1985. The report formed part of a volume that resulted from an expedition in 1982 to the (then) North Yemeni Tihamah (i.e. excluding the southern coast) (ed. Stone 1985). The volume represents the first and only compilation of the culture (i.e. architecture, music, etc.), history, and archaeology of the Tihamah, in which al-Hamid is listed as the only pre-Islamic archaeological site on Tihamah coast of the former North Yemen. Avanzini (1987) commented on the site, but it would be another eight years before new information was published (Beeston 1995a). Beeston’s posthumously published article was written after the first excavation season at al-Hamid in 1994-95.

The historically claimed Tihami allegiance to Ethiopia has typically led scholars to view the pre-Islamic Tihamah as culturally distinct from the rest of South West Arabia. This view has also been encouraged by the alternative vocabularies used to refer to the Tihamah in the Sayhadic ESA texts. For example, the epigraphic word used for ‘settlement’ is different for Sayhad sites and for sites on the Tihamah (Beeston 1995a, 239; Korotayev 1998; Korotayev pers. comm. 1999). Indeed, this linguistic difference has been taken to indicate that “these west coast folk were extraneous to the Sabaean culture area” (Beeston 1995a, 239). The perception of cultural difference has been encapsulated by Beeston (1995a, 236), who described the Sirat mountain range, which runs parallel to the Tihamah, as a “significant cultural watershed” between the interior and the coast. The impact of these historical sources on the interpretation of the Iron Age of the Tihamah will be apparent in the following historiographic review, which opens with consideration of the Jizan area sites.

Four excavation seasons have been undertaken by a British team from University College London (UCL) under the direction of Phillips. Each season lasted about one month between December and January (1994-95, 1995-96, 1997-98, 1999-2000). Plans of the excavated portions of the site were also compiled in a two-day survey in December 1996 as part of a broader reconnaissance of Tihamah archaeology. This author participated in the 1996 survey and the 1997-1998 excavation. One preliminary report on the investigations has been published to date (Phillips 1997). The site has also been mentioned together with other sites on the Wadi Siham in a second paper by Phillips (1998) and in a newsletter (Phillips 2000a). The nine inscriptions discovered by 1995 have been analysed by Beeston (1995b) in an unpublished article; a tenth inscription was found in the 1999-2000 excavation, and is referred to by Phillips (2000a). The site has also been briefly considered by Robin (1995) and Korotayev (1998).

Zarins and his colleagues (1981) identified nine sites with Iron Age evidence from the Jizan area, and alluded to others. These sites have been only cursorily published within a wider account of the region’s archaeological record (Zarins et al. 1981). All of the Jizan area sites have Sayhad-related ware as well as ceramics with decoration similar to that found on pottery from the Najran area. (Najran lies in the interior of the peninsula, near the modern Saudi Arabian border, about 200km ENE of Jizan, see Fig 1. for location.) According to the ‘Classical’ sources, all trade passing out of South West Arabia via the inland Sayhad route went via Najran. The Jizan area has therefore been speculatively associated with mercantile activities in the interior by Zarins et al. (1981). Monumental architecture has also been reported from Farasan Island, but it has not been explicitly compared to Sayhadian architecture by Zarins et al. (1981). Finally, in situ inscriptions have been recorded

The purpose of the report written by the epigrapher Jamme (1981) was to record the in situ inscriptions. He palaeographically dated them to among the earliest (‘archaic’) examples of ESA monumental writing (i.e. early 1st millennium BC using the medium palaeographic chronology). He also concluded that they derived from a temple owing to their dedicatory nature. Jamme also observed a small settlement near to the temple area, which he suggested housed the officials and servants of the temple (Jamme 1981). The role of the site was first considered by al-Radi (1985). Unlike Jamme, she explicitly observed that the site 13

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN SOUTH WEST ARABIA first half of the 1 st millennium BC.7 Observing the presence of Sabaean-related (‘pre-Aksumite’) material in the Ethiopian highlands that is dated to a similar time as the al-Hamid inscriptions (see Chapter 6, Section 6.8.2.1), Phillips (1997) and Korotayev (1998) considered that alHamid might mark a route from Saba to pre-Aksumite Ethiopia.

indicated connections between the Tihamah and the interior owing to the Sabaic inscriptions and architecture; Al-Radi also estimated that al-Hamid was about 30ha in area - much larger than Jamme had suggested. Despite the fact that Jamme had dated the inscriptions from al-Hamid to the first half of the 1st millennium BC, Al-Radi suggested that the site appeared as the result of the Greek and Roman Red Sea trade, which developed towards the end of the first millennium BC according to the ‘Classical’ sources. Alternatively, Abdullah (cited in AlRadi 1985) interpreted al-Hamid in terms of the 1st millennium AD Ethiopian presence on the Tihamah, reported in the ESA record from Ethiopia and Arabia. In order for al-Hamid to fit with the historical documentation, Al-Radi rejected Jamme’s early lst millennium BC date for the inscriptions, and instead described the script as ‘archaising’, rather than ‘archaic’, that is, “written in a poor almost illiterate fashion” (Al-Radi 1985, 53).

Although the Tihamah is not mentioned in epigraphic texts from the interior until the 1st millennium AD, Robin (1995) endeavoured to fit al-Hamid into the earlier epigraphic history of South West Arabia. Thus, he suggested that al-Hamid was founded as a result of the eight federation campaigns led by the paramount Sabaean and South West Arabian leader, the mukarrib (federator) Karibil Watar (c.700 BC), which are documented in an inscription at Sirwah (RES 3945). Since scholars are unsure of the locations mentioned in the seventh campaign, Robin speculated that they might relate to the Tihamah or Ethiopia. However, Korotayev (1998) argued that the inscriptions at al-Hamid palaeographically pre-date Karibil Watar and therefore indicate an earlier Sabaean presence on the Tihamah than that suggested by Robin (1995).

However, Avanzini (1987) accepted the archaic date of the inscriptions proposed by Jamme, and this was verified by the epigrapher Beeston (1995a; 1995b). Beeston therefore observed that al-Hamid provided unprecedented, and textually unattested, evidence of early Sabaean connections with the Tihamah. Nevertheless, he also fitted the site into the textually informed history of the region in his proposal that the site was probably abandoned when the Sabaeans were “obliged to withdraw at a later date” (Beeston 1995a, 242), linking the abandonment of al-Hamid to the ESA references to an Ethiopian presence on the Tihamah during the 1st millennium AD. Beeston (1995a) also suggested that the site marked a route to the Red Sea and wondered whether it might be one of many, as yet unknown Sayhad-related Tihami sites, and proposed that the site might have been a Sabaean garrison or Sabaean way station. The idea that it would have been necessary to construct a garrison on the Tihamah finds its basis in the ESA and ‘Classical’ accounts that respectively indicate that the people on the Tihamah were disloyal to the people of the interior or that the Tihamah was a dangerous region.

Given the large size of al-Hamid, which is about 30ha in area, Phillips (1997) thought it inappropriate to exclusively define the site simply as a way station or garrison on a route between the interior and the coast. In line with Avanzini,8 he emphasised the potential local economy of the site (Phillips 1998). He also endeavoured to situate alHamid within the local landscape, as well as relate the Tihamah to wider cultural developments elsewhere in South West Arabia (Phillips 1998). In order to support the local perspective, he observed the presence of pre-Iron Age occupation on the Tihamah and noted a pattern of local Iron Age sites that seemed to be culturally related to al-Hamid (notably via the ceramic repertoire). To demonstrate connections with the interior, he noted the Sabaic inscriptions, Sayhadian temple architecture, and Sayhadian style ceramics at the site. The site of Waqir, some 15km west of al-Hamid, and also on the Wadi Siham, provided similar evidence to that from al-Hamid, namely Sabaic inscriptions and ceramics comparable to pottery from al-Hamid (themselves Sayhad-related). Waqir was first visited by Phillips (in December 1994) after he was informed about a lengthy Sabaic inscription drafted on a large stone ‘offering table’ that was discovered at Waqir by workmen who had bulldozed the area. Phillips and a team from UCL (including this author) recorded the site

Following excavations at al-Hamid, Phillips (1997) was able to gain a clearer picture of the site and its material culture. He maintained that al-Hamid had strong Sabaean influences, not only because of the Sabaic inscriptions, but also because of the close parallels between the ceramics and those from the Sabaean site of ad-Durayb. Phillips also suggested that the temple at al-Hamid might be comparable to Sabaean temple architecture (Phillips, pers. comm. 1998). Phillips (1997), Robin (1995), and Korotayev (1998) proposed that al-Hamid could have marked a route from the Sabaean kingdom to the Red Sea. These authors suggested that the archaic inscriptions (c.800-500 BC) indicated the presence of Sabaeans at al-Hamid in the

7

8

14

Phillips (1997) also suggested that the Sayhad-related ceramics provide a date of between 800-500 BC. However, given the poor ceramic chronology of the Sayhad, this precise chronological attribution is questionable (see Chapter 5, Section 5.3.2.4). Avanzini (1987) had already postulated an indigenous role for the site, by suggesting that it might have acted as a major agricultural or religious site.

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 primarily concerned with the medieval Islamic period when Zabid was a flourishing and important university town (Ciuk and Keall 1996). STN was published in a pottery manual of the Zabid Project sites (Ciuk and Keall 1996). Since the manual focused on the ceramics, it included only extremely limited details about the site and gave no interpretation. Its authors drew many comparisons with Sayhad assemblages and with the (then) emerging corpus from al-Hamid as well as with the Bronze Age ware from Sabir, to help to date STN. Following the discovery of the nearby (Bronze to Iron Age) site of al-Midaman (Keall 1997), Keall (1998) also drew comparisons between the ceramics from STN and al-Midaman. However, he did not suggest how the latter two sites might have been related.

in a one-day survey in 1996. Phillips returned to the site in 1999-2000. A second Sabaic inscription was discovered in 1995 and a third in 1999-2000. The site has not yet been published, but is referred to by Phillips (1997, 1998, 2000a). The first two inscriptions have been analysed by Beeston (1995b) in an unpublished paper. Of the three inscriptions, the third is perhaps the most informative since it mentions the political relations between the southern Tihamah and other regions and cites two Sabaean mukarribs; unfortunately, a translation is not yet available, although Phillips (2000a) has published a rough transcript. In line with his emphasis on local cultural developments, Phillips (1998) interpreted the site as part of the local pattern of sites. Moreover, because of the most recent inscription, he has emphasised that the Tihamah was a region with close cultural connections to the Sabaean interior (Phillips 2000a). Since Waqir and its inscriptions are unpublished, it has not yet received attention from other scholars.

Phillips and the UCL team (in which this author participated) visited STN in 1996. Phillips (1998) suggested that STN and al-Midaman represent Iron Age sites that belonged to a local Iron Age settlement pattern. This argument is based on Phillips’ (1998) assessment that the ceramics from STN and al-Midaman are identical to those from al-Hamid and that the latter date exclusively to the Iron Age. Phillips’ view contrasts with the verdict that the assemblages from STN and alMidaman include Bronze Age Sabir-related ware, as proposed by Ciuk and Keall (1996) and Keall (1998).

Just west of Waqir, the Wadi Siham runs dry, apart from during the monsoons. The course of the Wadi Siham becomes ill defined, breaking into offshoots as it pushes to the sea, just south of Hodeidah. Phillips and the UCL team (which included this author) visited three coastal middens near to the terminus of an offshoot of Wadi Siham in 1996. Although Tosi surveyed the coastal Hodeidah area, his interests lay in the prehistoric period; indeed, the only Iron Age site alluded to by Tosi was the site of Wadi Urq, which he described as a “very large early historical site” (Tosi 1985, 368). Of the three middens investigated by Phillips - Wadi Urq,9 Shell Midden I and Shell Midden II- the first two have been found to have ceramics that were comparable to the ‘local’ ware from al-Hamid and are thus ascribed an Iron Age date (although the ‘local’ ware from al-Hamid has not been independently dated to the Iron Age, but through association with the Sayhad-related ware - see Chapter 5). Owing to these ceramic comparisons, Phillips proposed that al-Hamid was integrated into a network of local sites and argued that there is a “gradually emerging picture of an indigenous settlement pattern characteristic of the Tihamah” (Phillips 1998, 236-7). Despite suggesting that such sites provide a local cultural background for al-Hamid, Phillips also maintained that the Iron Age sites were culturally distinct from the Bronze Age sites, since, according to him, the ceramics from the Bronze Age and Iron Age sites are quite different. Until the relevant material is published, however, it will be difficult to reconcile these conflicting claims.

1.4.2.2 Coins In addition to the above sites, epigraphic inscriptions and two coin hoards have been found on the Tihamah. One hoard, which consisted of 181 silver coins, was found by a local inhabitant near the town of Bajil, which is not far from the Wadi Siham. The coins were of “imitation ancient Athenian tetradrachm” type, similar to coins known from Sayhadian Sabaean contexts (Davidde 1995, 246). Davidde has published the only assessment of the hoard, based on photographs of 29 of the coins, and suggested a terminus post quem of the 4th century BC. She argued that the coins provide important information on the circulation of Sabaean coins and on the pre-Islamic history of the area. She suggested (1995, 246) that the hoard indicates the “intense use” of the route, marked by al-Hamid, which connected the interior with the coast and on to Ethiopia at the end of the 4th century BC.8 She also interpreted the coins in the context of trade in precious goods between Arabia and Ethiopia (Davidde 1995, 246). Finally, Davidde speculated that the hoard was buried because of some approaching danger, possibly the local dwellers, who she perceived as marauders or nomads. The image of local dangerous barbarians must find its origin in the written sources, both from the ‘Classical’ accounts (with reference to the northern Tihamah) and from the ESA

Site STN is a deflated, pottery-strewn site, lying about 20km inland from the coast near Zabid. It was discovered as part of the Zabid Project initiated in 1980, which was 9

10

Phillips (1998) re-labelled the Wadi Urq midden as ‘Wadi Nakhel’, but the original label is used in this thesis in line with the wider literature.

15

So ignoring the dates for al-Hamid proposed by Jamme (1981) or Abdullah (cited in Al-Radi (1985)), in order to conform to the ‘Classical’ accounts (broadly in line with Al-Radi, who suggests a date towards the end of the 1st millennium BC (1985)).

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN SOUTH WEST ARABIA corpus (which documents the disloyalty of the people on the Tihamah to South West Arabian rulership).

of a larger monument, although it was not found in situ. The seven line inscription mentions Emperor Antonius Pius, which helps to provide a 2nd century AD date. It hints strongly at a Roman presence on the Island, possibly installed to protect Red Sea trade at that time.

The second coin hoard was discovered in the alMadhariba area, c.70km west of Aden (Munro-Hay 1989; 1991). It is a unique find that consists of 1194 coins, of which 868 were gold Aksumite coins and 326 were late Roman solidi (gold coins), which Munro-Hay has dated to AD c.330-550. As this represents the largest single collection of Aksumite coins yet found and the only group to be found in association with Roman coins, it has been used to help to clarify numismatic questions concerning the chronology of Aksumite coins and die-links. This hoard has not been considered by other scholars working on the Tihamah despite the fact that it provides the only known archaeological evidence of Aksumite relations with the Tihamah.

Publications of the ESA inscriptions from the mosque of Ali-Mahmul are limited to a lengthy footnote written by Stone in an article by Beeston (1995a) and to an unpublished article by Phillips (1999c). The mosque was first surveyed in the early 1970s by Costa, then by Stone in the 1980s (Beeston 1995a), and finally by the UCL team (which included this author) in 1996. Most of the mosque was built using reused ashlar masonry and seven inscriptions on re-used blocks of stone have been recorded. The ESA inscriptions are written in the Sabaic language and have been dated to the Ancient SubPeriod I (the first half of the 1st millennium BC). They have again been used to support the notion of contacts with the interior (Phillips 1999c). Thus, Phillips has stated that they indicate that the Wadi Mawr would have served as an ideal line of communication from the Highlands to the Tihamah.

1.4.2.3 Inscriptions The documentation of the ESA inscriptions found on the Tihamah is limited, varying from a few notes (the Jizan area inscriptions) to a more detailed discussion (the inscriptions from the Ali Mahmul mosque and notably, the Latin inscription from Farasan). This essentially minimal documentation stems, in part, from the fragmentary nature of the inscriptions. These inscriptions have been discovered along the western length of the Tihamah; none have been found in the southern stretch that borders the Indian Ocean. An overview of the inscriptions is presented in geographic order, from north to south.

The Sabaic in situ inscriptions discovered at al-Hamid and Waqir have been harnessed to date the sites and to indicate a Sabaean presence at each site (Beeston 1995a; Phillips 1997). Some 170km south of the Wadi Siham, an ESA inscription was found re-used in a well-head at Mocha (Ryckmans 1960). The inscription is epigraphically dated to around the 3rd century BC (Beeston 1995a), about the time of the earliest Greek and Roman accounts of their trade along the Red Sea. In an unpublished article, Phillips (1999c) has considered how the modern town of Mocha may have related to the ancient roadstead of ‘Mouza’ mentioned in these accounts, which scholars have variously correlated with the modern inland town of Mawza or the modern coastal port of Mocha (Beeston 1995a).

Four Jizan area inscriptions have been published by Zarins et al. (1981). Three inscriptions were found on Farasan Island, two were located in situ, while the other was found in a reused context. The fourth inscription, also from a reused context, was discovered on the Jizan area mainland. The language of the Jizan area inscriptions remains unknown, although it has been speculated that one of the inscriptions from Farasan Island is written in the Minaean language. The palaeographic dates of these inscriptions have also not been suggested. The lack of further details on the date or language of these inscriptions does not necessarily reflect the fact that Zarins et al. are not trained epigraphers; the epigrapher Ryckmans also investigated the inscription on the Jizan area mainland (as cited in Zarins et al. 1981), but could provide no more specific details. Zarins and colleagues interpreted the inscriptions as evidence of a Sayhadian presence in the region. They also suggested that both the ESA inscriptions and Sayhad-related ceramics point to the strategic location of the Jizan area with regard to Red Sea trade. Just recently, a Latin inscription from Farasan Island has come to public attention (Phillips et al 2004) – an exciting find not least since it is the second Latin inscription ever to be found in South West Arabia. It is carved on a rectangular block of careous block, perhaps around 1 metre long and half a metre wide (although Phillips et al were working from photographs without a scale). Its likely size suggests it may once have been part

About 30km east south east of Mocha, a single reused ESA inscribed block was found incorporated into the body of the Grand Mosque at Mawza. It was first examined by Stone in the 1980s (Beeston 1995a). Beeston dated the inscription to the 4th-6th centuries AD and speculated that the inscription might indicate the presence of a fairly significant town influenced by Sayhadian culture - possibly the site of Mouza, which was referred to in the c. 1st century AD Greek text, the Periplus Maris Erythraei (PME) (Beeston 1995a, 241; see Chapter 2, Section 2.3.2). This proposal again reflects the centrality of the textual record to the pre-Islamic history of the Tihamah, since such a settlement is archaeologically unknown, and we cannot be sure that the inscription from Mawza originates from the place in which it was found. 1.5 An overview of the dominant models for the study of the Tihamah plain This chapter has highlighted the relatively short history of archaeological investigation in South West Arabia, which 16

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 has been carried out by a small number of individuals or teams. It has considered how archaeological work in South West Arabia took a back seat to epigraphical and historical interests before the 1980s, and has emphasised that historical records play a central role in the interpretation of South West Arabian pre-Islamic history.

Bronze Age culture on the Tihamah has been variously identified as a pan-Tihamah ‘Sabir/Sihi culture’, ‘Tihamah Cultural Complex’ or ‘Sabir-related culture’. For the Iron Age, scholars have speculated that there was a network of Iron Age Sayhad-related sites on the Tihamah (Al-Radi 1985; Beeston 1995a; Phillips 1998). Such migrationist theories partly stem from the fact that a local developmental trajectory ancestral to either phase is poorly documented for the Tihamah, whereas these periods are better known from the Horn of Africa and the Sayhad region respectively.

This review has outlined how the cumulative growth of knowledge about the region depends heavily on the perspectives and assumptions of those conducting fieldwork. It is evident that with so little investigation, each new project adds important new information. But at the same time, many of the interpretations offered for the Tihamah are built on previous interpretations or perceptions of the region so that interpretations and the assumptions on which they are based have become treated as facts in the literature.

The third main approach emphasises local developments. This view can be traced back to the model of local evolution first offered for South West Arabia by Masry (1973). For example, Tosi (1985; 1986a) proposed that the Tihamah midden sites bear witness to local agricultural developments. Phillips (1998) also suggested that Iron Age Tihami settlement patterns and sites represent a local development from their Bronze Age antecedents, a view which is difficult to substantiate based on current evidence (as discussed in Chapter 5).

The Tihamah has been interpreted from three main perspectives in the literature. The first perspective is informed by textual sources, particularly the ‘Classical’ accounts and the ESA inscriptions. The ‘Classical’ accounts indicated that the Tihamah lay on the Red Sea mercantile route, and, as a result, scholars have interpreted the region in terms of an assumed central importance of Red Sea trade (Zarins et al 1981; 1985; 1986; Zarins 1989; 1990; Fattovich 1990; 1991; 1997a; 1997b; 1997c; Phillips et al 2004). Alternatively, the ESA texts refer to the political relation of the Tihamah to Aksum or to the inland South West Arabian monarchy, and in terms of alliance or conflict with the South West Arabian kingdoms. As a result of episodes of political insurrection against the inland South West Arabian kingdoms, the Tihamah has been envisaged in terms of anarchic opposition to the order of Sayhadian civilisation. For example, Beeston (1995a) suggested that alHamid was a garrison (to protect Sabaean migrants or travellers), while Davidde (1995) suggested that the Tihamah was occupied by dangerous marauders. This perspective may also have influenced interpretations of the prehistoric archaeological record. For example, Vogt and Sedov (1998a) have described Sabir as culturally distinct from the interior of South West Arabia.

This chapter has made explicit the often-implicit models that lie behind the way that the archaeology of the Tihamah has been interpreted. It has indicated that interpretations of specific sites, of local culture-history and of the role of the region, all depend at least as much on the assumptions of the investigators, as on the archaeological data from the Tihamah. By identifying the intellectual roots of the perspectives, along with their implicit biases, a more open-ended approach to the culture-history of the region can be explored. Only through such a broader-based, comparative approach can the discrepancies or potential of the models be fully discerned. This overview has also revealed a major gap in the scholarship. It is clear that authors have looked at individual periods in isolation and usually have not examined the long-term development of the Tihamah from the prehistoric to the historic period. This thesis will address these weaknesses. Chapter 2 presents the historical evidence relating to the Tihamah in more detail. It also provides information on the political and cultural history of the Tihamah up to modem times, which is important if we are to understand how others have perceived the Tihamah and how the Tihamah has worked as a region in betterdocumented contexts. The second chapter will also provide a geographical and environmental overview of the region, which is fundamental to understanding how the archaeological record can be interpreted.

The second perspective is that cultures on the Tihamah were introduced from elsewhere. Thus, the literature states that Bronze Age culture was introduced from Africa (to the west) and that, during the Iron Age, influences were introduced from the Sayhad region (to the east). Moreover, proponents of this viewpoint suggest that the Tihamah was united by an (African-related) culture in the Bronze Age and by a new and alternative (Sayhadian-related) culture in the Iron Age. Thus, the

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CHAPTER 2 THE TIHAMAH AS A REGION: PHYSICAL AND HISTORICAL EVIDENCE 2.1 Introduction

scanty, ranging between 50mm and 300mm per year (ElDomi 1985), falling mostly in two unreliable monsoon spates in the early spring and late summer (Stone 1985). The summer rains are brought by monsoon winds from the Indian Ocean, which blow south and southwest. The winter monsoon winds blow north and northeast (Huntingford 1980). Temperatures are high all year round: maximum daytime temperatures range from 32°C in winter to 50°C in summer. Six major wadis drain the mountain catchment on to the Tihamah; from north to south, these are the wadis Mawr, Surdud, Siham, Rima, Zabid, and Tuban (see Fig. 2). Most of the larger wadis have permanent flowing water as they enter the Tihamah from the east, and today this is almost immediately diverted into irrigation channels.

Chapter 2 aims to provide an outline of the Tihamah in terms of its physical and environmental character. It then examines the pre-Islamic written sources relevant to understanding the region and its cultures. In addition, to provide a wider historical background, it offers a brief overview of the history of the Tihamah in the Islamic period, from the 7 th century AD up to modern times. The final section analyses how the Tihamah functioned in its regional context based on these three perspectives - the physical environment, the ancient written sources, and the later historical accounts. 2.2 Physical and environmental character South West Arabia is roughly delimited to the north by modem Saudi Arabia, to the east by Oman, to the south by the Indian Ocean and to the west by the Red Sea. As indicated on Fig. 3, it is largely composed of highlands that form an arc around the Sayhad desert. Four main regions are referred to in this thesis: the Sayhad region, the Central Highlands, the Hadramawt, and the Tihamah. The Sayhad region refers to the interior lowland desert fringe sandwiched between the Sayhad desert to one side and the Central Highlands and the Hadrami highlands on the other. The mountains often reach heights of 2000-3000m above sea level (peaking at 3760m in the Central Highlands). The Tihamah plain is bounded inland by the Central Highlands and by the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, as shown on Fig. 1.

The most fertile section of the Tihamah is the ‘inner zone’ (the half closest to the highlands), which is covered by extensive plains of alluvial silt washed down from the mountains, as shown on the photo (Fig. 6). The alluvial plains are often broken by small gravel ridges, which merge into the foothills of the Sirat mountains. (The Sirat range is the portion of the Central Highlands that borders the Tihamah.) Towards the ‘central zone’ of the Tihamah (i.e. mid-way between the highlands and the sea), the wadis run dry, which has, over time, resulted in the geological formation of broad fans of fine silt (Wood 1985). Most of the ‘outer zone’ of the Tihamah (the half closest to the sea) is covered in mobile sand dunes, including barchan and longitudinal dunes (El-Domi 1985) caused by sand and fine materials transported by the wind (Wood 1985) (see Fig. 6). The sand dunes reduce accessibility to the coast and threaten or even destroy agricultural fields. The coast is subject to persistent onshore winds that carry salt spray at least one kilometre inland, which results in a distinct salt-encrusted habitat known as sabkah (El-Domi 1985). The coastline has changed over time in response to global climatic changes. Between about the 9 th -6 th millennia BC the sea gradually rose, but from about the 6th-3rd millennia BC, the sea level dropped, with the result that the modem coastline is around l0km further west than it was in the 6th millennium BC (Zarins and Zahrani 1985).

Geologists have identified the Tihamah as an extension of the Rift Valley system of East Africa (El-Domi 1985; Stone 1985). When the tectonic trench (or graben) subsided, large amounts of sediment from the wadis (major seasonal rivers) were deposited in the Tihamah (El-Domi 1985). Geophysical exploration has indicated that the alluvium is deep - possibly to a maximum thickness of between 500m and 700m. Unfortunately, the configuration of the basin and the maximum depth of the alluvium are poorly understood since all available data come from specific, localised, nonarchaeological projects, such as agricultural development assessments (El-Domi 1985).

The environment has affected the preservation of the known archaeological record in three key ways. First, strong monsoon winds are generally destructive of site integrity through deflation, leaving many sites highly visible, but without preserved stratigraphy. Second, the heavy silt deposition from the wadis has buried other sites. Third, the rise and subsequent fall of the sea level means that sites located directly on the coast before the 6th

Hepper and Wood (1979) describe the Tihamah as a hot, inhospitable area, with an environment that is harsh compared to the neighbouring Central Highlands. The presence or absence of water, or of fertile or infertile soils, has a profound impact on life on the Tihamah. Rainfall is

19

THE TIHAMAH AS A REGION: PHYSICAL AND HISTORICAL EVIDENCE

Three goatherds take a break from tending their animals. They stand within the typical inland landscape zone of the Tihamah. While the sun bakes the earth, this is a relatively well-watered zone, and the zone of agricultural fields (as seen in the distant background).

Fig. 5: View of inner zone of the Tihamah, taken near to al-Hamid in 1998

Fig. 6: View of Tihami sabkhas (with thanks to Khalidi and Lewis)

20

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 millennium BC will have been drowned and probably, as scholars assume, destroyed (Zarins et al. 1981; Tosi 1986a).

Thirteen Egyptian sources refer to the land of ‘Punt’, known to the Egyptians as ‘God’s Land’ because of its precious goods, including gold and incense (Kitchen 1997). Twelve of the sources are dated to between c.2500 BC and 1170 BC and the thirteenth is dated to the mid 1st millennium BC; the name does not recognisably recur in later ESA or Greek and Roman sources. The Egyptian references vary in length and at times simply constitute fleeting allusions to Punt and Puntites, for example under Akhenaton (c.1340). Punt’s actual location is unknown, although it has been equated with many countries, including South West Arabia, Ethiopia, Somalia and Syria (Herzog 1968; Kitchen 1993). The balance of opinion is now in favour of correlating Punt with the Horn of Africa (Kitchen 2004; 1993; 1997; 1998). Despite this, it is germane to discuss the historical evidence for Punt, since it affects the interpretation of relations between the Horn of Africa and the Tihamah.

Vegetation on the Tihamah varies from one zone to another. Wood (1985) states that the coastal sabkah is an infertile environment in which the salt-bush (Suaeda fructicosa) is the dominant plant. In contrast, the fertile inner zone of the Tihamah is able to support a diverse range of plants. The monsoon rains can produce a rich ground flora in both zones. The ancient environment is poorly known, although Wood’s research (1985) revealed that, in prehistoric times, the Tihamah seems to have been afforested. Today, the Tihamah is dominated by agricultural crops. Because of the heat and potential water-shortages, quick-growing crops are planted, notably the African-origin sorghum (Wadi Siham Feasibility Report 1979). Rain-fed agriculture (i.e. crops that are watered only by rainfall) is possible in the foothills of the Sirat mountains and in the inner alluvial plain of the Tihamah during the monsoon. Otherwise, irrigation channels are dug from the wadis (known as ‘run-off irrigation’), or ground water is harnessed by wells or - more recently - by diesel powered pumps.

The Pharaonic sources indicate that aromatics, particularly myrrh, were the most important export from Punt. Incense was probably followed in importance by gold and then by ebony and other valuable woods (Kitchen 1993). The fullest list of Puntite commodities comes from the reliefs at the Deir el-Bahari temple of Queen Hatshepsut (c.1472/1 BC) and includes myrrh resin and myrrh trees, herbs, ebony, ivory, gold, other woods, incense and fauna. These reliefs also show a tropical region, pile-dwelling houses, the local fauna, which includes baboons, giraffes, rhinos, long- and short-horn cattle, dogs, donkeys and the Puntite flora, notably daum palms.

Today, sheep and goats are the main domesticated animals. Two types of cattle are also bred on the Tihamah: the humpless Bos Taurus and the humped Bos Indicus. Donkeys and camels are used as pack animals and chickens are bred for food. People exploit the marine resources, primarily fish, which may be supplemented by other seafood such as molluscs. The range of wild animals on the Tihamah is unclear.

The texts indicate that Punt was accessible both from the coast and via an inland route. Moreover, a mountain may have marked the entrance to the land (Fattovich 1991). Since the sources record that Punt was divided into different districts, scholars suggest that Punt stretched along the Red Sea coast and into the hinterland (O’Conner 1982; Fattovich 1991). This description could plausibly fit countries on either side of the Red Sea, hence the confusion over its actual location. The correlation of Punt with the Horn of Africa is based on two key points: the XXVIth Dynasty (600 BC) reference to the rain falling on the mountain of Punt, which finally drained into the Nile, and the depiction of African fauna namely giraffes and rhinos - in the Deir el-Bahari reliefs (Kitchen 1993). More specifically, scholars have placed Punt at the border of Sudan and Eritrea, between the Blue Nile and Red Sea (Herzog 1968; Kitchen 1981; 1982; 1993; 2004; Fattovich 1991), with a possible core area around the Gash delta on the Eritrean-Sudanese borderland (Fattovich 1984; 1991).

Thus, today, the inner zone of the Tihamah has a higher agricultural potential, whereas in the outer zone, the sea provides natural food resources. Other than the impact of the changing sea levels, there is no suggestion that there have been large-scale environmental changes during the period covered in this book, though this issue is yet to be investigated in detail. 2.3 Textual sources for a study of the Tihamah As observed in Chapter 1, the pre-Islamic textual sources have been extremely important to the development and interpretation of South West Arabian archaeology. This section concerns the pre-Islamic textual documentation for the Tihamah, which comprises Pharaonic Egyptian references (c.2500 BC to the 6th century BC), Greek and Roman references (c.4th century BC to the 2nd century AD), Iron Age South West Arabian ESA inscriptions (dated from the early 1st millennium BC until Islam), and Ethiopian sources (also dated from around the early lst millennium BC until Islam).

Based on the idea that Punt was in the Horn of Africa, scholars have argued that Pharaonic Egyptian trade extended to the southern end of the Red Sea (notably Zarins et al. 1981; Zarins 1989; 1998; Fattovich 1978; 1991; 1997a). They have suggested that this route was

2.3.1 Egyptian sources Chapter 1 alluded to the use of Egyptian sources in the interpretation of the prehistoric Tihamah (pre-1000 BC). 21

THE TIHAMAH AS A REGION: PHYSICAL AND HISTORICAL EVIDENCE probably established before the 3rd millennium BC, and that it played a fundamental role in the development of the Red Sea route that connected the Mediterranean countries to India, as documented in the ‘Classical’ sources. Moreover, Fattovich (ibid.) has argued that Punt arose at the confluence of gradually emerging north-south and east-west trade routes. Or, as he put it, from the “fusion of two huge circuits of cultural interaction and economic interchange, gradually involving the peoples of Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Arabia in late prehistoric and early historic times” (Fattovich 1991, 257). Fattovich also argued that the first circuit was characterised by the Egyptian trade activity in the Upper Nile and perhaps northern Ethiopia, while the second involved the progressive South Arabian commercial penetration into Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, which he argued reached its zenith in the pre-Aksumite period. However, Fattovich maintained that even though both Egypt and South West Arabia were in direct contact with the Horn of Africa (‘Punt’), there were few direct contacts between Egypt and South West Arabia. To support this model, Fattovich has drawn on archaeological data discovered on the Tihamah (see Chapter 1) and in the Horn of Africa (as discussed in Chapters 4 and 6).

The ‘Classical’ texts that mention the Tihamah explain what was there and how to get to South West Arabia in order to acquire the luxury goods. These texts also describe the African Red Sea coast, the Horn of Africa, and even the lands further east (such as India), again in terms of their mercantile potential and trade routes. It is generally accepted that, by the 1 st century BC, the Greeks and Romans knew about the monsoon winds, which were important to easy Red Sea navigation (Hourani 1995), although there is little evidence that the monsoon was harnessed in The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, (meaning ‘Circumnavigation of the Red Sea’), now generally accepted to have been written in about the mid-1st century AD (Burstein 1989). According to the ‘Classical’ accounts, travel to the southern end of the Red Sea first occurred at the time of Alexander the Great, who sent three exploratory expeditions to Arabia. The first was aborted towards the middle of the Red Sea because of the seemingly barren landscape, but the last two expeditions sailed the length of the Tihamah coast (Casson 1995). Aristotle’s pupil, Theophrastus, refers to one of the two successful expeditions in his botanical tome On the History of Plants (c.300 BC) (Groom 1981); the other is referred to by Strabo who published his Geography at the end of the 1st century BC or early in the 1st century AD (Casson 1995). Ptolemy I took over the throne of Egypt in 305 BC and he and his successors continued Alexander’s programme of exploratory missions down the Red Sea. The reports of these expeditions were kept in the royal archives and were used by Agatharchides of Cnidus in the late 2nd century BC in a work of five books entitled On the Erythraean Sea. Agatharchides’ original work is no longer extant and modern scholars rely on three abridgements made over a period of nearly a thousand years by Diodorus (1st century BC), Strabo (late 1st century BC/early 1st century AD), and Photius (9th century AD) (Burstein 1989). Photius’ version is the most complete (Casson 1995). Agatharchides’ work is central to an historical discussion of the Tihamah, as is The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea,1 which was written by an unknown author in perhaps the mid 1st century AD. Pliny the Elder’s Natural History (AD 77) and the Geography by the Greek geographer and astronomer, Claudius Ptolemy (2nd century AD), are also relevant.

2.3.2 Greek and Roman sources “...most of what outsiders, from the Romans onward, have known of the Yemen has been the Tihamah” (Stone 1985, 5) Greek and Roman interest in South West Arabia was in terms of its naturally occurring resources, generally ‘luxury goods’ such as frankincense, or in terms of its geography, as a route to the Indian Ocean - itself related to mercantile interests. The texts describe the affluence of South West Arabia, particularly the wealth of the Sabaean kingdom, which they explain as the result of the incense trade. This view was undoubtedly based on the extortionate prices charged for incense, various aromatic gums, and resins, which were essential to the religious and social life at their destination (Burstein 1989). Following the ‘Classical’ texts, scholars originally believed that the whole pre-Islamic South Arabian kingdom was nurtured and developed on the profits of incense. It seems that the Romans had tried to take control of both the Sayhad desert margin trade route and the incense producing regions: Pliny the Elder (AD 77) and Strabo (late 1st century BC or early 1st century AD) mention the unsuccessful 24-25 BC military expedition by Aelius Gallus, sent by the Emperor Augustus (who reigned from 27 BC to AD 14). The incense-growing regions are reckoned to have been to the east of the Hadramawt, in Dhofar (i.e. Oman) and/or in the Hadramawt, although, as Groom (1977) points out, the accounts of the ‘Classical’ authors concerning the frankincense region are conflicting and difficult to interpret.

These ‘Classical’ sources mention places on the Tihamah and indicate that they were linked to the trade network between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy’s texts largely constitute a list of place names down the western coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Pliny the Elder’s work includes a brief account on the geography of the world, and, in the section on Arabia, he simply includes a list of names with no attempt to arrange them geographically (Casson 1995). Ptolemy’s work lists 13 places along the western coast 1

22

Hereafter referred to as the PME, the abbreviation of the Latin title of the work, Periplus Maris Erythraei (Huntingford 1980).

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 of Arabia, but this time arranged in order with indications of their location with very brief descriptions, such as ‘village’ or ‘town’ (Casson 1995). He records Mouza and Okelis on the Yemeni Tihamah, which are both described as ‘trading ports’.

The PME (chapter 21) records a gentler terrain and climate beyond the Burnt Island with a settled and peaceful population. It specifies that on the very last bay of the eastern shore is the port of ‘Mouza’, which is described as a lively port, astir with commercial activity, despite its lack of a proper harbour. Chief among the imports were luxury grade fabrics. The port also exported luxury South West Arabian goods, chiefly myrrh, as well as other incense and alabaster, together with local goods from the Tihamah, notably locally-made weapons (Stone 1985). The PME notes that the people of Mouza traded with Africa across the Red Sea and with Barygaza, the major port of the north-western coast of India. The PME reveals the wealth and power of the merchants of Mouza by noting that, although themselves under the control of the Himyarite-Sabaean king, they held the African coast between what is today Ras Hafun to Dar es Salaam and collected taxes from it (chapter 16). Close connections between the two areas are attested by the reference to merchant ships staffed mostly by Arabs who were familiar with the African coast and its language through continual trips to the area and through intermarriage with the locals. The PME indicates that Mouza was more important than Adulis, the main African port listed in the text (Munro-Hay 1991). It also cites Okelis as a Tihami port of departure located on the tip of the Bab al-Mandab.

The surviving abridgements of Agatharchides’ text and the PME are much more detailed. Agatharchides describes the Tihamah as having long, rocky stretches with no anchorage points and violent surf (Burstein 1989; Casson 1995). He mentions a splendid harbour (unidentified by modern scholars) that existed somewhere on the coast of the Hedjaz (in modern Saudi Arabia), and alludes to the Debai, a nomadic group who lived just south of that harbour. Furthermore, he describes a river running through the land that brought down abundant gold dust, as well as gold mines with huge nuggets of gold further south, in an area that has rain even in summer. Finally, Agatharchides writes of ‘Happy Arabia’ and of the gifts of nature such as frankincense and myrrh and the rich life-style that these products allowed. These products, he writes, belonged to the Sabaeans. The PME focuses on the coast of Africa south to where Dar es Salaam stands today (in Tanzania) and then describes the route down the Arabian coast. The PME does not include some of the more fantastical elements of Agatharchides’ account, such as the vast gold deposits. Written in unvarnished Greek prose, scholars agree that it was probably the work of someone who had travelled the routes described and knew them well and that it served as a hand-book for seamen and traders who sailed down the Red Sea, round the Gulf of Aden and into the Indian Ocean (Huntingford 1980; Casson 1995). Short descriptions are given of all the ports together with exhaustive lists of the items to be sold or bought in each. The text also provides information about the cultures and people encountered on this route. With respect to the Tihamah, the text warns readers to stay away from the Red Sea Arabian coast until they reached the ‘Burnt’ Island, which is identified as Jabal al-Tair, near the Hodeidah area (Casson 1995). Before that point, the PME describes the Tihamah as dangerous because of its forbidding geography and inhabitants. As the author of the PME writes: “on the whole, this voyage along the coast of the Arabian mainland is dangerous, the country being without harbours, with bad anchorages and a foul shore, unapproachable by reason of rocks, and in every way formidable” (chapter 20, translation by Huntingford 1980). He writes that this upper stretch of the coast, like the Ethiopian coast, is inhabited by ‘fish-eaters’ (Ichthyophagoi). He describes how further inland on the Tihamah, people live in villages or nomadic camps. He depicts the locals as “scoundrelly” (chapter 20), recording that they plunder ships who stray from a course down the middle of the Red Sea and that they enslave any who are rescued from shipwrecks.

Scholars have expended much effort in trying to identify the sites and people listed in the texts, of which the PME provides the most comprehensive account. Building on lengthy research undertaken by previous researchers, Robin (1995) has interpreted most of the names from the PME that refer to the Tihamah. In brief, he has proposed that Okelis is identified with the area of Hawr Gurayra on the tip of the Bab al-Mandab. According to Robin, Okelis seems to have formerly belonged to the Qatabanians, but, when the PME was written, belonged to the South Arabian tribe of Mapharitide (Ma’afir in the ESA texts), whose capital was at Saue (i.e. modern al-Hugariya, identified as Saue from an eponymous inscription (Abdullah 1995)). The territory of the Ma’afir extended from the western Central Highlands to the southern Tihamah. The Ma’afir also controlled Mouza, which, according to Robin (1995) seems to have been near the modern port of Mocha. The king of the Ma’afir lived at Saue and was under the rule of the supreme ‘king of Saba and Dhu-Raydan’ (Robin 1995). The places have often been identified through their similarity to modern place-names (Casson 1995). Indeed, Robin (1995) has proposed that the list of toponyms illustrates the remarkable stability of geographic names in Yemen. People mentioned in the PME have been identified through comparisons with those listed in ESA inscriptions. For example, Robin (1995) has correlated ‘Cholaibos’ (in the PME) with ‘Kulayb Yuha’min’ (from the ESA texts). Thus, the Greek and Roman accounts are all written from the perspective of outsiders travelling to (or hearing about) Arabia and focus on the commodities to be found 23

THE TIHAMAH AS A REGION: PHYSICAL AND HISTORICAL EVIDENCE northern Tihamah and the people of the northern Sayhad Jawf (Phillips 2000a). The inscriptions from the Wadi Siham sites have been palaeographically dated to the first half of the 1st millennium BC.

there. The ‘Classical’ texts indicate that these expeditions began at the time of Alexander the Great. According to Casson (1995), these early expeditions were undertaken not only to investigate commercial possibilities, but also to capture elephants from Africa for the army. However, it is often difficult to distinguish between the two coasts mentioned by Agatharchides, who generally refers to them collectively as “Arabia and Aithiopia” (e.g. in chapter 23). Indeed, both Agatharchides’ text and the PME indicate the cultural closeness of the two coasts of the Red Sea.

Despite the archaic date of these Tihami inscriptions, none of the 10,000 ESA inscriptions from the Sayhad region and Central Highlands refer to the Tihamah until much later. Thus, the first use of the name Tihamah’ in the ESA inscriptions was by Abikarib Asad in c. AD 430, who extended his Himyarite royal titulature ‘king of Saba, Dhu-Raydan, Hadramawt and Yamnat’ with the addition of ‘... and their Arabs in the Tawd4 and the Tihamah’. The ESA corpus also seems to allude to the Tihamah from the start of the 3rd century AD, when inscriptions document Aksumite interventions into Yemen (Robin 1995). It has been argued that some of these inscriptions refer to the Tihamah since they mention tribes who are said to live on the Tihamah in later Islamic historical sources (see Section 2.3.5) and because the toponyms compare with modern geographical places on the Tihamah (Robin 1995).

As a result, it is also pertinent to mention the ‘Classical’ references to Ethiopia. In addition to describing the coastal cave-dwellers, fish-eaters, ostrich-eaters and so on, they record Ethiopia’s early involvement in Red Sea trade from the Aksumite Red Sea port of Adulis, which the (1st century AD) PME describes as less important than Mouza. The PME also refers to Aksum, in the Ethiopian highlands, as a ‘city’ (Schoff 1912, 13) or ‘metropolis’ (Huntingford 1980, 20; Casson 1989, 53).2 Later, in the mid 2nd century AD, Ptolemy describes Aksum as the seat of the king’s palace (Stevenson 1932). Although not a Graeco-Roman source, by the 3rd century AD, the Persian religious leader Mani (d. AD 276 or 277) is reported by his followers to have described Aksum as one of the four most important kingdoms of the world, the others being Persia, Rome and Sileos (the latter possibly refers to China) (Anfray 1990; Munro-Hay 1991).

To elaborate, the earliest ESA inscriptions to refer to South West Arabian relations with Aksum have been dated to the reign of the king of Saba, Alhan Nahfan, at around AD 200 (Robin 1995). An inscription records the Sabaean king’s pleasure at receiving - and establishing an alliance with - an ambassador from the Aksumite King Gadarat. A second, contemporary, inscription also mentions the alliance of the Sabaeans, Aksumites and Hadramis against Himyar. Shortly thereafter, the Tihamah seems to come into view: a Sabaean ambassador visited the Aksumite king Gadarat (in c. AD 210-230), which resulted in a conflict between the Sabaeans, led by king Sa’r Awtar (son of Alhan Nahfan), against the Aksumites and their allies. The Aksumite allies included ‘nomadic Arab groups’ and the tribes As’aran and Bhr (inscription Ir 12 par. 2), the Wusab (inscription MAFRAY-al-Mi’sal 514) and the ‘Akk (inscriptions Ja 574/7-8; Ja 575/5; Ir 19 par. 1 and Ir 69/32); according to medieval Islamic accounts, these tribes lived on the Tihamah (Robin 1995).

2.3.3 Epigraphic South Arabian sources About 10,000 ESA inscriptions have been reported from South West Arabia (Robin 1998). Of these, 26 ESA inscriptions have been recorded from the Tihamah,3 they are discussed in Chapter 5 (Section 5.5) and their distribution is marked on Fig. 5. Briefly, 10 are fragmentary and found in reused contexts dotted across the Tihamah from the Jizan area to Mawza. The context of a further fragmentary inscription from Farasan Island (in the Red Sea near Jizan) has not been given. These incomplete inscriptions provide limited information. One newly-published Latin inscription found on Farasan Island (albeit not in situ) provides interesting new information suggesting some kind of Roman presence (Phillips et al. 2004). The rest seem to have been found in their original context: two fragmentary in situ inscriptions have been discovered on Farasan Island, and 13 lengthier inscriptions have been recovered from the two ‘Sabaeanrelated’ sites - al-Hamid and Waqir - on the Wadi Siham. The inscriptions from al-Hamid and Waqir are mainly religious dedications to Sayhadian gods, including the chief Sabaean god, Almaqah. One inscription from Waqir also specifies that the Sabaean mukarrib offers his protection to the southern Tihamah against the

Inscription Ja 631 (c. AD 230) also states that the Aksumites occupied Zafar (the Himyarite capital) in the western Central Highlands, to the east of the Tihamah. It reports that Zafar was governed by Baygat who was titled ‘Son of Negus’ (son of the Aksumite king) and that his presence was supported by the of Ma’afir tribe (Robin 1995).5 Further ESA inscriptions claim that the Ma’afir tribe also accepted the rulership of later sons of Negus. The texts record that the Aksumites received and dispatched Aksumite ambassadors from Saue, the Ma’afir capital. In addition, inscription Ja 574/7 (c. AD

2

4

3

It is to be noted that although Pliny the Elder (also dated to the 1st century AD) mentions Adulis, he does not mention Aksum. A further inscription disappeared soon after it was discovered (Beeston 1995).

5

24

The Tawd refers to the eastern highlands (Munro-Hay 1991). It is to be recalled that Robin (1995) has suggested that the Ma'afir tribe were based on the western Central Highlands and the southern Tihamah.

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600

Fig. 7 Map of Tihamah - coins and inscriptions

25

THE TIHAMAH AS A REGION: PHYSICAL AND HISTORICAL EVIDENCE 250) asserts that the Aksumites established other sites in South West Arabia, and mentions “certain Aksumite villages” in the Wadi Surdud (one of the major Tihami wadis).

actual or partial barrier across the Bab al-Mandab straits to Africa.6 Thus, the inscriptions claim that King Yusuf controlled the only two historically attested points on the Tihamah coast where the Aksumites could disembark. However, the Aksumite king Kaleb destroyed the regime of King Yusuf in c. AD 520 and then took over direct rule of South West Arabia for at least five years (Munro-Hay 1991). It seems that the Tihamah, and its people, is not mentioned in later Arabian ESA texts, the last of which were produced in AD 560 (Robin 1997; Kitchen 2000).

The Arabian ESA accounts indicate that the period of Aksumite presence in western South West Arabia was punctuated by numerous conflicts. The ESA inscriptions claim that the South West Arabians overcame the Aksumites during the reigns of Yasir Yuhan’im of Himyar (c. AD 260-270) and Nasa’karib Yuha’min Yuharhib of Saba (c. AD 260-275). At that time, they record that Datawnas and Zaqarnas (two Aksumite kings) invaded the region of Zafar with the support of the local Ma’afir tribe, but that the Aksumites and their South West Arabian allies (notably the Wusab tribe, who lived on the Tihamah, according to Islamic accounts) were overcome in a series of victorious campaigns by the Himyarites. Moreover, the ESA inscriptions claim that the Sabaeans were similarly successful in the north, and that their operations also led to the retreat of the Aksumites (Robin 1995).

Thus, the ESA inscriptions first refer to the Tihamah in the 1st millennium AD, in terms of its shifting allegiance between Ethiopia (in the 3rd century AD) and South West Arabia (from the 5th century AD). Here the adherence of the Tihamah to South West Arabia has been gauged from the inclusion of the Tihamah in the Himyarite titulature (Robin 1995).6 However, might this be Himyarite propaganda, rather than actual allegiance? To assess the validity of the claims made in the ESA inscriptions, and to gain a more complete picture of relations between Ethiopia, the Tihamah, and the rest of South West Arabia, let us turn to the contemporary Ethiopian texts.

During the 4th century AD, there is only one probable reference to the Tihamah. Inscription Ir 28 refers to a Himyarite ambassador who returned from Ethiopia via Mouza. The inscription thanks the god Almaqah for protecting the Himyarite ambassador and for his return with two Aksumite ambassadors. The text has been dated to between AD 300 and 383 because of the king mentioned (Robin 1995). As noted above, the Tihamah is first mentioned by name in the 5th century AD Himyarite titulature, although there are no further comments about events on the Tihamah until the 6h century AD, as revealed below.

2.3.4 Pre-Islamic Ethiopian sources The Ethiopian inscriptions that describe relations with South West Arabia in the 1st millennium AD are found in Aksumite contexts (dated to around the first seven centuries AD), and are usually written in the Ethiopian Ge’ez script and language (Phillipson 1998). One of the best known of all Aksumite inscriptions, the Monumentum Adulitanum, is probably dated to somewhere between the reign of Gadarat in AD 200 and the reign of Ezana in AD 330. The original has been lost, but was recorded in Greek by the merchant Kosmas in the 6th century AD (Huntingford 1989; Munro-Hay 1991). The original author of the text refers to himself as the first and only king of his line to subdue so many peoples, including the Sabaeans. Here he states that he sent an expedition by sea and land against the peoples living on the other side of the Red Sea, i.e. the Arabitas and the Kinaidokolpitas, and that after subjugating their kings, he commanded them to pay tribute and made them guarantee the security of communications on land and sea. The author then claims to have conducted a land battle against the Sabaeans. If this inscription is correlated with the ESA texts, it is plausible that this inscription describes early Ethiopian relations with the people on the Tihamah and perhaps the western Central Highlands.

Between AD 521 and 522, a ‘Jewish usurper’ named Yusuf As’ar Yat’ar came to the South West Arabian throne (Robin 1995). Yusuf replaced the traditional South West Arabian title with simply ‘King of all the tribes’ (and is thus described as an ‘illegitimate’ ruler in the literature, e.g. Munro-Hay 1991). A list of atrocities are attributed to Yusuf, including laying siege on Najran (c.250km north of Marib), massacring the autochthonous Christians from Najran, as well as burning down the church at Zafar and massacring the Aksumites from Zafar (Ry 508; Ja 1028; Ry 523). With respect to the Tihamah, three ESA inscriptions found near Najran, drafted by Yusuf’s generals, mention Yusuf’s campaign across the region. These texts describe the successful operations against the ‘Rakban’, ‘Farasan’, ‘Muhawan’ and ‘Rima’ tribes (later known from the Tihamah), the taking of the Tihami port of Mouza, the massacre of its inhabitants and the destruction of its church and an attack on the fortress at Samir (possibly just north-west of modern Mocha). About 13,000 people were killed, according to inscription Ry 508. Following these operations, the ‘illegitimate’ king and his army took up position at Mouza while reinforcing the ‘chain of Madabban’, which Beeston (1989) has suggested may have been an

6

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Scholars have debated the reality of a chain that extended across the Bab al-Mandab, which is described in the 7th century AD Greek text the Martyre de saint Arethas and by a 13th century AD traveller, Ibn al-Mugawir (Wilson 1995). Thus, Robin (1995) suggests it was a real chain that barred access to the straits, while Beeston (1989) suggests the chain was probably used to defend one of the Arabian anchorages at the southern end of the Red Sea.

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 script in the Sabaic language or in a ‘localised’ version of Sabaic. The pre-Aksumite inscriptions mention the Sayhadian pantheon including the chief Sabaean god, Almaqah, as well as local gods. They refer to Sabaean family names and places, together with non-Sabaean ‘local’ names and places. The monumental texts also refer to Sabaean mukarribs and use this titulature for local leaders. In the Africanist literature, these monumental inscriptions have been palaeographically dated (using the short chronology) from the mid 1st millennium BC to about the 3rd century BC. However, using the accepted Arabian medium chronology they should be dated to c.800-500 BC, or more generally, to the first half of the 1st millennium BC. These inscriptions indicate relations between Saba and Ethiopia that are not attested in the South West Arabian epigraphic record of the 1st millennium BC. The discovery of similarly early Sabaic inscriptions on the Tihamah means that an early connection might also be expected between Ethiopia and the Tihamah.

At least from the time of Ezana (AD 330), the Aksumite royal titulature included ‘king of Saba (Salhen) and Himyar (Dhu-Raydan)’.7 Ezana’s titles show that he considered himself, theoretically at least, the ruler of large parts of Yemen, Ethiopia and Sudan. Yet, this title is much shorter than the contemporary title used in South West Arabia, namely ‘King of Saba and Dhu-Raydan and Hadramawt and Yamnat’. A century later, the South West Arabian Himyarite king extended this title to ‘... and their Arabs in the Tawd and the Tihamah’, but this very long title was only incorporated into the Aksumite titulature under King Kaleb after his victory over King Yusuf in c. AD 520. After that event, Kaleb appointed a viceroy, Sumyafa Ashwa, to the South West Arabian throne and the Aksumites began a short period of direct rule over South West Arabia (perhaps from AD 520-525) (Munro-Hay 1991).8 A disproportionately large amount is known about Kaleb’s reign since it is well-attested in external sources, which are full of praise for Kaleb’s incursion into South West Arabia to crush the anti-Christian persecutor (summarised in Shahid 1971). These sources indicate that Kaleb’s viceroy, Sumyafa Ashwa, was deposed by Abreha, who the Byzantine historian Procopius mentions was a Himyarite by birth (Munro-Hay 1991). Indeed, Kaleb’s son and successor returned to the shorter title, as used by Ezana (Munro-Hay 1991).

2.3.5 Medieval Islamic accounts Key early Arabic sources for the Yemeni Tihamah are the works of Al-Hamdani (893-c.961), Ibn al-Mugawir (d. 1291) and Umara al-Yamani (c.1121-1174), the latter two drawing on an historical text by Abu al-Tami Gayyas (c.1089-1105) (Wilson 1995). These sources do not tell us much of the history of the region, although they have been used to help interpret the ESA inscriptions, particularly the references to tribes (Wilson 1995).

In overview, the Ethiopian sources appear to claim an early Aksumite control over the Tihamah: from the 4th century AD, the Aksumite titulature expresses regency over South West Arabia, although the full South West Arabian royal title, which claims dominion over the Tihamah, is only used by the Aksumite king Kaleb during his period of direct rule in the 6th century AD. The early Aksumite presence on the Tihamah and western Central Highlands is supported by the ESA texts, as is Kaleb’s period of direct rule. However, the previous Aksumite claims of regency over South West Arabia might be exaggerated, particularly as the Arabian ESA texts mention local leaders, and do not concur that Aksumite monarchs ruled South West Arabia. However, it is feasible that the lengthening of the South West Arabian title from perhaps the 3rd century AD was in response to threats by the Aksumites.

The literature related to South West Arabia uses the word ‘tribe’ to refer to a group of people connected via common kinship, culture, language, territory, political relations, or a combination of these elements. It might be useful to retain this ambiguous term precisely because the social organisation of pre-Islamic society is so poorly understood. However, this ambiguity also brings analytical problems that derive from 19th and early 20th century anthropological definitions of the term ‘tribe’. Thus, like former anthropologists, South West Arabianists tend to perceive the tribe as a static group, living in the same bounded territory over time. This is exemplified by the assumption that the names of medieval tribes and the locations of their territories can be extrapolated to preIslamic times. Since Barth’s seminal work on non-state society (1961), anthropologists have demonstrated the diachronic dynamism of the ‘tribe’, in terms of its organisation and territory. Indeed, the medieval historian and geographer al-Hamdani (AD 893-c.961), states that the Farasan tribe lived in the southern Tihamah (Wilson 1995), yet the name is today used for the Farasan islands, just west of the Jizan area in the northern Tihamah. Certainly, tribes need not name themselves after a geographical place, or vice-versa, and the presence of this name at opposite ends of the Tihamah might be coincidental. However, might this be evidence of tribal movement? This is not a question that can yet be answered, but serves to indicate caution in uncritically

A second set of Ethiopian inscriptions, dated to the preAksumite period (the first half of the 1st millennium BC), adds further pieces to the picture of relations between South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa. The known pre-Aksumite inscriptions number about 200 (and are discussed in detail in Chapter 6, Section 6.8.2.1). Approximately 150 are ‘rock-graffiti’, many of which appear to be written in poorly executed ESA, while the rest are monumental inscriptions written in pure ESA 7 8

The parallelism Saba/Salhan was never used by Arabian kings (Munro-Hay 1991). The exact dates are unclear, with Kitchen (2000) dating Sumyafa Ashwa's reign to c.AD 525-536.

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THE TIHAMAH AS A REGION: PHYSICAL AND HISTORICAL EVIDENCE assuming that the evidence from the medieval texts can be extrapolated to pre-Islamic times, even if, at present, Arabianists have little other choice, given the absence of additional data from the first half of the 1st millennium AD.

The Ayyubids and Rasulids were associated with a highly cultured time of prolific building activity on the Tihamah (Stone 1985; Wilson 1985; Hamalainen 1988). During their rule, Zabid became an active university town, boasting over 200 schools (Hamalainen 1988). Under the Rasulids, Tihami textile and pottery industries flourished and fields came under maximum cultivation (Stone 1985). However, the accepted history of the Tihamah is punctuated by episodes of disorder under every dynasty, which are usually interpreted as a response against centralised authority. For example, Wilson (1985) records two large-scale rebellions and a number of localised revolts during the Rasulid dynasty. Scholars suggest that overtaxation by the Rasulids forced the people to abandon their lands and that this caused the subsequent decline of the Tihamah (Al-Radi 1985; Stone 1985). This is evocatively described by Al-Radi (1985, 55), who states that “by the middle of the 14th century, the rot had set in firmly and the decline of the Tihamah remained a fact until the last few years”. This apparent decline is addressed in the following section.

The medieval accounts provide information about contemporary life on the Tihamah. Al-Hamdani reports that many groups on the Tihamah followed Christianity, which was the religion of the Aksumites from the 4th century AD (Munro-Hay 1991; Phillipson 1998), rather than Islam (Wilson 1985). Indeed, al-Hamdani emphasises the cultural distinctiveness of the Tihamah by writing that certain western Yemeni people speak in an unintelligible way to other South West Arabians and that ‘to become Ethiopian’ was considered an attractive thing for some western Yemeni tribes. The medieval texts also record a great number and variety of commodities that were traded through the ports on the Tihamah, notably al-Luhayyah and Mocha, throughout this period. Some of these products, namely fruit, cloth, dye, spices, glass, pottery and porcelain, derived from Yemen - or were intended for use in Yemen - whereas others were in transit to the west and east (Wilson 1985).

2.4 An historical over-view of the Tihamah from the 16th-20th centuries AD The Portuguese arrived in 1507, during the reign of the fourth Taharid sultan, and annexed the Indian Ocean South West Arabian island of Suqutra. They had discovered sea routes around the southern tip of Africa and wanted to take control of the trade routes from the Far East and divert them from the Red Sea. Partly in response to the Portuguese annexation, the last rulers of Mamluk Egypt, together with the gun-wielding Ottoman Turks, came to the Tihamah in an attempt to make the Red Sea secure (Hamalainen 1988). Stone (1985) suggests that their interest in the region stemmed from the lucrative trade in textiles and coffee.9 From 1517, the Mamluks and Ottomans are listed together as the rulers of the Tihamah in contemporary histories (Wilson 1985). By 1537, the Ottomans took control of South West Arabia (Wilson 1985). Ottoman rule lasted for a century and witnessed an increase in the coffee trade from the port of Mocha, where, in 1618, English and Dutch traders opened up coffee factories. However, control by the Ottoman Empire ended in 1636 when the Highland Zaydi imams took over and grew wealthy on the near monopoly of the world coffee market. By the mid 18th century, the Zaydi authority had fallen, apparently after uprisings on the Tihamah (Hamalainen 1988).

The medieval sources also provide a political history of the Tihamah - and of the rest of South West Arabia - which can now be outlined briefly. The Persians invaded South West Arabia in AD 575, and the inhabitants of the Tihamah, along with those in the rest of South West Arabia, adopted Islam at an early date of c. AD 630 (Wilson 1985); Islam was introduced from Saudi Arabia, which was the centre of the new faith. Although the history of Yemen is hazy until the 9th century AD (Smith 1979; Wilson 1995), it seems that South West Arabia was governed by Umayyad and Abbaid rulers (caliphs). These caliphs, the Orthodox Caliphs (AD 632-661), the Umayyads (AD 661-750) and the early Abbasids (AD 750-819) were based in Mecca, Damascus and Baghdad respectively (Wells 1920). After the 9th century, a succession of better-known dynasties ruled over South West Arabia, comprising the Ziyadids (AD 819-1011), the Najahids (AD 1012-1173), the Ayyubids (AD 1173-1229), the Rasulids (AD 1229-1454) and the Tahirids (AD 1454-1526). Ibn Ziyad, who was appointed governor of the Tihamah and possibly over the rest of South West Arabia, by the contemporary caliph of the Arabian Empire, founded the Ziyadid dynasty. In AD 1001 power fell to an Ethiopian slave of the Ziyadids, and then to a second Ethiopian slave, named Najah (AD 1012), whose position was again confirmed by the caliph. The Najahids were based in the Tihamah. The Ayyubids ruled in Egypt and then took control of South West Arabia. The Rasulids (thought by Wilson (1985) to be foreign to South West Arabia) were centred nearby, at Taizz in the western Central Highlands.

European interest in the Tihamah was revived in 1799, when the British annexed the island of Perim in the Bab alMandab straits. By 1843, they had conquered and colonised the Indian Ocean port of Aden, which was seen as an important staging post on a major sea route to South East Asia (Hamalainen 1988). However, the Ottoman Turks returned to Yemen in 1849 and occupied the 9

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Coffee is perhaps first mentioned in 1511, when it was publicly condemned in Mecca as a dangerous substance (Cruttenden 1836).

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 Tihamah and the Central Highlands (Hamalainen 1988). In 1905, the Ottoman and British spheres of influence were centred in what was later to become North and South Yemen, dividing the Tihamah near the Bab alMandab. The Ottoman occupation of Yemen was disputed by strong external powers and several uprisings took place. For example, during the TurkoItalian War (1911-1912), all of the Tihamah Turkish Yemeni ports along the Red Sea, including Hodeidah, Luhayyah, Mocha and Shaykh Sa’id were bombed by the Italians, who wanted to control the Red Sea (Baldry 1985). World War I stripped the Ottoman state of its imperial status and, in 1923, Turkey relinquished all territories in the Arabian Peninsula.

Egyptian sources and the ‘Classical’ texts, is primarily concerned with trade and is thus comparable to the postmedieval (European) imperialist interests in the region. The second group constitutes the Arabian ESA sources and Aksumite texts. This group refers to the politics of the region and is thus most similar to the Islamic histories. Although all of the above pre-Islamic sources are written from an external perspective, the Arabian ESA texts give the most ‘local’ view since they are at least a South West Arabian source. To elaborate, the first group of pre-Islamic texts is interested in the Tihamah in terms of control of the Red Sea trade route and products from South West Arabia. (Here we refer only to the ‘Classical’ texts, since any correlation of Punt with the Tihamah is uncertain.) The ‘Classical’ texts are written from the perspective of dominant, large-scale polities coming into the region. The people, politics, geography or natural resources of South West Arabia or the Tihamah are mentioned only to provide relevant information on trading opportunities. In contrast, the second group of pre-Islamic histories concern the political situation on the Tihamah. Thus, the ESA sources are concerned with the apparent alliance between the Tihamah-dwellers with the Aksumites, and the encroaching Aksumite presence in South West Arabia. Unlike the ‘Classical’ texts, the Arabian ESA inscriptions never mention the economic potential of the Tihamah or Red Sea, or their interest in it; this is not surprising since they almost never mention trade or trade relations. However, their silence on this matter makes it unclear whether the Red Sea route was economically important to the South West Arabians. Arabianist scholars have emphasised that the Sayhad route was more significant than the Red Sea route, since four of the major kingdoms were centred around the Sayhad desert margin and owing to the preponderance of monumental sites known from that region.

After World War I, local authorities kept Yemen in an extreme state of isolation. Hamalainen (1988) writes that there were no factories, paved roads or hospitals and the few schools that existed were all Koranic. This changed after the Yemeni revolution, which led to the creation of the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) in 1967. By 1970, following internal power struggles, two independent Yemeni states were formed: YAR, colloquially referred to as ‘North Yemen’, and The People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY), informally known as ‘South Yemen’. YAR was an Arab, Islamic and independent state; PDRY was supported by communist countries and was a Marxist Arab state. Cutting Yemen at the point of the Bab al-Mandab, this political division split the Tihamah into a Red Sea (YAR) section and an Indian Ocean (PDRY) component, and this division has been reflected in archaeological research. Doe (1971), for example, only surveyed PDRY, while Stone (1985) only examined YAR. The late 1980s saw the near-collapse of the Soviet economy and aid to PDRY dried up. Furthermore, oil fields were found on both sides of the undemarcated desert border between the two states. These two factors influenced the unification of Yemen into the Republic of Yemen in 1990. The unified republic, dominated by northerners, adopted a democratic constitution with an elected parliament and a (comparatively) free press (Cockburn 2000).

The written sources also lead to a number of additional, hitherto undiscerned, scenarios about how the Tihamah interacted with neighbouring regions in the pre-Islamic period. Firstly, they suggest that the Tihamah served as an integrating region between South West Arabia and the external world. Thus, archaic Sabaic inscriptions have been found on the Tihamah, in the Sayhad region and in the Ethiopian highlands, signifying that the coastal plain was integrated into wider cultural developments during the first half of the 1st millennium BC. One inscription (labelled Phillips-Waqir 3) even indicates that the Tihamah was politically connected to Saba at that time. Thereafter, the ‘classical’ sources (from about the 2nd century BC) imply that the coastal region was economically related to the interior, since non-local products such as myrrh were exported from ports on the Tihamah. Moreover, the PME (c. mid 1 st century AD) describes how people from the Tihamah were culturally integrated with inhabitants of the African Red Sea coast. By the 5th century AD, the Tihamah is included in the Himyarite titulature, suggesting that it was

The perceived recent history of the Tihamah is thus one of an “almost continual process of intrusion, misrule or misalliance” (Stone 1985, 5). In this scenario, external people, both from other countries and from other regions of South West Arabia, came into the region to exploit its resources or advantageous location on the Red Sea, and against whose authority the local ‘tribes’ reacted with uprisings and almost constant warfare (Baidry 1985; Stone 1985). 2.5 The Tihamah as a region: an historical analysis This section analyses the culture history of the Tihamah in the pre-Islamic period in the light of the historical documentation presented above. There are essentially two kinds of pre-Islamic sources that concern the Tihamah. The first group, which comprises the 29

THE TIHAMAH AS A REGION: PHYSICAL AND HISTORICAL EVIDENCE (symbolically at least) politically connected to the interior.

Despite supporting two local dynasties during the medieval period, for the rest of its documented preIslamic history, the Tihamah was always ‘ruled’ by an authority that was not based on the Tihamah. The localised tribal uprisings, the Tihami tribal uprisings led by outside forces, together with no known local Tihami ‘government’, suggest that the Tihamah never formed a coherent entity on its own. This too might stem from the geography of the Tihamah and the fact that it is too long and thin to form a united local entity, together with the fact that the region is inherently resource poor (at least in terms of commodity trading).

In addition, the textual accounts indicate that the Tihamah could function as an independent region. A cultural distance between the Tihamah and the South West Arabian interior is suggested by the different vocabulary used to describe the Tihamah in the ESA texts. Political hostility between the Tihamah and the Aksumites might be indicated by the Monumentum Adulitanum, which seems to describe the Aksumite subjugation of the Tihamah. The idea that the Tihamah was a semi-autonomous region is also indicated by the fact that, in the pre-Islamic period, neither the South West Arabian nor the Ethiopian ruling authorities were centred on the Tihamah. Its physical topography might have conspired to make the Tihamah culturally and politically distinct from - and even politically hostile to - its neighbours. For the Tihamah is physically separated from neighbouring regions by the Central Highlands, the sea and by the harsh physical environment. In addition, its coastal location and ports would have allowed the local inhabitants to be economically independent (although they would still have had to maintain relations with other South West Arabian regions to have access to the high status natural resources that did not occur locally, such as frankincense).

In conclusion, the Tihamah has traditionally been perceived in terms of its location on the wider mercantile trade routes, or in terms of the trade goods shipped through it, or along its coasts. This falls in line with the traditional archaeological emphasis on trade, used to explain the rise of Sayhadian South West Arabian society. However, it is possible to distil a number of other models for how the Tihamah functioned as a region. It could serve as an integrating region, between the rest of South West Arabia and Ethiopia. Alternatively, it could have acted as an independent region. The combination of integration and independence has meant that it could also have formed a boundary area between different external powers. Lastly, it appears that the Tihamah was not generally a locally politically unified unit, although a degree of unity could be imposed from outside. In reviewing the historical sources, it is clear that the ways in which the Tihamah functioned as a region, or interacted with different regions, was a dynamic process, and no single model can simply be assumed for the prehistoric or historic periods.

A third interpretation of the Tihamah arises from the fact that - as discussed above - it could be both integrated with, and politically, economically and culturally independent from, neighbouring regions. As a result, the Tihamah can be seen in terms of a boundary area, or buffer zone, between South West Arabia and the external world. It acted as a barrier against external exploitation of South West Arabia, either to control the region or its resources. However, in its role as a buffer zone, the Tihamah would have suffered and remained in a state of underdevelopment. This seems to be demonstrated by the fact that the Tihamah only became economically developed under the united Arab world in the medieval period. At that time, the Red Sea was closed off to European/Mediterranean interests and the Tihamah flourished and was able to sustain complex urban populations.

This long-term, dynamic perspective, also links in with the multiple competing models used in the past to interpret the archaeological evidence from the Tihamah, reviewed in Chapter 1. From this perspective, the three models identified there (Section 1.5), need not be assessed as competing paradigms, but can now be seen to correspond with different patterns which can be documented through the historic accounts of different periods of the history of the region.

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CHAPTER 3 A SYNTHESIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND THE CULTURE HISTORY OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA TH TH FROM THE 6 MILLENNIUM BC TO THE 6 CENTURY AD avoids idiosyncratic chronological labels. Within the literature, the identification of each period rests on three factors: technology, chronology and economy.

3.1 Introduction In order to provide a context against which to understand the much more fragmentary archaeological data from the pre-Islamic Tihamah (presented in Chapters 4 and 5), this chapter offers a synthesis of the key archaeological research undertaken in pre-Islamic South West Arabia. It first considers the sequential development of the archaeological record over time in each of the major regions of South West Arabia, apart from the Tihamah, i.e. the Sayhad, the Central Highlands and the Hadramawt. It then presents a synthetic overview of each major period in time, i.e. the Neolithic (c.6th-4th millennia BC), the Bronze Age (c.3rd-2nd millennia BC) and the Iron Age (c.1st millennium BC-c.6th century AD).

The Neolithic is technologically defined by the diagnostic lithics of the Arabian Bifacial Tradition (ABT). The repeated association of ABT sites with interdune playa deposits of the Arabian Peninsula (e.g. from the Rub alKhali desert of Saudi Arabia) suggests that they were in use during the Holocene moist phase, i.e. c.70004000/3000 BC (Sanlaville 1992). Sites with ABT tools in the Sayhad region have also been C-14 dated to between the 6th millennium BC (in the Wadi al-Jubah: Ghaleb 1990) and the 4th millennium BC (in the Hadrami Sayhad desert margin: Inizan and Ortlieb 1987). Ground stone tools are often associated with ABT lithics at the South West Arabian sites, although the former are not diagnostic to the Neolithic. Economically, the Neolithic was marked both by hunter-gatherer societies and by "the incipient partial domestication of nature" (Fedele 1988, 34).

The previous chapters have emphasised how, before the 1980s, historical knowledge of South West Arabia was based on the content of ESA inscriptions, known largely from the Sayhad region. This was complemented by reports of archaeological sites by antiquarians and travellers who focused on the Iron Age monumental architecture of the Sayhad region. Only seven archaeological excavations had been undertaken. All were on Iron Age sites, and six were from the Sayhad region (the seventh, al-Huqqa, is located c.50km to the west of the Sayhad region).

Technologically, the Bronze Age is recognised by the presence of ceramics, but also via the rare occurrence of metal and by a degraded lithic industry. Chronologically, the Bronze Age is dated to the 3rd-2nd millennia BC, via C-14 dates. Economically, the Bronze Age is defined as the period in which agriculture developed. Thus, domesticated species, sedentary occupation and early signs of irrigation appear more regularly in the Bronze Age. Culturally, the period may be marked by incipient social complexity.

Since the 1980s, however, archaeological fieldwork has increased considerably, from seven to about 75 projects. Moreover, scholars have begun to explore other areas of South West Arabia outside the Sayhad region and have investigated pre-Iron Age data from all regions. However, the Iron Age still reigns supreme in pre-Islamic South West Arabian studies for two main reasons. First, epigraphic studies continue to hold a central position in the discipline. Second, the archaeological data from that period represent the most developed forms of architecture and iconography, which not only appeal to archaeologists and to their sponsors, but also to others and therefore need to be investigated before they are destroyed by local re-use of the masonry or by increasing demands from the illegal antiquities market.

The Iron Age refers to the period of pre-Islamic South West Arabian complex society, or ‘civilisation’. It is best known from the Sayhad region and is marked by such elements as a writing system, monumental architecture temples, irrigation works and town walls - and by developed art. Its chronology is based on the stylistic (palaeographic) development of the monumental inscriptions. Recent archaeological work has helped to indicate the emergence of the Iron Age before the first monumental inscription. However, traditionally, the date of the oldest monumental inscriptions denoted the appearance of South West Arabian Sayhadian civilisation, so conflating potentially distinct socio-economic and political processes to a single factor: elite public writing.

3.2 Chronology In this study, the data are organised into three main periods: the Neolithic, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. This provides a coherent chronological framework that relates to the main scheme used in the literature, and

Palaeography is central to the Iron Age chronology of the Sayhad region, because until the 1st millennium AD, there are no secure external references to leaders

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A SYNTHESIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND THE CULTURE HISTORY OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA South West Arabian regions (with the exception of the Tihamah) from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. It opens with a discussion of the Sayhad region, followed by the Hadramawt, and finally the Central Highlands, so providing the wider regional context for the forth-coming examination of the evidence from the Tihamah in Chapters 4 and 5.

of the region on which to base a chronology. Second, monumental architecture and inscriptions - the two mainstays of Sayhadian cultural complexity - have not been recovered from stratified contexts. Third, even if they were found in such contexts, C-14 dating is not helpful during the critical period of c.800-400 BC due to the flat shape of the calibration curve in this range.1 Fourth, the Sayhadian Iron Age ceramic chronology is a conservative tradition (Van Beek 1969), whose development has yet to be worked out (Edens and Wilkinson 1998), such that fine subdivisions cannot be defined.

3.3.1 The Sayhad region The Sayhad region refers to the fringe of the interior Sayhad desert and extends into the foothills of the adjacent highlands. It includes the Hadramawti section of the Sayhad desert margin, and the Jawf; the latter is the lowland wadi valley that leads off the northern Sayhad region (as marked on Fig. 1). All of the recognized 1st millennium BC kingdoms were centred on this desert margin.

ESA inscriptions, largely dated to the 1st millennium AD, have provided further chronological detail for the Central Highlands (Robin 1982). However, the chronology of the other regions in the Iron Age tends to depend on comparisons either with previous periods or with the four stratified Sayhadian Iron Age sites (see Section 3.3.1).

Before the 1980s, the scanty knowledge of the region’s prehistoric record was restricted to randomly collected surface lithics, often discovered by amateurs, and to Neolithic tools excavated from the Iron Age Sayhadian site of Hureida by Caton Thompson (1944). Although the focus of current archaeological interests in the region remains resolutely on the Iron Age, since the 1980s, five Sayhadian Neolithic sites from the Wadi Harib (east-south-east of Marib) have been archaeologically examined. The sites (labelled Y.86I, Y.86.II and Y.86.III, Y.86.Har i, Y.86. HAR ii) are wind-deflated occupation sites with mineralised bone fragments, ostrich eggshells, terrestrial gastropods (Anciculidae gen. sp.) and Arabian Bifacial Tradition (ABT) lithics, which are characterised by stemmed points, foliates and lanceolates, ‘grinding-stones’, ‘hammerstones’ and ‘anvils’ were also recovered (Di Mario 1989).

Reliance on palaeography meant that three chronologies were in use before recent archaeological investigation and the discovery of genealogical king-lists (Kitchen 1994). For reasons explained in Section 3.3.1, the ‘medium’ chronology is now accepted by Arabianist scholars and is used in this thesis. This chronology proposes that earliest monumental inscriptions date to around the 8th century BC, rather than to the 12th or 5 t h centuries BC, proposed for the ‘long’ and ‘short’ chronologies respectively. Nevertheless, only the chronology from c.0577 AD is fairly secure (Kitchen 2000), owing to a handful of secure external cross-references. Despite not being entirely watertight, the palaeographic chronology of the Iron Age is the most reliable of any period. In overview, the Neolithic is identified through the presence of ABT lithics (and associated ground stone tools), through evidence of incipient agriculture, or a hunter-gatherer adaptation, and through sites that have been C-14 dated to between about the 6th and 4th millennia BC. The Bronze Age is dated to about the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC and is marked by evidence of pottery and agriculture. The Iron Age (1st millennium BC until Islam in AD 622) is represented by a period of complex society, which is largely known from the Sayhad desert margin.2

The site dimensions have not been recorded, apart from Y.86.HAR ii, which was reported to be the largest site (at 58m north to south by 41m east to west). The assemblage from Y.86.HAR ii was augmented by a fragmentary ‘steatite’ object, a fragment of an ‘alabaster’ bowl, beads made of feldspathic green stone (a variety of amazonite) and worked marine shells, plus fragmentary animal bones, often charred by fire with evidence of butchery. All faunal material represents wild animals: equids and gazelles dominated the sample. Hearth charcoals from this wind-deflated site provided very recent C-14 dates (c. AD 1000-1900), which cautions against the assumption that the archaeological materials are necessarily all contemporary.

3.3 A regional study of pre-Islamic archaeological research This section provides an overview of the main archaeological research undertaken within each of the 1

Critical’ because this is around the time that monumental writing appears to have emerged. 2 All of the available C-14 dates from South West Arabia have recently been synthesised and normalised using the same calibration model (the CALEB 3.0.3 marine model, or CALEB 3.0.3 atmospheric model) by Edens and Wilkinson (1998). Where relevant, these normalised dates are applied throughout this thesis for reasons of consistency.

As would be expected in a region where the focus has been on the Iron Age, the remaining Neolithic evidence from the Sayhad region has been recovered in some of the projects focused on Iron Age sites. For example, Neolithic data comprising ABT tools, often pressureflaked, and/or notched, were found during investigations of Iron Age sites from Wadi al-Jubah (Toplyn 1988; 32

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 see below). Evidence of the Sayhadian Bronze Age has also only been revealed incidentally during Iron Age archaeological investigations. Thus, geomorphological research on Iron Age irrigation practices has revealed that their origin often lies in the Bronze Age. For example, it seems that manipulation of Wadi Dhana (in the Sabaean kingdom) runoff water has occurred since the 3rd millennium BC (Brunner 1997).

The Bronze Age pottery from Shabwa displays limited change in form, although there do seem to be changes in fabric, surface treatment and decoration over time. For example, decoration on the ware found in Levels I-II is restricted to plastic ribs with vertical incisions or narrow oval impressions. By Level IV, the impressions become wider and are joined by multiple or single incised lines. Vessel forms tend to comprise deep basins and pots with wide mouths and nearly vertical sides as well as jars with flared necks. Pottery forms typical of the Iron Age Sayhad ceramic complex were found to be absent from the Bronze Age sequence at Shabwa (Badre 1991).

Only one Iron Age Sayhadian site, Shabwa, the 15ha walled capital of the Hadramawt, has a clear antecedent Bronze Age sequence beginning in the early 2nd millennium BC. (The Bronze Age C-14 dates taken from Shabwa are presented in Table 1, below.) Shabwa’s Bronze Age levels are known from a sondage dug into 12m of stratified deposit lying beneath the Iron Age remains, which have been the focus of archaeological interest (Badre 1991; Breton 1996). The base of the sequence, Level I, produced sparse ceramics, which were overlaid in Level II by mud brick architecture and steatite/chlorite objects. Level III comprised a mud brick wall on a stone footing, level IV a stone wall with an associated beaten earth floor and level V a series of beaten earth surfaces separated by deposits of ashy soil. Badre (1991) suggested that mixed ash and fine red soil at the base of Level V may represent an abandonment phase between level IV and subsequent levels, which are dated to the Iron Age via the material culture (although only one Iron Age C-14 date has been produced). Level V lacks direct dates, but Badre cited Mediterranean imports and an innovative ceramic surface treatment as the basis for placing the end of that level at the 6th century BC. Therefore, she also rejected the C-14 date for Level VI as several centuries too old; Gif-5772 is also completely out of sequence. However, the dates of the lower levels were not called into question since there is no well-dated assemblage against which the unique ceramics can be compared.

With so little exposure of the Bronze Age levels at Shabwa, it is hard to determine the character of the Bronze Age occupation, though the material culture seems to be culturally distinct from that of the Iron Age, for example there are no inscribed sherds or pottery that is comparable to other Sayhadian Iron Age sites. The Sayhadian Iron Age, with its fabulous monuments and numerous inscriptions, has been the focus of South West Arabian archaeological and historical interest. Of all the regions, its chronology has been the most fully established and is essential to understanding the dates attributed to the Iron Age Tihami evidence; it will therefore be discussed in some detail before providing an overview of the material culture of the Sayhad region. Its chronology has been based on the stylistic development of the monumental inscriptions. As discussed below, different absolute dates have been attached to this stylistic progression, which has resulted in three chronologies of varying length. Known as the ‘short’, ‘medium’ (or mixed) and ‘long’ chronology, they respectively date the earliest monumental inscriptions to around the 5th, 8 t h and 12 th centuries BC.

Table 1: C-14 dates for Bronze Age levels at Shabwa3

3

Level

Lab no.

BP

SD

Intercept(s) BC

1SD

2SD

Reference

I

Gif-7134

3580

60

1910

2010-1780

2120-1740

Breton 1996

I

Gif-7133

3500

60

1890-1740

1970-1680

Badre 1991

II

Gif-6291

3590

90

1870, 1840, 1780 1930

2030-1780

2190-1690

Breton 1996

II

Gif-6051

3430

60

1740, 1710, 1700

1860-1670

1880-1530

Badre 1991

III

Gif-5772

1300

50

AD 690

AD 670-780

AD 650-870

Breton 1996

III

Gif-7135

3410

60

1730, 1690

1750-1620

1880-1520

Breton 1996

III

Gif-5773

3220

100

1610-1400

1730-1260

Badre 1991

VI

Gif-6557

2670

200

1500, 1480, 1460 810

1010-530

1380-370

Badre 1991

Compiled and calibrated by Edens and Wilkinson 1988.

33

A SYNTHESIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND THE CULTURE HISTORY OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA Before the 1990s, the short chronology dominated preIslamic research. Proponents of this chronology believed that ESA developed from Phoenician (c.10th century BC) and that monumental ESA was a contemporary development to the 5th century BC monumental Greek script (as theorised by Pirenne 1955; 1956; 1974; 1979; 1988). Pirenne drew on other factors to support this synchronism, notably that South West Arabian coinage replicated Greek money (from the 4th century BC onwards), and assuming that the notion of complex society before the use of such money was inconceivable. Pirenne (1958) based the stylistic development of the inscriptions on careful study of the texts - for example through the comparison of the scripts used during the reigns of different monarchs and by references to earlier kings. In fact, Pirenne’s proposed stylistic development seems to have been remarkably accurate and has since been corroborated by the archaeological discovery of king-lists such as the ‘Great Genealogy’ (see below). However, the results of recent archaeological work at the stratified Sayhadian sites (also described below) have indicated that the external linkages used to date the relative sequence were incorrect.

produced inscribed sherds from the earliest levels, dated by C-14 to the late 2nd millennium BC (Van Beek 1969). The medium chronology takes a middle line between the long and short chronologies and accepts elements from both. Thus, it uses the palaeographic development of the inscriptions and the order of historical events proposed by the short chronology (i.e. that the Sabaean kingdom predated the Qatabanian and Minaean). However, like the ‘long chronology’, it argues that writing appeared before the mid 1st millennium BC, and accepts the synchronism of the Sabaean monarchs with those mentioned in the Assyrian Annals. Unsurprisingly, the results of the Hajar Bin Humeid excavation were dismissed by proponents of the short chronology (Pirenne 1974) and literature published before the 1990s used widely varying dates, depending on which chronology an individual author supported. However, during the 1990s, the medium chronology became widely accepted by South West Arabianists because of additional support from three excavations at stratified sites undertaken in the 1980s (see below). Moreover, the relative dates of the styles can be associated with monarchs whose order has also been established with greater certainty since the re-discovery of the Great Genealogy. This order has been partially confirmed by a large group of rock-texts known as the ‘Great Complex’, which includes other groups of monarchs (Kitchen 1994).4

Pirenne’s short chronology had replaced the long chronology proposed by the early pioneers of South West Arabian studies (Hommel 1927). Supporters of the long chronology correlated references in the Assyrian Annals under Sargon II (ARAB II 18, 55) and Sennacherib (ARAB 11440) to two Sabaean monarchs mentioned in the ESA texts, namely Itamar (715 BC) and his successor, Karibilu (685 BC) with Yitha’amar Bayyin I and Karibil Watar respectively (Liverani 1992). However, followers of the long chronology wanted to stretch South West Arabian history back to the 10th century - to the traditionally proposed time of the Bible’s Queen of Sheba. Therefore, they argued that the Qatabanian and Minaean kingdoms predated Saba (and the aforementioned Sabaean mukarribs). The long chronology was later revived by Lundin (1965) and von Wissmann (1976). Lundin reconstructed an erroneous chronology from incorrectly collated copies of a kinglist known as the Great Genealogy. Lundin and others only had access to a copy of the Great Genealogy that had been made by Bedouin, and the location of the king-list remained unknown to archaeologists until the 1970s. Following its discovery by archaeologists, von Wissmann worked from photographs of the texts, but they were of imperfect quality and he too drew some false interpretations. Only after the texts were carefully copied by an epigrapher were scholars able accurately to interpret the text (Pirenne 1988). The king-list demonstrated that the Sabaean monarchy predated the Qatabanian and Minaean kingdoms, as originally suggested by Pirenne (1958).

Although the medium chronology is now accepted, the precise dates of the monarchs proposed by the medium chronology remain open to question. The absolute dates are anchored to the references in the Assyrian Annals, but there is "not one scintilla of final proof" (Kitchen 2000, 737) that this correlation is correct. Karibil and Yitha’amar were popular dynastic names and the Great Genealogy king-list is not replicated in its entirety by the Great Complex, so that its validity cannot be entirely cross-checked. Nevertheless, in the absence of any other external anchors, these correlations are widely accepted and, using albeit insecure king-lists, a chronological framework has been extrapolated forwards and backwards from these monarchs. Indeed, it is still not known when the first monumental inscriptions appeared in South West Arabia since none have been found in a welldated stratified context. Estimates range from around the 8th century BC (Robin 1997) to the 9th century BC (Korotayev 1998), although most Arabianists accept an 8th century BC date. They argue that ESA developed not from the Phoenician script (c.10th century BC), but from proto-Canaanite script (c.13th century BC), a more likely choice since proto-Canaanite has the same abcedary as ESA (Robin 1998). While palaeography presently provides the best chronological framework for the Iron Age, it is important

A third chronology, known variously as the ‘medium’, ‘mixed’ (or sometimes inaccurately as the ‘long chronology’) was proposed as a result of the stratified excavation of Hajar Bin Humeid which

4

34

Both texts come from Jabal Balaq Janub on the south west side of Marib (Kitchen 1994).

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 Moreover, a few others (Edens and Wilkinson 1998) have observed that the use of palaeography to date Sayhadian complex society has potentially conflated a long, drawn-out process to one factor: the appearance of elite monumental writing. Indeed, the following review of the four stratified Sayhadian Iron Age sites, used to validate the medium palaeographic chronology, demonstrates that some elements - notably the ceramic corpus and inscribed sherds - were well established before the suggested appearance of monumental epigraphy. The stratified Sayhadian Iron Age sites have produced a range of C-14 dates that are presented in Table 2.

to recognise that some scholars (Avanzini 1996; Lemaire 1996; Kitchen 2000) have noted the potential elasticity of stylistic developments and have questioned the reliability of a chronology based solely on a primarily palaeographic development. Thus, Lemaire (1996) has proposed that many styles of monumental script could have been contemporary. This has been famously demonstrated by a bronze statue with an inscription drafted in a style used at the time of Karibil Watar but which mentions King Yada’ ‘il Bayan, who ruled at a time when a different palaeographic style was in use. (According to the medium chronology, these monarchs ruled in the 7th and 4th centuries respectively.)

Table 2: C-14 dates from the western Sayhad sites5

5

Site

Context

Lab. No.

BP

SD

2600

Intercept(s) (BC) 800

ad Durayb

Level Ic (Phase A)

R-1945a

ad Durayb

Level lc (Phase A)

ad Durayb

50

810-780

830-560

de Maigret & Robin (1989)

R-1949a

2570

790

60

800-600

820-520

de Maigret & Robin (1989)

Level 2d (Phase B)

R-1948a

2750

870

75

980-810

1050-800

de Maigret & Robin (1989)

ad Durayb

Level 2d (Phase B)

R-1946a

2840

990

70

1110-910

1250-830

de Maigret & Robin (1989)

ad Durayb

Level 3c (Phase C)

R-1947a

2980

1250, 1200

65

1300-1080 1400-1000

de Maigret & Robin (1989)

Hajar-ar Rayhani Hajar-ar Rayhani Hajar-ar Rayhani Hajar-ar Rayhani Hajar-ar Rayhani Hajar-ar Rayhani Hajar-ar Rayhani Hajar-ar Rayhani Hajar bin Humeid Hajar bin Humeid

2nd O.P.

3060

1310

90

1410-1140 1510-1020

2680

820

70

900-800

980-770

2720

840

50

910-810

980-800

2750

900, 870

80

990-810

1110-790

2490

60

780-420

800-400

60

370-180

390-70

2460

760, 680, 650,550 350, 320, 200 650,530

60

770-410

790-390

2390

400

60

520-390

760-370

Level Q

Beta24335 Beta24336 Beta24337 Beta24745 Beta13285 Beta13284 Beta24743 Beta24331 W-437

2800

920

160

1160-800 1400-540

Glanzman 1994 Glanzman 1994 Glanzman 1994 Glanzman 1994 Glanzman 1987b Glanzman 1987b Glanzman 1994 Glanzman 1994 Van Beek 1969

Level Q

SI-14

2690

820

100

920-790

2nd O.P. 2nd O.P. 2nd O.P. Str. VIIc Str. Vc 6th O.P. 7th O.P.

2210

Compiled and calibrated by Edens and Wilkinson 1988.

35

1 SD (BC) 2 SD (BC)

1400-550

Reference

Van Beek 1969

A SYNTHESIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND THE CULTURE HISTORY OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA Site

Context

Lab. No.

BP

Hajar bin Humeid Hajar bin Humeid Hajar bin Humeid

Level G

SI-21

2200

Level G

W-2051

Level Fl

Hajar bin Humeid Hajar bin Humeid Hajar atTamra Hajar atTamra Hajar atTamra Hajar atTamra Hajar atTamra

Intercept(s) (BC) 340, 320, 200

SD 75

370-160

400-40

Van Beek 1969

2200

340, 320, 200

250

520 BCAD 70

830 BCAD 380

Van Beek 1969

SI-19

2390

400

70

750-390

770-260

Van Beek 1969

Level B

SI-23

2285

--

75

--

--

Van Beek 1969

Level B

W-2049

1750

--

250

--

--

Van Beek 1969

Pre-level V

Beta7178 Beta7177 Beta7175 Beta7173 Beta7174

3280

1520

110

2600

800

1190

--

--

2630

800

70

830-780

910-550

2460

750, 530

60

770-410

790-390

2380

400

50

480-390

760-380

Pre-level V Level I Level I Level I

The above C-14 dates come from four stratified sites, all located in the western Sayhad region. It is relevant to explain their chronologies a little further, since they have been influential in establishing the Iron Age chronology of all of South West Arabia, including the Tihamah.

1 SD (BC) 2 SD (BC)

1680-1420 1870-1310

Reference

Blakely 1985 Blakely 1985 Blakely 1985 Blakely 1985 Blakely 1985

monumental inscription reused in the modern village alludes to the construction of the town wall. The text was palaeographically dated to the 8th-7th centuries BC. De Maigret argued that the town wall belongs to the final occupation phase, Phase A, which was C-14 dated to around that time. The ceramics are unchanged throughout the stratigraphic sequence and the current data indicate that the Sayhad ceramic complex began at around the mid-2nd millennium BC (de Maigret and Robin 1989).

Ad-Durayb is a walled town of c.2.5ha on the Wadi Yala, about 30km south of Marib. The site has residential architecture visible on its surface. Its excavator, de Maigret (1988), suggested that the town comprised an older unwalled Sabaean town, which was later expanded and walled soon before being abandoned. One of the houses was excavated and four occupation phases were identified (de Maigret and Robin 1989). Phase A, the most recent, was represented by a well-preserved structure with walls 3m high, which provided two C-14 dates that gave a 2-sigma date range of 830-520 BC. Phase B, a house of the same ground plan, produced two dates between 1050-830 BC (2-sigma). Phase C, the lowest architectural phase, contained a structure built on a different floor plan, which provided a single date of 1400-1000 BC (2-sigma). Below the architecture, lenses of ash within alluvial sand (Phase D) provided a date of around the mid 2nd millennium BC. Three sherds inscribed with ESA letters were found from Phase B and four inscribed sherds have been found in Phase A contexts, indicating that ESA writing emerged as early as the 11th-9th centuries BC, thus confirming the medium chronology proposed for Hajar Bin Humeid. Moreover, a

The second Sayhadian stratified site, Hajar ar-Rayhani, is the largest known walled pre-Islamic town in the Wadi alJubah (Glanzman and Ghaleb 1987). It revealed a stratified sequence dated from the mid 2nd millennium BC to the late 1st millennium BC. Four inscribed sherds were found from contexts dated to between the 11th-8th centuries BC. Several monumental inscriptions collected around the site refer to the erection of the town wall, which was uncovered in a context dated to between 750-500 BC. This was used to provide extra confirmation of the medium chronology and of the suggestion that monumental inscriptions appeared in perhaps the early 8th century BC (Edens and Wilkinson 1998). A chronology of the Sayhadian ceramics, which occur from the earliest levels, has not yet been published. The medium chronology has also been supported by additional evidence from a small sondage from a third stratified site, Hajar at-Tamra, located in the Wadi al-Jubah area. It has been C-14 dated to between the mid 2nd millennium BC and the end of the lst millennium BC (Blakely 1985). 36

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 letters are painted or incised on the vessels (Sedov 1996).6 The C-14 evidence from Raybun (see Table 3, below) indicates that this early Iron Age pottery emerged in the late 2nd millennium BC (perhaps by c.1200 BC), which has been used to suggest that ESA writing appeared at an equally early date (Sedov 1996). However, the very early emergence of writing remains unproven since there are two major problems with chronology from Raybun. First, several C-14 determinations have large standard deviations and, second, the site lacks a clear stratigraphy.

The chronology of the Sayhadian site of Hajar Bin Humeid (Van Beek 1969) was based on several C-14 dates, which indicate that it was occupied shortly before the 1st millennium BC to the first half of the 1st century AD. Nineteen levels were identified (labelled A to S, with S as the earliest level; the earliest C-14 dates were taken from level Q). Sherds inscribed with ESA letters were found in the lowest levels (S and R), which indicated to Van Beek that writing appeared far earlier than was supposed by proponents of the short chronology. Ceramics also appeared in the earliest level but vessel forms show little change through the entire sequence; indeed, Van Beek suggested that the main change was in the relative quantities of each form over time.

The eastward distribution of the Raybun ceramic complex is poorly understood since the rest of the Hadramawt and Markha region are even less well explored (Edens and Wilkinson 1998). Sedov (1996) argues that the Iron Age Hadrami ware was replaced by the Sayhad ceramic complex at some point in the early 1st millennium BC (perhaps the 8th/7th century BC).

Clearly, the Sayhadian Iron Age chronology is only at an initial stage, and important questions, including when the monumental inscriptions appeared or how the ceramics developed, remain unanswered. This must be borne in mind when considering the chronology of the Iron Age on the Tihamah.

Despite the importance of ceramics to understanding the archaeological record, the best-known elements of the Sayhadian Iron Age culture are the epigraphic record and the architectural evidence. The epigraphic record is represented by inscriptions drafted on to buildings, rock surfaces, metal plaques, statues, pottery sherds and by inscribed palm wood sticks. Although several thousand inscribed palm sticks are registered from the art market – said to come from a temple archive at Nashshan (Simpson, pers. comm. 2004) – only occasional examples are known from archaeological contexts, and all come from the Hadramawt (Frantsouzoff 1999). As for the main source of Iron Age epigraphy, about 10,000 monumental inscriptions are known (Robin 1998). These are concentrated in the Sayhad region during the 1st millennium BC, and in the Central Highlands during the Himyarite period (c.lst century BC to the 6th century AD).

The material culture retrieved from the stratified levels of these sites comprised inscribed sherds, non-monumental architecture and ceramics. All of the other Iron Age Sayhadian sites are known from their surface remains and are represented by monumental architecture, such as temples or town walls or other edifices, as outlined below. The Iron Age Sayhadian ceramics associated with these sites is known as the Sayhad ceramic complex. This corpus - which has also been found on the Tihamah - is principally represented by a series of distinctive bowls. These include a shallow bowl with a sharp carination set on a ring base, often decorated with up to three grooves just below the rim, a deep carinated bowl with a high flared foot, and a deep hemispherical bowl, also with grooves beneath the rim (Edens and Wilkinson 1998). The chronology of this ceramic complex remains vague. C-14 dates from ad-Durayb, Hajar ar-Rayhani, Hajar at-Tamra and Hajar Bin Humeid indicate that it emerged perhaps by the mid to late 2nd millennium BC and continued in use throughout the Iron Age.

These so-called ‘Sayhadic’ (Beeston 1978) inscriptions are written in four languages, and are listed in diverse publications, which have not yet been assimilated in one source, although Kitchen (2000) has recently brought together many of these texts. These he has published alphabetically according to the person who discovered them and not according to language or area in which they were found (i.e. using the convention by which ESA inscriptions are published). Without concrete information on the absolute numbers of inscriptions in each language, or concerning particular subjects and so on, epigraphers tend to think in generalisations. Thus, according to Maraqten (pers. comm. 2000), about 80% of inscriptions are in Sabaic. The latter are found in the part of the Sayhad region occupied by the Sabaean kingdom with its capital at Marib, and in the northern Central Highlands in the 1st millennium AD. The remaining 20% of inscriptions, says Maraqten, are

It seems that an alternative ceramic style emerged in the Sayhadian Hadramawt in the early Iron Age (Breton and Darles 1994; Sedov 1996). This distinctive Hadrami pottery has been discovered through largely unpublished research in the Raybun area (as referred to by Edens and Wilkinson 1998). The ‘local’ Iron Age ware was found in the lower levels of the site of Raybun, below the so-called ‘Sabaean’ stratum (Sedov 1996), from the nearby temple of Syn and at other sites (Edens and Wilkinson 1998). These ceramics tend to be represented by closed vessels with red slipped surfaces. Decoration generally consists of a row of knobs added beneath the rim or painted decoration of red-painted friezes of naturalistic motifs on a white or yellow background. The decoration comprises animal motifs - such as birds or caprids - and geometric motifs. In a few examples, ESA

6

37

The Sayhad ceramic complex was apparently accompanied by new traditions, such as monumental inscriptions and dressed masonry.

A SYNTHESIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND THE CULTURE HISTORY OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA

Table 3: C-14 dates for early Iron Age Raybun Context

Lab no.

BP

SD

Area IV, stratum 2c Area IV, stratum 2 Area IV, stratum 3 (lower) Area IV, stratum 3 (upper) Area II, basal

Le4696 Le4691 Le4695 Le4694 Le4300 Le4298

2980

140

Intercept(s) BC 1250, 1210

2710

50

830

2775

100

910

2680

50

2650 2470

Area II, basal 7

1 SD BC 1400990 900-810

2 SD BC 1520830 930-800 1200790 910-790

Sedov 1996

820

1020820 840-800

160

810

930-550

Sedov 1996

140

750, 700, 530

800-390

1200390 900-200

Reference Sedov 1996 Sedov 1996

Sedov 1996

Sedov 1996

Compiled and calibrated by Edens and Wilkinson 1998.

open-air enclosure - the temple - that comprises one or two cellae (Breton 1979; 1980).

drafted in Minaic, Qatabanic and Hadramitic and are found in the Minaean, Qatabanian and Hadrami kingdoms (with their capitals at Qarnaw, Timna and Shabwa) respectively.

The date at which monumental temple architecture appeared is based on the palaeography of in situ inscriptions, which usually provide a terminus ante quem for the architecture, although if the inscriptions state that a particular monarch ordered the construction of the temple, then they suggest a terminus post quem. More rarely, the chronology might be aided by building phases that pre-date the earliest inscriptions. For example, the first temple phase of the Sabaean Baran temple has been dated to at least the 9th century BC because it is covered by (four) later temple phases, the next of which is dated, via in situ inscriptions, to the 8th/7 th century BC (Vogt 1997). Many temples undergo later building phases and thus become ever more elaborate over time, with the addition of such elements as a colonnade, as at the Awwam temple (in Saba) (Schmidt 1999). Scholars, including Jung (1988) and Schmidt (1982), have suggested that simpler temple architecture probably reflects its archaic date. Where there are no inscriptions, or any other means of dating the architecture, then the simplicity of the architecture may be the only means of estimating a date, as is the case for ‘Temple No. 32’ from the Jabal Balaq al-Awsat mountain range near Marib (Schmidt 1982). Ultimately, this remains conjecture. At present, consensus holds that the first monumental temples were built in the early 1st millennium BC, concurrent with the earliest monumental inscriptions.

The monumental architecture is primarily represented by temple architecture, but also by town walls, and some other constructions, such as irrigation dams. The inscriptions describe the great efforts invested in the monumental architecture, which was generally built using dressed ashlar masonry.8 The inscriptions also mention a large labour force used to construct such works. Temple architecture is identified from the in situ religious dedications, by conformity to distinct ground plans and sometimes by in situ religious paraphernalia (e.g. offering altars). Archaeologists have examined about 30 temples from the Sayhad desert margin. General regional traits are apparent. Thus, the typical ground plan of the Sabaean temple is a rectangular structure, with a centrally positioned door, that often lies opposite an adyton (or sacred area), which might be represented by a raised platform or by a tripartite room (Schmidt 1982; 1988; 1999; Jung 1988). The Minaean temple can be roughly cube shaped, and rows of internal pillar supports suggest that the temples were probably roofed (Jung 1988). Minaean temples can also be rectangular, and, in such cases, the entrance is usually set on one of the long sides, providing a bent-access approach (Schmidt 1988). Only two Qatabanian temples have been published, both are ‘U’ shaped, with a sanctuary at the rear and a portico at the front (Doe 1983b; Cleveland 1965). The typical Hadrami temple is set on a hill top and is approached by a monumental staircase that leads to an

8

7

Monumental architecture is also represented by perimeter walling of some sites. At least 15 such walled areas are known from the four major Sayhadian kingdoms (Doe 1983b; Edens and Wilkinson 1998). It is not necessary to discuss this architecture at any length since it is absent from the Tihamah. However, in overview, the settlement walls tend to be built using massive squared masonry laid in courses and constructed with

‘Dressed ashlar masonry’ refers to sharply square-cut blocks of smoothed stone (usually limestone) that were marginally drafted and pecked, a process that involved pecking the block’s interior with a chisel and then cutting a margin into its four sides.

38

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 bastions and recesses, often adorned with inscriptions, which help to date the constructions. For example, at Marib, the capital of Saba, the lower part of the city wall is in blocks of volcanic conglomerate coated with limestone plaster, each about 1.5m long, 0.45m high and 0.6m thick, while above these blocks lie courses of well-cut blocks of limestone of the same size. The wall was planned with regularly spaced bastions about 6-7m wide and 3-4m deep and with gate towers (Doe 1983b). In addition to perimeter walling, found in all of the Sayhadian kingdoms, a unique settlement wall, known as Qalat at al-Mabna, has been reported from the Hadramawt kingdom. It was built across a mountain pass to control passage through a prominent central gate, whose bastions are c.6.7m wide and about 3.6m high. It is built using dressed ashlar blocks that are c.0.6m-0.8m long, set against a central infill of rubble masonry with an average thickness of c.1.70m (Doe 1983b).

rather than in the Hadrami highlands or the coastal region, the subject of this section. The prehistoric Hadrami record was examined by Amirkhanov (1994), who explored the western Hadramawt Wadi Dauan valley; its side valleys and adjacent plateaux. Of 85 prehistoric sites discovered, 37 were Neolithic and the rest belonged to various phases of the Palaeolithic (dated by Amirkhanov to the Oldowan onwards). The Neolithic sites were represented by four cave sites, three stratified open sites and 30 sites with destroyed cultural levels, where material was found only in surface contexts. Amirkhanov maintained that the lithics from these Neolithic sites are generally distinct from the Neolithic tools found either in the Central Highlands (see below) or in the Sayhad region, and suggested that they represent a culture that diverged from the rest of the Neolithic at some stage. No clear Bronze Age evidence has yet been published from the Hadrami highlands, or from the coastal region. However, Iron Age data have been forthcoming from the coastal Hadrami port of Qana (ancient Kane), attested in the ‘classical’ sources and dated to the later 1 st millennium BC owing to such references (Sedov 1997b). Qana has revealed storage rooms, a large amount of successfully charred incense (unique to the South West Arabian archaeological record), a possible ‘lighthouse’, three large ‘water tanks’ and innumerable ceramics of international origin (Mediterranean, Mesopotamian, Asian and African) (Sedov 1997b). This evidence points to the importance of Qana’s location on an international route. We recall from Chapter 2 (Section 2.3.2) that the ‘classical’ sources indicate that frankincense, which they regarded as a highly important resource, was grown in Dhofar, which is just to the east of the Hadramawt, and possibly also in the Hadramawt (Groom 1977). Archaeological work has also been undertaken further east on the coast adjacent to Dhofar since 1996 and has revealed evidence of other coastal settlements with international connections (Rougeulle 1999), some of which might date to the prehistoric period (Rougeulle 2000 pers. comm.). Future results of this very recent and preliminarily published research on the southern Arabian coast will undoubtedly help in the interpretation of the archaeological record from the Tihamah, further to the west.

Monumental dressed architecture was also used in the construction of dams, of which the Marib dam on the Wadi Dhana is the most impressive. This massive dam was built to impede and control the flow of the powerful biannual monsoon seil flood. It consists of a pair of great sluices that supplied water channels for two crop-growing field areas. To give an idea of its size, the sluice gate of the southern sluice system is fronted by a masonry bastion about 8m high, while the sluice wall is about 4.5m wide and extends for about 60m. The northern sluice system is flanked by masonry abutments and walls that are about 5m long, 9m wide and between 5-9m high (Van Beek 1966). Sluice foundations from the Wadi Dhana are thought to date to the late 2nd millennium BC and early 1st millennium BC, but epigraphy (and to some extent archaeology) suggest that the single, integrated, monumental irrigation complex was only finished between the 4th-6th centuries AD (Robin 1988), or even in the 5th-6th century AD (Vogt pers. comm. 2003). Finally, it is apparent that the known Sayhadian preIslamic settlements are not as large as those in other urbanised regions in the Near East. Thus, while the walls at Marib enclose the largest space (over 100ha), walled centres of regional importance (e.g. Tamna, Bayda, asSawda and Shabwa) range between 15ha-30ha, although they are often smaller (Main, Baraqish and Inabba, for example were only 4ha-8ha). The stratified, excavated settlements of Hajar Bin Humeid, Hajar arRayhani and ad-Durayb, were much smaller, at 4ha (Van Beek 1969), 3ha (Glanzman and Ghaleb 1987) and 2ha (de Maigret 1988) respectively. Exposures of residential architecture from the Sayhad region have been too limited to allow comparisons of house sizes or other settlement data, and burials have not been reported in significant numbers (Edens and Wilkinson 1998).

3.3.3 The Central Highlands

3.3.2 The Hadramawt

A range of projects have been undertaken in the Central Highlands. Of these, two key investigations have been pursued in the Hawlan/Hada and Dhamar/Ibb regions of the Central Highlands. The latter span more than one period, and in order to gain a clear overview of their results, this section is organised according to the projects undertaken (rather than in chronological order, as was the case for the previous two sections).

The lion’s share of research in the Hadramawt has been centred on the Sayhad desert margin, as discussed above,

The Hawlan project was centred on the Hawlan and eastern Hada districts, on the eastern portion of the 39

A SYNTHESIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND THE CULTURE HISTORY OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA Wadi Dhana watershed, which empties on to the Sabaean Sayhadian heartland. Around 50 Neolithic and Bronze Age sites were found and eight sites have been excavated (de Maigret 1983; 1984a; 1990; de Maigret et al 1988; Fedele 1985; 1986; 1988, 1990b; Zarattini 1984). Of the 50 sites, 11 aceramic Neolithic sites have been discovered; four of which were excavated. Their Neolithic attribution has been based on C-14 determinations, or through a relationship with an overlying Bronze Age phase, although this region provides only shallow deposits (c.50cm deep). For example, at site WTHiii, Neolithic occupation was associated with a weakly developed palaeosol, the humic acids of which were dated to 5750±500 BP and 6595±75 BP (Fedele 1990b); at site NABvii, an aceramic Neolithic level was stratified beneath a Bronze Age settlement (de Maigret 1984a). As a result, the Neolithic occupation has been provisionally dated to the 6th-4th millennia BC.

Cleuziou et al. 1992). Some residential units may be larger, or have features that are more elaborate, such as a stone pavement instead of an earth floor. De Maigret has interpreted such features as evidence of social differentiation, or the presence of public spaces for communal activities. The Hawlan Bronze Age pottery is a grit-tempered ware that ranges from a coarse, soft, crumbly brown fabric to a fine-slipped, burnished red ware. Large platters, shallow bowls, hole-mouthed cooking pots with ledge handles and jars with short everted necks are common. Surface elaboration is not common, tending to be found only on the finer fabrics - and is limited to washes, slips and burnishing. Decoration is represented by plastic ridges with short vertical incisions or ovoid impressions, rows of short vertical incised lines, horizontal grooves, lines or wavy lines of punctate, rope and comb impressed lines. Similar ware is known at sites on the lower foothills that face the desert fringe (e.g. at the Wadi alJubah, Glanzman 1994). Clay was also used for polishers, spindle whorls and other domestic tools. The lithics were represented by ‘querns’, ‘pestles’ and ‘mullers’ together with an informal flake industry, mainly represented by unstandardised tools such as scrapers, borers, burins and backed pieces (di Mario 1990), made mainly of local flint and some obsidian. The obsidian has been characterised as belonging to the ill-defined ‘Group 4d’ (Cann and Renfrew 1964), which encompasses sources from Africa and Arabia (Francaviglia 1990). Metal has been found in small quantities, and was represented by a copper alloy borer or burin from excavated contexts at NABvii, and by a pin from the surface of HAWi (de Maigret 1984; Zarattini 1990). Archaeobotanical data are represented by burnt seed impressions in the ceramics and are discussed in Section 3.4.2. No Iron Age sites have been identified in this research (de Maigret 1990).

Two Neolithic stone tool industries, the Qutran and the Thayyilan, have been identified at the Hawlan sites (Fedele 1986; 1988). The Qutran appears to be related to the ABT and includes bifacial foliates, stemmed bifacial points, trihedral rods, end scrapers, burins and heavy equipment (adzes and gouges). The Thayyilan industry also included bifacial elements, such as foliates, but is distinct from the ABT in that it emphasised unstandardised flake tools (scrapers, denticulates, notches, naturally backed flakes and perforators). Stemmed bifacial points were rare, and heavy equipment was absent from the Thayyilan industry, while grinding stones and hammer stones were present. It is unclear whether the two industries reflect cultural or chronological differences, although Fedele (1985) proposed that the Thayyilan might be younger than the ABT-related Qutran industry. Both industries have been discovered in association with architecture, which is typically represented by small oval or circular structures. For example, at site WTHiii, a dozen structures with apsidal rooms cover 0.3ha; the buildings sometimes have stone flooring, hearths and stone benches. Below the palaeosol at WTHii, the excavators found deeper levels characterised by pits with stone clusters, shallow postholes, stone scatters, hearths and fauna, which appeared to relate to an earlier occupation. From their position beneath the palaeosol, they have been conjectured to date to about the 8th-6th millennia BC (Fedele 1986).

The second major archaeological project in the Central Highlands, the Dhamar Survey, revealed an alternative archaeological record to the Hawlan area (Gibson and Wilkinson 1995; Wilkinson et al. 1997; Edens and Wilkinson 1988; Wilkinson 1999; Wilkinson and Edens 1999; Edens 1999). Located in the Dhamar and Ibb districts, about 50km south of Sana’a, the on-going Dhamar Survey has identified about 300 sites ranging from the prehistoric to modern times; over half are pre-Islamic (Wilkinson and Edens 1999) and test excavations have been carried out at three of the latter (Edens 1999). Geomorphological test excavations have revealed up to 12m of sediment that have accumulated over the past 20,000 years or more (Wilkinson 1997). The pattern of pre-Bronze Age evidence has been hard to discern from the Dhamar Survey, probably as a result of the intense erosion over the past 5,000 years, and because sites have been obscured by subsequent silt accumulation (Wilkinson and Edens 1999; Wilkinson et al., 2001). Evidence of lithics in the Qutran or Thayyilan tradition has been found in eroded contexts on the surface.

Almost 40 Bronze Age sites have been identified in the Hawlan. Of these, RAQi, Masi and WYi have been excavated and provided five C-14 dates between 26002000 BC. Sites range from less than 0.lha to lha, and larger sites are spaced fairly regularly every 2km-3km, with small sites clustered in their vicinity. The sites have architecture, ceramics, lithics and some metal. The architecture is subcircular and occasionally subrectangular. Rooms (up to 9-10m long) are often arranged around a central space to form compounds about 20m across; the latter stand alone, or are connected to other compounds (de Maigret 1990; 40

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 by rings of sites of under 5ha in area lying between 2km-4km from the larger sites. Sites assigned to the Himyarite period (i.e. 1st century BC to 6th century AD) have been identified from their dressed monumental architecture, dams and Himyarite period monumental inscriptions, although Edens and Wilkinson (1998) have suggested that it might yet be shown that the supposed ‘Himyarite’ architecture pre-dates that period. A major reason why the monumental architecture and Sayhadian ceramics have been attributed to the Himyarite period is because - apart from one fragment of a pre-Himyarite ESA inscription collected from the surface of one site - all of the known inscriptions date to the Himyarite period. Given that palaeography is the key method of dating sites, the lack of inscriptions pre-dating the 1st millennium AD has meant that all Sayhad-related data have been dated to the Himyarite period.

About 50 Bronze Age sites have been recorded from the region. Test excavations have been undertaken on the sites of Sibal (DS66), Hamat al Qa (DS101) and Kharayb (DS228) (Edens 1999). Three C-14 dates from Sibal span between c.29001700 BC (2-sigma range); three C-14 dates from Hamat al Qa range from 23001400 BC (2-sigma range), while a fourth C-14 determination taken from an ash midden provided an Iron Age date. Finally, four C-14 dates from Kharayb vary between 3100-900 BC (2-sigma range). Sibal covers about lha-2ha, contains multi-room rectilinear architecture in the centre and one-room buildings on its periphery, and has traces of an enclosing wall. Hamat al Qa is a dense array of rectilinear multi-room and singleroom structures in a 5ha walled settlement, with at least three gates. Kharayb is roughly 3ha in area, and visible architecture is represented by clusters of long rectilinear buildings, often divided into internal rooms and other spaces (Wilkinson et al., 2001).

Moving to the north of the Dhamar region, historians (Müller 1988; see Chapter 1, Section 1.3) report that the general Sana’a region (i.e. the area around the modem Yemeni capital, Sana’a) was occupied by the Sabaean kingdom during the Himyarite period, owing to the discovery of many Sabaic inscriptions dated to the latter period (Korotayev 1996). In addition to the Himyarite period inscriptions, a relatively limited (but unspecified) number of archaic Sabaic inscriptions (c.800-500 BC) have also been found in the western Sana’a region at Raydah, Amran and Shibam (Kawkaban) (in the area labelled Bakil in Fig. 1) (Korotayev 1998).

The results of the Dhamar Survey indicated that sites could reach up to 12ha-15ha (e.g. site DS293). The pottery from these sites appeared in contexts dated from the later 3rd millennium BC (i.e. contemporary to the dates given to the ceramics from Hawlan) to the late 2nd millennium BC. The Bronze Age pottery has been classified as a single tradition that spans nearly two thousand years (Edens 1999). It is represented by burnished grey-slipped ware plus brown grit or grit-andchaff tempered fabrics; small amounts of burnished red slipped fabric also occur. It has many similarities with the Hawlan ware, such as platters, shallow bowls, deep bowls with ledge handles, hole-mouth jars and jars with vertical or slightly everted rims, and, as with the Hawlan ware, decoration is infrequent. The main difference between the two assemblages is that the soft crumbly fabric with coarse grit known from Hawlan has not been found in the Dhamar region (Edens and Wilkinson 1998). Typological changes over time have not been established.

Apart from the epigraphic data, the Iron Age archaeological record of the Sana’a region has only been briefly alluded to in the literature. In an epigraphic survey of the region, Robin (1982) observed the presence of nine temples dedicated to Almaqah in the Raydah, Amran and Shibam area. They have not been described in further detail, although Breton (1998) reported that at least one dates to about the 7th century BC. Robin recorded that these Almaqah sanctuaries are separated from the main area of Almaqah temples in the Sabaean Sayhad region by a vast Highland area that had no temples or sanctuaries of Almaqah but had numerous shrines dedicated to the non-Sabaean deity Ta’lab. The latter shrines, which have been dated via their inscriptions, presumably post-date the first half of the 1st millennium BC since Korotayev (1995) has stated that archaic inscriptions found in the Sana’a region are concentrated in the west. The rest of the preIslamic archaeological evidence from the Sana’a area has been ascribed to the Sabaean presence during the Himyarite period and has typically been found in modern settlements, for example, from the old city of Sana’a or from Ghayman (20km southeast of Sana’a) although this information has not been published (Ghaleb pers. comm. 2000).

The Dhamar Survey has identified about 100 Iron Age sites.9 It is thought that the Sayhad-related pottery replaced the local Iron Age ceramics (dated to the 1st millennium BC) in the Himyarite period (c.100 BC to AD 600) (Edens 1999). However, this remains to be proven, since both the local ‘pre-Himyarite’ and the ‘Himyarite’ Sayhad-related pottery has been found from surface contexts and the two wares are often mixed (Edens 1999). Some sites (e.g. DS212) have rectangular rampart walls, similar to those known from the Sayhad region. Architecture has not been described in any detail beyond a note about the low density of buildings and mention of monumental masonry (Edens and Wilkinson 1998). Iron Age sites assigned to the ‘preHimyarite’ period were up to 20ha in area and a settlement hierarchy has been recognised so that larger sites (between about 15ha-20ha) were surrounded 9

Rock art has also been found in the Sana’a region. It depicts ‘wild’ and ‘domesticated’ animals as well as anthromorphs (Jung 1991a; 1991b). Jung has suggested that the art dates from the Neolithic to modem times. He

The Himyarite kingdom (c.100 BC until the advent of Islam) was centred in the Dhamar area, with its capital at Zafar.

41

A SYNTHESIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND THE CULTURE HISTORY OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA has insecurely gauged the earlier dates through comparison with ‘prehistoric’ rock art from Saudi Arabia, which has not, itself, been absolutely dated (Anati 1968a; 1972; Cervicek 1979; Zarins et al. 1981); the more recent styles are relatively securely dated, for example by the presence of Arabic script or modern motifs, such as aeroplanes (Jung 1991a; 1991b).

However, they are represented by eroded-out tools in surface contexts, and as a result, the Neolithic adaptation in that area remains poorly understood. The common presence of grinding stones both from the Hawlan and desert interior hints at, but does not necessarily demonstrate, the processing of plants (wild or domesticated) at these sites.

Additional rock art has been discovered at Sada, to the far north of the Central Highlands, near the Saudi Arabian border (Garcia and Rachad 1997). Bovids with enormous rolled-up horns have been found adorning the walls of rock-shelters. Soundings were dug at several rock-shelters and revealed hearths, lithics (including bifacial stemmed points) and faunal evidence (Garcia et al. 1991). A C-14 determination from one of the rock shelters (MK2) provided a date in the late 6th millennium BC.

Of all the known Neolithic sites, only the Hawlan Neolithic sites (WTHiii and GQI) produced evidence of domesticated animals, as well as animals of uncertain wild or domesticated status. Evidence of wild animals has been found at the rock shelter (MK2) in Sada in the North Central Highlands and from HARii in the Sayhad region. These data are synthesised below. Wild cattle and wild buffalo were identified from rock shelter MK2 in Sada and dated to the early 5th millennium BC (Garcia et al. 1991). Moreover, the rock art from MK1 and MK2 included realistic depictions of animals that have been interpreted as wild cattle and wild buffalo (Garcia and Rachad 1997). In the Sayhad region, a large sample of heavily splintered bones was retrieved from HARii (107 specimens) (di Mario 1989). Some of these have been identified as gazelle, ibex, and equids - probably onager. In the Hawlan, bones of indeterminate wild or domesticated cattle were recorded from site WTHiii and dated to between the 8th-6th millennia BC (Fedele 1990b). Other fauna dated to the early 4th millennium BC at WTHiii were identified as domesticated and wild cattle, probable domesticated sheep and goat, and (wild) gazelle. The status of donkey bones was not determined (Fedele1986). Bökönyi (1990) identified both wild and domesticated species from the Hawlan site GQI, which is possibly dated to around the mid 4th to mid 3rd millennium BC. The species comprised domestic sheep and goat, domestic cattle, wild cattle, possibly domesticated dog, indeterminate equid, gazelle and ibex.

An important site founded in the Iron Age, Najran, is located to the north of the Sayhad desert margin, also near the Saudi Arabian border (250km north of Marib). Najran did not belong to any of the Sayhadian kingdoms, nor was it part of a separate Iron Age kingdom. It is known from its monumental enclosing wall. The ceramic industry is comparable to the Sayhad ceramic complex, although it is differentiated by unique decoration, often represented by geometric designs (Zarins et al. 1981). The ‘Classical’ accounts report that the Sayhad incense trade was channelled from the Sayhad region and then northwards to Najran (Groom 1981). 3.4 A synthesis of South West Arabian archaeology by period Having presented a regional outline of the South West Arabian archaeological record (with the exception of the Tihamah), an overview of the evidence attributed to each main period is now provided. When thus synthesised, a picture of South West Arabian economic and cultural developments and contacts begins to appear; this is relevant to the ensuing examination of the Tihamah, which also considers such developments and relations over time.

Fedele (1990) has calculated the relative proportions of domesticated animals from the Hawlan sites. In the early 4th millennium level of WTHiii, domesticated cattle constitute 95% of the identifiable fauna. At GQI, which seems to slightly post-date WTHiii, domesticated sheep and goat make up half of the sample of 280 specimens, while domesticated cattle make up a quarter of the sample. Wild cattle (forming 14% of the sample), equid and ibex are interpreted as hunted game. It seems that there were relatively more domesticated cattle initially, but were later overtaken by domesticated ovicaprids. In overview, it has been argued that domesticated animals first appear in Yemen at around the 4 th millennium BC (Fedele 1992). Research into the appearance of domesticated animals from South East Arabia seems to support this conclusion (Biagi and Nisbet 1989; Uerpmann and Uerpmann 1996).

3.4.1 The Neolithic The first Neolithic sites to have been systematically examined by archaeologists were those from the Hawlan region of the Central Highlands. They revealed evidence of permanent architecture and domesticated animals, and gave the impression that the South West Arabian Neolithic was characterised by an incipient agricultural economy (Fedele 1988). However, the Neolithic evidence from the Sayhad, Hadramawt and northern Central Highlands (from Sada) indicates a contemporary hunter/gatherer adaptation. The character of the latter sites suggests short-term, possibly even seasonal occupation. Neolithic data have also been discovered in the Dhamar Survey of the Central Highlands.

Cultural contacts are evident at a very general level. Thus, the ABT lithics, found throughout the Arabian Peninsula, 42

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 and animals, discovered at sites from the Hawlan, Dhamar, Sada and Sayhad regions.

indicate wide-ranging Arabian cultural links. The rock art also hints at connections throughout South West Arabia, although very little is known about the South West Arabian rock art.10 However, using the rock art to date such connections is difficult. For example, Khan (1994) has convincingly critiqued Anati’s seminal rock-art chronology by drawing attention to many problems. These include Anati’s failure to consider the relation of figures to one another; for example, since Anati’s work was based on black and white photographs he did not recognise the presence of superimposed figures, which according to Khan’s first-hand investigation of the art, at times suggested a later date. Cultural connections cannot be gauged from naturalistic art, such as that found at Sada (Garcia and Rachad 1997).

Evidence for Bronze Age irrigation is known from the Sayhad region and the Dhamar area of the Central Highlands. In the Sayhad area, early evidence for irrigation has been revealed during research on the Marib dam. Based on the estimated average rates of accumulation of irrigation sediments, it seems that local irrigation practices began between 2500-1700 BC (Hehmeyer 1989). An early date for irrigation in the south-eastern Sayhad region has been supported by a C-14 date of c.1500 BC from charcoal in irrigated sediments in the Wadi Markha (Brunner 1997a). In the Dhamar region, the ancient terraces provide likely evidence of irrigation. Gibson and Wilkinson (1995) suggest that they received either direct rainfall or localised runoff from upslope. The terraces appear as faint lines of stones that are heavily weathered or varnished, on slopes below or near Bronze Age archaeological sites and have been dated to between 2000-1500 BC by their relation to the sites and on the few associated artefacts (Gibson and Wilkinson 1995). Such probable irrigation practices suggest some investment in the land that might indicate at least semi-permanent occupation.

Links between the Sayhad region and the Red Sea may be suggested by the cowries, Dentalium and Conus sp. marine shells that appear in small amounts in the Sayhadian interior (di Mario 1989). In contrast, Amirkhanov (1994) has identified regional lithic industries in the Hawlan and the Hadramawt, and on this basis, has argued that these regions were occupied by distinct local cultures. Wider-ranging links, between South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa, might also be shown from the obsidian found at the Neolithic sites. However, trace element analysis of the obsidian indicates that there is a very low level of discrimination between the Arabian11 and African obsidian sources, which have been categorised together under the label ‘Group 4d’ (as first proposed by Cann and Renfrew 1964). Therefore, it is not yet possible to clarify whether obsidian found in South West Arabia comes from a local source or from the Horn of Africa. Indeed, the possibility of an African source was raised by Francaviglia (1990, 134), who noted that the obsidian found in Hawlan "improbable though it may seem, [could come from] the Ethiopian Plateau". Other than this cautious speculation about obsidian, none of these authors has considered the potential prehistoric connections between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia, which will be explored in Chapter 6.

Bronze Age archaeozoological evidence has been found from one of the rock shelters near Sada and from the Hawlan region. Evidence of domesticated cattle was identified from levels dated to the late 3rd millennium BC at the WR3 rock art site near Sada (Garcia et al. 1991). The absence of ceramics (often associated with settlement) and the lack of evidence of any permanent settlement suggest that nomadic herders occupied the rock-shelter. In contrast, the Hawlan region has permanent architecture, ceramics and domesticated species, including the earliest archaeobotanical data, suggesting it was occupied by full-time agriculturalists. Faunal data from the Hawlan came from RAQi, MASi and WYi (C-14 dated to between 2600-2000 BC). These sites provided evidence of domesticated sheep and goat and domesticated cattle; the former dominating the assemblage (Fedele 1990a). Whereas cattle dominated the Neolithic sample, they constituted only 4-6% at RAQi and MASi and 1% at WYi. There were also a few other animals such as wild boar, cat and ibex (Bökönyi 1990; Fedele 1990a).

In overview, the South West Arabian Neolithic was represented by hunter-gatherers and, in the Hawlan, by incipient agriculturalists. The data point to some very general and wide-ranging cultural connections. 3.4.2 The Bronze Age

The Hawlan Bronze Age sites have also produced the earliest archaeobotanical data, which are represented by seed impressions in pottery. A total of 5167 sherds with imprints have been investigated from 15 Bronze Age Hawlan sites; 120 plant specimens were identified. In decreasing order of frequency, Costantini (1990) identified several species of barley and wheat and identified oats, sorghum, millet, dates, cumin and grassy weeds. These crops are of Near Eastern (two-row barley, six-row barley, glume wheats, free-threshing wheats, oats and millet) and African origin (sorghum).

Economically, the Bronze Age is marked by agriculture, as indicated by irrigation works and domesticated plants 10

Indeed, no rock art has been published from former South Yemen, which includes the mountainous Hadramawt with its innumerable potential rock-canvases. 11 Four major lava fields are known in modern Yemen: at Hamdan, north of Sana’a; Sirwah-Marib and Dhamar-Reda both in highland Yemen and the southern Yemeni Aden trap series (Zarins 1990). There are also two Saudi sources: Jabal Abyad and the Wadi Jizan in Saudi Arabia (Müller 1984; Zarins 1990).

43

A SYNTHESIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND THE CULTURE HISTORY OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA In addition to these agricultural data, a range of architecture and structures has been attributed to the Bronze Age. Domestic architecture has been documented at sites in the Central Highlands and Sayhad region. Furthermore, cairns or ‘pillbox’ tombs are common skyline features in South West Arabia, in the Central Highlands, Sayhad and Hadramawt. They have been very cursorily published, and no overview of those monuments known to date has been published.12 Their size, construction features, interior structures and number of interments are highly varied. They can appear alone or in groups; they often have attached ‘tails’ of stone walling or piles of stone that can stretch for several hundred metres (Doe 1983b; Schmidt 1987). This type of monument has been associated with artefacts dated to the 4th o r 3 rd millennia BC in North West Arabia (Parr et al. 1978), and a similar date has thus been suggested for those from South West Arabia (Zarins et al. 1980). However, limited archaeological investigations of these cairns have suggested that some date to the 1st millennium BC, or even later (Toplyn 1988). Finally, some stone alignments, which might have had a ritual function, thought - but not shown - to belong to the Bronze Age, have also been recorded from South West Arabia. Doe (1983) included three ‘trilith’ monuments in the Hadramawt on his distribution map. These and other stone alignments have been investigated by Vogt and Sedov in 1994. Cleuziou et al. (1988) have investigated a group of pillars from the Jawf (western Sayhad). However, neither report has been published (but were cited by Edens and Wilkinson (1998)).

obsidian might be local, but it might equally derive from the Horn of Africa. Indeed, it appears that throughout the prehistoric period, the archaeological record is marked by over-arching unspecific large-scale connections, such as the universal Bronze Age appearance of ceramics or of domesticated species. Nevertheless, beneath these general connections, a pattern of regional diversity is apparent. Thus, the Bronze Age ceramics from the Sayhadian Hadramawt and the Central Highlands are quite distinct (although there are similarities between the assemblages from Dhamar and Hawlan). This picture might be the result of a patchy and incomplete archaeological record, so that it is not surprising that clear cultural connections or divisions are yet to be established.

In interpreting the Bronze Age evidence, Arabianist archaeologists (notably de Maigret 1990; Ghaleb 1990; Edens and Wilkinson 1998) have stressed the general lack of evidence for long-distance contacts in the Bronze Age. Instead, they emphasise that all the raw materials used in the Bronze Age might have come from local sources. For example, the copper or bronze discovered from the Hawlan could have come from numerous copper sources that were worked in antiquity throughout the Central Highlands, from Sada in the north to Taizz in the south (Overstreet et al. 1988). Carnelian could have come from sources in the hills of Mabar, near Dhamar (Cleuziou et al. 1992). Calcite (or possibly the related alabaster) can be obtained from the limestones found in much of the Central Highlands and in the Sayhad area; while obsidian could also derive from local Central Highland sources (Edens and Wilkinson 1998). Those authors only cite marine shells, which have occasionally been found in Bronze Age archaeological contexts, as evidence of wider-ranging links, possibly with the Red Sea.

Traditionally, the appearance of complex society was explained in terms of economic connections with societies to the north (Pirenne 1955; 1956; 1975; Van Beek 1952; 1956; 1969; Harding 1964; see Chapter 1, Section 1.3). This reconstruction was based on textual references to the traffic in incense, spice and gold from South West Arabia to Mesopotamia and beyond. Archaeologists now suggest that cultural developments were also based on local economic developments, chiefly that of intensified agriculture, which appear to have originated in the Bronze Age (Ghaleb 1990).

3.4.3 The Iron Age The major Iron Age cultural development from the Bronze Age was the growth of social complexity, which is particularly archaeologically apparent in the Sayhad desert margin. This cultural sophistication is indicated by monumental architecture and by the complex political organisation recorded in the epigraphic record. The latter provides details of four major Sayhadian kingdoms: Saba, Main, Qataban and Hadramawt, plus the later Himyarite kingdom, which was centred on the Central Highlands. These kingdoms were differentiated by their own rulers, chief gods and epigraphic languages. The kingdoms were connected by the same pantheon, by the same type of ashlar, dressed masonry, by the same ceramics and by the same ESA script.

With respect to the Iron Age economy, the archaeological and epigraphic record indicates that a great deal of attention was expended on irrigation in the unforgiving, fragile, Sayhad desert-margin environment (Edens and Wilkinson 1998). Monumental dams were built to divert the biannual floodwater onto the fields, and were necessary to support agriculture in that region. A system of canals, sluices, dykes and wells was also involved, as identified along the Wadi Bayhan in Qataban (Bowen 1958).

However, the data can be marshalled to argue either for or against cultural contacts. For example, the Group 4d 12

Although some of the earliest ESA inscriptions document the effort given to irrigation and agriculture in the Sayhad region, it seems that such activity began before the earliest inscriptions. For example, sluice foundations from the Marib dam are thought to date

The overview by Doe (1983) is now outdated owing to subsequent unpublished research, outlined by Steimer-Herbet at the Seminar for Arabian Studies conference, July 2000.

44

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 to the late 2 nd millennium BC (Brunner 1997). A second, possible irrigation technique, the terraced field, continued to be used in the moist Dhamar area of the Central Highlands (Gibson and Wilkinson 1995). Dams found in the Central Highlands have been attributed to the Himyarite period of the 1st millennium AD (Gibson and Wilkinson 1995). The latter authors argue that such dams only served as a supplementary water source, in contrast to those of the desert fringes.

Highlands and the Tihamah or even the Horn of Africa (Robin 1995; Nebes 1997). However, according to the epigraphic record, the Central Highlands - lying between the Sayhad region and the Tihamah - only become clearly integrated with the Sayhad area in the Himyarite period, when the Dhamar area became home to the Himyarite kingdom and the Sabaean kingdom extended into the Sana’a region of the northern Central Highlands. This explains why any Sayhad-related evidence from the Dhamar region has been assumed to date to the Himyarite period (Wilkinson 1999), and why the Central Highlands tend to be thought of as culturally isolated from the Sayhad before the Himyarite era (Ghaleb 1990). Despite the latter perception, the early 1st millennium BC inscriptions and sanctuaries to Almaqah from around Amran, Raydan and Shibam in the western Sana’a region indicate direct connections between the Central Highlands and Saba long before the Himyarite period (Korotayev 1998). Since there appears to be no other early Sayhadrelated material between Saba and the western Sana’a region, scholars suggest that the western region was occupied by Sabaean colonisers (Korotayev 1995c; Breton 1998a). This view partly arises from the ancient toponym and ‘tribal’ name Bakil (lit. ‘settlers’) found in this zone. Based on the limited nature of the known archaeological evidence from the rest of the Sana’a region, the validity of this scenario remains unclear.

Iron Age archaeobotanical data are scanty and come from seed impressions on pottery and carbonised plant remains from two of the stratified Sayhadian Iron Age sites. At Hajar Bin Humeid, impressions on pottery indicated the presence of western Asian crops (barley, oats and broomcorn millet), the first evidence of the Ethiopian origin crop, tef, the Indian-origin seed, sesame; as well as flax, cumin, possibly grape and weedy plants such as garden sorrel (Sonderstom 1969). At Hajar arRayhani, zizyphus dominated, with lesser amounts of barley, wheat, dates, chickpeas, bitter vetch, pomegranate and flax (Stewart 1996). Archaeobotanical evidence of sorghum is absent, but epigraphical evidence indicates that it probably appeared among the Sayhadian Iron Age crops (Irvine 1962). Archaeozoological data are almost absent from Iron Age sites in the Central Highlands and Hadrami highlands, but a little faunal evidence is known from the Sayhad region. The fullest sample is from Hajar arRayhani. Here, sheep and goat dominate the sample (97% of 4909 specimens). Cattle and camel constitute about 2%, while gazelle and donkey are very rare (Hesse 1996a). It seems that sheep and goat dominated the adDurayb sample, but that cattle also appear in significant numbers (unpublished report by Fedele 1992, cited in Edens and Wilkinson 1998).

The apparent absence of pre-Himyarite Sayhadrelated data from the Dhamar region would also seem to support the notion that the Central Highlands were generally culturally separate from the Sayhad region in the 1st millennium BC. However, it is possible that there were connections between the Dhamar region and the Sayhad at that time. While Wilkinson (1997) has suggested that the Sayhad ceramic complex found in the Dhamar region dates to the Himyarite period, he has admitted that this attribution is uncertain since the ‘preceding’ local Iron Age ware and the Sayhad ceramic complex are intermixed at sites. The question of whether the two regions were connected before the Himyarite period thus remains unclear.

Given that before the 1980s, knowledge of the Iron Age was largely based on the epigraphic record, it is not surprising that the texts still have a great impact on the interpretation of the emerging archaeological record. Here we will focus on how the inscriptions have influenced perceptions of Iron Age relations between the different regions of South West Arabia, and with the Horn of Africa, since this of particular importance to the forthcoming study of the Tihamah.

Scholars have not really considered how the Hadramawt highlands may have been culturally connected to the other regions since no Iron Age sites are yet known from the uplands of that region. Again, connections between the Sayhad and the Hadramawt are informed by written records. The ‘classical’ accounts indicate that frankincense was grown in Dhofar, which is just to the east of the Hadramawt, and possibly in the Hadramawt itself, and that it was taken to the South West Arabian interior, where it was then channelled around the Sayhad desert margin (Groom 1981). However, the exact routes across the Hadramawt, from Dhofar or the Hadrami frankincense-growing areas, to the interior, remain uncertain (Groom 1981).

With respect to intra-regional South West Arabian relations, scholars have tended to see the Sayhad region as independent from all other South West Arabian areas until the Himyarite period (1st century BC-6th century AD), when such connections are first asserted in the epigraphic record. One rare example of a pre-Himyarite Sayhadian inscription that refers to other parts of South West Arabia is Karibil Watar’s unification text, RES 3945, dated to c.700 BC. In the latter, the monarch claims to have conquered parts of the Central Highlands, namely the area south of Taizz, plus two regions north and north east of Aden, and a series of unidentified settlements that have been equated variously with the Central

45

A SYNTHESIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND THE CULTURE HISTORY OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA As for relations with external areas, the literature has traditionally emphasised the links between South West Arabia and the north (i.e. Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Mediterranean). These connections are most fully attested in the ‘classical’ accounts and demonstrated by Hellenistic influences in the archaeological record, notably in the art of the late 1 st millennium BC onwards, and in the South West Arabian coinage used from about that time. Recent authors to explore these northern links include Liverani (1992), Zarins (1997) and Macdonald (1997). In contrast, early Iron Age relations between South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa, lying across the Red Sea to the west, have not been pursued in similar detail by Arabianists, possibly because such links are not epigraphically attested in the Arabian ESA corpus. However, relations between those two regions are apparent in the Ethiopian archaeological record, dated to the 1st half of the 1st millennium BC, which has about 60 monumental ESA inscriptions, plus South West Arabian-influenced art and architecture.

record of the Tihamah, presented in the following two chapters, can be understood. This chapter also summarised the recently documented economic development of South West Arabia. The Neolithic (6th-4th millennia BC) is marked by incipient farming (from about the 4th millennium BC) or by hunter/gatherer societies. By the Bronze Age (3rd-2nd millennia BC), agriculture is apparent at all sites. The Iron Age (1 st millennium BC-6th century AD) is characterised by cultural complexity, which is demonstrated by writing, monumental constructions, and complex political organisation. Before the 1980s, this Iron Age cultural complexity was traditionally explained in diffusionist terms, or at least as the result of trade with developed cultures from the north. More recently, scholars have explored how these cultural developments were facilitated by the long-term process of agricultural intensification outlined above. This has meant that the prehistoric periods have been increasingly interpreted in local terms, avoiding migrationist theories (Ghaleb 1990; Edens and Wilkinson 1998; Wilkinson et al. 2001). Scholars have therefore tended to minimise wider-scale contacts. Moreover, within South West Arabia, the archaeological record is only now emerging and remains very patchy and incomplete. This in turn has meant that each region seems to be culturally isolated, so that scholars have rarely considered how each region relates to other regions unless in terms of the Sayhadian Iron Age.

In considering connections with the Horn of Africa, Arabianist scholars have instead focused on links between the two regions during the Aksumite period, dated to the first seven centuries AD, at which time relations with Ethiopia are attested in the Arabian epigraphic record (Müller 1988). However, compared with the pre-Aksumite period, researchers have identified very little archaeological evidence representing connections during the Aksumite era. To summarise, the Aksumite data found in South West Arabia are limited to a few Aksumite vessels (Sedov 1997b; Davidde and Petriaggi 1998), coins and inscriptions. The coins are represented by a handful of Aksumite examples found in Qana (Sedov 1997b). In addition, about 500 Aksumite coins are thought to have come from surface contexts at Shabwa, the Iron Age capital of the Hadramawt (Munro-Hay 1991b), and a hoard of Aksumite and Roman coins has also been found about 70km west of Aden on the Tihamah (discussed in Section 5.4.2; Munro-Hay 1989b). Finally, five Aksumite inscriptions have been discovered in South West Arabia: two are located at Zafar in the Central Highlands, two derive from unknown contexts, while a fifth - a royal inscription, commissioned by King Kaleb in the 6th century AD - comes from Marib (Bernand et al. 1991). With respect to the South West Arabian material found in Ethiopia, only a few possible South West Arabian ceramics have been identified from Ethiopia (Phillipson 1998), while South West Arabian coins found during excavation are restricted to a bronze coin recovered near the Cathedral at Aksum (de Contenson 1963) and a silver coin from Beita Giyorgis (Manzo, pers. comm. 2000).

Yet it is vital that the broader context is carefully considered, particularly since environmental, topographical and human influences might have conspired to create an archaeological record that does not reflect the ancient cultural reality. For example, most archaeological evidence is known from the Sayhad desert margin. However, sites in the lowland portion of that region can be well-preserved beneath thick accumulations of silt or desert sands, undisturbed by limited later occupations; preservation is also good in the semi-arid foothills of the Sayhad region, since subsequent human occupation has not resulted in the landscape being covered by fields. In contrast, few monumental sites are known in the highlands, which may be the result of destruction in the creation of field systems and by later settlements (Edens and Wilkinson 1998; Barbanes 2000), since this region is now - and, according to Ghaleb (1990), always has been - the most densely occupied region owing to its agricultural fertility. The subsequent chapters address this potential bias by investigating the archaeologically neglected Tihamah plain. They will situate the Tihamah within its regional South West Arabian context and in terms of wider external relations, and will also consider the Tihamah over a long-term perspective.

3.5 Overview Chapter 3 first presented a regional overview of South West Arabian archaeology and then provided an archaeological synthesis by period. It has provided a contextual background against which the archaeological

46

CHAPTER 4 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH IN THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD FROM THE 6TH TO THE 1ST MILLENNIA BC South West Arabia is represented by distinct lithic industries and incipient agriculture and has been dated to the 6th-4th millennia BC. The Bronze Age of South West Arabia (3 rd -2 nd millennia BC) is marked by the appearance of pottery, domesticated animals, and greater cultural complexity.

4.1 Introduction In order to provide the first detailed culture-history of the Tihamah during the prehistoric period, this chapter critically examines all of the available archaeological data from the Tihamah. The three groups of prehistoric Tihami sites were first introduced in Chapter 1 (Section 1.4),1 as indicated on Fig. 8.

Sections 4.2 and 4.3 first present an introductory overview of the chronology of the Tihami Neolithic and Bronze Age, and then discuss the sites attributed to each period, opening with the most northern sites and turning to the southern sites last. The discussion of each site is typically in the following format: the chronology is examined, the data are then presented, and finally the published interpretations of the data are presented and assessed. Section 4.4 then draws all of this information together to present an analysis of the Tihamah in the prehistoric period; it identifies cultural and economic developments, and seeks to understand the relationship of the Tihamah to neighbouring regions. 4.2 The Neolithic 4.2.1 Chronology Evidence of Neolithic occupation is represented by two groups of shell midden sites, from the Jizan area (Zarins, Murad and Al-Yaish 1981; Zarins and Zahrani 1985; Zarins and Al-Badr 1986) and from the Hodeidah area (Tosi 1985; 1986a; Khalidi in press). Neolithic occupation has been identified on the Tihamah via characteristics of the material culture, the relative distance of the middens to the coastline and C-14 determinations. The Arabian bifacial tradition (ABT) lithics represent the key diagnostic Neolithic material culture discovered from both sets of middens. Such lithics, which are characterised by fine pressure-flaked bifacial, barbed and tanged arrowheads (Zarins et al. 1980; Fedele 1986; Di Mario 1989; Sellars 1993; Khalidi 2005), have been dated to c.7000 BC-4000/3000 BC (Sanlaville 1992; see Chapter 3, Section 3.2). Ground stone tools have also been recovered from the Tihami middens, and have been employed to support a Neolithic date. Finally, an absence of ceramics has been used to indicate a Neolithic date, since middens with pottery have been attributed to the Bronze Age, and later, for reasons presented in Section 4.3.1.

Fig. 8: Simplified map showing the prehistoric archaeological sites on the Tihamah Our discussion of the prehistoric Tihami sites first addresses those belonging to the Neolithic (Section 4.2), and then those attributed to the Bronze Age (Section 4.3); this periodisation is a useful way of quickly categorising sites that have been technologically, culturally and chronologically linked in the literature. As detailed in Chapter 3 (Section 3.4.1), the Neolithic of the rest of 1

It is to be noted that although the large deflated site of STN, located in the Zabid area, has some Bronze Age evidence, it seems to have been occupied largely in the Iron Age, and is therefore discussed in Chapter 5, which focuses on the historic period.

The distance of individual middens from the modern coastline has also been used to date the sites. As

47

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH discussed in Chapter 2, Section 2.2, the sea level gradually rose during the Holocene. The sea level reached a maximum height in the 6th millennium BC, but retreated some 10km between the 6th and 3rd millennia BC (Bintliff and von Zeist 1982). The modern coastline was established by 2500-2000 BC (Zarins and Al-Badr 1986). As a result of these changes, all pre-6th millennium BC sites that lay directly on the coast are assumed to have been submerged as the sea rose (Zarins and Zahrani 1985). Since the sea then began to fall after the 6th millennium BC, middens lying between the modem coastline and the 6th millennium BC coastline (c.10km inland) have been attributed to between the 6th and 3rd millennia BC (Zarins and Zahrani 1985). In some cases, the date of the site has also been supported by C-14 determinations on mollusc shells.

The Neolithic Jizan area middens, found along the coastline, are marked by abundant marine shells (Zarins et al. 1981; 1985; 1986). Middens from this area have been dated to the Neolithic because of the presence of ABT lithics, and because of their location on fossil coastlines that are up to 10km from the modern coast, which suggested a date between the 6th-3rd millennia BC (Zarins and Zahrani 1985). Finally, four C-14 dates in the 5th-4th millennia BC have been obtained from shells taken from unstratified contexts of four shell middens. These dates are tabulated below.

However, each of these methods has its problems. All of the C-14 dates have been taken from shells in unstratified contexts. The contemporaneity of artefacts and organic remains cannot be assumed since a large number of factors - for example, the erosive effects of wind deflation - have interacted in the formation of site surface deposits. It has also been presupposed that aceramic middens date to the Neolithic, even where other supporting Neolithic data have not been published. Moreover, the chronology of the ceramics from the middens is imperfect, so that their Bronze Age date cannot always be assumed (see Section 4.3.1). Finally, the date of the midden cannot necessarily be gauged by its relative distance from the modern coastline. Instead, only a terminus ante quem can be suggested for sites that lie within 10km of the coast. For example, it cannot be assumed that middens always lay directly on the coast, that they were always at a consistent distance from the coastline as it moved back, or that the sea level fell at a constant rate. In overview, it is important to emphasise the insecure chronology of the midden sites. Our solution to these chronological problems is to accept that where a range of dating methods agrees, the likelihood

Knowledge of the Neolithic evidence derives from a survey of three middens undertaken by Zarins and Al-Badr (1986). Zarins and Al-Badr The three Neolithic middens (labelled 217-174, 217-175 and 217-176) were all smaller than 100m x 100m. Deposits included possible ‘hearths’, represented by fire-cracked stones, however, no evidence of structural remains was identified. Zarins and Al-Badr recorded a range of lithic artefacts, sometimes together with their relative (but not absolute) quantities. Thus, they stated that quartzite debitage and tools formed the bulk of the assemblage, and that of the tools, groovers/awls, denticulates, truncations, and backed flakes were frequently found. Assorted wadi pebbles, hammerstones, and notched net weights were also common. The remaining lithics comprised large choppers with rough working edges as well as borers, groovers, piercers and awls. Burins, small end-scrapers, blades, use-retouched flakes and notches were more rarely discovered. They also recovered a few transverse projectile points, backed blades, and sickle blades. They recorded the presence of grinding stones made of sandstone, scoria, and basalt, but do not state their frequency. The grinding stones were represented by both hand querns and larger basin types.

that the sites are dated to a particular period (although not necessarily millennium) increases. 4.2.2 Jizan area Neolithic middens

Table 4: C-14 Neolithic dates from the Jizan area2

2

Site

Lab No.

BP

SD

Intercept BC

1 SD BC

2 SD BC

217-182

GX-11209

6150

130

4640

4770-4470

4920-4340

217-179

GX-10341

5470

175

3920

4070-3690

4300-3520

217-175

GX-10340

5360

180

3760

3960-3610

4200-3360

217-181

GX-11210

4885

115

3280

3360-3040

3520-3040

After Edens and Wilkinson 1998, who calibrated the dates using the CALM 3.0.3 marine model.

48

Reference Grigson et al. 1989 Zarins and Al-Badr 1986 Zarins and Al-Badr 1986 Grigson et al. 1989

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 The lithic implements were made of ferruginous quartzite, basalt, andesite, diabase and gabbro. Obsidian (see below) was also fairly abundant and tended to be represented by debitage, a few blades and flakes plus some backed microlithic lunates. A few greenstone awls, blades and flakes were noted. Flint represented less than 0.5% of the lithics and generally constituted small fragments of exhausted flint cores (Zarins and Al-Badr 1986).

In order to clarify the relation of the Jizan area middens to other regions, Zarins (1989; 1990) undertook traceelement analysis on the obsidian artefacts from the Jizan area (and from the Hodeidah area midden sites, which are discussed below) (Zarins 1989; 1990). However, little headway has been made in establishing the exact sources of the obsidian since the original work undertaken in the 1960s by Renfrew and his colleagues. Those researchers established a general African/Arabian obsidian group (labelled ‘Group 4d’), which constituted obsidian sources from Ethiopia/Djibouti, Chad (Tibesti), South West Arabia, and Saudi Arabia (Cann and Renfrew 1964; Renfrew and Dixon 1976).

The rest of the data constituted faunal evidence. Zarins and Al-Badr (1986) found three major shell species at these sites, which are indicative of a varied (‘ecotone’) environment. The mollusc species were dominated by Turbo sp. (belonging to a rocky, substrate environment), followed by Strombus tricornis (typical of a sandy shoreline), and then by Terebralia palustris (found in mudflat/mangrove swamp conditions). The faunal record was augmented by ostrich eggshell and animal bones that were too fragmentary and eroded to allow their species to be identified (Zarins and Al-Badr 1986).

In brief, Arabian obsidian sources have been reported from Jabal Abyad in Saudi Arabia and from a now-buried tertiary deposit in the Wadi Jizan in Saudi Arabia, although no samples from this source have been collected or analysed (Muller 1984; Zarins 1990). In addition, four major lava fields are known from modem Yemen: at Hamdan, north of Sana’a; Sirwah-Marib and DhamarReda, both in the Central Highlands; and the southern Yemeni Aden trap series (Zarins 1990). Only the Dhamar-Reda field from highland Yemen has yielded obsidian. Eleven obsidian localities have been identified from the Aden Trap series, of which only obsidian from the Jabal al-Lisi, Jabal Isbil and TKY-44 has been sampled (Francaviglia 1988; Zarins 1990). None of the volcanic islands in the southern Red Sea have known obsidian sources (Grass et al. 1973). Investigators have undertaken both standard chemical and trace element analysis on the material from Jabal Abyad and Dhamar-Reda, although only trace analysis has been undertaken on the Aden Trap series obsidian (Zarins 1989; 1990). It was found that the Jabal Abyad sample (Saudi Arabia) and the Aden trap series ally with the Dhamar-Reda field (South West Arabian Central Highlands).

Turning to the published assessments, the main objective of the Saudi Arabian archaeological survey undertaken by Zarins et al. (1981; 1985; 1986) was to establish evidence for Arabia’s medial position between Africa and the Indian subcontinent. Thus, the dominant interpretation of the Neolithic Jizan area middens was in terms of their cultural relations with neighbouring areas (Zarins et al. 1981; 1985; 1986). In order to demonstrate such relations, Zarins and colleagues drew comparisons between the Jizan area Neolithic data and Neolithic evidence from other sites in Arabia, the Levant and Africa. Thus, Zarins and Al-Badr (1986) compared the Jizan area ABT tools to ABT lithics from the Arabian Peninsula, including sites discovered during their Saudi Arabian archaeological survey (specifically from the Saudi Asir, which lies to the north of the Tihamah, and from the vast Saudi Arabian Rub al-Khali desert). In addition, they attributed some of the raw material (andesite, diabase, gabbro, ferruginous quartzite, basalt and greenstone) to the eastern Tihamah piedmont. Zarins and Al-Badr used these comparisons to support regional, i.e. South Arabian and Tihami, links. They also drew northern connections via the obsidian and quartzite backed lunates, which they compared typologically with Levantine examples from the Negev, Sinai, and Jordan desert, and from sites along the south Palestine coastal plain, which have been dated to 3200-2400 BC (Rosen 1983). Finally, Zarins and AlBadr pointed to other lithics in support of African connections. Thus, they compared the microlithic lunates and transverse points from the Jizan Neolithic middens to the Abkan industry of the Nile Valley (Shiner 1968). Zarins and Al-Badr (1986, 44) also speculated that the “greatest affinities would lie with sites on the western Red Sea coast”, a region that was archaeologically unknown to them. Thus, they linked the Jizan area sites, on various grounds, with other sites in Arabia, the Levant and with Africa.

The trace elements of the obsidian collected from the Jizan area sites and the Hodeidah area middens have been plotted against trace elements from the Arabian DhamarReda field (Zarins 1989; 1990). Only the plot of barium and zirconium correlated with the Dhamar-Reda field; the other trace elements indicated that the obsidian did not cluster with that field, although it still belonged to the general Group 4d. Zarins (1989; 1990) therefore concluded that the obsidian from the Tihamah midden sites might derive from a source in the Horn of Africa. However, this could not be categorically proved owing to the very low level of discrimination between the Arabian and African sources and the lack of control samples from some of the Arabian and African sources (as outlined in Chapter 6, Section 6.4, which discusses the African sources). Considering the above arguments for cultural connections, the presence of ABT lithics does indicate relations with other regions of Arabia, but these are non-specific in terms of space and time. Although the microlithic lunates from the Jizan area middens have been likened to those known from the African Abkan sites, it is unlikely that they 49

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH demonstrate direct links with the Nubian Abkan culture, since the latter is characterised by sand-tempered polished sherds (Shiner 1968), which are unknown from the Jizan area. Indeed, Zarins and Al-Badr (1986) argued that the closest links would probably be with unknown prehistoric sites on the African Red Sea coast. In fact, at their time of writing, such sites had been published, namely the Red Sea coastal middens of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa (Bouvier 1981; Ferry 1981; Grau 1981a; 1981b; 1981c; and further findings on the Djibouti Red Sea coastal sites were published a decade later by Amblard 1991; Gutherz 1991; Joussaume 1991). However, the Djibouti middens have a distinctive lithic industry - labelled the ‘pics du Ghoubbat’3 - that has not been recorded from the Tihamah.

the Hodeidah area; on-going survey work in this locale by Khalidi (in press) is complementing Tosi’s findings. Most middens lie parallel to, or on, the modern coast, or along the lower wadi courses and tributaries of the Wadis Siham and Rima. At least 13 have been assigned a prehistoric date (specifically attributed to a pre-c. 1000 BC date by Tosi 1986a). The other 42 have been dated from the Iron Age to pre-modern times. This section discusses the Neolithic and Bronze Age data from the Hodeidah area middens together, since the Bronze Age material has only been briefly published, and because the published interpretation of the middens has drawn on data from both periods (Tosi 1986a). Tosi (1986a) attributed sites to the Neolithic essentially on the basis of C-14 dates (tabulated below). However, as stated in Section 4.2.1, the C-14 dates did not come from stratified contexts, but from the surfaces of the shallow, wind-deflated sites. Thus, the contemporaneity of the data to each other, or with the C-14 dates, cannot be assumed. Indeed, Tosi (1986a) took a 1st millennium BC (Iron Age) C-14 determination from unstratified molluscs at SLF-1, even though the midden was marked by pottery which he attributed to the Bronze Age. (Tosi (1986a) subsequently rejected this C-14 date because it seemed too young.) In addition, those sites lying on the former coastline, 510km inland, have been categorised as pre 3rd millennium BC (the date at which the sea fell to its present position). The material culture gave only a few clues to the date. Only two sites, SRD-1 and JHB, were described or examined in any detail by Tosi (1986a) and of these sites, the Neolithic date of JHB was supported only by the presence of bifacial arrowheads (Tosi 1986a).

Socio-economic data have only been cursorily published for the Jizan Neolithic sites. However, the coastal location, the discarded mollusc shells and the probable net-weights indicate a marine-oriented economy. Faunal data of land animals are too fragmentary to discern the species of the animals, or whether they were domesticated or wild. Zarins and al-Badr (1986, 43) mention grinding stones which hint (but do not necessarily demonstrate) on-site plant processing. No structural evidence or pottery was found. Taken together, the data suggest that the Neolithic Jizan area middens were not occupied by permanently settled, or agriculturally-based communities. 4.2.3 The Hodeidah area middens Fifty-five wind-deflated midden sites were located by Tosi (1986a) between the Wadi Rummam and Wadi Surdud in

Table 5: C-14 Neolithic dates from the Hodeidah area shell middens4 Site

3 4

Lab no.

BP

SD

ASH

GX-13781

7770

95

Intercept 6210BC

1 SD BC

2 SD BC

6350-6130

6420-6010

BC date range 6684-6475

JHB

Beta-23582

7500

80

5960

6020-5880

6120-5800

6435-6187

JHB

Beta-23581

6870

100

5390

5460-5290

5560-5220

5820-5640

SRD-1N

GX-13782

6325

90

4820

4920-4730

5030-4620

5348-5229

QMM-3

Beta-23578

5730

90

4210

4300-4010

4350-3970

4723-4469

IBN-4

Beta-23577

5720

70

4200

4250-4080

4320-3990

4714-4493

SRD-1

Beta-23580

5100

90

3500

3620-3360

3680-3310

3996-3786

QMM-4

Beta-23584

5080

80

3490

3590-3360

3640-3310

3989-3784

SRD-1

Beta-23579

5010

80

3360

3500-3320

3600-3180

3952-3703

These unique lithics are characterised by triangular sections of basalt, 8-10cm long and chipped on all faces, thought to have been used as tools for opening shellfish (Grau 1981b). These dates were presented by Tosi (1986a) and calibrated by Edens and Wilkinson (1998) using the CALEB 3.0.3 marine model. The date range proposed by Tosi (1986a) is offered in the last column (‘BC date range’).

50

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 It is also apparent that aceramic middens have been attributed to the Neolithic, while those with prehistoric ceramics have been dated to the Bronze Age. Tosi (1986a) categorised ceramics as Bronze Age through their comparison with Jizan area Bronze Age pottery, which he dated to the mid-late 3rd millennium BC on advice from Zarins (see Section 4.3.2). The remaining evidence ascribed by Tosi (1986a) to the Bronze Age is restricted to two chlorite vessel sherds (from site JHBii), which he compared to examples from eastern Arabia and Oman, so providing a general 2 nd millennium BC date for that site. No Bronze Age C-14 dates have been obtained from the Hodeidah area middens.

appearance of pottery, which he attributed to the mid-late 3rd millennium BC through comparison with the Jizan area pottery. Tosi described the ceramics from the Hodeidah area middens as represented by hole-mouth forms made of a brown burnished fabric. This Bronze Age pottery was specifically found at sites MNR-1, QMM-3, SHM and SLF-1 (although SLF-1 provided a 1st millennium BC C-14 date that was rejected by Tosi because of the assumed Bronze Age date of the pottery). The pottery was described as generic and Tosi (1986a, 402) suggested that it might represent several typologically close wares over (an undefined) “quite widespread” region north of Hodeidah. Illustrations of the ceramics or more detailed descriptions have not been published.

The two sites - JHB and SRD-1 - that were examined in some detail by Tosi (1986a) will now be outlined. Site JHB was excavated in two 3m x lm test pits, labelled JHB/A and JHB/B, which were located on the western and eastern sides of JHB respectively. The C-14 dates came from JHB/A. Both pits had a 10-12cm thick deposit of Terebralia palustris shells. A “few” silicified faunal bones, mostly teeth, were retrieved from the surface, often in a very fragmentary state (Tosi 1986a, 407). The bestpreserved examples were identified as evidence of large wild herd mammals, primarily equids (Bökönyi’s analysis, cited in Tosi 1986a). Obsidian represented 75% of the lithics, while rhyolite and basalt were also recorded. A small amount of pottery was found on the surface of the site, and described as being heavily abraded and dark brown in colour (Tosi 1985). These ceramics have been deemed “mostly intrusive” (Tosi 1986a, 406).

Tosi did not describe the material culture found in association with the Bronze Age middens in detail. However, he noted that the lithics from JHBii (which he dated to the Bronze Age owing to the presence of fragments of chlorite vessels) were far more diverse than anything recovered from the Neolithic middens, comprising basalts (236), jasper (41), rhyolites (35), obsidian (10), chalcedony (3), and flint (2). Tosi also mentioned a metal knife blade, fishhook and a third unidentified object (presumably made of copper or bronze), found at SLF-1. Let us now turn to the published interpretations for these data. Tosi (1985; 1986a) deemed the most significant finding on the Tihamah to be the radical economic transformation from an earlier hunting, gathering and fishing economy to a food-producing agricultural, settled economy between the 6th and 4th millennia BC. He suggested that this new economy was marked by the introduction of “pottery, functionally specialised lithic types concentrated in distinctive areas and domesticated ovicaprids” (Tosi 1986a, 414). This proposal will now be considered.

Tosi also carried out a number of soundings at SRD-1, a wind-deflated site, on the northern bank of Wadi Surdud about 10km inland. Eleven ‘patches’, or ‘blocks’ (labelled A-K) of concentrated artefacts (see below) and shells were noted on the site. Three C-14 determinations were taken from block B, block E, and from shells scattered over the eastern part of the site. Block B gave a 6th (or early 5th) millennium BC date and the other areas both gave 4th millennium BC dates.

Evidence for an earlier hunting economy was based on the presence of wild herd animals, identified from the “few silicified animal bones [i.e. teeth] from the surface” of the “6th millennium BC” midden of JHB (Tosi 1986a, 407).5 Tosi argued that the data (equid, cattle and fish bones) indicate “the gaming [i.e. hunting] of large mammals from the interfluvial steppes, combined with the exploitation of tidal creeks” (Tosi 1986a, 407). Tosi (1986a; 1986b) suggested that the availability of such an all-year-round biomass along the shores and the riverine valleys of the Tihamah must have attracted a large population of postPleistocene foragers and determined their later settled economy.

Of the eleven patches, Block A had a concentration of flaked chalcedony microdrills and block C had finely flaked round scrapers (Tosi 1986a). Tosi also recorded, but did not describe, ground stone tools from unspecified locations in SRD-1 and noted ‘clay lumps’ from unspecified locations. Silicified animal bones were found scattered across SRD-1 (Tosi 1986a). Block D had a greater concentration of finely preserved specimens. In total, 210 bones were retrieved from block D, both from the surface and from a pit in block D, and comprised 136 cattle, 11 equid, 7 ovicaprid, and 56 fish bones (Tosi 1986a, identified by Bökönyi).

Tosi (1986a) proposed that SRD-1 had two occupation phases during the Neolithic (in the 6th and 4th millennia BC), which reveal the transformation between hunting and

Obsidian has been cited as a frequently occurring material at all middens, as were flaked and ground stone tools (see also Khalidi, in press). However, according to Tosi (1985; 1986a), the Bronze Age is marked by the

5

51

It is to be noted that this should have been a 7th millennium BC date according to Tosi’s earlier C- 14 date-range for JHB.

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH feasible, as indicated by Tosi (1986a), that they had appeared on the Tihamah by this time as well.

herding. He interpreted the discrete patches of material as evidence of a later settled, farming community, comparable to traditional contemporary farming settlements on the Tihamah, i.e. barns, houses and corrals made of light organic material (Tosi 1986a). Two of the patches suggested distinct activity areas to Tosi, who discerned a bead-making workshop (in block A) and a leather-working area (in block C), based on the dominance of particular types of stone tools in each block. He thought that the clay lumps (from unspecified locations) were the residual fragments of oven linings, based on comparisons with modem practice. Tosi also argued that ceramics were associated with the cultural transformation from a hunting-foraging episode to a settled agricultural horizon, which was marked by settled life and domesticated animal herding.

However, whether the pottery from the Hodeidah area middens dates to the Bronze Age remains uncertain since there are no published illustrations of this pottery. Tosi dated the Hodeidah area pottery by comparing it to ceramics from the Jizan area Bronze Age site of Sihi (see Section 4.3.2). If we accept Tosi’s (1986) appraisal that the two corpora are comparable, then the Hodeidah area pottery should be more plausibly dated to the 2nd millennium BC, based on most of the C-14 dates taken from Sihi. It should probably not, as Tosi suggested, be dated to the 3rd millennium BC, let alone to the 4th millennium BC.6 In overview, a clear ‘economic’ transformation cannot be securely dated to the 4th millennium BC, although the evidence does indicate that the people who left the midden sites did change from hunting to pastoralism at some point, very likely by the 2nd millennium BC.

We will now examine this theory of a socio-economic transformation from hunting to herding on the Tihamah at around the 4th millennium BC. Tosi’s theory was based on the sites of JHB and SRD-1. He argued that the site of JHB, dated by C-14 to the 6th millennium BC, represents the hunting horizon. However, the data from JHB do not clearly support this interpretation, since the bones, collected from surface contexts, have not been independently dated. Furthermore, Bökönyi (cited in Tosi 1986a) identified a mix of wild and domesticated animal bones at the site, and Tosi (1985) discovered ‘Bronze Age’ ceramics at JHB, indicating the poorly understood, and potentially complex, chronology of the site.

Finally, some other observations can also be offered for the middens. Economically, the Hodeidah area middens reveal evidence of a local marine economy, as indicated by discarded mollusc shells and probable net weights, which seems to have continued alongside economic changes from hunting to herding. The ground stone tools, found on middens dated to both periods, suggest that plant foods may also have been processed at the sites.

Tosi (1986a) argued that blocks of concentrated artefacts from SRD-1 provided evidence of a settled, farming community. He maintained that the transformation from hunting and gathering to settled, domesticated life occurred in the 4th millennium BC owing to two 4th millennium BC C-14 dates taken from these blocks. However, a 6 th (or early 5 th) millennium BC C-14 date was also taken from the blocks (Tosi 1986a), which implies that, as at JHB, older and newer deposits are intermingled, making it difficult to categorically date cultural horizons. Tosi proposed that domesticated animals were associated with this transformation, but again, the bones themselves were retrieved from undated contexts, since the 4 th millennium BC bones from SRD-1 were collected from block D, but their age was based on two C-14 dates taken from shells from block E (Tosi 1986a). Clearly, it cannot be assumed that the shells and bones are necessarily contemporary, given the potential complexity of site deposition.

Additionally, the middens provide evidence of cultural connections: the hole-mouth brown burnished pottery, thought to belong to a pan-Tihamah Bronze Age ceramic tradition, provides evidence for links with other sites on the Tihamah (Vogt 1998a). General links with other areas of the Arabian Peninsula are suggested by the obsidian ABT points (Tosi 1986a, 408) and two chlorite bowl sherds, which have a possible eastern (Tosi 1986a) or central (Zarins et al. 1979) Arabian origin. Finally, the presence of domesticated animals points to connections with wider-ranging prehistoric contacts, feasibly with the rest of Arabia, with the Horn of Africa, and possibly to the Indian subcontinent (this issue is explored in Chapter 6, Section 6.3.2). Indeed, a number of exotic obsidian artefacts from the Hodeidah area middens were tested and found to have come from either African or Arabian sources (Zarins 1989; 1990). However, subsequent work by Khalidi (in press) has shown that none of the obsidian tested from 14 sites from the Hodeidah region can be traced to known sources in Yemen, specifically not the Jebel Lisi or Jebel Isbil. This scientific analysis was undertaken by Vincenzo Francaviglia at the Institute of Applied Technology at CNR, Rome who further points to the compositional

Although this section has emphasised that the chronology of the Hodeidah area middens is too imperfect to provide a definitive chronological framework for the Tihamah, Tosi’s general ideas fit well with the Neolithic and Bronze Age data from the Hawlan Central Highlands (de Maigret 1984; 1990; Section 3.4.1). Since domesticated animal species have been discovered in the Central Highlands in the 4th millennium BC (Fedele 1992), it is

6

52

Tosi (1986a) mentioned pottery as part of the 4th millennium BC economic transformation, although elsewhere in the same article, he explicitly dated the ceramics to the mid to late 3 rd millennium BC.

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 At this juncture, it is worth noting that ceramics have been assigned to the Iron Age if they are comparable to Iron Age ceramics from the Sayhad (i.e. the Sayhad ceramic complex), as discussed in Chapter 5 (Section 5.6.1). However, since the Sayhad ceramic complex emerged at around the mid 2nd millennium BC, it is feasible that Sabir-related and Sayhad-related ceramics chronologically co-existed on the Tihamah during the later 2nd millennium and early 1st millennium BC.

similarity of the obsidian to examples sampled from Eritrea (Khalidi, in press). These data indicate that the Hodeidah midden dwellers were not isolated groups. However, with the possible exception of the ceramics, the evidence does not indicate specific links with particular other cultures at a certain time. 4.3 The Bronze Age 4.3.1 Chronology

4.3.2 The Jizan area Bronze Age: Sihi As outlined in the previous chapter (Section 3.4.2), the South West Arabian Bronze Age is characterised by evidence of plant and animal domestication, ceramics, and by greater cultural complexity that is indicated by architecture or metal goods. However, the Bronze Age of the Tihamah has been defined (and differentiated from the Neolithic) by the presence of ceramics, rather than necessarily via agricultural data or evidence of cultural sophistication.

Sihi is the sole Jizan area Bronze Age site to have been investigated and discussed in any detail, although Zarins et al. (1981) do refer to the presence of other Bronze Age Jizan area middens. Sihi, which is also referred to as ‘site 217-107’ by Zarins et al. (1981) is a large (900m E-W by 100m N-S), wind-deflated midden site, marked by copious ceramics. The details about Sihi and its material culture result from a survey (Zarins and Zahrani 1985) and limited excavation (Zarins and Al-Badr 1986). Sihi, which measures at least 900m E-W by 100m N-S, was gridded in 10m squares (Zarins and Zahrani 1985). Three squares in the central area were excavated, while “minor work” was undertaken on six other quadrangles from all parts of the site (north, east, south, west and central) (Zarins and Al-Badr 1986, 56).

Tihami ceramics have been dated to the Bronze Age by the following three methods: through comparison with Bronze Age pottery from Africa; through their association with C-14 determinations in the 2nd millennium BC (and one 3rd millennium BC date); and through comparison with other ceramics from the Tihamah (which have in turn been attributed to the Bronze Age via the first two methods). All of the Bronze Age pottery from the Tihamah has been defined as part of a single ceramic tradition, labelled ‘Sabir-related’ (after the site of Sabir) (Vogt and Sedov 1998a).

Excavation in the central portion of the site revealed discrete areas of dense concentrations of shells and artefacts over an area of c.300m x 50m (Zarins et al. 1985; 1986). Cultural deposits in the central area were up to 0.4m-0.5m thick, but did not exceed 0.3m-0.4m elsewhere (Zarins and Zahrani 1985). Despite minimal vertical stratigraphy, “a second, distinct occupational level was noted about 1.25m below the surface” in one of the metre square units from the central area (Zarins and Zahrani 1986, 46). Zarins and Al-Badr (1986) interpreted the central area as the focus of occupation, although they did not discover any evidence of structural remains (such as postholes, hearths, etc.). At the west and east ends of the central area, Zarins and Zahrani (1985) observed that heavily burned artefacts and shells formed clusters measuring 2m x 2m.

The stratified site of Sabir (see Section 4.3.6) represents the only secure chronological anchor for the Bronze Age of the Tihamah. The top 3m of occupation at Sabir provided 25 C-14 dates that ranged between the 14th-9th centuries BC. Sondages indicate at least another 2m of occupation below the earliest dated levels; these lower levels have produced fairly comparable ceramics. This suggests that the Sabir ware must have emerged before the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, although it is unclear exactly how long before. The end of the use of Sabir ware has been based on the abandonment of Sabir, dated to the 9th century BC. However, it cannot be assumed that the end of Sabir means that production of Sabir-related pottery was universally abandoned in the early 1st millennium BC. Indeed, although the C-14 dates from Sihi suggest that such pottery was not used much into the 1st millennium BC, it is important to note that C-14 dates between c.800400 BC are indistinguishable because of the flat shape of the C14 calibration curve in this time-range. Despite the insecurity over when the Sabir-related pottery came in, and went out of use, its discovery in a stratified context at Sabir at least indicates that it was in use in the 2nd millennium BC.

The occupants of the site seem to have exploited a varied habitat of mangrove swamps, offshore reefs, sand beaches, rocky substrate, and silt accumulation. This diverse environment was adduced by the presence of significant numbers of shellfish types adapted to each of these conditions (Zarins and Al-Badr 1986). Zarins and Al-Badr also found evidence of crabs, prawns, crayfish, and sea turtle. They identified bovid, camel and ovicaprid bones in small quantities, although their species and status (wild/domestic) have not been determined. The animal remains tended to be concentrated in species-specific patches.

53

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH Lithics found at the site were represented by ground stone tools, large pebbles with battered ends, and notched stones, which Zarins and Zahrani (1985) interpreted as food-processing tools, hammerstones, and weights for fishing nets, respectively. They also discovered fragments of several chlorite bowls as well as copper objects. The latter comprised nine squaresectioned, tapered reamers or punches, two complete and three fragmentary daggers, several rings, two possible awls, a small spatula, several needle-like tips and some non-descript pieces (Zarins and Zahrani 1985).

Zahrani (1985, 94) described the Black Ware as “distinctive by virtue of solid body burnishing, and the incorporation of burnished designs on the exterior, e.g. bands, chevrons, and slanted lines. Punctate use is very common and we see it used in vertical bands, slant bands, filled triangles [and in combinations of the latter]”. Both types of Sihi ware have also been observed in minute quantities from middens in the vicinity of Sihi and at two other Red Sea coastal sites (sites 217-176 and 217178) near Ras Tarfa, about 20km north of Jizan (Zarins et al. 1981). Sihi type ceramics (colour not specified) were also found on the main Red Sea Farasan Island (surveyed by Zarins et al. 1981). A number of black Sihi-like sherds with the distinctive burnishing and punctate design were also discovered at the largely Iron Age site of ar-Rayyan (217-103) near Sihi (as discussed in Chapter 5, Section 5.2.1).

Ceramics were common and tended to be concentrated in patches. Although Zarins et al. (1985; 1986) divided the vessels according to colour, this distinction also corresponded to a difference in the fabric, since the Red Ware is composed of generally well-levigated micaceous clay, whereas the Black Ware is made of a porous, heavy fabric. While not noted in the literature, the distinction between Red and Black Ware may also indicate a technological division between oxidizing versus reducing firing conditions.

In assessing the significance of the investigations at Sihi, Zarins et al. (1981; 1985; 1986) emphasised cultural contacts. They envisaged human movement from Africa, onto the Tihamah, and thence eastwards to the South West Arabian interior. To support this, they argued that some of the ceramics from Sihi are comparable to African pottery, while other Sihi vessels pre-date comparable ceramics from the Sayhad region of the South West Arabian interior. To substantiate an actual human migration from Africa, Zarins and Al-Badr (1986) suggested that the Sihi ceramics were not locally produced, since no wasters, under-fired vessels, kilns or burned areas, and only one lump of possible raw potter’s clay were detected from the site. Moreover, they suggested that it “is difficult to believe ordinary shell midden inhabitants were capable of manufacturing such complex shapes and designs” (Zarins and Al-Badr 1986, 47).

Red Ware dominates the assemblage. It is hand-made, although some rims and ring bases appear to be wheel-turned (Zarins et al. 1985; 1986). No formal typology has been published, although Zarins and Zahrani (1985, 93-94) identified 14 Red Ware vessel forms, which were categorised as follows: 1) Bowls, 2) Low carinate bowls, 3) Carinates, 4) Carinate jars with trumpet foot , 5) Holemouths, 6) Jars, 7) Sinuous-sided, low carinated bowls, 8) Spouted bowls, 9) Small cups, 10) Small jars, 11) Flared rim vessels, 12) Bowls with pierced insets, 13) Stands, 14) Canisters. Unfortunately, the relative proportions of each form have not been provided, although Zarins and Al-Badr (1986) stated that bowls, carinates, jars and holemouths are most common, implying that - with the exception of types 9, 11, 13 and 14 - all forms are equally attested (for example four varieties of bowls are represented). Decoration on the Red Ware group consists of burnishing on both the exterior and interior. On several examples, burnishing was used to create wavy line designs on the exterior (Zarins and Zahrani 1985). ‘Punctate’ designs in the form of a series of dots, small pricks or incisions were also common. In many examples, decoration consists of a band around the rim composed of slanting punctate lines or triangles (Zarins and Zahrani 1985). The holemouths often have appliqué decoration, consisting of a variety of designs including finger-impressed strips; they also frequently have vertical pierced lugs and indented side lugs.

The aforementioned comparison drawn between the Sihi ware and African pottery was based on the Sihi Black Ware. Zarins et al. (1985; 1986) suggested that it was similar to Nubian C-Group Ware, owing to its similar decoration - combed triangles and chevrons - and the black burnish. Fig. 9 depicts the specific C-Group vessel with which Zarins and Al-Badr (1986) drew parallels, together with some similar vessels from Sihi; unfortunately, those authors did not specify which of the illustrated pots from Sihi they found most comparable. As Fig. 9 indicates, the potential comparisons are not definitive; indeed, Zarins and Zahrani (1985) hypothesised that the closest match should be with the pottery from the archaeologically unknown African Red Sea coast rather than with Nubian C-Group ware. Owing to the presence of comparable African-related Sihilike pottery at Sabir, which is on the southern end of the coastal region, the investigators of Sihi argued that a common culture, ultimately of African origin, was found throughout the Tihamah. They suggested that the ceramic

The relatively smaller group of Black Ware has not been divided into types, although plain bowls, flared rims and bowls fashioned with pierced insets have been reported (Zarins and Zahrani 1985). Zarins and 54

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600

Fig. 9: Black burnished C-Group pottery, and black burnished ceramics from Sihi parallels between Sabir and Sihi are evident in the common forms, elements of forms (e.g. double-pierced handles), as well as in the common red colour of the fabric. Zarins and Zahrani listed the most common similarities as holemouths, deep bowls with horizontally pierced lugs, bowls with pierced insets labelled ‘incense burners’, plus ledge handles and ring bases on unspecified forms. They drew these comparisons from the illustrations of the Sabir material published by Doe (1971).

it, Sihi must “now radically change our ideas concerning the origins and developments of South Arabian civilisation” (Zarins and Zahrani 1985, 95). Since they saw the Tihami Bronze Age sites as African-derived, they implied that African influences lay behind the development of Iron Age civilisation in inland South West Arabia. In overview, Zarins et al. used the ceramics to offer two cultural interpretations which have had a significant impact on research in the region. First, they proposed that people migrated from Africa to the Tihamah in the Bronze Age. Second, they envisaged a common ‘coastal tradition’, stretching from Sihi (including the other Jizan area sites) to Sabir, coined the ‘Sabir/Sihi’ tradition by Zarins and Al-Badr (1986). (Their third argument, that African influences lie behind the Iron Age civilisation of the Sayhad region, has not been taken up by later authors.)

Finally, Zarins and Zahrani compared two Red Ware types (the low carinate with ring base and the trumpet foot vessel) with ceramics from the Sayhad region, and specifically with the comprehensively published pottery from Hajar Bin Humeid (c.1200 BC-AD 500) (Van Beek 1969). However, they noted the rarity at Hajar Bin Humeid of common Sihi types or elements of types, such as holemouth vessels with appliqué or the sinuous-sided low carinate vessel, and pointed out that punctate designs and spouts are absent from Hajar Bin Humeid (Zarins and Zahrani 1985). They suggested that the presence of Sayhad-related pottery at Sihi indicates that the sites on the Tihamah might be the precursors to the Iron Age Sayhad civilisation. As they put

The above interpretations now need to be critically assessed. The proposal that the ceramics from Sihi originate in Africa was based on the (smaller group of) Sihi Black Ware, which researchers have compared to C-Group 55

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH mid 1st millennium BC.7 However, recent archaeological investigations in the Sayhad region have revealed that the Sayhad ceramic complex was in use by the mid 2nd millennium BC (see Chapter 3, Section 3.3.1). In addition, date GX-9577 (with a proposed intercept of 780 BC) indicates that Sihi continued to be occupied into the early 1st millennium BC, at which time such pottery was well-established in the interior. The argument that such pottery appeared much earlier at Sihi, and then spread to the interior, is no longer persuasive.

ware. As illustrated in Fig. 9, it appears that the Sihi and CGroup assemblages are broadly comparable in terms of decoration and the black burnished finish. The absence of identical C-Group parallels with the Sihi ware may be because most of the known C-Group ceramics come from mortuary contexts, whereas Sihi seems to represent an occupation site. However, Nubian influences have also been suggested for broadly comparable black burnished ware found in the Horn of Africa at sites such as Yeha or Matara, in contexts that have been dated to the late 2nd millennium BC and the early Iron Age (Fattovich 1990). Therefore, rather than viewing Sihi as the result of a CGroup migration, the Sihi Black Ware could simply show non-specific links with the Horn of Africa.

Sihi has been dated to the Bronze Age based on seven C-14 determinations and its material culture (Zarins et al. 1981; 1985; 1886). The C-14 determinations (listed in Table 6) have been taken from unstratified deposits. The first three C-14 determinations (numbers 1-3 below) provided a range of dates, which when corrected to the Suess curve by Zarins and Zahrani (1985), gave a date range for Sihi between 1540-1200 BC. Because of date number 4, which was taken in the subsequent season, Zarins and Al-Badr (1986) suggested that Sihi was occupied between 2400-1300 BC. Three further C-14 dates from Sihi were published after the initial archaeological investigations (Grigson et al. 1989). They cluster with the first three published C-14 dates (Zarins and Zahrani 1985).

The argument that Sihi was the result of a migration from Africa has also been based on the lack of evidence for local pottery production. However, in this case, absence of evidence most assuredly cannot be taken as evidence of absence, first because no technological studies have been undertaken. And second, none of the pre-Islamic sites on the Tihamah (except for Sabir) has evidence for local pottery production, which is perhaps hardly surprising given the very limited excavation of any of the sites. Moreover, based on personal observation of modern pottery production on the Tihamah, it is possible that this hand-made tradition could have been produced through small-scale bonfire firing, which would have left no recognisable archaeological traces.

The dates have subsequently been calibrated by Edens and Wilkinson (1998) according to the CALIB 3.0.3 marine model (the seventh date was taken from a charcoal sample and was calibrated with the CALIB 3.0.3 atmospheric model). These re-calibrated dates presented by Edens and Wilkinson are tabulated below.

The proposal that the Sayhad ceramic complex first appeared on the Tihamah, and only later in the interior, was offered at a time when such pottery was generally thought to have emerged in the Sayhad region during the

Table 6: C-14 dates from Sihi Lab No.

BP

SD

Intercept BC

1 SD BC

2 SD BC

Reference

(1) GX-9577 (2) GX-9578

2950

145

780

900-570

1100-380

3240

180

1090

1350-850

1520-740

(3) GX-9579 (4) GX-10339

3270

140

1130

1320-930

1470-800

3975

200

2000

2290-1740

2550-1500

(5) GX-11208

3295

90

1170

1290-1030

1400-910

Grigson et al. 1989

(6) GX-11207

3250

145

1110

1300-900

1450-780

Grigson et al. 1989

(7) GX-11206

2845

100

1000

1130-810

1300-810

Grigson et al. 1989

7

Zarins and Zahrani 1985 Zarins and Zahrani 1985 Zarins and Zahrani 1985 Zarins and Al Badr 1986

Although the ceramics from the one stratified site of Hajar Bin Humeid seemed to date back to the very late 2nd millennium BC (Van Beek 1969), its chronology was contested by many influential Arabianist scholars (notably Pirenne 1974), since it did not fit with the short chronology: see Chapter 3 (Section 3.3.1).

56

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 With respect to the ceramic comparisons, which are discussed at greater length below, the Sihi Black Ware is similar to C-Group pottery (dated to 2100-1500 BC) at only a very general level. Moreover, it is equally possible to suggest that the Sihi Black Ware belongs to a general 2nd- 1 s t millennia BC ceramic tradition known from Nubia and the Horn of Africa (see Chapter 6, Section 6.5).

A Bronze Age date has also been proposed owing to ceramic and lithic comparisons with other Bronze Age cultures and because of the presence of metal (Zarins et al. 1981; 1985; 1986). Although the ceramics are considered in more detail after this chronological discussion, it is necessary to note here that they been divided into a red and a black group, labelled Red Ware and Black Ware (Zarins and Zahrani 1985). Zarins and Al-Badr (1986) compared the Sihi Black Ware to Nubian C-Group pottery (dated to c.2100-1500 BC) (Shinnie and Shinnie 1978) or Kerma culture ceramics (1700 BC-1500 BC) (Sherif 1981). Zarins et al. (1985; 1986) compared the Red Ware to the ceramics from Sabir on the southern Tihamah and drew a few parallels between the Sihi Red Ware and Iron Age Sayhad ceramic complex ceramics from the Sayhad region. At their time of writing, Sabir had been dated to the mid 1st millennium BC (Doe 1981), while the Sayhad ceramic complex was thought to emerge either in the mid 1st millennium BC (according to the short chronology), or at around the 11th or 10th century BC (based on the results of the Hajar Bin Humeid excavation). Rather than using these parallels to date the Sihi pottery, Zarins and Al-Badr suggested that the Sihi Red Ware - including the Sayhad-related pottery - dated to the Bronze Age (owing to the other Bronze Age data from the site) and therefore pre-dated the Iron Age Sayhad ceramic complex. Although not explicitly stated, they presumably believed the Sihi Red Ware also predated the Sabir ceramics, or that the pottery from Sabir had been incorrectly dated.

According to the investigators of Sihi and Sabir, the Sihi Red Ware compares well with the pottery from Sabir. The upper levels of Sabir have subsequently been C-14 dated to the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. The discovery of common pottery types in well-dated contexts at Sabir, provides the best method of supporting a 2nd millennium BC date for Sihi, and agrees with the Bronze Age attribution of Sihi. Maintaining a 2nd millennium BC Bronze Age date for Sihi, Zarins and Al-Badr (1986) suggested that the examples of the Sayhad ceramic complex from Sihi pre-dated comparable ceramics found in the Sayhad region (then typically dated to some time within the 1st millennium BC, or very late 2 nd millennium BC). However, since more recent investigations (Chapter 3, Section 3.3.1) indicate that the Sayhad ceramic complex appeared in the mid 2nd millennium BC, it is possible that such ceramics were already in use on the Tihamah in the 2nd millennium BC. Moreover, some of the C-14 dates from Sihi extend into the 1st millennium BC. For these two reasons, it is unnecessary to assume that the examples of Sayhad-like ware from Sihi pre-date the Sayhad ceramic complex. Instead, the presence of such ceramics could be taken to point to a mid/late 2nd to 1st millennium BC date for Sihi.

Lithics and metal have also been used to underline the Bronze Age occupation of the site. Thus, it was deemed chronologically significant that obsidian has only rarely been found at Sihi, while it was much more common at both the Neolithic Jizan area sites and at other Neolithic sites known from South West Arabia, and that ground stone tools dominated the lithic assemblage from Sihi. A Bronze Age date has also been offered owing to the discovery of copper objects at Sihi. Finally, Zarins et al. (1981) suggested the location of the site, 6km inland from the modern coastline, indicated a Bronze Age date.

Finally, the lithics (e.g. ground stone tools) and metal finds (e.g. copper pins) are not diagnostic of the Bronze Age, and do not corroborate such a date. Moreover, the location of Sihi with respect to the coast indicates that it post-dates the Flandrian transgression of the 6th millennium BC, but does not necessarily indicate a Bronze Age date. In overview, most of the C-14 dates, together with the presence of Sabir-related pottery, indicate that Sihi was occupied in the Bronze Age. It is possible that the site continued to be occupied into the Iron Age, since C-14 dates between c.800-400 BC are indistinguishable, and because all of the ceramics found at Sihi could have been in use during the Iron Age. For example, while Sabirrelated ceramics were in use on the Tihamah during the 2nd millennium BC, it is unclear when they went out of use (this issue was raised in Section 4.3.1 and is discussed further in the end synthesis of this chapter).

The basis on which this chronology has been built needs to be carefully considered. First, the C-14 dates are not absolutely reliable since they have again been taken from unstratified contexts. Second, it is important to reiterate that C-14 dates falling between c.800-400 BC are effectively indistinguishable, making it feasible that Sihi continued in use after the 8th century BC. Third, the C-14 dates from Sihi cluster around the second half of the 2nd millennium, suggesting that date (4), (GX10339), should be viewed as an outlier.8

8

The ceramics also provide evidence of cultural connections between sites on the Tihamah, with the Sayhad region, and more ephemeral links with Africa. Very little socio-economic data have been published, apart from possible evidence for early animal pastoralism. The

As Phillips (1998) proposed, it was possibly emphasised to support the cultural links drawn between Sihi and the Nubian C-Group culture.

57

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH The chronology of the wind-deflated site of al-Midaman is complicated. It does not have documented stratification and no C-14 dates have been published. Its chronology, which is now outlined, has therefore been gauged from the material record, comprising metal artefacts, ceramics, architecture, and the monolithic stones (the latter are discussed more closely following the chronological overview).

socio-economic basis of Sihi will be considered in more depth in the end synthesis of this chapter (Section 4.4), once the data from the other sites on the Tihamah has been explored. 4.3.3 Midi Megalithic stones have been discovered near to the coastal site of Midi, which is some 50km south of Jizan. The only description of the site is by Forbes (1923), who alluded to it in an account of her travels in the area. Forbes describes monolithic blocks of coral rocks, about 3m high and 1m across. She does not, however, mention any special arrangement of the stones, nor any associated finds. Archaeologists have not returned to the site and further details are unavailable.

Metal is represented by a hoard of bronze artefacts discovered buried beneath one of the fallen granite megaliths (in square 04, Fig. 11, see below). The hoard is made up of simple, slightly splayed axe heads without haft-hole or any distinguishing features and very thin daggers with a double rivet beneath the tang. In addition to the bronze hoard, objects made of pure copper and arsenical copper were scattered across an area of 3km2 of the site (Giumlia-Mair et al. 1999; Shugar 1999). It has been difficult to date the metal artefacts through comparison with metal from other sites in South West Arabia, since so little is known about the ancient metallurgical traditions of South West Arabia (Keall 1998). However, in other parts of the world, pure copper and arsenical copper objects were produced before bronze (i.e. copper-tin alloy). The transitional period, during which tin replaced arsenic as the preferred alloy for copper, lasted over a millennium in Anatolia, the Near East and Middle East (from the mid 3rd millennium BC, to some point in the Bronze Age) (Giumlia-Mair et al. 1999).

Based on Forbes’ description of Midi, the site shows some points of comparison with the standing stones at alMidaman (Section 4.3.4), i.e. the height of the stones, the lack of any discernable layout, and the location of the stones near the coast. It is unproven that the site belongs to the Bronze Age or to the ‘Sabir-related culture’, as suggested by its inclusion in Vogt and Sedov’s (1998a) map of the Sabir-related and Bronze Age sites on the Tihamah. 4.3.4 Al-Midaman The megalithic site of Al-Midaman lies within 2km of the coast in the Zabid (Wadi Rima), see photograph (Fig. 10). Serendipity led archaeologists to the site in 1997, during their investigations into Islamic period evidence in the Zabid area. Excavated in 1997 and 2000, the site revealed evidence of monumental architecture, and human and metal burials (Keall 1998; 2000a). To date, two preliminary publications have appeared (Keall 1997; 1998). Aspects of the site have also been described in two short unpublished reports (Keall 2000a; 2000b) and in an unpublished conference abstract (Keall 2000c). The metal artefacts have been reported in articles by Giumlia-Mair et al. (1999) and by Shugar (1999).

This suggests that the bronze hoard could date from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, while the scattered objects may be older than the hoard (although pure copper and arsenical copper did continue in use alongside copper-tin alloy). The axe heads found in the hoard represent an almost universal type known from many Bronze Age cultures, and the daggers are comparable to examples from the Levant dated to between 2400 and 1900 BC (Keall 1998). As a result, Keall (1998) has dated the hoard to around the mid to late 3rd millennium BC. Keall suggested that the megalithic stones date to the same time as the metal hoard since a (now fallen) granite megalith seems to have originally marked the hoard. Moreover, it is likely that the hoard was buried soon after it was made, for there is no evidence that it had been in circulation (Shugar 1999). It is reasonable, therefore, to date the megaliths to the Bronze Age. The naturally shaped basalt pillars (from a different part of the site, labelled square 88 on Fig. 11, as described below) were also assigned to the Bronze Age by Keall (1998). The fact that the basalt pillars are found at the same site, and were also used to mark burials (this time human), suggests that they probably belonged to the same cultural expression and may be broadly contemporary.

Fig. 10: View of Al- Midaman (with thanks to Ed Keall, and ROM)

58

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600

Fig. 11: Plan of Al-Midaman (by Giumlia-Mair et al. 1999) Monumental buildings have been discovered at the site (also in square 88, Fig. 11, see below). The foundations of three such structures have been excavated, and all are similar in character, which suggests that they are roughly contemporary. Keall (1998) found basalt pillars - which he argued were reused standing stones - in their foundations. He therefore dated the buildings to after the erection of the standing stones. Indeed, he considered the buildings to be contemporary with the ceramics, which, as discussed in the following paragraphs, have been broadly dated to the Iron Age. However, this association is not secure, since no ceramics have been found in a context, e.g. beneath the foundations, that could date the buildings. Keall (2000b, 2) has also reported “traces of shallowly carved stone decorations which may be compared to similar features dated elsewhere [i.e. in the Sayhad region] to around 600 BC” from one of the buildings uncovered in the 2000 season. As yet, illustrations of the carved stone have not been published, which prevents any verification of the proposed mid 1st millennium BC date. However, if the carving is clearly stylistically Iron Age, then this might provide a terminus ante quem for the buildings depending on how they are associated with the building.

The ceramics provide some chronological clues. Keall (1998) has argued that while there are some unique types, otherwise unknown from the Tihamah, most vessels are comparable to the assemblage from site STN, which is also in the Zabid area. STN is discussed fully in Chapter 5 (Section 5.3.5), but, briefly, the STN ceramic corpus is dominated by Sayhad-related Iron Age forms, together with some ‘local’ al-Hamid-related vessels and a few forms known from Sabir (Ciuk and Keall 1996). Keall (1998, 146) tentatively divided the al-Midaman assemblage into two different ceramic traditions, which he identifies as a ‘more primitive’ and a ‘good quality’ ware. Keall (1998) also observed that a few sherds of ‘good quality’ ware have scored symbols, which he has interpreted as evidence of ‘proto-Sabaic’, i.e. perhaps dated to the late 2nd/early 1st millennia BC. However, he did not relate the ‘more primitive’ ware to the Bronze Age Sabir-related ceramics, and the ‘good quality’ ware to the Iron Age Sayhad-related/Al-Hamidrelated pottery. Instead, he stated that he had not established whether the difference between the two traditions is chronological, or the result of alternative production techniques.

59

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH It has been difficult to attempt to unravel the chronology of the pottery since it comes from deflated, unstratified contexts, and is generally eroded out of its original context (Keall 1998). Only a few illustrations of examples of this pottery have been published, yet since Keall (1998) has judged it overwhelmingly comparable to the STN corpus (dominated by Sayhad-related Iron Age ware), it seems likely that more of the pottery dates to the Iron Age. Indeed, the ‘proto-Sabaic’ symbols (if correctly identified as ESA letters) might represent Iron Age (1st millennium BC) attempts to copy Sayhadic script known from other local Iron Age sites, such as alHamid (see Chapter 5). However, the presence of (a few) Sabir-related ceramics supports the idea that the some pottery was present at al-Midaman during the Bronze Age, or that Sabir-type wares continued after the end of Sabir.

One of the excavated megaliths seemed to have once stood on top of the bronze cache. The uppermost artefacts in the cache showed some signs of having been disturbed, possibly when the monolith fell. No excavation was conducted beneath any of the standing monoliths for fear of toppling them; excavation around the two fallen stones revealed nothing. The area surrounding the granite stones was largely devoid of pottery. Square 88, labelled al-Minjara (meaning ‘Cut Stones’), was marked by basalt pillars lying on the ground and by spalled stone (the stone type is not recorded). The pillars were about 3m long and seemed to be naturally shaped columns. Excavation of the ground beneath two areas thought to have been originally marked by standing basalt pillars revealed traces of infant skeletons without grave goods (square 88).

Some additional information about the chronology is provided by the lithics. Keall has reported that bifacial stone scrapers, obsidian flakes, flint arrowheads, and other bifacial implements were found at the site. Keall (1998) described the bifacial scrapers as percussion flaked, rather than pressure flaked, which indicates that they belong to a Bronze Age, rather than Neolithic date.

Though the foundations of three monumental structures have been excavated (Keall 2000b), most of the available information relates to Building A, found in square 88 (Keall 1998). The latter is represented by rough granite foundations, with up to two courses of hewn blocks of volcanic rhyolite. Basalt pillars were used (or re-used) in the foundation of the building. So far, a roughly square portion (c.13m x 13m) of the stone building has been exposed, although its layout or total dimensions have not yet been published. The exposed area is partitioned by mud-brick ‘benches’ (since no plan of the building is published, the organisation of the benches is unclear). No living surfaces or post-holes have been discovered at the site (Keall 1998).

To sum up, it seems that al-Midaman has evidence of occupation during both the Bronze Age (indicated by the lithics, metal, standing stones, Sabir type ceramics) and the Iron Age (signified by the Sayhad-related ceramics and possibly the buildings - if the stone carving is diagnostically Iron Age). Survey at al-Midaman covered an area of c.1000m x 400m (Fig. 11). Though much of this area remains an archaeological blank since it is covered by dune and scrub cover. The exposed portions of the site are patchily covered by heavy sherd scatters; lithic implements, including ground stone tools are also conspicuous. Four areas of concentrated archaeological material were singled out for close examination.

In square 69, Keall (1998) discovered a flexed adult male skeleton without grave goods buried under an isolated pile of spalled stone. Square 69 also revealed a clearly defined fire-pit and a rich pottery collection. Despite flotation recovery, no organic material has been collected. Although square 69 was marked by abundant faunal bone on the surface, the bones were poorly preserved and few were recovered from the excavated context. Other fire-pits have also been investigated (Keall 1998). Five piles of spalled stones surrounded a fire in square 11 (preserved as a carbon-rich layer beneath the stone). A third fire-pit was excavated from square 81, but little else was preserved from the shallow stratigraphy. Surface survey produced pottery with evidence of burning. A fourth fire-pit associated with pottery was uncovered in square 87.

The first area to be excavated was around the granite megaliths, from the locale labelled al-Manasib (lit. ‘Stone Markers’) (square 04). The stones were not in any discernible pattern: three stones were still standing and two lay fallen although they were still visible on the surface. Several patches of crumbling granite on the surface have suggested the former presence of other monoliths (Keall 1998). The standing stones rise 2.5m out of the ground, measure about lm on four irregular sides and have been estimated to weigh 6 tonnes (Keall 1998). Of the two fallen stones lying on the surface, one was of a similar size and badly eroded, the other was 7m tall. Keall (1998) also recorded that the excavations revealed a concentration of fallen monoliths of various sizes (number not specified). Keall (1997) described the excavated megaliths as slightly smaller than those from the surface, although exact sizes have not been given.

Keall’s (1998) interpretation of the site has focused on its function over time. He suggested that there were two phases of occupation, each associated with a different main use. He proposed that a sacred phase was followed by domestic occupation. He related the standing stones, with their associated human and metal burials, to an early phase of ritual activity at the site; indeed, he defined the earlier inhabitants as followers of a ‘pillar culture’ (Keall 1998, 145). On the other hand, he attributed the fire-pits, 60

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 also have been the case in antiquity (Ghaleb 1990). If so, it is unlikely that much farming would have been practised in the environs of al-Midaman.

ceramics and Building A9 to later, non-religious, domestic activity. As a result, Keall described the firepits as ‘hearths’, a label that carries a domestic connotation, and then suggests that the ceramics were domestic ware since they show signs of ‘kitchen’ burning. However, although Keall dated Building A to the later domestic occupation at the site, he wondered whether it may have been built with some respect to site sanctity, a suggestion that can be extended to the two other, more recently discovered monumental structures (Keall 2000b). While envisaging Building A as part of the domestic phase, he did not suggest a function for the building.

As Keall has pointed out, a degree of social organisation would have been necessary to acquire, transport, and erect the stones. It is also worth noting that the presence of three megalithic sites on the Tihamah could underscore a common regional megalithic tradition. Moreover, the stones might hint at cultural connections with the particularly wide-spread megalithic cultures known from the Horn of Africa (discussed in Chapter 6, Section 6.6; as also speculated by Keall 2000b). Though the use of megaliths could document links with Africa, there is very little additional evidence for African-related material at al-Midaman. For example, the obsidian may be African in origin, but it remains uncharacterised; while the presence of Sabir-related ware is mentioned, no parallels have been drawn with African pottery (as has been the case for the Sabir/Sihi pottery).

More recently, Keall (2000a) has considered environmental issues. He argued that research from the Dhamar area (Wilkinson 1997), located in the Central Highlands above the watershed of the wadis that drain into the Zabid area of the Tihamah, helps to elucidate the picture of human occupation in the al-Midaman area. Wilkinson (1997) suggested that during the Bronze Age, increasing human activity (e.g. intensified grazing and agricultural terracing) combined with a rapidly drying climate in Dhamar led to the denudation of forest cover in the mountains, which might have resulted in devastating floods in the rainy season. This has led Keall (2000a) to hypothesise that the potentially silt-rich floods could have reached the coast and created optimum, although temporary, farming conditions. No palaeo-environmental evidence from al-Midaman has been published to support this model, although in an unpublished abstract of a conference paper, Keall (2000c) referred to silt and clay found at the site. Keall (2000b, 1) has therefore suggested that the stones were erected at this ‘opportune’ time for agriculture.

Indeed, the comparability of the ceramics with those known from STN (which is dominated by Sayhad-related pottery) indicates connections between al-Midaman, other Tihami sites, and potentially with the Sayhad region. Finally, the sherds marked with the possible ESA symbols might represent emulation of the Sayhadic script known from other local Tihami Iron Age sites (see Chapter 5), or with the Sayhad region. In overview, al-Midaman has evidence for activity in the Bronze Age and Iron Age. It appears to have had both domestic and ritual elements, although whether they correspond to a cultural or functional change in the site from the Bronze to Iron Age has not yet been clearly demonstrated.

Finally, Keall (1998) has recognised that the people who erected the stones at al-Midaman must have expended significant resources in bringing the stones from their source, which could be the Sirat mountain chain, or one of the Red Sea islands.

4.3.5 Al-Muhandid The megalithic complex of Al-Muhandid lies about 40km south of Zabid, and about 50km inland from the Red Sea coast, on the eastern limit of the Tihamah plain, near to the Sirat mountain chain. One part of the site was published by Benardelli and Parrinello (1970); Phillips discovered further extensions of the site in two recent unpublished surveys, as discussed by Phillips in an unpublished article (1999b) and in an unpublished lecture (2000b). Benardelli and Parrinello (1970) mapped a stone circle that measures 18m in diameter, and is made of naturally formed basalt columns, which range between c.1-3m in height (Fig. 12). They mentioned that four stone alignments, extending for 50m, lead off the largest circle. Ninety-four stones are marked on the original plan (Benardelli and Parrinello 1970) but hundreds more are known to Phillips (2000b) who discovered four stone circles, connected by rows of stones, which extend at least 700m (Phillips 2000b), although he has not reported the dimensions of these circles and rows.

These interpretations need to be assessed. The likely burial of bronzes and infants beneath the stones supports their identification as symbols of ritual activity. However, the identification of distinct ritual and domestic phases is unclear, since the chronological relationship between the megaliths, buildings, and fire pits remains unknown, and the evidence for a different use of the site in either phase (if they are distinct) is uncertain. Keall’s suggestion that the stones were erected at a time when farming was optimal near the coast cannot be gauged until palaeoenvironmental research has been undertaken at al-Midaman. However, as discussed in Section 4.4.2, the outer, coastal margin of the Tihamah is today far less fertile than the inner zone, which might 9

At the time that he published these interpretations, Building A was the only known monumental structure (Keall 1998).

61

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH

Fig. 12: Plan of al-Muhandid (by Benardelli and Parrinello, 1970) The date at which the stones were erected, or the span of the symbolically meaningful life of the stones, is unknown. No material culture, which might provide a date, has been found in association with the stones (Phillips 1999b). The site is unique and cannot be clearly dated by comparison to other sites, either from the Horn of Africa, or with alMidaman. Therefore, it cannot necessarily be assumed that the stones belong to the Bronze Age, as argued in the literature (Fattovich 1990). However, in the absence of any other date, it is reasonable to attribute al-Muhandid to this period, owing to the Bronze Age date of comparable basalt pillars at al-Midaman (c.50km east-south-east of alMuhandid), and which form a common link between the two sites. However, secure cultural links cannot be extrapolated from the sites since they are laid out very differently and there is no other material culture or written references to support a connection.

(Hamilton 1943; Harding 1964; Doe 1971). However, recent excavation has revealed evidence of a complex and substantial stratified settlement (Vogt 1998c). (See photograph of site, Fig. 13.) With respect to its chronology, Sabir was initially given a mid 1st millennium BC date since it was presumed to be related to Greek and Roman trade. That date was supported through general comparisons with mid 1st millennium BC Palestinian pottery (Hamilton 1943; Harding 1964; Doe 1971). However, after the first excavation season at the site in 1994, 25 C-14 determinations were taken from the top 3m of occupation debris. Although the individual C-14 dates remain unpublished, they range between the 14th and early 9th centuries BC (Vogt and Sedov 1998a). Sabir is the only site on the Tihamah with documented stratigraphy and soundings indicate that earlier levels extend up to 2m below the earliest dated horizon (Vogt and Sedov 1998a). This suggests that the occupation of Sabir probably extended before the mid 2nd millennium BC (Vogt and Sedov 1998b).

4.3.6 Sabir Lying about 25km inland from the coastal port of Aden, early survey reports mention large amounts of winddeflated deposits of pottery at Sabir, but little else 62

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600

Fig 13: View of Sabir 2 (with thanks to Vogt) three deep soundings (in unspecified locations) at least 5m in depth (Vogt and Sedov 1998a). Unfortunately, minimal details of the excavation strategy at Sabir have been published. For example, it is unclear how much of the 2km x 1km site has been excavated or surveyed, whether the excavation was taken to the same depth in all the trenches, or where the C-14 samples were obtained. Indeed, only very general information has been given on how the different trenches are spatially related.

Sabir has typically been assigned to the Bronze Age in the literature (Vogt and Sedov 1997; 1998a; Fattovich 1997c; Phillips 1998) with only Edens and Wilkinson (1998) describing it as a ‘Tihamah Iron Age site’.10 The Bronze Age designation arises from the fact that its occupation extends back well into the 2nd millennium BC, with few apparent changes in the ceramics throughout the span of occupation (see below). Moreover, unlike the Tihami sites attributed to the Iron Age (see Chapter 5), Sabir has no cultural facets of the Sayhadian Iron Age: its ceramics, architecture and iconography are different, and writing is absent. It is for these two reasons that Sabir is considered as a Bronze Age site in this study.

Excavations at the main trench, Sabir 5, revealed three independently accessible ‘monumental’ buildings (5A, 5B, 5C) all enclosed by a common external wall (Vogt 1997b; Vogt and Sedov 1998a). The largest of these structures has been labelled 5C (or the ‘Burnt Building’). It measures c.12m x 12m and has a symmetrical ground plan that consists of a forecourt, two side galleries, a three aisled hall, and a central platform accessible on the southwest by a set of stairs (Vogt and Sedov 1998a, 263, Vogt 1997b). Building 5C is slightly raised on earlier deposits, although the deeper deposits appear to remain unexcavated (Vogt and Sedov 1998a). The three main ‘monumental’ structures (5A, 5B, 5C) were all built using mudbrick (with walls two bricks deep) and timber (Vogt and Sedov 1998a; Vogt 1998c). The double thickness of the walls suggests that upper stories once existed. Postholes suggest wooden pillars in buildings 5A and 5C (Vogt 1998c). A number of

The site was originally described as a rather flat area with about a dozen low elevations strewn with ceramics (Hamilton 1943). Recent investigations indicate that Sabir extends over an area of at least 2km x 1km, although its true extent may be wider, since accumulated sediments, sand dunes, modem constructions and plantations obscure its limits (Vogt and Sedov 1998a). The excavation focused on an area of some 55m x 40m, labelled Sabir 5 (see Fig. 14; and the photograph labelled Fig. 15). A number of other excavated areas are listed in the literature as Sabir 2, Sabir 7, Sabir 12, Sabir 14 and Sabir 25 (Vogt and Sedov 1998a; Vogt 1998c); presumably other unreported tests are represented by the intervening numbers (e.g. Sabir 20, etc.). Excavations have not penetrated more than 3m, with the exception of 10

Sabir’s cultural complexity, together with the chronological overlap with the Sayhadian Iron Age (which emerged in the mid 2 nd millennium BC), must explain why Edens and Wilkinson (1998) have categorised it as an ‘Iron Age’ site.

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THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH

Fig. 14: Plan of Sabir 5 (by Vogt and Sedov, 1998a)

Fig. 15: Aerial view of Sabir 5- (with thanks to Vogt). 64

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 storage pits were uncovered to one side of building 5C. On the opposite side of 5C, a storage room filled with hundreds of pots containing charred plant remains was located (labelled ‘store’ on Fig. 14). They seem to have burnt in the 9th century BC when the site was destroyed by fire. Ground stone tools, ceramics and animal bones littered the central courtyard (Vogt 1998c). The only human (adult) skeleton yet uncovered from the site was found in building 5C, and was probably a casualty of the fire (Vogt 1998a). A small square mudbrick structure (Sabir 5D), near building 5C, was found to contain six round stones and six bowls (Vogt 1998c).

represented by burnished designs, incisions and impressed and appliqué patterns, both on the exterior and interior (Vogt and Sedov 1998). Two of the deep soundings (Sabir 8A and 2B) have provided an indication of the ceramic sequence at the site and its typological development. The pottery from the upper part of the two soundings is comparable to that known from the other excavated areas of the site. However there was a marked change in the lower sections of the soundings represented by: •

Sabir 25 is located in the centre of the site. Excavations revealed “extensive, sometimes even monumental architecture” (Vogt and Sedov 1998a, 262), represented by small rooms set around one or several courtyards (Vogt and Sedov 1998a; Vogt 1998c). Small buildings with only a few rooms have been found in many parts of the site, such as at Sabir 12 and Sabir 7. Sabir 2 also has evidence of rooms set around a central courtyard. The rooms lie beneath ash-filled pits up to 2.5m in diameter, which have been interpreted as bonfire-kilns or clamps (Vogt and Sedov 1998b).

• • •

dense burnishing or polishing of the outer and inner body surfaces the appearance of ‘spouts’ without holes (i.e. probably decorative plastic additions) obliquely flattened inner rims the appearance of elaborate appliqué decoration (Vogt and Sedov 1998a).

In addition to the pottery, 120 terracotta objects were found from all sections of Sabir (Vogt and Sedov 1998a, 264). They include geometric weights (or perhaps gamestones); animal representations, mainly of sheep, goats and cattle; and anthropomorphic figurines, generally represented by obese, naked, seated females with three folds of fat on the belly and possibly tattoos on the thighs (Vogt and Sedov 1998a). Ivory has also been mentioned, but further details remain unpublished (Vogt 1998c), and it remains to be seen whether the ivory is in fact bone. Tools are usually made from obsidian or bone. Rare metal artefacts include a dagger, an axe and a couple of ‘bolt-like projectiles’ of unspecified metal, as well as bronze-working debris from Sabir 6 (Vogt and Sedov 1998).

Vogt and Sedov (1998a) labelled the limits of the known site as the periphery. (In this study, periphery is put into inverted commas, since the actual extent of the site is unknown.) At least three areas on the site’s ‘periphery’ have been excavated. Sabir 6, on the north eastern ‘periphery’, was marked by a strong concentration of ashes and bronze debris (Vogt and Sedov 1998a). Two further trenches, Sabir 14A and 14B, were dug elsewhere on the ‘periphery’, although their exact location has not been given (Vogt and Sedov 1998a). These trenches revealed numerous postholes organised in round, oval and occasionally rectangular patterns (Vogt 1998c). Hearths, querns, grinding stones, bone tools, cooking and storage vessels have also been found at Sabir’s ‘periphery’ (Vogt and Sedov 1998a).

Faunal evidence is represented by marine shells, fish and animal bones (Vogt and Sedov 1998a), but no further details are available. However, the plant remains from the storeroom next to building 5C have been analysed and provide the largest assemblage of charred botanical remains recovered from South West Arabia (de Moulins 1998).

“Literally millions” of sherds have been reported from Sabir together with many complete and reconstructable ceramics (Vogt and Sedov 1998a, 130). No formal report on the ceramics has been published. The pottery is made of a buff to red or brown fabric with a lot of sand and mica temper using the composite technique of hand-made bodies and wheel-turned rims and ring-bases (Vogt and Sedov 1997; 1998). A wide spectrum of shapes with many functional and decorative applications, such as spouts, lugs and feet, has been reported (Vogt, 1997; 1998; Vogt and Sedov 1998). All of the known vessels have rounded bases, except for large-footed bowls, incense burners and small funnelshaped beakers. Big closed globular jars, large bottles and giant pithoi were frequently discovered (Vogt and Sedov 1997; 1998). Unrestricted shapes were rarely found, but those mentioned include beakers, bowls, plates and lids (Vogt and Sedov 1998, 264). Surfaces are generally well finished. Patterning is usually

The archaeobotanical evidence has been attributed to the 9th century BC, the date at which Sabir was destroyed by fire. Twenty-two of 74 samples collected from the storeroom by de Moulins (1998) contained identifiable charred plant macro remains; the rest consisted of wood fragments or were unidentifiable. The results indicate that a wide range of plants was used. The storeroom revealed evidence of the native daum palm, together with plants of a Near Eastern origin, i.e. linseed, mustard seed and zizyphus, and African origin plants, represented by acacia, balanites and sorghum. Finally, one Indian-origin plant was recovered, sesame. The cultivation status of these plants was not specified by de Moulins, although she identified the sorghum as wild. 65

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH In addition to the excavations at Sabir, Vogt and Sedov (1998a) have also undertaken surveys in the area. These have revealed three large, hitherto unknown sites (Mishghafa, Ma’aleiba and Miqhala Dar alHaytham). The sites show the same deflation pavements of late Sabir pottery, plus evidence of the earlier ware, known only from the deep soundings at Sabir, which indicates that they are likely to have been long-lived as well.

Vogt and Sedov (1997) supported an African origin for Sabir by referring to the ivory, the obsidian, the figurines and possibly the plants and animals found at the site. They also argued that connections are demonstrated by the pottery, which they have compared to ceramics from early contexts at the Ethiopian sites of Yeha and Matara, to the archaic layers of the Ethiopian port site of Adulis and to the sites of the Ethiopian highland Ona culture, a cultural unit known from the Hamasien plateau, near Asmara. They also likened the pottery to the Gash Group and Jabal Mokram Group on the Sudanese-Ethiopian border (Vogt and Sedov 1998a; Buffa,11 pers. comm. 1999; see also Fattovich 1990; 1991; 1997b; 1997c).

Turning to the published interpretations of Sabir, researchers initially argued that it was of little real interest. Harding (1964) maintained that the unimpressive evidence from the surface of Sabir implied that the ‘Classical’ accounts probably exaggerated the wealth of the Arabian coast, while Zarins et al. (1981) described Sabir as a simple midden site. Since its excavation, Sabir has been interpreted as a culturally complex site, or a ‘town’. In line with the interpretations offered for Sihi, recent scholars have argued that Sabir owes its origin to African immigrants or strong cultural influence, and that it belonged to a pan-Tihamah Bronze Age cultural complex. Researchers have also proposed that this was distinct from the recently discovered Bronze Age cultures of the South West Arabian interior (de Maigret 1984; 1990; Edens and Wilkinson 1998). These latest interpretations deserve closer examination.

The third argument is that Sabir is culturally related to other Bronze Age Tihami sites, which have in turn been connected to Africa (Fattovich 1990; Vogt and Sedov 1997; 1998a, 1998b). This Tihami cultural connection has been based on comparable ceramics (Fattovich 1990; Vogt and Sedov 1998a). The ceramic comparisons have been made solely from the red ware (since no Sihi Black Ware has been recorded from other sites on the Tihamah). Explicit comparisons have not been documented in detail, but Vogt and Sedov (1998a, 266) claim a “striking resemblance between the pottery types from Sihi and those from Sabir”. Because of these comparisons, Vogt and Sedov (1997) have proposed that a ‘Sabir-related’ culture stretched the length of the Tihamah. Zarins and Zahrani (1985) had already termed it the ‘Sabir/Sihi’ culture; and Fattovich (1990) called it the ‘Tihamah Cultural Complex’, within which he identified four main sites: Sihi, Wadi Urq (an Hodeidah area midden, see Section 5.3.4 of Chapter 5), Sabir, and Adulis on the Ethiopian coast (modern Eritrea). Vogt and Sedov (1998a) have subsequently published a map of most of the known pre-Islamic (Bronze Age and Iron Age) archaeological sites from the Tihamah, the title of which - ‘Bronze Age and SabirRelated Sites in the Coastal Plain of Yemen and Saudi Arabia’- implies that all of the pre-Islamic sites on the Tihamah are Sabir-related.

Sabir’s designation as a ‘town’ arises from its size, its “monumental architecture”, and because it was organised into fairly well planned areas (Vogt and Sedov 1997; 1998a). Thus, Sabir 2 and Sabir 6 have been interpreted as industrial zones, producing pottery and metal goods respectively (Vogt 1998c), while Sabir 25, 12 and 7 are thought to represent residential areas (Vogt and Sedov 1998b). The post-holes from Sabir 14A and 14B have been judged to be the remains of domestic huts made of organic, perishable material (Vogt 1998c). Sabir 5, meanwhile, has been interpreted as the religious area. This proposal has been based on the symmetrical layout of building 5C, which according to Vogt and Sedov (1998a) evokes later Iron Age Sayhadian temple architecture. Vogt (1998c) has also suggested that Sabir 5D, a nearby structure, indicates that 5C had a religious function; for he has interpreted 5D as a shrine, suggesting that the stones and dishes found therein were idols and evidence of sacrificial meals, respectively (Vogt 1998c). Finally, its religious attribution has undoubtedly also arisen from the care expended on the construction of the monumental buildings of Sabir 5.

The fourth interpretation of Sabir is that its material culture finds almost no connection with the known Bronze Age evidence from South West Arabia, i.e. from the Central Highlands or the Sayhad region. The only links observed in the literature (in these cases with Sayhadian contexts) are limited to two unpublished fragments of pottery from the surface of the Awwam cemetery (in Saba) and one pottery fragment from inside a temple building in Hagr Yahir in Wadi Marha (in Qataban) (Vogt and Sedov 1998a).

The second main interpretation of Sabir published in the recent literature is that the unprecedentedly large and complex site was founded by African immigrants. Vogt and Sedov stated that their reason for proposing an African origin for the site was that no significant early Bronze Age occupation has been found in the region, which makes it difficult to argue that Sabir was a local development (Vogt and Sedov 1997; 1998a; 1998b).

In response to these interpretations, it is certainly true that Sabir shows a high level of social complexity and is unlike any other known prehistoric settlement from the Tihamah. However, the fact that a local cultural 11

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Buffa has worked extensively on the Sabir ceramics.

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 background is not yet known does not imply that this culture was introduced from Africa. Indeed, it must be noted that the early levels of Sabir have not been excavated, nor have the sites that neighbour Sabir (e.g. Ma’aleiba), which may provide evidence for a local cultural development. Furthermore, clear evidence for comparable social complexity is not yet known from the Horn of Africa at this period, apart from at the megalithic site of Mahal Teglinos on the Sudanese-Ethiopian border (see Chapter 6, Part I).

Sabir culture. Rather, the data indicate only general cultural or economic connections between Sabir and the Horn of Africa, as will be investigated further in Chapter 6, Part I. Finally, the idea of a pan-Tihamah culture has been based on the presence of comparable Red Ware pottery at many of the sites, and, rather unconvincingly, the coastal location of the sites. With respect to the first notion, scholars claim that the pottery from Sihi, the Hodeidah middens and Sabir is comparable. Unfortunately, it is difficult to judge this, since the Hodeidah midden ceramics are unpublished, while the Sihi and Sabir ceramics have only been preliminarily published. However, it is apparent that although there are some similarities in the published examples of the Sihi and Sabir pottery, there are also some striking differences. Thus, no Sihi Black Ware has been found at Sabir (Vogt and Sedov 1998b). The major similarity is in the forms of the Sabir-related pottery found at Sihi, Sabir, and apparently from the Hodeidah middens, which are apparently quite different from ceramics known from the interior.12 The question of whether the sites can be culturally, or otherwise, considered comparable, will be addressed in Section 4.4.

In order to support an African origin for the Sabir culture, the excavators claimed that the ceramics, ivory, obsidian and figurines from Sabir originated from Africa, or were the result of African cultural influences. Yet, so far, they and others have drawn only vague ceramic comparisons between the assemblages from the Horn of Africa and the Tihamah (above), which have not been backed up by any specific ceramic parallels. Chapter 6 (Section 6.5) examines whether the Sabir ceramics are comparable to published pottery from sites in the Horn of Africa and concludes that the comparisons are based on the similar scraped finish found on many vessels and on similar coloured fabric, but not on distinct typological parallels. These general parallels may hint at cultural connections but cannot demonstrate an African origin for the Sabir culture.

In summary, the data from Sabir suggest only general connections with the Horn of Africa or indeed with the interior of Yemen. The available illustrations of the Sabir and Sihi ceramics indicate that the Sabir pottery is most comparable to the Sihi Red Ware. This in turn supports the case for some cultural connections between sites on the Tihamah in the Bronze Age.

Similar pottery figurines to those found at Sabir are known from throughout the Iron Age on the Horn of Africa, which indicates that they do not represent a particular cultural or chronological marker. However, their common appearance on the Tihamah and in the Horn of Africa does suggest general connections. Moreover, the (uncharacterised) obsidian might originate from the Horn of Africa, as could the elephant tusk, since the nearest source of ivory is Ethiopia; indeed, the PME, dated to the 1st century AD, mentions that ivory was an important Ethiopian export at that time.

4.4 Synthesis: the culture-history of the Tihamah in the Prehistoric period In the following discussion of the prehistoric culture-history of the Tihamah, three broad issues will be addressed: first, the nature and range of occupation on the Tihamah (Section 4.4.1); second, the economic developments on the Tihamah (Section 4.4.2); and third, the cultural dynamics on the Tihamah (Section 4.4.3).

Links with Africa have also been adduced from the archaeobotanical evidence. De Moulins (1998) has speculated whether the wild sorghum (a crop of possible Ethiopian origin) found at Sabir might have been a contemporary import from Ethiopia. This view derived from the recognition that sorghum appears to have remained undomesticated until the 1 st millennium AD in Ethiopia, whereas sorghum had apparently already been domesticated in the Central Highlands by the 3rd millennium BC (see Section 3.4.2 of Chapter 3). This issue is explored in detail in Chapter 6 (Section 6.3.1), there we observe that the wild sorghum at Sabir need not represent a contemporary Iron Age export from Ethiopia, but that the seeds could have been locally grown in prehistory.

4.4.1 The nature and range of occupation on the Tihamah This section synthesises the chronological data from the sites discussed in this chapter to provide a regional overview of the chronology of the Tihamah in the prehistoric period. Thereafter, the nature and range of the prehistoric settlements on the Tihamah is reviewed. The Neolithic period (c.6th-4th millennia BC) is represented exclusively by coastal middens from the Jizan and

Although the presence of wild sorghum at Sabir, together with the other data outlined above, indicates connections with the Horn of Africa, the evidence does not indicate close connections, let alone an African origin for the

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However, it is noteworthy that the two (unpublished) discoveries of Sabir-like pottery from the interior are from sites excavated by the excavators of Sabir (Vogt and Sedov 1998a). This could suggest that ‘Sabir Related Culture’ ceramics (however rare) may simply not have been recognised at other sites from the interior.

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH that Sabir-related ware fell out of use by the early 1st millennium BC since the youngest C-14 date from Sihi belongs to the 8th century BC. However, Sihi does not provide incontrovertible evidence that it - and thus Sabir-related ware - was abandoned at around the start of the 1st millennium BC since C-14 dates between c.800-400 BC are indistinguishable. The presence of Iron Age Sayhad-related ware might be used to argue that Sihi was occupied into the 1st millennium BC, though this is uncertain since the Sayhad ceramic complex emerged in the interior in the mid 2nd millennium BC. Unfortunately, the discovery of Sayhad-related pottery at Sihi also does not help to clarify the date of the Sabir-related ware, since neither corpus has been found in a stratified context at Sihi, making it impossible to demonstrate the temporal relationship of the two types of wares. In overview, the Sabir-related pottery clearly was in use during the Bronze Age, but it is possible that it continued in use into the Iron Age.

Hodeidah areas, while a wider range of sites has been assigned to the Bronze Age (c.3rd-2 nd millennia BC). As well as additional coastal middens from the two aforementioned areas, the town of Sabir and three megalithic sites have been attributed to the Bronze Age. As outlined in Section 4.3.1, there are real difficulties associated with dating the unstratified, wind-deflated middens. The contemporaneity of artefacts at a given site cannot be assumed, nor can C-14 dates be relied upon to date the site and all of its material culture. (This is exemplified by the rejection of ceramics as intrusive at JHB, which was C-14 dated to the 6th millennium by Tosi (1985).) Thus, while individual artefacts may be dated, the absolute chronology of economic developments on the Tihamah (such as the introduction of domesticated animals) cannot be definitively based on the midden evidence alone. As indicated by Tables 4 and 5, a range of C-14 determinations have suggested that the middens were occupied during the Neolithic period (from the very late 7th to the 4th millennia BC).

The presence of bronze has also provided a Bronze Age date for Sabir and al-Midaman. Bronze working debris has been identified from Sabir, and bronze and copper debris and bronze artefacts have been found at alMidaman. The bronze hoard found beneath one of the pillars at the latter site has been stylistically dated to the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium BC. The type of metal from SLF-1 and Sihi has not been formally analysed and the artefacts are not diagnostic to a particular date, which means that the metal simply suggests a post-Neolithic date.

With respect to the material culture of the middens, the ABT lithics have provided the most secure evidence of Neolithic activity at the middens: in other parts of Arabia, they have been dated from around the late 5th to the mid 3rd millennia BC (Sanlaville 1992). Backed points, microlithic lunates and ground stone tools, have also been recovered from many of the Tihami middens; however, more securely dated evidence from other regions indicates that although such tools emerged in the Neolithic, they are not exclusive to that period. For example, microlithic lunates and backed points continue in use in the Horn of Africa into the Iron Age (Fattovich 1990) and ground stone tools are still used on the Tihamah today. In addition, the relative location of middens provides some indication of their date. Thus, those sites situated between the former 6th millennium coastline and the current coastline must date to some time after the 6th millennium BC.

Finally, the megalithic monuments at al-Muhandid and Midi have not been clearly dated. A Bronze Age date was assigned to these sites (e.g. Vogt and Sedov 1998a) simply because they belong to a tradition often dated to that period elsewhere in the world. Yet, megalithic sites from the Horn of Africa have been dated from the Bronze Age to the medieval period (Joussaume 1995; see Chapter 6, Section 6.6), which warns us not to assume that the sites are necessarily prehistoric or contemporary with each other. However, the pillars from al-Midaman do seem to date to the Bronze Age, supporting the idea that there may have been a Bronze Age megalithic tradition on the Tihamah, which is why these sites are included in this chapter. Today, each megalithic site on the Tihamah is quite differently arranged. These differences might be the result of the later removal of stones (as Keall (1998) thinks occurred at al-Midaman). Nevertheless, the differences mean that it cannot be assumed that the three sites all belong to the same culture, or all date to the Bronze Age. As a result, al-Muhandid and Midi cannot be uncritically built into any periodspecific socio-economic or cultural models of the region.

A Bronze Age date has been given to sites with pottery that was deemed comparable to material from the stratified site of Sabir or the unstratified, deflated midden site of Sihi. Taken together, Sihi and Sabir demonstrate that Sabir-related pottery was in use on the Tihamah during the Bronze Age. The excavated levels of Sabir have been dated to the 14th-9th centuries BC, although similar pottery appeared sometime before that date at Sabir, since it occurs up to 2m below the earliest dated level, while the unstratified site of Sihi has produced C-14 dates ranging from the late 3rd to early 1st millennia BC. However, the date at which such pottery fell out of use remains unclear. It has often been assumed that Sabir-related ceramics disappeared in the early 1st millennium BC, because Sabir’s occupation ended in the 9th century BC. Yet, it is unreasonable to argue that Sabir-related pottery fell out of use in the early 1st millennium BC based on one site (Sabir). It could be argued that Sihi provides additional evidence

In overview, Neolithic and Bronze Age phases have been recognised on the Tihamah; the former can be dated to between the 6th and 4th millennia BC, while the latter is dated from the 3rd to the 2nd millennia BC. 68

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 Before discussing key economic and cultural developments on the Tihamah, it is relevant to provide a brief summary of the nature and range of sites attributed to each period. Thus, Neolithic occupation is represented by two groups of coastal middens from the Jizan area and the Hodeidah area. The dimensions of the Neolithic middens have only been given for the Jizan area, where they are under lha in extent.

prehistoric sites is most likely the result of the limited amount of archaeological fieldwork, rather than representing any real pattern in the past. 4.4.2 Economic development on the Tihamah In order to discuss economic developments on the Tihamah, it is first necessary to consider the local environment a little more closely. Since minimal palaeoenvironmental research has been carried out on the Tihamah (El-Domi 1985), it needs to be cautiously supplemented with modern environmental research (Wadi Siham Feasibility Study 1979; Wood 1985).13 Thus, in modern times, the coastal sabkah (salty mud flats), on which most of the middens are located, is an infertile environment (El-Domi 1985). To the east of this zone, the Tihamah is covered with dunes, which are barren in the dry season, but sustain crops during the rainy season (Wood 1985). The wadis tend to be dry in the outer half of the Tihamah, while the inner zone of the Tihamah is the most fertile area owing to the combination of rich silt, wadis that are perennially watered and biannual monsoon floods (Wadi Siham Feasibility Report 1979). Wood (1985) and Hepper and Wood (1979) have proposed that the dunes and the western zone of the Tihamah were afforested in prehistoric times, which suggests that the outer zone might once have been more fertile than it is today, though it was probably not as productive as the inner zone.

The Bronze Age is characterised by a wider range of sites. Additional coastal middens, attributed to that period, have been discovered in the Jizan and Hodeidah areas. The dimensions of the middens have not been specified, with the exception of Sihi, which covers an area of at least 900m x 100m. No structural masonry has been recovered, suggesting that any architecture would have been impermanent, and made of organic material, as seems to have been the case at SRD-1. The main difference between Neolithic and Bronze Age middens is the appearance of ceramics in the Bronze Age and evidence of domesticated animals. Two other unique sites, al-Midaman and Sabir, have also been dated to the Bronze Age. Al-Midaman has evidence for activities spread over c.3km2. The site has standing stones, human and metal burials, monumental structures, and fire pits. The burials and the stones suggest a strong ritual element, though domestic occupation is also suggested, most notably by burnt pottery. Sabir extends over at least 2km x 1km. It has architectural data that range from monumental mud-brick structures to shelters of organic materials. It seems to be an organised settlement, replete with ‘industrial’ quarters (e.g. pottery and metal producing areas), a possible religious area, and residential areas. The site also has perhaps the first recognisable artistic evidence on the Tihamah, as represented by the clay sculptures.

Indeed, with the possible exception of al-Midaman, none of the sites in the outer zone provide clear evidence of local agriculture. The presence of ground stone tools at some of the Neolithic and Bronze Age middens - and indeed at al-Midaman - does not, of course, demonstrate that they were used to process crops and thus indicate presence of agriculture. Instead, ground stone implements could have been used to process wild plants or for entirely different reasons, such as the extraction of animal bone marrow. With respect to al-Midaman, Keall has recently reported the presence of silt and clay in the environs of the site (Keall 2000b; 2000c), which may indicate that the occupants were irrigating the land, or that it was in a favourable position for seasonal monsoon water run-off from the mountains. Keall (2000b) suggested that this would particularly have been the case on the Tihamah at around the 3rd/2 nd millennia BC, owing to evidence for significant flooding in the Dhamar region of the Central Highlands at that time (Wilkinson 1997). Yet it is also possible that al-Midaman simply exploited the seasonal opportunities, which still occur to this day, in the outer zone of the Tihamah, just west of the coast. Moreover, since today’s seasonal floods are not dependable (Wadi Siham Feasibility Report 1979), local crop agriculture is not a secure choice for contemporary settlements on the outer zone. Owing to the absence of environmental

Finally, the megalithic sites of Midi and al-Muhandid are tentatively assigned to the Bronze Age. Midi is represented by individual stones in no discernible pattern, and its function remains rather unclear since it has not been archaeologically investigated. AlMuhandid is represented by rows of stones and circles, extending over 700m. It seems to have been primarily a ritual site since it has no obvious occupation debris. Thus, a variety of prehistoric sites has already been discovered on the Tihamah, despite the limited archaeological investigations that have been undertaken in the region. As such, many more sites undoubtedly remain undiscovered. For example, there is no suggestion that coastal middens are only located in the Jizan and Hodeidah areas; rather these are simply the only areas where systematic investigation has so far taken place. Indeed, Vogt is currently investigating midden sites from the Aden area (Hitgen, pers. comm. 2000). Moreover, Vogt and Sedov (1998a) have reported the presence of additional ‘tell’ sites in the Sabir area, which again indicates that the limited number and distribution of

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Such investigations have been carried out on the Yemeni - but not the Saudi - Tihamah.

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH middens (from the 4th millennium BC) in terms of permanently settled sites (Zarins et al. 1981; 1985; 1986; Tosi 1985; 1986a), we can offer two additional scenarios for their use. Firstly, some of the middens might represent nomadic sites, periodically occupied by people who moved between them and traded with people from other sites on the Tihamah. The coastal fisher-hunters might have moved along the coastline and exchanged goods with other coastally situated groups, though unfortunately, no research has yet been undertaken to evaluate whether there were different, perhaps seasonally available, resources along the coastline. The fisher-hunters could also have moved between the inner and outer zone of the Tihamah, exchanging items with people from the inner zone, such as domestic animals. Secondly, some of the midden sites could represent a specialised (seasonal) component of a sedentary group based on the Tihamah, i.e. an agricultural group based further inland in the fertile inner zone, or even nearer to the coast - as might be suggested at al-Midaman, which lies under 2km from the coast. Indeed, the absence of published evidence of a marine economy at al-Midaman (for example evidence of exploited marine shells) suggests that the inhabitants might have left behind shell middens at other locations. (However, the area labelled ‘shells’ to the southeast of the archaeological evidence depicted on the map (Fig. 11) produced by Giumlia-Mair et al. (1999) could refer to molluscs deposited by the inhabitants of alMidaman.)

research, it is unclear whether this would also have been the case for the former inhabitants of al-Midaman. The fact that most of the known prehistoric Tihami sites are located in the seemingly less fertile outer zone probably reflects archaeological research strategies (as acknowledged above and discussed further in Section 4.4.3). Only two prehistoric sites, Sabir and al-Muhandid, have been found in the inner zone, and of these, the complex settlement of Sabir is situated on the extremely productive alluvium of the Wadi Yeramis, an offshoot of the Wadi Tuban. In addition, Sabir’s occupants could have harnessed the seasonal mountain floods flowing into the wadis, and for the rest of the year, they could have used groundwater to irrigate the crops. Neither technique requires great technological sophistication (Wadi Siham Feasibility Report 1979). The local use of water diversionary devices seems to be indicated by recent unpublished evidence for an irrigation canal uncovered near Ma’aleiba, one of the ‘tell’ sites near Sabir (pers. comm. Gerlach 2000). Turning to the question of economic developments, Tihami sites attributed to the Neolithic have evidence of wild and domesticated animals, lithics that might have been related to hunting (such as ABT arrowheads), as well as ground stone tools. Those middens dated to the Bronze Age can have evidence of domesticated animals, ceramics and flaked and ground stone tools. The literature has claimed that settled life and domesticated animals appeared on the Tihamah in the Neolithic (in the 4th millennium BC), based on the evidence of the Hodeidah midden sites. The latter have provided evidence of domesticated animals, usually represented by cattle, as well as, in the case of SRD-1, evidence of organic shelters.

Evidence from al-Midaman also suggests that possible plant agriculture (as outlined above: Keall 2000b; 2000c), and some social complexity, emerged in the Bronze Age. Social complexity is suggested by the fact that the occupants of al-Midaman organised enough resources to be able to erect stones, monumental structures and to afford bronze and or copper in the Bronze Age. The basis for this developed wealth may well have been a greater dependence on seasonal agriculture, or perhaps on animal herding (though faunal data have not been published).

The argument that domesticated animals were herded on the Tihamah in the 4th millennium agrees with comparably dated evidence uncovered in the Central Highlands (de Maigret 1990; see Chapter 3, Section 3.4.1). In contrast, the earliest known evidence of domesticated animals from the Horn of Africa dates to the mid 2nd millennium BC (see Chapter 6, Section 6.3.2). This suggests that during the Neolithic period, domesticated animals moved from the Central Highlands to the Tihamah, rather than from the Horn of Africa to the Tihamah; that earlier evidence from the Horn of Africa remains to be found; or finally, that the date of the domesticated animals on the Tihamah is incorrect. On balance, the 4th millennium BC date for the appearance of domesticated animals on the Tihamah is viable, since it fits with the emerging evidence from the rest of southern Arabia (though these dates are significantly later than the rest of the Near East). At the same time, given the limited investigation at sites of this date in the Horn of Africa, it is possible that older evidence for domesticated animals will be found during future field-work there.

Finally, the complex and economically wealthy site of Sabir, dated to the 2nd millennium BC, is significantly different from all of the other prehistoric sites on the Tihamah discussed in this chapter. Located in the most fertile zone of the Tihamah, a good agricultural base is likely to have been associated with the development of cultural complexity at Sabir. Sabir has revealed much archaeobotanical and faunal material, which, apart from the marine fauna, were probably locally produced. The pattern that emerges from all of these sites is that domesticated animals appeared on the Tihamah in the later Neolithic and that crops were probably locally harvested by the 2nd millennium BC. The question of the origin and appearance of domesticated species on the Tihamah is addressed in more detail in Chapter 6 (Section 6.3.2). Additionally, the Bronze Age agricultural economy seems to be associated with increased social complexity.

Although the published literature has interpreted the earlier middens as hunting and fishing sites and the later 70

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 4.4.3 Cultural dynamics on the Tihamah

not cluster around larger sites, although such a pattern seasonal sites. With so little relevant data, it is not realistic to attempt to reconstruct prehistoric political relationships on the Tihamah. Indeed, the consistently large size of the known sites (with the exception of some of the smaller middens) suggests that only a fragment of the picture has been revealed, and that perhaps sites such as al-Midaman and Sihi were regionally important centres.

The Neolithic middens from the Saudi Arabian Tihamah and Yemeni Tihamah have data that belong to geographically broad-scale and chronologically long-term traditions. These elements indicate that the Tihamah was not culturally isolated but was linked to the rest of the Arabian Peninsula and with Africa. Nevertheless, these Neolithic data do not provide specific links with particular cultures, since they belong to very general and wide-ranging cultural traditions. The first distinct links can only be suggested for the Bronze Age ceramics, though these are generally cursorily published, which makes it difficult to assess the statements and conclusions of those working with them. Scholars have argued that the red-coloured pottery from Sihi, Sabir and the Hodeidah area middens belongs to a distinct assemblage, elements of which are also found at al-Midaman and STN. Thus, the ‘Sabirrelated’ pottery is an extremely wide-ranging tradition that occurs across the Tihamah, over a distance of some 600km. Its presence has led to the definition of a ‘Tihamah Cultural Complex’ (Fattovich 1990), or ‘Sabir-Related’ culture (Vogt and Sedov 1998a). The Sabir-related pottery appears to be quite distinct from any other ceramic complexes from South West Arabia and indicates a discrete cultural complex.

As well as indicating links between sites on the Tihamah, some scholars have argued that the Bronze Age data indicate overwhelming connections with the Horn of Africa; in contrast, few Bronze Age connections with the inland Sayhad region have been claimed. As a result, the Bronze Age on the Tihamah has been primarily viewed in terms of an African influenced culture (Zarins and Al-Badr 1986; Fattovich 1991; Vogt and Sedov 1998a). The connections with Africa have been drawn from the ceramics, obsidian, and the megalithic tradition. These links are examined in Part I of Chapter 6, which concludes that the data provide only hints at general, not specific prehistoric relations. Indeed, it is possible to draw equally ephemeral connections with the South West Arabian interior - via the Group 4d obsidian and the dissemination of domesticated animals. This suggests that it is too simplistic to explain economic and cultural developments on the Tihamah largely in terms of African influences.

Sabir-related pottery has been recovered from all of the Bronze Age sites, which implies that there were links between sites across the full extent of the Tihamah. However, the known sites do not provide evidence of an integrated settlement system, since they are simply too few and far between and so little systematic investigation has yet been undertaken. Even where sites do cluster (i.e. the middens), a settlement pattern is not discernible. For example, smaller sites do

In overview, this chapter has synthesised and examined the prehistoric archaeological evidence from Tihamah. It has aimed to identify the economic strategies and cultural dynamics on the Tihamah and has clarified the chronology. The following chapter concerns the Iron Age period, which is the traditional focus of Arabianist studies, and will address questions of the cultural, political, and economic development of the Tihamah during the historic period.

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C HAPTER 5 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH IN THE I RON A GE 5.1. Introduction

region (which is the region with the most secure Iron Age chronology; see Chapter 3, Section 3.3.1). In consequence, Sayhadian-related material must be present for a site on the Tihamah to be recognised as having an Iron Age component. Generally, this is represented by ceramics comparable to examples from the Iron Age Sayhad ceramic complex. The latter has been dated to around the mid to late 2nd millennium BC to the mid 1st millennium AD from four stratified sites in the Sayhad region, as outlined in Section 3.3.1 of Chapter 3.1 Four sites on the Tihamah also have in situ Sayhadic ESA inscriptions, which again indicate an Iron Age date. In the cases of al-Hamid and Waqir these inscriptions have been dated to the earliest palaeographic styles: to the first half of the 1 st millennium BC. Finally, al-Hamid has provided evidence of a dressed ashlar temple, comparable to (probably early) Iron Age Sayhadian temple architecture.

Stunning monumental architecture and plentiful inscriptions (Doe 1971; see Chapter 3, Section 3.3.1) have led scholars to focus their attentions on the Iron Age period of the Sayhad region, much to the neglect of other regions. Indeed, most of the Iron Age archaeological research on the Tihamah has been undertaken since the 1990s and remains only preliminarily published. However, using published and unpublished information, plus the results of personal archaeological research, this chapter draws together the Iron Age Tihami archaeological evidence and provides the first in-depth synthesis of the Iron Age culture-history of the Tihamah. As indicated in Chapter 1, the Iron Age archaeological sites on the Tihamah are represented by two regional groups. One collection lies in the Jizan area, and includes sites found on Farasan Island, which is about 40km offshore from Jizan; the second set is situated some 250km south of Jizan, in the region between Hodeidah and Zabid. The former is represented by deflated, pottery-strewn sites and, on Farasan Island, by some monumental architecture. The latter comprises al-Hamid, Waqir, and two Iron Age shell middens on the Wadi Siham, plus al-Midaman and STN, which are located in the environs of Zabid, near the Wadi Rima, about 50km south of the Wadi Siham (Fig. 2). Two coin hoards and 26 monumental ESA inscriptions have also been recovered from the Tihamah (their distribution is marked on Fig. 5).

It is apparent that there are three key problems with dating the Iron Age sites of the Tihamah. First, potential chronological changes in material culture have not been documented since the stratigraphy of the sites has not been explored. Second, C-14 dating has not been attempted owing to an absence of suitable organic remains for scientific dating. Furthermore, C-14 cannot distinguish dates within the range 800-400 BC, because the calibration curve flattens out during this period. Third, the presence of the Sayhad ceramic complex on the Tihamah does not help to refine the local Iron Age chronology, since the chronological development of the Iron Age Sayhadian pottery remains poorly known (Edens and Wilkinson 1998). Indeed, the situation is more problematic on the Tihamah than in the Sayhad region, since the Iron Age ceramics from the Tihamah have not been analysed in detail and remain largely unpublished. Moreover, there is no stratified Iron Age sequence from the Tihamah with which to compare surface material. Dated antecedents of the Iron Age pottery in this region are unknown. It is therefore unclear how far back the occupation of individual Iron Age sites might extend. The lack of documented stratification at any of the sites means that neither the way the assemblage developed, nor the rate at which it might have changed through time is known. Since the Iron Age Sayhadian ceramics go well back into the 2nd millennium BC, while the Bronze Age ceramics continue in use to c.900 BC at Sabir, there could be a substantial period of overlap of the two styles on the

In the coming chapter, following an outline of the Iron Age chronology of the Tihamah (Section 5.2), the Iron Age data are divided into three sections: archaeological sites (Section 5.3), coin hoards (Section 5.4) and ESA inscriptions (Section 5.5). In Sections 5.3-5.5, the evidence is first presented, the chronology is then discussed, and finally, previous interpretations of the data are presented and assessed. Section 5.6 uses these data and our re-assessments to offer an interpretation of the pre-Islamic culture-history of the Tihamah. To do so, it looks backwards to the prehistoric data and comparatively to contemporary Iron Age developments occurring elsewhere in South West Arabia. 5.2 The Iron Age chronology None of the Tihami sites that have been attributed to the Iron Age have documented stratification and none have been C-14 dated. Their dating to the historic period relies on the identification of material with strong parallels with data from Iron Age sites in the Sayhad

1

73

I.e. Wadi Yala ad-Durayb (c. 1300-800 BC), Hajar at-Tamra (c. 1500- 50 BC), Hajar ar-Rayhani (c. 1300-200 BC) and Hajar Bin Humeid (c. 1200-500 AD).

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH I N Tihamah, with the differences in assemblages representing cultural rather than temporal differences.

THE

IRON AGE

foundation remains of circular and rectangular structures over an area of lkm x lkm. The main building is 13m x 15m and was built of very large coral blocks, some of which are over 2m long and c.lm deep. It has dry stone walls that stand up to 2m in some places and are one block thick. The main building has an anteroom, possible column supports and entryways marked by large monoliths. The dimensions and stone used for the monoliths have not been indicated. Zarins et al. (1981) recorded that some buildings are characterised by tall, monolithic door jambs, two of which have ESA inscriptions. Pottery is represented by red ware, chafftempered bowls, holemouths and ring bases, decorated with the wavy-line motif and comparable to ware from the Iron Age Jizan area mainland sites. Scoria and obsidian were also found.

While these chronological shortfalls need to be borne in mind, following scholarly consensus, this chapter uses the presence of Iron Age Sayhad-related material ceramics, architecture, inscriptions, coins - on the Tihamah as evidence of occupation during the historic period. 5.3 The Iron Age sites on the Tihamah 5.3.1 The Jizan area and Farasan Island evidence Iron Age sites have been discovered in the Jizan area including on the nearby Farasan Island - during the archaeological survey of the region undertaken by Zarins and colleagues (1981).

The aforementioned researchers recorded the presence a second site, of similar dimensions to the Wadi Matar site complex, known as Gharrain (site number not published). There, they recognised the same Iron Age ceramics, with the addition of two Nabatean fine painted pottery imports. They identified large blocks (of unspecified stone) as building foundations. Zarins et al (1981) noted that further masonry comparable to that found at Wadi Matar and Gharrain was found at three other sites: Qalat Lukman (217-90), Kusar and Kudmi (site numbers not listed). In addition to these sites, they reported six shell middens attributed to the Iron Age. One midden, site 217-91 (name not provided), was surmounted by a building (18m x 7m) constructed of stone blocks (the type of stone is not specified). A small sounding inside the structure revealed occupation debris consisting of several obsidian blades, a copper fish hook, pumice, animal bone, shells, fish bones and shaped pumice (probable net floats). Pottery was represented by brown/black ware and consisted of holemouths, spouts, bowls and vertical-pierced lugs. They reported the presence of black pottery sherds with a red-slip exterior on the five other middens. Finally, a deflated site (217-88) on the southern coast of Farasan Island was found on a higher dune. It had a heavy scatter of ceramics, which were represented by red wares with a grit temper, shell tempered pottery and black wares with a chaff temper and red slip. No architecture has been reported from the other middens.

Six sites from the Jizan area mainland have been attributed to the Iron Age by Zarins et al. (1981). Site 217-103 (Al-Rayyan-Al-Minara) is located about 15km inland on the banks of the Wadi Jizan. It was identified from its sherd cover, which stretched over an area of c.lkm x 2km. The ceramics consisted of red, chaff-tempered wares and some finer vessels with a red slip, and have been categorised as bowls, cups, platters, and verticalhandle bowls, which are often decorated with chevronincised lines. (Some Islamic Abbasid ware has also been identified.) Steatite, obsidian blades, scoria and glass complete the repertoire of finds. A reused ESA inscription was located at Wasili (see Section 5.5), which is about 3km east of Al-Rayyan-Al-Minara (Zarins et al. 1981). Zarins and colleagues discovered a second site, Site 217108 (also known as Kawz), on the Ras Tarfa embayment. Archaeological materials covered a wide area, which extended over high coastal dunes and lowland flats up to 0.5km inland. The overall dimensions of the site have not been estimated in the literature. The ceramics are identical to those found at site 217-103 and include red-slipped bowls with a painted meander pattern, vertical-pierced lugs and ring bases. A third site, 217-100 (also labelled Magsala), was found c.15km inland. Ceramics were represented by the same red-slipped ware, together with black burnished vessels with incised decoration. They covered an area of c.500m x 200m. Ground stone tools and struck flakes of rhyolite were reported for the first time. Finally, similar red ware was found scattered among later assemblages at site 217109 (Tell al-Minjara) l0km north of Jizan and at the coastal sites of 217-105 and 216-218.

With regard to their chronology, the Iron Age attribution of most of the above sites has been based on the ceramics. Thus, Zarins et al. (1981) compared the Jizan area Iron Age (red) ware to ceramics from the Sayhad region, specifically to pottery from Hajar Bin Humeid, and to the ceramics found in the Najran area (to the north of the Sayhad region). They also drew parallels with the material known at that time from the surface investigations at Sabir on the southern Tihamah.

Zarins et al. (1981) also found at least 12 sites on Farasan Island, which they assigned to the Iron Age. These sites have comparable ceramics to those found on the mainland, but also revealed evidence of architecture and in situ epigraphy. They located site 217-92 (known as the Wadi Matar site complex) on the eastern side of the island. Published plans of the site reveal

At their time of writing, Hajar Bin Humeid provided the only stratified Sayhadian Iron Age ceramic sequence, and had been dated to between about the 12th century 74

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 BC and the 5th century AD (Van Beek 1969). Greek and Roman references to Najran’s position on the flourishing overland incense route indicated its existence in the 1st millennium BC. In addition, C-14 dates had been taken from a stratigraphic sondage at Najran and provided dates of 535 BC, 200 AD, and 235 AD (as calibrated by Van Beek 1968).2 Before its excavation, Sabir was still assumed to date to the mid 1st millennium BC (following Harding 1964; Doe 1971). An Iron Age occupation was also indicated by the presence of in situ monumental ESA inscriptions on Farasan Island (see Section 5.5).

1998 under the direction of Carl Phillips. This is followed by an analysis of its chronology. Building on an assessment of the currently published interpretations, some reinterpretations of the site are offered. This is the longest section of this chapter, since it presents the first detailed description of the site and reflects this author’s involvement in its excavation. Al-Hamid was initially brought to public attention by the epigraphist Jamme (1981) who published five inscriptions from the site.3 In 1982, Stone (1985) led an expedition to the former North Yemeni Tihamah, and Al-Radi, the expedition’s archaeologist, described the site and published a new inscription. Phillips subsequently directed four seasons of excavation at al-Hamid between 1994 and 2000. Phillips has carried out further excavations since 2000, and work continues apace (Phillips, in prep). This section focuses on the results of three excavation seasons undertaken between 1994 and 1998, with some reference to the 2000 season (details of which are available in a short newsletter by Phillips (2000a) and have been presented in a lecture given by him (2000b)).

Reconsidering these arguments, the Sayhadian and Najran ceramic comparisons do support an Iron Age date. However, the presence of black burnished ware and Sabir-related ceramics suggests either that these types of pottery continued in use into the Iron Age, or that the Iron Age sites with these wares were initially occupied in the Bronze Age. The ESA inscriptions indicate an Iron Age date, but scholars have not assessed the palaeographic date of these inscriptions. Zarins et al. have only vaguely described the architecture, and, although the presence of ‘monumental architecture’ is evocative of the Iron Age, it need not indicate such a date. For example, ‘monumental architecture’ has been dated to the Bronze Age at Sabir, and might also date to that period at al-Midaman. In overview, the ceramics and epigraphy from the Jizan area sites indicate Iron Age occupation, but the date when these sites were established remains unclear.

The 1994-1998 excavations were limited in extent and focused on the north-eastern periphery of the site. Two adjacent areas were excavated: Area A, interpreted as the temple area (measuring c.55m x 35m), and Area B, identified as part of the settlement (c.25m x 35m). In addition to Areas A and B, burial evidence from the eastern periphery of the site was excavated in 19951996. Phillips also excavated further settlement evidence, about 50m to the north of Area A, in the 1999-2000 season (Phillips 2000a; 2000b). Al-Radi (1985) and Phillips (1997) have observed a further 30ha of concentrated settlement debris, with Phillips noting further groups of more isolated structures extending even beyond these limits.

The existence of these sites has, however, been neglected in the literature. The only culture-historical interpretation was provided by Zarins et al. (1981) at the time of their discovery. Zarins and colleagues simply suggested that the Jizan coastal region was intensively occupied in the Iron Age, and that this observation contradicts the idea expressed in the PME that the northern Tihamah region was devoid of favourable coastal locales.

The following section presents the results of the 19941998 excavations. It is based on an unpublished report by Phillips (1996); a published article by Phillips (1997); the field notebooks of Durrani, Farquhar, Nilsson, Phillips and Porter 1994-1998; on personal observations drawn from this author’s participation in a two-day survey of Areas A and B (1996) and in a month-long excavation of Area B (12.1997-1.1998), plus on other information presented by Phillips (2000a; 2000b). Excavation only exposed the latest floor level in each area and no tests were made to virgin soil; limited excavation below a surviving patch of floor of the temple in Area A did not define the extent of underlying deposits.

The presence of monumental architecture and inscriptions at sites on Farasan Island, coupled with their absence from the sites on the adjacent mainland coast, suggest that the island played a significant role in the Iron Age. One conclusion is that the island was directly involved in Red Sea trade. 5.3.2 Al-Hamid Al-Hamid is located some 250km south of Jizan. Situated just west of the Sirat mountain chain, on a terrace that overlooks the Bajil plain to the west and Wadi Siham to the south, the site provides key evidence for the Iron Age culture-history of the Tihamah. This section presents the results of excavations undertaken between 19952

5.3.2.1 Al-Hamid: the excavation results Area A comprised a distinct set of buildings set on a slight platform cut into the gentle slope at the furthest 3

Although owing to the flatness of the calibration curve between c.800BC and 400 BC, the 6th century BC date cannot have been calibrated with any accuracy.

75

The site was discovered by the landowner who contacted the government authorities after having found monumental inscriptions.

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH I N

THE

IRON AGE

The other structures from Area A were made of undressed, roughly hewn granite blocks. The foundations of a square building, Structure 2, are located immediately outside the entrance of the temple. The internal dimensions of the walls are 2m x 2m (0.5m thick). A further wall (0.75m thick) extends slightly inside the square structure of Structure 2 and protrudes north for about 2m. A wall, labelled Structure 3, runs north-south, just west of Structure 2. A small stretch of wall protrudes at right angles from the south wall, towards the east, and is aligned with the south wall of the temple. The presence of Structure 4 was suggested from a very badly preserved small stretch of wall oriented northsouth, immediately west of Structure 3, which may have continued towards the south wall of the enclosure, thus forming a structure with the wall that runs parallel with it three metres to the west. Structure 4 is next to Structure 5 in the southwest corner of the temple enclosure, which consists of long, narrow rooms, about 7.5m long and 1.5m wide, with a possible entrance in the north east corner.

point down the slope of Jabal al-Dhamir, and seemingly enclosed by a surrounding wall (see Fig. 16, the plan of Area A). Structure 1, lying in the centre of the platform, has been identified as a temple on the basis of dedicatory Sabaic inscriptions associated with it (Jamme 1981; AlRadi 1985; Phillips 1997). Its long axis is oriented westeast and its external dimensions are c.11.5m x 9m. Its walls are preserved to a height of up to 0.75m. From the outside, the walls comprise a maximum of two courses of tightly fitted ashlar blocks. The outer faces of the ashlar are dressed, i.e. marginally drafted and pecked. The ashlar blocks tend to be 0.3m high, the length varies from c.0.3-1.5m and the depth tends to be c.0.3m (although the depth varies since the inside faces are only roughly hewn). The walls extend to a total thickness of c.1m, since there is an inner core of smaller, irregularly shaped stones behind the ashlars. The walls are set on top of a foundation (over 1m thick) of large irregular stones, which produce a narrow sill on which the temple sits. The excavation of the inside of the temple produced no evidence of a surviving floor, with the possible exception of an area of cobbled stones about one metre square in the north-east corner. Pottery and other refuse, such as animal bones, were found among the deposits from within the temple. A centrally positioned threshold, about 2.5m wide, is on the (short) west side, opposite the preserved patch of cobbled floor. Much displaced ashlar masonry was recovered from the excavation of the surrounding area. It seems that ‘bulldozing’ activity had occurred at Area A, which may have disturbed some of the ashlar (field note-books, Season I).

Finally, two structures are located on the north side of the temple enclosure. Structure 6 is nearest to the temple and is the most carefully constructed building in Area A, other than the temple itself. The wall foundations are regular, and have an average thickness of 0.75m. The plan of the room is rectangular with internal dimensions of c.5m x 3.5m. Like the temple, the long axis is oriented east-west. There is a clear entrance at the west end of the building, which has a large flat threshold. Door sockets are still visible on the right side of the door on entering the building. Two large flat stones are set into the floor along the central long axis of the building, with the distance between each being the same as the distance from each wall to each stone. Each of these stones has a notable depression, suggesting that they may have been foundation stones for roof supports. Structure 6 is the only building in Area A to have a plaster-covered floor; remnants of plaster also remain on the lower parts of the interior walls, suggesting that they were similarly plastered. Lastly, Structure 7, in the north west corner of Area A, comprises a small room with internal dimensions of c.2.5m x 3m, two of the walls being formed by the outer wall of the terrace. Two ashlar blocks, similar to those used in the temple and lying around the temple, were used to form the entrance threshold. This suggests either that the stones were reused after the temple had fallen into disrepair, or that the stones were superfluous at the time when the temple was built. The whole interior of Structure 7 had been badly disturbed by a tree, which was rooted in the centre of the room, leaving no uncontaminated levels. However, two large quern stones were set in the floor and are discussed below. The structures from Area B (see the plan of Area B, Fig. 17) consist of dry stone walls built in horizontal courses of roughly hewn, undressed granite blocks that are comparable to the structures surrounding the temple in Area A. The walls are c.0.75m thick and are

Fig. 16: Plan of Area A (by Carl S. Phillips) 76

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 12 (c.8.5m x 3m, plus a small alcove measuring c.1m x 2m). The north wall of room 12 is incomplete so it is unclear whether it had a second entrance. Two dressed ashlar blocks (of the type found in the temple) were discovered in room 12, but are not incorporated into the structure of the building. The two buildings open onto two large spaces - to the north and south - that are devoid of structural evidence. Finally, room 8, lying to the north of the other excavated structures in Area B, had emerging signs of a northern wall, while rooms 13 and 14 to the south of the excavated area, may be part of two other internally divided buildings. An outline of additional structures lying west of room 14 was gauged from survey work in 1997-1998.

preserved to a maximum height of about 1m. Where internal floors of structures are preserved (notably in rooms 1, 2, 3 and 8) there is evidence of a white plaster floor. All dimensions of rooms provided below are internal measurements.

Fig. 18: View of Area B

Fig. 17: Plan of Area B (by Carl S. Phillips) All of the rooms in Area B are connected to - or share walls with - neighbouring buildings (see photograph; Fig. 18). One structure has five4 interconnected rooms, labelled 1-5. It is entered via a c.1.5m wide opening on its south side into room 5 (which measures c.4.5m x 3m). Room 4 measures c.3.5m x 3m and the wall dividing rooms 5 and 4 has a large, centrally positioned, horizontal boulder that suggests a threshold. Room 2 (c.4m x 3.5m) is entered by a doorway about 0.5m wide. A wall (c.0.25m wide) seems to have divided room 2 from room 3 (c.5m x 3.5 m). Room 1 (c.3.5m x 3m) is entered from room 2 by a clear centrally positioned doorway (see photograph; Fig. 19). Room 1 also has a large stone slab set into the middle of the floor, which may have served as a base for a roof support.

Fig. 19: Looking east across the interior threshold of Room 1, leading into Room 2; Area B The burial evidence discovered between 1994-1998 is represented by at least three tombs found near the foothills of Jabal al-Dhamir, at the eastern edge of the concentrated settlement evidence. One tomb, labelled ‘tomb 1’, was excavated in 1995-1996. It consisted of a slightly oval cairn, 5m x 4m, with a central cist, and surrounded by a ring wall made of two courses of stone up to lm high. Eleven upright stone slabs, c.1.8m high, were positioned towards the centre of the cairn. The burial cist was built around a large boulder or area of protruding rock that formed a large flat base for the burial.

A wall - about 3m long - runs from the outside of room 1, creating a ‘shelter’ designated as structure 9. It then continues to form the southern wall of room 11. Rooms 10, 11 and 12 constitute a second internally divided building. Room 11 (c.2m x 3m) is entered via room 10 (c.2m x lm), and room 11 in turn gives access to room 4

The division of rooms 2 and 3 may be erroneous since this is based on a very poorly and partially preserved ‘wall’.

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THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH I N • •

Badly disturbed human remains were found in the tomb and consisted of long bones from the lower limbs. Concentrated areas of rib and cranial fragments were also discerned. The preserved jaw and the few remaining teeth have been preliminarily identified as those of a young adult male (Phillips 1996, 25). Owing to the extremely fragmentary nature of the bones, it is uncertain whether this was the only burial in the tomb. No artefacts have been discovered inside the tomb, although a carnelian bead and a single rim sherd were found among the loose fill of the surrounding cairn.

• • • • • • • • • •

The results of the 1999-2000 season have been summarily outlined by Phillips (2000a; 2000b). He has recorded the discovery of additional cairns on the lower slopes of the Jabal al-Dhamir; two were excavated but no finds from the cairns have been reported. He described the cairns as comparable to ‘tomb 1’. In addition to the cairns, Phillips recorded the discovery of further burial evidence at the southern side of the site, represented by a quadrilateral tomb measuring 4m2. Phillips excavated the tomb and found it to be filled with disturbed human remains and pottery. He proposed that the latter “is clearly contemporary with that of the rest of the site”, and is represented by a limited number of distinctive types (Phillips 2000a, 6). He has also recorded ten large “offering tables” over 50 cm tall and an (unquantified) number of “ornate and unique” incense burners (Phillips 2000a, 6).

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Hole mouth vessels Larger hole mouth vessels with a distinct band around the rim Large open-mouthed vessels with slightly everted rims and horizontal un-pierced lugs Constricted jar rims and flaring amphorae rims and a characteristic form of base Wider jar rims Large jars with flaring rims Slightly closed storage jars with a distinct applied below the rim Ring and trumpet-foot bases5 Slightly closed storage jars with everted rims Small bowls Larger more open bowls and plates Incised and punctate decorated wares

All of the ceramics are made of a uniform range of redbrown fabrics, usually with a similar coloured slip and often burnished. Phillips defined the pottery from Area A, Area B and the northern courtyard complex as one homogeneous assemblage. The relative proportions of each vessel type have not been calculated. However, Phillips (pers. comm. 2000) has estimated that the decorated ware only represents about 1% of the assemblage and probably includes vessels that were used as incense burners. Ceramic discs were found throughout areas A and B. The flat discs (and one triangle) were modelled from potsherds and range from 3cm-10cm in diameter. A residue was noted on a few of the discs, but it has not yet been scientifically analysed. Abundant ground stone tools were found throughout the site in no discernible pattern. They constitute elongated quern stones and rubbers; almost all examples are incomplete. The 19941995 excavation also unearthed a fragmentary clay figurine of an animal head, found in the open area in front of Structure 3. Phillips (1996) suggested that the figurine appears to have originally had horns and thus represents a bull. A second animal head, this time with horns, moulded onto the rim of a small bowl, was found at the west end of the temple.

In addition, Phillips excavated an area about 50m north of Area A, labelled the ‘northern courtyard complex’ (Phillips 2000a). He argued that the structures compare with those excavated in Area B and that the pottery is identical to the ceramics from areas A and B (Phillips 2000a). A complete monumental inscription was also found in one of the buildings and is discussed in Section 5.3.2.3. Finally, Phillips (2000a) reported the presence of a number of circular features found across the site, three of which were excavated. No further description or interpretation of these structures has been published. 5.3.2.2 Al-Hamid: the material culture Having outlined the excavations at al-Hamid, this section now focuses on the material culture recovered from Areas A and B during the 1994-1998 seasons. These data comprise the ceramics, ceramic discs, ground stone tools, ‘bovine’ representations, architectural fragments, inscriptions, carnelian, obsidian, metal, and faunal remains.

According to Al-Radi (1985), three architectural fragments have also been found, all in Area A. These were represented by a ‘column base’ with stepped ridges and a shallow, square depression at the top (length: 35cm, height: 29cm, width: 32cm). The latter was removed from Area A by the local landowner (AlRadi 1985) but apparently came from the surface of the site, close to the temple (Phillips 1996). Two large spouts were found inside the temple in an unspecified location (Al-Radi 1985). One was of sandstone and broken into two pieces (length: 102cm, height: 20cm, maximum width: 41cm). The second was of limestone

The pottery constitutes the most abundant category of finds throughout the site. The ceramics have been arranged into an unpublished typology by Phillips (1996). Phillips’ typology comprises 98 examples organised into 12 vessel forms that range from simple, featureless bowls to more developed types. His typology is based on a combination of shape, decorative characteristics and elements of vessels:

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These bases presumably go with one or more of the other types.

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 (length: 68cm, height: 15cm, maximum width: 20cm) (Al-Radi 1985).

number of shells typical to the coasts of Southern Arabia were also uncovered during excavation. Glover (in Phillips 1996) identified the shells from the first two excavation seasons as follows:

The inscriptions consist of monumental ESA texts and inscribed pottery sherds. Nine monumental inscriptions were found in Area A, eight came from the temple and one was inscribed on a boulder near the temple. Five have been published by Jamme (1981) under the siglum Ja; a sixth was uncovered by Al-Radi (1985), and all six were re-labelled Radi 1-6; a further three were discovered by Phillips and labelled Phillips 1-3 (unpublished translations by Beeston 1995b). By 1998, some 16 potsherds with inscribed ESA letters had been discovered in Areas A and B. A further monumental inscription (labelled here as Phillips-Hamid 4) and an unspecified number of inscribed sherds were found from the northern courtyard complex area in the 1999-2000 season but details remain unpublished. All of the monumental ESA inscriptions are written in the language of the Sabaeans, Sabaic. They mention Sabaean family names, Sabaean and Sayhadian deities including the chief Sabaean god, Almaqah - as well as names and deities unknown from the Sayhad region. The content of the inscriptions is discussed further in Section 5.5.

Anadara sp. Fragment. Venerid clam (?Tivela) Fragment. Cypraea sp. Small cowry with a hole in the dorsum to form a bead. Terebralia palustris Representing the shell type typical of the Red Sea midden sites. Oliva bulbosa Small olive stone with apex deliberately removed to form a bead. Strombus decorus Fragment. 5.3.2.3 Al-Hamid: chronology No absolute dates are available for the occupation of alHamid. Instead, two comparative methods have been used to date the site: the palaeography of the inscriptions and ceramic comparisons with dated assemblages from the interior. Together these methods indicate that the site was occupied in the Ancient SubPeriod I phase (a term coined by Korotayev (1995) to refer to the first half of the 1st millennium BC), although occupation may have extended earlier or later, for reasons discussed below.

The ‘exotic’ stone found at al-Hamid (1994-1998) consists of obsidian and two carnelian beads. One carnelian bead was recovered from the small area of floor preserved in the north east corner of the temple and the second was retrieved from the loose fill surrounding the cairn of tomb 1. Obsidian was represented by a few chips from Area A and B, as well as by a microlithic bladelet from the temple area.

As discussed in Chapter 3 (Section 3.2), monumental inscriptions are palaeographically dated. Pirenne (1956) established the stylistic development of the inscriptions, which underpins more recently defined chronological schemes. Jamme (1981) assigned the inscriptions from al-Hamid to the ‘first historical period’, implying that they belong to the earliest palaeographic style, i.e. Pirenne’s Type A (as confirmed by Phillips 2000b). Since it is unclear when writing first appeared, the earliest date of Type A script (also known as ‘archaic’) ranges from about 900 BC (Korotayev 1998) to 800 BC (e.g. Avanzini 1996). It is unclear when Type A went out of use, but Type B (also known as ‘classical’) script appeared at around the time of Karibil Watar’s reign (c.700-650 BC), and is thought to have generally replaced Type A.

Three metal objects were found during the 1994-1998 excavations. A fragmentary, indistinguishable metal object was found from the fill beneath the temple floor during the 1995-1996 season. The latter may have formed part of a handle, since there is still a small rivet in place; Merkel analysed the metal and has found that it is a true bronze containing tin (Phillips 1996). During the 1997-1998 season, a delicate object, somewhat resembling a hoe, probably made of bronze, was discovered in building I, Room 2. A metal ring, possibly made of gold, was also uncovered in that season. Shaped to form a simple twisted band, it was located outside the periphery wall of Area A, next to the eastern wall of Structure 6.

There are two reasons for assigning the script from alHamid to the earliest palaeographic style, Type A. Firstly, because of the recognisably ‘archaic’ style of the letters, such as the cup-shaped h, right angled n and f with curved sides (Beeston 1995b). Secondly, those inscriptions that run to more than one line are drafted in ‘boustrophedon’, i.e. the script runs alternately from right to left then left to right (Beeston 1995a; Korotayev 1998). Owing to the archaic nature of the inscriptions, Beeston (1995b) has argued that they could date to the 8th or 7th centuries BC. Korotayev (1998, 123) has also suggested that the inscriptions belong to a pre-Karibil Watar date, presumably because they are drafted in Type A characters.

5.3.2.2.1 Environmental evidence The only archaeobotanical evidence found during the 1994-1998 excavations consisted of one zizyphus seed, the excavated faunal record was represented by 1678 fragmentary, silicified animal bones. In a preliminary unpublished report, Vagedes (2000) recorded that domesticated goat and sheep dominate the assemblage, followed by domesticated cattle and then by a few other species including the dromedary camel and dog. A 79

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The archaic monumental inscriptions help to date the temple since one was found in situ in the (northern) temple wall (Al-Radi 1985), and a further eight were located in ashlar tumble, which is assumed to come from the temple. The archaic Type A script suggests that the terminus ante quem of the construction of the temple should date to within the early Ancient Sub-Period I. The archaic date of the temple can also be somewhat supported by comparing it with Sabaean temple architecture (see Section 5.3.2.5). Scholars such as Schmidt (1984) and Jung (1988) have established that Sabaean temples typically underwent architectural elaboration over time and that the most ancient examples were often the most simple. The simplicity of the surviving ground plan of the al-Hamid temple supports the archaic date suggested by the monumental inscriptions.

Since the al-Hamid assemblage is largely represented by Sayhad-related pottery, Phillips (1997) has drawn comparisons with the ceramics from the early Sabaean site of Wadi Yala, ad-Durayb (de Maigret 1988). In his 1997 publication, Phillips compared eight of vessel forms (and elements of forms) from his unpublished typology of the al-Hamid assemblage with ceramics from ad-Durayb. As a result of his comparisons, he concluded that only three al-Hamid vessel forms (types 2, 6, 9, see Section 5.3.2.3) and the decorated al-Hamid ware (‘type 12’) find no Sayhadian parallels. Phillips dated these ‘local’ forms to between c.800-500 BC, presumably because of their association with the Sayhad-related ware, which he dated to that period for reasons outlined below. However, the non-Sayhadian ceramic types from al-Hamid have no known predecessors, since, as Phillips argued, the al-Hamid ware is distinct from the Sabir ware. Given that al-Hamid has almost no documented stratification, both the date at which the ‘local’ types emerged, and the length of time for which they were used, is unknown.

It is noteworthy that the style of the monumental inscriptions and the simple style of the temple are archaic and that neither shows any later developments. This opens up three possible scenarios. Firstly, al-Hamid was abandoned before the end of the Ancient SubPeriod I. Secondly, it remained occupied, but Sayhadian or Sabaean contacts/influence stopped. Thirdly, different parts of the site were occupied in different phases, i.e. the temple went out of use at an early stage, but other areas remained occupied. Indeed, the third alternative might be suggested by Structure 7 in Area A, since if the ashlar blocks recovered from its body were re-used from the temple - rather than being superfluous to the temple - then this could suggest that its construction or occupation post-dates the use of the temple.7 Moreover, some Islamic sherds recovered from the site (Phillips pers. comm. 1998) represent the only indication of a second occupation phase of al-Hamid. They could indicate that the re-use of the ashlar relates to a much later occupation, although the small amount of Islamic pottery suggests that the extent of this later occupation was limited.

The ceramics from Wadi Yala ad-Durayb with which Phillips (1997) compared the al-Hamid assemblage had been recovered from the surface of the ad-Durayb (de Maigret 1988a; see Chapter 3, Section 3.3.1). A total of 626 pieces were collected from ad-Durayb, of which 289 were body sherds, 220 were rims, 96 were bases, 16 were decorated sherds and five were handles (de Maigret 1988a). De Maigret suggested that the ad-Durayb ceramics were comparable to examples from the entire stratigraphy (A-S) of Hajar Bin Humeid, but that the adDurayb surface sherds consisted of forms that were most popular in levels L to N at Hajar Bin Humeid. Thus, de Maigret suggested that ad-Durayb was probably abandoned at a date comparable to level K at Hajar Bin Humeid. Van Beek proposed that levels L-K from Hajar Bin Humeid date to c.800-600 BC, although de Maigret suggested a date range of c.800-500 BC for the adDurayb assemblage (as observed by Phillips 1996). More recently, a stratigraphic probe has produced evidence of four periods at ad-Durayb, providing C-14 dates ranging between c.1300-600 BC based on one standard deviation

It would be hoped that the ceramics could help to indicate which option is the most likely. Unfortunately, this is not the case. As outlined in Section 5.2, the Sayhadrelated pottery only provides a general Iron Age date. The al-Hamid assemblage is made up of Sayhad-related ware and ‘local’ types (see below). Area A, Area B, and the northern courtyard complex are near to one another,

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and are stated to have homogeneous ware. However, no comparisons have yet been undertaken between the ceramics from these areas and the surface sherds from the rest of the unexcavated site. In addition, no excavation has been carried out beneath the latest floor levels of the settlement, other than limited excavation beneath the temple floor. In this case, Phillips argues that the ceramics found in the temple fill are identical to those from the rest of the site, implying the presence of both local and Sayhadian types in the fill. Unfortunately, the exact ceramic types found beneath the temple floor have not been formally specified, even though they come from the site’s most securely dated context. Nevertheless, we can conclude that elements of the al-Hamid assemblage were in use during the first half of the 1st millennium BC.

In conclusion, epigraphers now agree that the inscriptions probably date to early within the Ancient Sub Period I.6

6

THE

The letters inscribed onto the potsherds have not been published and are only commented upon by Phillips in his unpublished report (1996). He dated them to the first half of the 1st millennium BC, possibly because they are inscribed onto pottery that he dated to that time span, rather than because the style of the letters can be palaeographically dated. The ashlar block found in room 12 of Area B serves no apparent structural purpose, and does not play a role in understanding the development of the site.

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THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 (de Maigret and Robin 1989), or between c.1200-800 BC based on the re-calibrations by Edens and Wilkinson (1998). Any development of the ceramics in the stratigraphic sequence, or the relation between the surface sherds and those found in a stratified position, has not been published. However, de Maigret (1989) observed that all those forms found on the surface have been discovered in the sondages.

it is unclear whether these areas or other parts of the site were settled earlier or later than the Ancient Sub-Period I - and, if they were, for how long before or after. It also remains to be determined whether the entire (30ha) site was occupied at the same time as the excavated areas near the temple in the Ancient Sub-Period I.

The 800-500 BC date for al-Hamid therefore depends on the presence of vessels at al-Hamid that were most popular between those dates from ad-Durayb and Hajar Bin Humeid. However, almost all of the vessel forms at Hajar Bin Humeid continue in differing proportions throughout the sequence, which spans most of the Iron Age. Therefore, the ceramics really cannot provide a good means of dating the occupation of al-Hamid to within a narrow 800-500 BC date range. Instead, this specific time range is suggested by the inscriptions. Since the inscriptions date the temple, they can also date the pottery found beneath the temple floor. The fact that the latter is identical to ceramics found from the rest of the site (Phillips 1997), indicates that such pottery was present at al-Hamid in the Ancient SubPeriod I. However, because of the poor chronological phasing of the pottery, it is possible that such pottery was also in use before and/or after the Ancient Sub-Period I.

Before the excavation of the site, the interpretations of alHamid focused on the Sabaic epigraphy (Jamme 1981; alRadi 1985; Beeston 1995). Since the site, replete with its Sabaic inscriptions, lies outside the recognised territory of the Sabaean kingdom, its principal interpretation was as a Sabaean colony or outpost on a route from the interior of South West Arabia to the Red Sea or Ethiopia. Thus, al-Hamid was initially thought to be a Sabaean enclave established as a result of Aksumite Ethiopian incursions onto the Tihamah, in the 1st millennium AD) (Abdullah, cited in Al-Radi 1985). Alternatively, it was considered to be a Sabaean staging post en route to one of the Red Sea ports during the late 1st millennium BC (Al-Radi 1985). These interpretations were informed by the textual sources discussed in Chapter 2, i.e. the ESA record, and the Greek and Roman accounts, respectively.

5.3.2.4 Al-Hamid: interpretation

The realisation that the inscriptions were archaic (first proposed by Jamme 1981), rather than archaising (as argued by al-Radi 1985), simply meant that similar interpretations were shifted backwards in time - to the first half of the lst millennium BC. Thus, al-Hamid was interpreted as a colony or staging post between the Sabaean interior and the Red Sea, or pre-Aksumite Ethiopia, in the early 1st millennium BC (Beeston 1995a; Robin 1995; Phillips 1997; 1998; Korotayev 1998).8

Finally, let us consider the chronological relation of the burial evidence to the rest of the excavated site. Initially, it was thought that the burial cairns dated to the Iron Age, i.e. those examined in 1994-1995 (Phillips 1997). Of these cairns, tomb 1 was excavated, but was found to be devoid of grave goods, so there was no real evidence for dating it. More recently, Phillips (2000a, 6) has argued that the discovery of “clear” Iron Age grave goods (‘incense altars’) in the square tombs excavated in 1999-2000 suggests that the square tombs date to the Iron Age, and that the burial cairns should therefore belong to a pre-Iron Age date. The ‘Iron Age’ date of the incense altars must depend on comparisons with Sayhad examples, since the incense burners found in the rest of the site (represented by Type 12 in the typology) are ‘local’ in origin and therefore not clearly dated. Phillips has not stated whether any other ceramics were recovered from the tombs or whether they were comparable to wares from the rest of the excavated site. While Phillips may have good reason to date the square tombs to the Iron Age, the cairns remain undated. Indeed, the distinction in tomb location and form (round cairn versus square tombs) may relate to a social difference between the burying population, rather than a chronological distinction.

In offering this reading, Beeston (1995a) and Robin (1995) raised the question of the political or cultural relation of al-Hamid to the Sabaean realm. Beeston interpreted the site as a Sabaean garrison or possibly part of a wider pattern of Sabaean sites established to safeguard the route to the Red Sea. He suggested that the site - and by extension, the Tihamah - would have been politically, but not ethnically, attached to the Sabaean realm. The political allegiance was based on the invocation of the Sabaean ‘national’ deity Almaqah. The ethnic distinction depended on the assumption that “the Sayhad peoples, accustomed to the invigorating climate of the highlands, are unlikely to have infiltrated the hot and humid Tihamah to any great extent” (1995, 242). Robin (1995) proposed that al-Hamid was the result of a political incursion by the Sabaeans, and specifically by the Sabaean mukarrib Karibil Watar. Robin suggested that al-Hamid was established during the seventh of eight political unification campaigns undertaken by

In overview, al-Hamid has been dated on the basis of pottery comparisons with the surface ceramics from adDurayb as well as archaic monumental inscriptions. These elements, together with the seemingly archaic style of the temple, suggest that areas A and B and the northern courtyard complex were occupied in the Ancient SubPeriod I (the first half of the 1st millennium BC). However,

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The one published exception to this view was offered by Avanzini (1987). She suggested that the course of the Wadi Siham rises too steeply from the Tihamah foothills for it to have been a viable route to the interior in antiquity, implying that regular links between the Tihamah and the interior were unlikely.

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH I N Karibil Watar (c.700-650 BC), whose campaigns are listed in inscription RES 3945 (found in Sirwah, in the Sabaean heartland; see Chapter 1, Section 1.4.2). While the Tihamah is not mentioned in this inscription, the location of the places listed in the seventh campaign remain unknown, leading Robin to argue that it might have been to the Tihamah and/or Ethiopia.

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opposite an adyton, which was typically represented by a tripartite cella (Schmidt 1984; 1988; 1999; Jung 1988). The al-Hamid temple conforms to this rectangular plan with an entrance on the short wall. Unfortunately, the original internal organisation of the temple is unknown since the floor and any features within the temple are missing. The ground plan on its own is therefore not enough to indicate a Sabaean origin, since rectangular temples with a centrally positioned door can also be found in Main (centred on the Jawf) and in the Hadramawt (and indeed throughout the Levant and beyond!). It is also to be noted that the archaic Sabaic inscriptions, and the probably archaic Sabaean temple architecture at al-Hamid, means that it is possible that both the inscriptions and the temple appeared on the Tihamah at the same time that they emerged in the interior. Therefore, it cannot necessarily be assumed that the Sabaean-related elements of the site - let alone the rest of the site - were established by Sabaean migrants from the interior.

Probably to avoid an over-simplistic diffusionist explanation for the presence of al-Hamid, Phillips innovatively suggested that al-Hamid should be understood as a local cultural development. He proposed that it was part of a “settlement pattern which reproduces many of the characteristics evident from the preceding periods of occupation [and that] it is preferable to see alHamid and the other contemporary sites as primarily a continuation of local developments” (Phillips 1998, 237). In order to emphasise the local function of the site, Phillips (1997) - and Avanzini (1987) - suggested that it was an important local agricultural centre. However, Phillips (1998) also observed that the site underwent the same Iron Age transformation as sites elsewhere in Yemen (meaning in the Sayhad area).

Beeston’s suggestion (1995a) that the occupants of alHamid and the Tihamah would probably not have been ethnically Sayhadian because of the local climate has no supportable basis. The notion that the site was politically (see below) but not ethnically linked to Saba should be seen in terms of Beeston’s colonialist model, in which alHamid is interpreted in terms of a hegemonic force (a garrison) or an exploitative enclave. However, the inscriptions indicate that some of the occupants of alHamid might have shared, or at least claimed, a common ethnicity with the Sabaeans; given that a shared ‘ethnicity’ carries with it ideas of a mutual culture, language and genealogy. Thus, the inscriptions assert a shared religion, language, and even genealogy between at least part of the population of al-Hamid and Saba. Nevertheless, the al-Hamid inscriptions also cite ‘local’ (non-Sabaean) personal names, which could suggest a local ethnic element. A non-Sabaean ethnicity is not necessarily implied by the evocation of ‘local’ deities at al-Hamid, since the evocation of idiosyncratic (e.g. village) gods fits with the cultural norms of Saba (Beeston 1984).

In outline, the published interpretations either see al-Hamid in terms of a Sabaean colony, a Sabaean outpost, a Sabaean garrison, or as a centre that depended on local agricultural production. In response to these views, the large size of al-Hamid, and its location on the most fertile zone of the Tihamah, would be consistent with it having a role as a major local centre, whatever its more distant connections. The size of the settlement suggests that there was a large population and it would have made most economic sense to support such a large population with local resources. Its potential size also indicates that al-Hamid was more than an outpost or garrison. The question of whether it was a colony is more difficult to assess. In modern times, a ‘colony’ refers to the political and economic domination of an area by people from a second area. A source of recognition is through the presence of cultural elements comparable to those found in the putative homeland. The question of the political or economic relationship of al-Hamid to Saba is explored in Section 5.6.5, for now we need to consider whether there is evidence of Sabaean cultural elements at al-Hamid and to preliminarily examine some of the interpretations summarised above.

Beeston’s (1995a) aforementioned proposal that al-Hamid was politically aligned with Saba finds support in the alHamid inscriptions, which claim to recognise the celestial authority of the chief Sabaean god, Almaqah. Indeed, religion appears to have played an important role in politically unifying each kingdom, as indicated by the annual pilgrimage of the Sabaeans to their principal temple at Saba, or the fact that they defined themselves as the ‘children of Almaqah’.

Links specifically with Saba, rather than the Sayhad region in general, are indicated by the Sabaic inscriptions. In addition to being in the Sabaic language, they mention the chief Sabaean god, and family names known from Saba. The use of Sabaic dedications on the al-Hamid temple in ways similar to their use in Saba implies that it was recognised as the counterpart of a Sabaean temple. A Sabaean inspiration is also hinted at by its ground plan. Thus, the archetypal Sabaean temple ground plan was represented by an oblong structure with an entrance on the short wall,

Phillips’ (1998) argument that al-Hamid underwent a cultural transformation comparable to that of the Sayhad region implies that society in both regions suddenly became far more complex in the Iron Age. Phillips’ further proposal (1998) that al-Hamid also represents a continuation of previous local cultural developments or settlement patterns is difficult to demonstrate given that 82

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 so few Bronze Age sites are known from the region (as discussed in Section 5.6.2.2).

1996 (Fig. 20). Pottery was collected from the surface of the site. While it has not yet been analysed, Phillips has stressed the similarity of the ceramics to the material from al-Hamid (Phillips 1998; 2000a). The three monumental inscriptions discovered at the site are discussed in more detail in Section 5.5. Briefly, they mention Sayhadian deities, including Almaqah, Sayhadian personal names, such as the names of two Sabaean mukarribs, together with non-Sayhadian (‘local’) personal names and a ‘local’ deity.

Other potential economic, cultural, and political explanations for the presence of Sabaean-related material at al-Hamid will be offered in the end synthesis of this chapter. For example, we will argue that these elements could represent local elite emulation of the Sabaean culture, undertaken to legitimate their political status. At this juncture, it is clear that people sharing elements of the same culture lived in the Sabaean heartland and the Wadi Siham region of the Tihamah in the early 1st millennium BC. A small amount of equally early material, found in the western Sana’a region of the Central Highlands (see Chapter 3, Section 3.3.3), provides archaeological evidence of a link between the Tihamah and the interior. The absence of Sabaean-related material culture clearly dated to after the Ancient Sub-Period I at al-Hamid (e.g. later epigraphy or evidence of coinage) might indicate that Sabaean contacts or influences stopped after the period of the Sabaean mukarribite (dated to the first half of the 1st millennium BC). Whether this was because the site was abandoned, or simply because contacts with Saba changed or declined, is not clear. Although al-Hamid is the most fully studied Iron Age site on the Tihamah, our knowledge of the site is still in many ways unsatisfactory because of the problems associated with dating the beginning and end of its occupation, and the apparent lack of stratigraphic soundings. Many questions may be answered once all of the excavation results have been published.

Fig. 20: Plan of Waqir (by Carl S. Phillips)

5.3.3 Waqir

The dating of Waqir is based on the inscriptions and on the ceramic comparisons with the al-Hamid assemblage. The first two inscriptions are arranged in boustrophedon and are therefore dated to the first half of the 1st millennium BC (Beeston 1995b). The palaeographic style of these inscriptions has not been formally assessed. However, the first two inscriptions are quite roughly hewn, giving the impression that they might be even earlier than those from al-Hamid. Yet, as Phillips (pers. comm. 2000) has noted, this impression could be because Waqir 1 and 2 were drafted onto a boulder and a granite block respectively, which, compared to dressed limestone ashlar, are difficult media to engrave. Phillips (2000a) has argued that the content of the third inscription provides a 7th century BC date, for it names, and is attributed to, a Sabaean mukarrib who ruled in the 7th century BC. In addition, it is drafted in epigraphic Type B, which is dated to around 700-500 BC. Finally, Phillips has emphasised that the ceramics from Waqir are identical to those from al-Hamid, and that the two sites were thus contemporary. Since the ceramics provide only a general Iron Age date, the inscriptions provide a more precise method of dating Waqir and indicate that the site was occupied at least during the Ancient Sub-Period I.

Waqir is some 15km west of al-Hamid on the Wadi Siham. The site was revealed by industrial irrigation-related bulldozing, which gouged into the extensive area of silt, about 4m deep, that had accumulated next to the Wadi Siham. Phillips and a team from UCL, including this author, visited the site to undertake a one-day survey in 1996, with Phillips returning to the site in 1999-2000 (Phillips 2000a; 2000b). The site remains unpublished beyond a few notes by Phillips (1997; 1998; 2000a). None of the three monumental inscriptions (Phillips-Waqir 1-3) discovered at Waqir have been published, although Beeston (1995b) commented on Phillips-Waqir 1 and Phillips-Waqir 2 in an unpublished report. This section discusses the data recorded during the 1996 survey, its chronology, and then the published interpretations of Waqir. The site has not been excavated and its true extent is unknown. Industrial bulldozing had levelled off the ground so that none of the structures protruded out of the ground; nevertheless, rectangular buildings made of roughly hewn stone were clearly apparent and their plans were recorded over an area of c.20m x 20m in

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deflation pavement of “undecorated dark brown sherds” that slopes southward to line the earlier wadi bed (Tosi 1985, 368). The ceramics from Wadi Urq remain unpublished. Following the 1996 survey, Phillips stated that “although the pottery repertoire at this site appears more limited, it can nevertheless be compared with types from al-Hamid” (Phillips 1998, 236). Molluscs and animal bones marked the site (Tosi 1985). No evidence for any structures has been found. Net sinkers and ground stone tools were observed from the site’s surface during the 1996 survey. Tosi also mentioned a fragment of an ‘alabaster’ bangle with a planoconvex section (Tosi 1985).

The published interpretations of Waqir are limited to a few observations by its investigator, Phillips (2000a, 6), who perceived the site as culturally connected to Saba, and proposed that the references to the two Sabaean mukarribs indicate “a Tihamah with very strong Sabaean ties”. However, Phillips has also suggested that Waqir belongs to a local pattern of sites. To support this, he has suggested that the ceramics indicate cultural connections with al-Hamid and the site of STN (Phillips 1998). Finally, Phillips has argued that inscription PhillipsWaqir 3 comes from a temple dedicated to the god Almaqah. The basis for this claim has not been published and no temple architecture has yet been found at Waqir, although Beeston (1995b) suggested that the word Wsq (from the inscription Phillips-Waqir 1) might be a reference to a building, and possibly to a temple. This argument may also be supported by the fact that Phillips-Waqir 1 is written on a large stone slab, which is reminiscent of an offering table; it is expected that such paraphernalia would come from a temple.

The other two midden sites on the Wadi Siham, labelled ‘Shell Midden I’ and ‘Shell Midden II’, were located along the modern coast. No al-Hamid-related ceramics were identified from Shell Midden I. However, Shell Midden II produced “a few potsherds which include diagnostic types known from al-Hamid” (Phillips 1998, 236). The comparable types collected in the 1996 survey were represented by a couple of sherds that belonged to bowls as well as a decorated sherd, which probably belonged to an incense burner. Both forms are similar to ‘local’ types known from al-Hamid. Neither type has been published.

Building on these interpretations, the inscriptions from Waqir provide interesting insights into the relationship between Waqir and Saba. The inscriptions are drafted in two palaeographic styles (Type A and B). This indicates longer epigraphically attested links with Saba than are documented by the (Type A) inscriptions from alHamid. The references to Almaqah also indicate cultural/political links with Saba. Political connections are also suggested by the fact that Phillips-Waqir 3 is written in the name of a Sabaean mukarrib who offers protection to the people of the area. The deity and personal names unknown from Saba also suggest a local dynamic.

The chronology of the middens is uncertain. Phillips (1998) dated Shell Midden II and Wadi Urq to the Iron Age on the basis of the al-Hamid-related ceramics. However, the few al-Hamid-related ceramics found at Wadi Urq and Shell Midden II are ‘local’ forms (Phillips pers. comm. 1999) and we recall that the date at which the ‘local’ al-Hamid ware emerged is unknown, although it is at least consistent with an Iron Age occupation.

The size or function of the site is unclear from the small section uncovered by bulldozers. Waqir is located just within the fertile zone of the Tihamah, lying on a part of the Wadi Siham that is permanently wet and well silted and could therefore have had a good local agricultural base to support a potentially large population.

The date of the Wadi Urq midden has been contested in the literature (other scholars have not yet commented on Shell Midden II). Thus, Tosi (1986a) argued that Wadi Urq dates to the Iron Age, based on a late 1st millennium BC C-14 determination taken from an unstratified context. He suggested that the Iron Age attribution is supported by the large size of the site, because the ceramics were unlike those discovered from the Bronze Age middens, and because of the discovery of a bracelet made of “alabaster”, which was a popular stone in Iron Age Sayhadian sites. However, Fattovich (1997c) attributed the site to the Bronze Age, and suggested that it is a representative site of the (Bronze Age) ‘Tihamah Cultural Complex’. He argued that sherds from Wadi Urq bearing a burnished linear motif are comparable to Terminal Gash Group ceramics from the western Eritrean-Sudanese lowlands, which have been dated to c.1500-1400 BC (Fattovich 1991). Finally, Phillips returned to the Wadi Urq site in 1999-2000 and now concludes that the ceramics are, in fact, mostly medieval (Phillips, pers. comm. 2000). Thus, in overview, all scholars have drawn on comparisons that suggest Wadi Urq was occupied in the Iron Age, although its

5.3.4 The Iron Age Hodeidah area middens Chapter 4 (Section 4.2.3) discussed Tosi’s research at the middens from the Hodeidah area. Of the 55 sites located, 13 were prehistoric and the focus of his research. Tosi only briefly referred to one site that belongs to the Iron Age, labelled ‘Wadi Urq’, located on an offshoot of the Wadi Siham.9 In 1996, Phillips and the team that included this author visited Wadi Urq and two other middens on the Wadi Siham, labelled ‘Shell Midden I’ and ‘Shell Midden II’. The Wadi Urq site lies about 10km inland. It measures a vast 25ha-30ha (Tosi 1985) and is represented by a 9

THE

Wadi Urq is relabelled ‘Wadi Nakhel’ by Phillips (1998), but the name Wadi Urq is retained here in line with the rest of the literature (Tosi 1985; Fattovich 1990, 1997b; Vogt and Sedov 1998).

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THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 Although Fattovich’s comparison between some of the Wadi Urq pottery and wares from Yeha has been used to imply pre-Iron Age links, it could also provide evidence of an Iron Age link. This would fit with the idea that the archaeological data from the Wadi Siham indicates connections between Saba and Ethiopia during the first half of the 1st millennium BC, as expressed by Beeston (1995a), among others.

occupation may not have been restricted to that period, and it is unclear how major a site it was in that phase. Two key arguments have been proposed for the Iron Age Hodeidah area middens. Firstly, Phillips (1998) has argued that they form part of a ‘wider pattern’ of local Iron Age sites, owing to the ceramic parallels between Wadi Urq, Shell Midden II, al-Hamid, Waqir and STN. Secondly, in contrast, but not necessarily in contradiction because of the potential time span of the Wadi Urq midden, Fattovich (1990; 1997c) situated Wadi Urq within a model of Bronze Age contacts between the Tihamah and the Horn of Africa. Fattovich (1990, 22) argued that the ceramics from the Tihamah sites share “many affinities with the Nubian CGroup and Kerma pottery” (c.2nd millennium BC). He also observed that the pre-Aksumite ware from Ethiopia (c.1st millennium BC) has many similarities with C-Group and Kerma ware. However, he noted that few of these elements appear on the Sudanese-Ethiopian border of the Gash Delta, which lies between Nubia and the Horn of Africa.10 As a result, Fattovich argued that the Red Sea plains of both the Horn of Africa and the Tihamah must have played a role in connecting Nubia to the Horn of Africa, but that these coastal areas were also involved in contacts with the Gash Delta. He also argued that the pottery from the Arabian Tihamah helps us to interpret the origins of Ethiopian pre-Aksumite culture. He therefore suggested that the two regions were connected as far back as the Neolithic - long before the apparent ‘sudden’ Sabaean migration, which was dated to the mid 1st millennium BC. To support the idea that the preAksumite culture did not appear suddenly, Fattovich (1990) drew an additional comparison between (unpublished) bowls with thickened rims from Wadi Urq and similar vessels from Yeha. Since he dated Wadi Urq to the Bronze Age, he implied that Yeha, the major preAksumite (Sabaean-related) settlement, might also have its antecedents in the Bronze Age.

In overview, the middens indicate that a marine-orientated economy continued at some sites into the Iron Age. According to the literature, it appears that a few sherds from these sites are comparable to the al-Hamid corpus and therefore probably to the Sayhad Iron Age assemblages - and to pre-Aksumite pottery from Yeha. 5.3.5 STN Lying on the Wadi Rima, about 40km south of the Wadi Siham, site STN was discovered during a survey of the environs of the medieval city of Zabid by the Zabid Project. The ceramics from STN have been published, but the site is otherwise only cursorily published (Ciuk and Keall 1996). Phillips and a team from UCL (including this author) visited the site for half a day in 1996 (see photograph; Fig. 21).

In response to these claims, the presence of even small quantities of al-Hamid-related pottery at the midden sites at the lower end of the Wadi Siham does indicate links between these and other sites on the Tihamah, as maintained by Phillips (1998). (The types of relationships are addressed in Section 5.6 at the end of this chapter.) Fattovich’s argument is, however, open to question. We recall that black burnished ceramics, which are possibly Nubian-related, have only been identified at Sihi. Moreover, the date of the ‘Bronze Age’ bowls with thickened rims from Wadi Urq remains to be demonstrated. Nevertheless, Fattovich’s claim that the pottery from the Tihamah adds to an understanding of the rise of pre-Aksumite civilisation is interesting. He implies that we need to re-think the traditional perception that pre-Aksumite civilisation was the result of Sabaean migrants and that it may also have resulted from prehistoric contacts with Nubia that extended along the Red Sea coasts. 10

Fig. 21: View across STN, looking east (with thanks to Khalidi and Lewis) STN is represented by a deflated sherd scatter spread out over an area of about 500m in diameter (i.e. c.20ha) (Ciuk and Keall 1996, 11). No lithics, ground stone tools, other artefacts or structures are mentioned by Ciuk and Keall, nor were any noted during our brief survey. The STN ceramics are represented by surfaceburnished ware with simple plastic decoration, described as ‘well made’ ware (Ciuk and Keall 1996, 36). Keall (1998) stated that the STN pottery matches the alMidaman ceramics, which implies that they are all hand-made. The illustrations reveal that decoration constitutes dots and lines. The fabric has the same red-

The African ceramics are discussed in Chapter 6, Section 6.5.

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THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH I N brown colour as the al-Hamid ware (pers. obs. 1996) and therefore was similarly fired in oxidising conditions.

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argued that this chronology cannot be refined mainly because of the cultural conservatism of South West Arabian ceramics, and observed that “the shape of many vessels, like that of ordinary cooking pots, is predetermined by function, and varies little from region to region, or from century to century” (Ciuk and Keall 1996, 11). This statement could be as much a reflection of the poor state of knowledge of the development of ceramics in South West Arabia - and of the small number of well-documented stratified sequences - as it is of any real conservatism in the material.

Ciuk and Keall (1996) organised the pottery forms into seven categories. Three are based on the assumed function of the vessels e.g. ‘cooking devices’; two are based on size and function, e.g. ‘large storage jars’; while one category is based on the shape and texture of the vessel, i.e. ‘footed drums with raspy surface’. The final category consists of ‘miscellania’. The pottery derived from the site’s deflated surface; none has been excavated from stratified contexts.

A detailed socio-economic or cultural interpretation of the site has not been offered. Ciuk and Keall’s ceramic comparisons imply that STN was culturally connected to other sites across the Tihamah during the Bronze and Iron Age, and with the Sayhad region during the Iron Age. However, Phillips (1998, 36) argued that STN belongs exclusively to the Iron Age, since the ceramics from STN are “identical to the pottery from alHamid” but find no real comparison with the Bronze Age pottery from Sabir.

The chronology of STN has been based on ceramic comparisons with dated assemblages. Since there are no securely dated, well-published ceramic corpora from the Tihamah, Ciuk and Keall were forced to draw comparisons with Iron Age Sayhad assemblages. Thus, they compared the assemblage with the published ceramics from Wadi Yala, ad-Durayb, i.e. those found on the surface of ad-Durayb and dated by de Maigret (1988) to c.800-600 BC, which constitute part of an assemblage that extends back to 1500 BC (de Maigret 1989). They also compared the pottery to that from the stratified site of Hajar ar-Rayhani, which they assigned to 500-50 BC, based on the dates published by Glanzman (1987). Finally, they likened the pottery to the unstratified Sayhad ceramic complex from Hureida in the Hadramawt (Harding 1964). In addition, they drew comparisons with assemblages from the Tihamah, i.e. with the ceramics excavated from the first season at al-Hamid, which they erroneously accepted as epigraphically dated to the late 1st millennium BC, presumably based on al-Radi’s initial verdict (al-Radi 1985). They also drew comparisons with the ceramics from Sabir, then known to date to the 2nd millennium BC. However, they maintained that the comparisons drawn with the Tihamah assemblages are uncertain since “the small scale of published drawings and the lack of descriptions concerning production traits make exact comparisons difficult and uncertain” (Ciuk and Keall 1996, 11).

In conclusion, the site is large but lacks any obvious surface traces of architecture, epigraphy or any other signs of cultural complexity. In these respects, the character of STN is comparable to one of the larger midden sites (e.g. Wadi Urq or Sihi). The ceramics imply that the inhabitants were not isolated from other groups living on the Tihamah. The function of the site and its relation to other sites is explored in the end synthesis of this chapter. 5.4 Coin hoards from the Tihamah 5.4.1 The Bajil coin hoard The Bajil coin hoard consists of 181 Sabaean silver coins found buried next to a distinctive mushroom-shaped boulder by a local inhabitant near the town of Bajil, not far from the Wadi Siham. The coins have not been weighed or cleaned, and have been classified according to a photograph of 29 of them taken by Stone (Davidde 1995). After describing the coins, this section discusses their chronology, considers the published interpretation, and reconsiders the relevance of the hoard to the culturehistory of the Tihamah.

As a result of these comparisons, they suggested that at least two phases are represented at STN, both of uncertain date and duration. These phases are not stratigraphically supported nor is this comment further explained with references to specific vessel types, although they were probably thinking of a Bronze Age phase, represented by the Sabir-related ware, and a later Iron Age phase, signified by the Sayhad-related ware. However, al-Hamid has now been epigraphically dated to the first half of the 1st millennium BC and more recent research and C-14 dates by Glanzman (1994) indicate that Hajar ar-Rayhani was occupied throughout the 1st millennium BC. Therefore, the distinction of two chronologically separate phases becomes less clear. Given these uncertainties, it would seem preferable simply to date the site to a broad period. Indeed, they dated STN to ‘the Qahtan’ period, which they put at 1500 BC to AD 500 (Ciuk and Keall 1996). They

The head of Athena features on the obverse of the coins, while the owl, which was a symbol of Athena, appears on the reverse. The Greek letters A 0 E, of unknown meaning, appear to the right of the owl, with a crescent moon and highly stylised olive branch on the left of the owl. The coins are comparable to Athenian tetradrachms; indeed, South Arabian coins - especially early examples - were almost identical to Greek examples (Davidde 1995). Their Arabian status is shown by the presence of South Arabian letters N, G, T and S2 on Athena’s cheek and by a series of the South Arabian monograms, including symbols related to Almaqah. These coins are known to have undergone 86

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 present on the Tihamah in the second half of the 1st millennium BC. Moreover, this hoard represents the only archaeological evidence presently known from the Tihamah clearly dated to the second half of the 1st millennium BC, with the exception of an inscription from Mocha discussed in Section 5.5 below. Their presence points to continued relations with Saba after the supposed end of al-Hamid, which is assumed to date to 500 BC by Phillips (1997).

slight changes over time - for example changes in the appearance of Athena - although the exact time at which specific changes occurred is unknown owing to the near absence of Sabaean numismatic studies. However, it is known that such imitation Athenian coins were minted until the 2nd century BC, when they were replaced with a new type (Davidde 1995). Davidde (1995) categorised the 29 photographed coins as belonging to the oldest Sabaean monetary type, minted from around the late 4th century BC. This verdict was offered because they are an accurate imitation of the “old style” Athenian tetradrachm that was coined in Athens between 393-322 BC (Davidde 1995, 246). For example, Davidde pointed to the voluted ornament on Athena’s cheek, which, she suggested, reflects either the “Pi” or the “Bracket style” of the 4th century BC Athenian tetradrachms.

5.4.2 The al-Madhariba hoard of gold Aksumite and late Roman coins A second coin hoard has been found at the southern end of the Tihamah, some 70km west of Aden. Published by Munro-Hay (1989b), it has thus far evaded the attention of scholars working on the Tihamah. The unparalleled find consists of 868 gold Aksumite and 326 gold Roman coins. As with all of the other Aksumite gold coin-finds reported from South West Arabia, the Aksumite coins extend from the reign of Ezana to that of Kaleb (from about AD 330, to the mid 6th century AD). Most of the Roman coins have been dated to between AD 350-367, although examples occur throughout the time-range suggested for the Aksumite coins.

Although working from photographs, Davidde asserted that the coins look very worn and corroded, and therefore may have been buried much later than they were minted. She acknowledged that a complete analysis of all of the coins might reveal more recent issues, which would bring the date forward. She argued that the coins were probably buried in the late 4 th century BC; obviously, a later date must also be considered possible.

This is the largest single collection of Aksumite coins yet found and is the first recorded find of Aksumite and Roman coins together. The coins were apparently found in a clay pot, which is reportedly not preserved. MunroHay (1989b) did not state how the coins came into the hands of the Aden Museum, where they are now kept.

Davidde suggested that the coins mark intense use of the east-west route along the Wadi Siham in the 4th century BC (1995). She proposed that incense from Yemen and products from Ethiopia, including gold, precious stones, pearls (which obviously cannot come from Ethiopia) and other undefined ‘valuable commodities’ would have passed along this route. She concluded that “in such a context the finding of 181 silver coins should not be so surprising” (Davidde 1995, 249), though one must note that the hoard alone is the only evidence for this mercantile ‘context’. To explain the burial of the hoard, Davidde (1995, 249) proposed that it was hidden due to an “emergency” or “some approaching danger”, and that the danger came in the form of the local inhabitants, whom she perceived to have been marauders and nomads.

Unlike Munro-Hay, whose concerns were largely numismatic, our interests lie in examining the relevance of these coins to the culture-history of the Tihamah. The coins represent the only archaeologically-documented Aksumite or Mediterranean material on the Tihamah and comprise the only archaeological evidence of the links with both regions that are attested in the historical records. However, it should be noted that no archaeological sites, clearly dated to the time that these histories were written, have yet been identified on the Tihamah, which is surely a reflection of the limited scope of archaeological research in the region, rather than necessarily a reflection of its settlement history.

It is unclear whether the coins actually mark an intensely used 4th century BC trade route, nor even if coins were used in trade at that time, since they are an isolated find on the Wadi Siham and might have been buried at a later date. It is also impossible to guess why they were buried; it cannot necessarily be concluded, as Davidde did, that the Tihamah was a place inhabited by dangerous people. This inference is derived directly from the historical sources, such as the PME (although the latter refers to the northern Tihamah as dangerous) and from the ESA accounts of the 1st millennium AD, which express fear towards the allegiance of the Tihami dwellers to Ethiopia.

5.5 Inscriptions from the Tihamah Inscriptions have been found throughout the Tihamah. At al-Hamid, Waqir and Farasan Island, they have been discovered at pre-Islamic archaeological sites, but the rest come from contexts of re-use. This section provides the first review of all of the known inscriptions, and will discuss the context, content and previous interpretations of each group in turn. The inscriptions are tabulated below (organised according to their location from north to south). Apart from the inscribed sherds from al-Hamid (and the

The coins do, however, prove that Sabaean money was 87

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH I N putative inscribed sherds from al-Midaman)11, all of the known inscriptions are monumental. As the table indicates, not all of the inscriptions have been palaeographically dated. The language and content of some

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of the inscriptions is also not published (either because the inscriptions are too fragmentary, or because they have not been studied by epigraphers).

Table 7: The epigraphic data from the Tihamah Site12

Context

Wasili (Ry 518)

Coral block, reused in an Islamic tomb Two monolithic door jambs in situ

Farasan Island Site 217-92

Palaeographic date Not stated

Language

Content

Source

Not stated

Personal name Lb'n bn/ Wdd'l

Ryckmans 1960

Not stated

Not stated

Not stated

Zarins et al. 1981

Fragmentary

Beeston 1995a

Farasan Island, Qusar village

Not stated

Not stated

Minaic?

Farasan Island, Qusar village

Rectangular block of calcareous stone

AD 144?

Latin

Ali-Mahmul mosque, WadiMawr (AM 1-7)

Seven inscriptions on re-used ashlar blocks in body of mosque

Pirenne's category B (700-500 BC)

Sabaic

Al-Hamid (Ja 28922896 =Radi 1-5; Radi 6; Phillips Hamid 1-4)

Ten in situ inscriptions (plus inscribed sherds)

Ancient-Sub Period I (c.8th century BC?)

Sabaic

Dedicatory (see below)

Jamme 1981; Stone 1995; Beeston 1995a,b

Waqir (WaqirPhillips 1-3)

Three in situ inscriptions

Ancient Sub-Period I (Phillips-Hamid 3, c.7th century BC?)

Sabaic

Dedicatory (see below)

Beeston 1995b; Phillips 2000a

Foothills of Wadi Zabid

Large inscribed block. Context unknown. One inscription re-used in body of mosque

Not examined (block has disappeared)

Not examined

Not examined

Stone 1995

c.3rd –6th century AD

Not stated, presumably Sabaic.

Wd'b mhf Apotropaic formula?

c. 3rd century BC

Not stated

Not stated

Beeston 1995a Phillips 1999a Ryckmans 1960

Grand Mosque, Mawza Mocha (Ry 598)

11 12

Re-used stone on a well-head

Dedicatory to Phillips et al; Emperor, Caesar 2004 Titus Hadrianus Antonius Augustus Pius Fragmentary, Beeston but two 1995a; inscriptions are Phillips translated (see 1999c below)

The al-Midaman inscribed sherds are not discussed further in this section since the scratched marks do not clearly represent ESA script. Where provided, the label of the inscription is given in brackets, e.g. (Ry 518).

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THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 At least two of the three Jizan area inscriptions from Farasan Island have been found in situ. A fourth has been discovered in a reused context at Wasili on the mainland. Their date, content, and language remain poorly known. Previous discussions have not considered the relevance of these inscriptions to the culture-history of the region. As discussed in Section 5.6.4, the possible Minaic inscription hints that there were different cultural and economic links between the Jizan area and the interior compared with the rest of the Tihamah. A fifth, newly published, Latin inscription (Phillips et al. 2004) adds to the model of Roman interests in the area. It is a seven line inscription and appears to be a dedication of a monument built on Farasan to Emperor Antonius Pius by a detachment of the Second Legion Traiana Fortis and its auxiliaries possibly at around AD 144.

Seven of the monumental inscriptions from Area A are dedicatory. The remaining two, Phillips-Hamid 1 and 3, are too incomplete to be interpreted. The dedicatory inscriptions follow the format of dedicatory inscriptions from the Sayhadian interior. Thus, they record the name of the dedicant, the clan name, then the deity, and finally the object offered, although not all of these elements are always present. Three deities are mentioned in the inscriptions from alHamid: lmqh (Almaqah), Dt Hmym (Dhat Himyam) and Hrmn. Almaqah and Dhat Himyam are well-attested South West Arabian deities. Almaqah, the chief god of the Sabaeans, is mentioned in four of the inscriptions from Area A (Ja 2892, Ja 2894, Ja 2895 and Radi-6). The divine name Hrmn, recorded in Phillips-Hamid 2, is virtually unknown from the ESA corpus from the interior; so far, it is only attested in RES 311/4 from the Yafa’ region in Qataban (Beeston 1995 b).

The seven ESA inscriptions from the Ali-Mahmul mosque are incised onto ashlar masonry. (Phillips and a team from UCL, including this author, surveyed the mosque, as reported in an unpublished article by Phillips (1999c).) Much of the mosque is made using this masonry, which is often marginally drafted and pecked (Stone 1995, pers. obs. 1996). No pre-Islamic sites have been discovered in the region and analysis of the stone has not helped to clarify its origin (Stone 1995). Phillips (1999c) has labelled the inscriptions as AM 1 to 7. They generally consist of two letters (with a maximum of seven letters in AM 5). All of the inscriptions are drafted in the same style of script. Only AM 4 has been published. It is represented by the word ‘s’l’, which was translated by Beeston (1995a) as ‘request, lay claim’. Phillips (1999c) reports that AM 5 is represented by ‘m/swdqhw’, in which the verb ‘sdq’ has been translated as ‘proclaim property rights’. The meaning of these inscriptions remains unclear, but neither can be identified as religious. Their presence suggests to Phillips (1999c) that the Wadi Mawr could have served as the route from the interior to the Tihamah.

The following names are recorded from al-Hamid. The family name Hklm and the personal names Sbhhmw and Zbym are recorded in Ja 2895 (= Radi 2). Inscription Ja 2896 (= Radi 1) is translated as ‘D’bn son of Sbhhmw of the family Gdnm dedicates to Dt Hmym’. In PhillipsHamid 1 and 2, the personal name rklm is mentioned, in Phillips-Hamid 2, along with the deity Hrmn. All of the family names have been compared to Sabaean family names, although this is not the case for all of the personal names. Thus, the family name Hklm (Ja 2895) has been compared to the family name Hkl in inscription RES 4057B/2, from the Sabaean kingdom (Jamme 1981). The family name Gdnm (Ja 2896) is a well-attested Sabaean lineage (Robin 1995). For example, the lineage of Gdnm (transliterated as Gadanum) is recorded on the walls of the great Sabaean temple of Awwam near Marib in inscription Ja 565, which mentions that ‘the people of Gadanum have dedicated to Almaqah Tahwan... during the military campaign [which] they fought in obedience to their lords’ (Robin 1995). The personal name rklm (Phillips-Hamid 1 and 2) is attested in inscription Sab. Fa. 13 and in inscription Qar. Ghul NQI 10/1; and without the -m in Min RES 3820 (Beeston 1995b). The personal names Sbhhmw and Zbym (Ja 2895) are not attested in other known Sabaean texts (Beeston 1995b). The origin of the names Db’n and Sbhhmw from inscription Ja 2896 has not been addressed by epigraphers.

Al-Hamid has revealed the richest selection of inscriptions from the Tihamah, comprising ten monumental Sabaic inscriptions as well as inscribed sherds. The 16 inscribed sherds found between 1994-1998 exhibit either incised or (less frequently) applied ESA letters. Most are fragmentary and generally consist of only one letter, with the exceptions of the name wfh-m (Phillips 1997) and a name transcribed as Aslan, from the northern courtyard complex (Phillips 2000a).

Finally, the most recently discovered inscription, PhillipsHamid 4 records the name of a man, Dubas, his father, “the person to whom he was servant” (Phillips 2000a, 6), and his clan name (which remains unpublished). Epigraphers have not yet investigated the origin of the names.

Of the ten monumental inscriptions, nine were found in Area A and one came from the northern courtyard complex (Phillips-Hamid 4). Eight of the inscriptions from Area A and Phillips-Hamid 4 are drafted onto ashlar masonry, while the ninth is drafted onto a boulder. All of those from Area A have been discussed in an unpublished article by Beeston (1995b), five of which have also been considered by Jamme (1981). Phillips-Hamid 4 has not been formally translated (2000a). Therefore, the following section will focus on the inscriptions from Area A.

Three monumental inscriptions have been discovered at Waqir, just west of al-Hamid on the Wadi Siham; none has been published. The monumental inscription (PhillipsWaqir 1) is drafted onto a large granite block, which was 89

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH I N removed from the site and taken to the Hodeidah museum by local workmen. Phillips-Waqir 2 is drafted onto an in situ rock surface about 75m away from the exposed building remains. Phillips discovered a third monumental inscription in 1999-2000 but the medium and location are unspecified. It has not been formally translated (2000a). The first two inscriptions have been translated and commented on in an unpublished report by Beeston (1995b).

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photograph taken in 1977, is represented by the letters wd’b. Phillips (1999a) observed that the word wd’b has usually been interpreted as an apotropaic formula (i.e. having the power to avert evil). Inscriptions containing the wd’b formula are distributed throughout many of the major settled areas of Arabia (Phillips 1999a). For example, it is attested on the southern coast of Arabia, at the important handling posts in ancient Hadramawt and Qataban, up to Najran, Qaryat al-Faw and Thaj, and also in the area of Gerrha in north-east Arabia (Doe 1979). It has also been found in eastern Arabia, for example on the island of Bahrain and the site of Mleiah in the United Arab Emirates (Robin 1994). Beeston (1995a) suggested that, assuming the original provenance of the inscription was not too far from its present location, then the inscription indicates the presence of a fairly significant town in the late period. This idea derives from the proximity of the site to, or possible identification with, the archaeologically unlocated port of Mouza, which the PME (mid 1st century AD) describes as an important place for trading incense.

The first two inscriptions both mention the names of deities and dedicators. Phillips-Waqir 2 mentions the deity Athtar (‘ttr), followed by the deity Almaqah (‘lmqh). (The placement of Athtar before other deities follows the orthodoxy of Sayhad lists of deities.) Phillips-Waqir 1 mentions the god Qrwn, a deity that is not attested elsewhere (Beeston 1995b). Two personal names are also mentioned: Phillips-Waqir 1 quotes the dedicant qdn, and Phillips-Waqir 2 records the name Qlk’mr (Beeston 1995b). The dedicant qdn (who appears with the unknown god Qrwn) in Phillips-Waqir 1 is unattested from the Sayhad region (Beeston 1995b). Beeston noted that the name Qlk’mr from Phillips-Waqir 2 is epigraphically very close to the well-attested Sabaean name Hlk’mr. Alternatively, Jamme (1981) observed that Hkl is attested as a family name in inscription RES 4057B/2, from Saba. However, the exact name, Qlk’mr, is unattested.

The content and language of the inscription from Mocha, which was found reused in a well-head, have not yet been published. Epigraphically, it has been dated to the second half of the 1st millennium BC (Beeston 1995a). Its relevance to the culture-history of the region has not been considered in the literature and is addressed in the end synthesis (Section 5.6.4) of this chapter.

The third, most recently discovered inscription, PhillipsWaqir 3, is a five-line inscription, and is the longest inscription yet known from the Tihamah. Phillips (2000a) stated that it mentions the name of a Sabaean mukarrib and that it reiterates the commands of an earlier mukarrib who asked that the territory be protected from the inhabitants of the north, namely the people of Khulab, Jizan, Nashan and Mawr. The inscription claims that it is identical to one placed in Hadur. It also mentions the god Almaqah. The names of the mukarribs are unpublished, but Phillips has argued they refer to epigraphically attested Sabaean leaders. Phillips (2000a) connected ‘Nashan’ with the site of Nashan in the Jawf. He argued that ‘Khulab’, Jizan’ and ‘Mawr’ relate to modern sites that use these names. Thus, he observed that Khulab and Jizan are on the Saudi Tihamah and Mawr is a wadi in the northern Yemeni Tihamah. Finally, he related Hadur to an area by this name in the mountainous area north west and west of Sana’a. We will return to the relevance of this inscription to the culture-history of the Tihamah in the synthesis at the end of this chapter.

5.6 Synthesis: the culture-history of the Tihamah in the Iron Age This final section offers an interpretative synthesis of the culture-history of the Tihamah during the Iron Age, based on all of the available archaeological data presented in this chapter. 5.6.1 Iron Age chronology: a review The chronological markers from each Iron Age Tihami site are first reviewed in order to establish an Iron Age chronological framework for the region. At the start of this chapter, we observed that the Iron Age chronology of the Tihamah depends on the presence of Sayhadrelated data, i.e. Iron Age Sayhad-related ceramics, epigraphy, and architecture. Of these data, Iron Age Sayhad-related pottery - the Sayhad ceramic complex has been identified from all of the Tihami sites attributed to the historic period, with the possible exception of the cursorily published Hodeidah area middens (see below). The absolute chronology of the Sayhad ceramic complex has been based on four C-14 dated, stratified sites from the Sayhad region of the interior, which have revealed that the Sayhad ceramic complex emerged in the mid to late 2nd millennium BC. This indicates that the earliest appearance of Iron Age Sayhad pottery in the interior is contemporary with the earliest securely dated Bronze Age pottery from Sabir (Sabir’s excavated levels are also dated to the mid 2nd millennium BC). This means

A short inscription has been discovered on masonry in the Grand Mosque at Mawza. It was originally thought to contain only three letters mhf, preventing any attempts to understand the content of the original inscription (Beeston 1995a, 240). This translation was based on a photograph taken in 1986. In an unpublished article, Phillips (1999a) noted that plasterwork obscures the first part of the inscription, which, according to a 90

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 that the two traditions could feasibly have coexisted for half a millennium on the Tihamah and indicates that we cannot simply assume that sites with Sayhad-related ware post-date sites with Sabir-related ceramics. It is unfortunate that Sayhad-related pottery has not been identified from Sabir, the only site whose stratigraphy has been examined, since we cannot judge the time or rate at which the Sayhad-related pottery might have been adopted on the Tihamah. Moreover, while a number of sites - Sihi, the Jizan area Iron Age sites, STN, alMidaman - do have evidence of both assemblages, the pottery comes from unstratified contexts, which means that it is impossible to gauge any chronological relationship between the two assemblages. Although the sites with mixed assemblages do have a predominance of either the Sabir- or the Sayhad-related pottery, this could suggest either a chronological differentiation or a cultural disparity, or both chronological and cultural differences. For example, most of the C-14 determinations from Sihi belong to the Bronze Age, which suggests that it was mostly occupied in that period, thus the predomination of Sabir-related pottery at Sihi could indicate a chronological distinction. However, a cultural divergence could explain why Sabir has no Sayhad-related ceramics and why the Sabaean-related site of al-Hamid has no Sabir-related ware, despite the fact that the two sites might well have partly overlapped chronologically. (AlHamid can be dated to at least the 9th or 8 th century BC via the inscriptions (Korotayev 1998; Phillips 1998), which is roughly contemporary with the end of Sabir.)

includes Sabir-related ware since they have worked most extensively with the pottery from those sites. This interpretive anomaly also indicates that the ceramics can, at present, only be used to offer broad dates. In addition, it is to be noted that the ‘local’ Iron Age wares (i.e. not Sayhad- or Sabir-related) identified from alHamid, STN, al-Midaman, Shell Midden II, and Wadi Urq have no chronological anchor, and so it is impossible to offer a date for their appearance. However, Phillips has stated that the ceramics from beneath the excavated patch of floor of the temple at al-Hamid, are identical to those from the surface. If, as this implies, local types were also found beneath the floor, then this indicates that the latter, together with the Sayhadian forms, were in use during the first half of the 1 st millennium BC. The epigraphic evidence can provide more exact dates: in situ inscriptions have been found at al-Hamid and Waqir, which epigraphers have attributed to the Ancient SubPeriod I (the first half of the 1st millennium BC) (Beeston 1995a; Korotayev 1998). The al-Hamid inscriptions have been categorised as very early examples (c.9th or 8th century BC), or, more broadly, to between these dates and 500 BC. The exact date of the inscriptions from Waqir labelled Phillips-Waqir 1 and 2, is more difficult to gauge since the letters are less clearly rendered, being drafted onto a boulder and a granite block, which are both difficult materials to work with. However, the content and style of Phillips-Waqir 3, has indicated a date of c.700 BC (Phillips 2000a). Thus, neither al-Hamid nor Waqir has epigraphic evidence postdating the Ancient Sub-Period I.

In overview, although it is feasible that the two ceramic traditions overlapped in time, it does seem that the Sabirrelated was in use on the Tihamah in the 2nd millennium BC, and that the Sayhad-related ware was present during the 1st millennium BC. However, since the chronological phasing of the Iron Age ceramics from the Sayhad has not yet been clearly established (Edens and Wilkinson 1998) and only limited examples of Iron Age vessels from the Tihamah have been published, it is impossible to refine the Iron Age ceramic chronology from the Tihamah any further on the currently published evidence. Indeed, even the distinctions between the Iron Age and Bronze Age assemblages on the Tihamah have been contested. Thus, Phillips has argued that the STN and al-Midaman assemblages are identical to the assemblage from al-Hamid and that they do not include Sabir-related vessels. “While there might be some similarities in the range of basic shapes and some decorative elements,” writes Phillips (1998, 235), “the two assemblages are in fact quite distinct.” However, Ciuk and Keall (1996) and Keall (1998) have argued that the STN and al-Midaman assemblages do include Sabir-related ware. This disagreement undoubtedly arises from the fact that the assemblages on the Tihamah are at best only preliminarily published. This dilemma also affects our study. The solution adopted here is to follow the verdict of the researchers of each project, as those individuals are most familiar with their own material. Thus, we have accepted Ciuk and Keall’s claims that the STN and al-Midaman ware

A clutch of inscriptions has been identified in the Jizan area, both in situ and in reused contexts, but they have not been palaeographically dated and can therefore only be used to provide a general Iron Age date. In contrast, the reused inscriptions found at the Ali-Mahmul mosque (on the Wadi Mawr, to the south of Jizan), Mocha and Mawza (both to the south of Hodeidah) have been palaeographically dated to the first half of the 1st millennium BC, the 3rd century BC, and between the 3rd6th century AD, respectively. Those from the AliMahmul mosque are drafted in Sabaic, the language of the inscription from Mocha is unknown, while that from Mawza is presumably written in Sabaic (the only language used for ESA inscriptions during the Himyarite period). In overview, most of the palaeographically dated (Sabaic) inscriptions from the Tihamah are attributed to the first half of the 1st millennium BC. The temple from al-Hamid is comparable to Sayhadian architecture and can therefore be dated to the Iron Age. Monumental temples from the Sayhad region have been dated via the inscriptions drafted onto the masonry. This is also the case for the temple at al-Hamid, whose terminus ante quem is put at the Ancient Sub-Period I 91

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH I N owing to the date of the inscriptions. The date of the domestic architecture from al-Hamid and Waqir is unknown; it has been attributed to the Iron Age because of the associated Sayhad-related ware and ESA-inscribed sherds from al-Hamid. The monumental architecture from Farasan Island is too poorly published to tell whether it is comparable to Sayhad Iron Age architecture; there is, for example, no mention of marginally drafted and pecked masonry. However, it too has been dated to the Iron Age because it was found in association with Sayhad-related ceramics. The in situ monumental inscriptions from site 217-92 provide an Iron Age terminus ante quem for the monolithic pillars - yet not necessarily for the rest of the architecture, since their contemporaneity remains to be demonstrated. Finally, Keall (1998) suggested that the monumental structure(s) from al-Midaman date to the Iron Age, although these structures remain undated by any directly associated material.

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extends c.lkm x 2km, site 217-100 is c.500m x 200m (both lie c.15km inland) and sherds extend c.0.5km inland at the coastally located site 217-108. The sites from Farasan Island are a similar size and had comparable ceramics, although some of the island sites also have monumental architecture. Site 217-92 extends over an area of 1km x 1km and includes structures made of large stone blocks and monolithic pillars, one of which is adorned by two in situ inscriptions. Shell midden 217-88 from Farasan Island was even surmounted by a large building. Monumental architecture has been identified at four other sites on the main Farasan Island, but it has not been described. A second group of six Iron Age sites has been studied from the area between the Wadis Siham and Rima. Four Iron Age sites have been recorded from the Wadi Siham, constituting al-Hamid, Waqir, the Wadi Urq site, and Shell Midden II. Al-Hamid and Waqir are distinguished from the other sites by evidence for permanent architecture and epigraphic data. It has been estimated that archaeological material extends over c.30ha at alHamid, which also includes several necropoleis at the fringes of the site (see photograph; Fig. 22). Al-Hamid largely comprises evidence of undressed dry stone walls, which have been interpreted as domestic architecture, as well as a small (c.55m x 35m) temple compound enclosing an ashlar temple. Ten monumental inscriptions have been discovered from alHamid and are dated to the first half of the 1st millennium BC. The site of Waqir, which is about 15km west of alHamid, remains unexcavated and its extent is unknown. Ground plans of rectangular buildings represented by undressed stones covering an area of c.20m x 20m are visible on the surface. These are superficially reminiscent of the domestic architecture excavated from al-Hamid. Three Sabaic inscriptions, dated to the first half of the lst millennium BC, have also been found at Waqir. Two other sites, shell middens with Iron Age evidence, were located in the vicinity of the Wadi Siham. Of these, the Wadi Urq midden lies less than 10km inland from the present coast. It is a large site (c.2530ha), which is represented by a deflation pavement of sherds. The extent of the coastally situated ‘Shell Midden II’ has not been estimated.

In conclusion, the Sayhad-related evidence demonstrates that the sites discussed in this chapter were occupied in the Iron Age. The inscriptions from Al-Hamid and Waqir indicate that they were both occupied at least in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. None of the archaeological sites have any additional chronologically diagnostic data (e.g. coinage) that might help to clarify their date any further. Based on the presence of Sayhad-related pottery, the Jizan area Iron Age sites, Waqir, al-Hamid, alMidaman, and STN can be shown to have been occupied in the Iron Age. Wadi Urq and Shell Midden II might date to that time owing to ceramics that are comparable to the ‘local’ ware from al-Hamid; a date that is tentatively suggested by other data from Wadi Urq, including a fragment of an alabaster bracelet (Tosi 1986a). Although the Sayhad-related pottery indicates an Iron Age date, it cannot be assumed that Sayhad-related pottery sequentially replaced Sabir-related ceramics on the Tihamah. Finally, the two inscriptions from re-used contexts at Mawza and Mocha plus the two coin hoards provide the only data clearly related to a later Iron Age occupation of the Tihamah (i.e. post c.500 BC). 5.6.2 The Iron Age settlements on the Tihamah So far, this chapter has considered each of the Iron Age sites in turn. Now, Section 5.6.2.1 provides a synthesis of the nature and range of Iron Age sites on the Tihamah. Sections 5.6.2.2 and 5.6.2.3 then consider how the Tihami Iron Age settlements might relate to the earlier Bronze Age sites on the Tihamah, and to contemporary Iron Age sites from the interior of South West Arabia, respectively. 5.6.2.1 The character of the Iron Age sites on the Tihamah Iron Age sites in the most northern part of the Tihamah have been identified on the Jizan area mainland and Farasan Island. Those from the Jizan area mainland have been identified from extensive sherd scatters of Sayhadrelated ware. Sites are fairly extensive: site 217-103

View south from al-Hamid: note the building tumble that litters the ground well into the distance. As a result of such building material, the site has been estimated to have been perhaps 30ha. in area.

Fig. 22: View south from al-Hamid. 92

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 Two further sites with Sayhad-related pottery have been located near the Wadi Rima, in the Zabid area. Of these, STN is represented by a deflated sherd scatter, over an area of approximately 20ha. It is about 40km south of the Wadi Siham and 20km inland. Al-Midaman (see Chapter 4) lies less than 2km from the coast and has ceramics scattered over at least 1km2 Al-Midaman has unique monumental buildings as well as standing stones. Keall (1998) published the results of the partial excavation (13m x 13m) of Building A, one of the three monumental stone buildings known to date, although its full extent has not been determined. Building A is represented by rough granite foundations that include basalt pillars and has evidence of internal mud-brick benches. Keall has recently excavated further monumental structures from the site (Keall 2000c.). No epigraphic data have been found at the middens, STN or al-Midaman, with the exception of the possible ‘inscribed’ sherds from al-Midaman.

and the presence of many more sites with monumental architecture, represent the three main cultural changes in the material culture of the Iron Age. It is possible that at a few sites, the Sayhad-related pottery probably was associated with a cultural difference, rather than simply a chronological development. This is indicated by the absence of Sayhad-related pottery at Sabir, and by the lack of Sabir-related ceramics at al-Hamid and Waqir, which might have as much - or more - to do with the pattern of inter-regional contacts, as it has with chronology, particularly as Sabir was abandoned at about the same time as the inscriptions at al-Hamid and Waqir were made. As discussed above, writing appeared early on the Tihamah, although its use seems to have been relatively limited compared to the Sayhad region, where thousands of ESA inscriptions have been found. Finally, the number of Tihami sites with monumental architecture increased from one or two sites in the Bronze Age, i.e. Sabir and possibly al-Midaman (the monumental buildings from al-Midaman remain undated), to six or perhaps eight sites in the Iron Age. The latter are represented by five sites on Farasan Island, al-Hamid, possibly al-Midaman, and potentially at Waqir, where monumental temple architecture is hinted at by one of the inscriptions. However, it is difficult to ascertain the continuity or change in architecture from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age since so few buildings have been described or examined in any detail. Nevertheless, based on the available information, it seems there are few similarities among monumental buildings between - or within - each period. For example, the monumental structures all seem to have different ground-plans and all utilise different building materials: those from Sabir are made of mud-brick, those from al-Midaman are made of unhewn stone, while the temple at al-Hamid is made of limestone ashlar.

The Jizan region (Zarins et al. 1981; 1985; 1986), the Wadi Siham (Tosi 1985; 1986a; Phillips 1996; 1997; 1998; 2000a; 2000b) and the Wadi Rima (Ciuk and Keall 1996; Keall 1998; 2000a; 2000b; 2000c) represent the foci of three principal research projects on the Tihamah. Each project has recovered evidence for a variety of sites in both the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Indeed, the fact that no clear Iron Age evidence has been identified in the Sabir area raises the possibility that we have not recognised sites as being of Iron Age date unless they are culturally linked to the Sayhad region, for example by the presence of Sayhadrelated wares. Thus, we do not yet know what the Iron Age in the southerly stretch of the Tihamah looks like. 5.6.2.2 The relation of the Iron Age sites to the Bronze Age sites on the Tihamah As identified in Chapter 1 (Section 1.5), and in this chapter, the Iron Age Tihamah has been perceived both in terms of a development, or change, from the local Bronze Age. To investigate the likelihood of either trajectory, this section explores evidence of economic, cultural and political continuity and change, between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age sites on the Tihamah.

It is difficult to establish whether there was political stability or change between the two periods on the Tihamah, since the political organisation of the region during the Bronze Age is unclear. Indeed, it is almost certain that we have a very incomplete picture of Bronze Age settlement patterns, given the consistently large size of the known prehistoric sites (with the exception of some of the shell middens, which can be smaller but can be readily visible during archaeological surveys thanks to the distinctive white shells). Although the known Iron Age sites are also all large (and therefore perhaps also not representative of the true spread of settlements), the content of the inscriptions from al-Hamid and Waqir and the temple architecture from alHamid helps in the interpretation of the Iron Age political set-up.

Evidence of cultural and economic continuity between the two periods is indicated by the coastal middens, which do not show any changes from the Bronze Age, other than stylistic alterations in the ceramics. The existence of probable Bronze Age and Iron Age ceramics at alMidaman and STN suggests that they were also inhabited during both periods, however, because of their unstratified nature, it is unclear whether any economic changes occurred between the two periods; for example, it is unclear whether they increased in size in the Iron Age. As at the middens, the only indication of cultural alteration at al-Midaman, and STN is provided by the appearance of Sayhad-related ceramics.

As discussed in Section 5.5.2.4, the inscriptions and temple architecture suggest political links with Saba, and so al-Hamid and Waqir hint at a new political order on the Tihamah that has no clear local antecedents. Furthermore, al-Hamid and Waqir seem to have been occupied in the first half of the 1 st millennium BC and

Indeed, the utilization of Sayhad-related ceramics, writing, 93

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH I N might have appeared at around the time when the complex site of Sabir was destroyed by fire. One might wonder if Sabir was sacked in the context of the establishment of a new Sabaean political order on the Tihamah. However, if that had been so, it is surprising that no Sabaean-related material has been documented from any of the sites known in the southern Tihamah. Likewise, one could speculate whether the ‘Iron Age’ re-use of the pillars at alMidaman also relates to the new political order, which wanted to stamp out local religious expression. In response, there is no evidence of carnage or weapons at Sabir and only one skeleton was recovered (from the ‘religious’ complex), suggesting that the fire may have been accidental, rather than an intentional act of destruction. However, the apparent abandonment of the entire town after the fire does suggest some threat to the former occupants, although we cannot demonstrate that this was Sabaean intimidation. As for al-Midaman, the above-mentioned scenario cannot be shown since we cannot put a date on the reuse of the basalt pillars or even argue that their re-use necessarily represents a loss of their sanctity.

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found in the Central Highlands, as outlined below, which suggests that it was a widespread tradition and was not restricted to the Sayhad region. Owing to the preliminary documentation of South West Arabian Iron Age pottery, it is unclear how long - or how intense - links between the Tihamah and the interior might have been. Finally, it is to be noted that the Jizan area also has pottery with decoration known from the Najran region (directly north of the Sayhad region), which suggests that the northern Tihamah was involved in a distinct set of relations with the Najran region of the interior. Turning to the other Iron Age data, the ESA inscriptions from the Jizan area also suggest links with the Sayhad region, although, with the exception of one inscription that might be in the Minaic language, explicit connections remain unclear and undated. The architecture from the Farasan Island sites has been too cursorily published to gauge if it might be comparable to that of Sayhadian sites. In contrast, the ESA inscriptions and architecture found on the Wadi Siham do indicate specific relations with the Sayhad region at a particular time. Thus, the archaic Sabaic ESA inscriptions from al-Hamid and Waqir, which mention Sabaean gods and family names, provide a close link with the Sayhadian kingdom of Saba in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. Moreover, the temple at al-Hamid hints at early links with Saba, owing to its ground plan and dressed ashlar fabric. However, neither the settlement evidence from al-Hamid nor from the unexcavated site of Waqir are closely comparable to the published examples of domestic architecture from the Sayhad region, i.e. from the sites of ad-Durayb (de Maigret 1990), Hajar Bin Humeid (Van Beek 1969) or Shabwa (Pirenne 1992). The domestic architecture from each of the latter Sayhadian sites is unique; for example, ad-Durayb has evidence of staircases and round buildings that are, as yet, unknown from alHamid and Waqir. Evidence of other Sayhadian towns, such as Baraqish (Doe 1983), is restricted to their surrounding fortification walls, although such walls have not been discovered on the Tihamah.

As indicated above, the view of settlement patterns on the Tihamah in both periods is very incomplete owing to the rarity of known sites, the fact that many sites are quite large, and because so little work has been undertaken in the inner zone of the Tihamah, where the densest agricultural populations might be anticipated. It is therefore impossible to clearly document changes in settlement patterns between the prehistoric and historic periods. However, it is evident that several sites may document continuity between the Bronze Age and Iron Age, while others seem to just belong to either period. Each period represents a substantial length of time that cannot yet be sub-divided to trace more subtle chronological trajectories of individual sites. 5.6.2.3 The relation of the Iron Age sites on the Tihamah to Iron Age sites in the Sayhad region and Central Highlands

It is also apparent that the Iron Age sites on the Tihamah do not possess the obvious signs of wealth, such as elaborate architecture, or artistic sophistication, known from the Sayhad region. Three main reasons for the absence of such evidence on the Tihamah can be suggested. First, after an initial period of cultural, economic, or political contact with Saba (see Section 5.6.5), the Sabaean-related sites on the Tihamah might have developed along different trajectories from the Sayhad region. This could have been related to an increase in importance of the inland Sayhad spice route in the second half of the 1st millennium BC, and an associated cessation of Sayhadian interest in the Red Sea route or relations with Ethiopia (as considered further in Chapter 6, Section 6.10). The second reason for the apparent absence of elaborate art or buildings on the Tihamah could be the residential nature of the known sites in the region, in contrast to the regionally important religious sites, which, replete with sophisticated art and

As indicated in Chapter 1 (Section 1.5), scholars have perceived the Iron Age Tihami sites as the result of migrations. In order to discern whether they coalesced in the context of significant cultural influences from the interior, this section compares the Iron Age material culture of the Tihamah to contemporary evidence, first from the Sayhad region and then from the Central Highlands. As already emphasised, Tihami sites have been attributed to the Iron Age based on the presence of Sayhad-related material (with the exceptions of Wadi Urq and Shell Midden II). Generally, this evidence is represented by Sayhad-related ceramics; however, the mere existence of such pottery on the Tihamah does not necessarily imply direct or continuous connections between the Tihamah and the Sayhad region. For example, comparable Sayhad-related pottery has been 94

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 at least one early temple dedicated to Almaqah in the western zone of the Sana’a region of the northern Central Highlands provides evidence of a potential intervening link, during the Ancient Sub-Period I, between Saba and the Tihamah (Korotayev 1998).

architecture, have been the principal focus for investigation in the Sayhad. Third, highly developed art or architecture might not have survived, or simply remain undiscovered on the Tihamah, given the few sites identified and the small amount of excavation undertaken to date at sites in the region. In overview, at present, the limited amount of specifically Sayhad-related material found on the Tihamah, much of which has been dated to the first half of the 1st millennium BC, suggests that relations between the Tihamah and Sayhad region were relatively restricted in scope and time.

With respect to the rest of the Central Highlands, although still relatively limited, rather more detailed archaeological surveys have been undertaken in the Dhamar area, which have revealed sprawling sites up to 15ha-20ha in area. Many of the sherds noted from the surface of these sites are comparable to the Sayhad ceramic complex, although they tend to be ascribed a (later Iron Age) Himyarite date, consistent with the expectation that links with the Sayhad were only forged at that time (Wilkinson et al. 1997).13 A ‘hierarchical’ settlement pattern of Iron Age sites has been recognised from Dhamar, which is represented by chief settlements (c.20ha), surrounded by a ring of smaller sites (less than 5ha) within c.3km from the main site. Any comparable settlement hierarchy on the Tihamah cannot yet be discerned from the very limited regional investigations undertaken to date.

Turning to the Central Highlands, Iron Age evidence has been uncovered from two areas: from the Sana’a region of the northern Central Highlands and from the Dhamar region, to the south of the Sana’a region (see Chapter 3, Section 3.3.3). The archaeological record of the Sana’a region is relatively poorly known. However, its epigraphic record has been more fully documented, and is represented by numerous monumental inscriptions, most of which date to the Himyarite period, i.e. from about the 1st century BC until the adoption of Islam (Korotayev 1995). A few archaic Sabaic inscriptions are known from three sites that form a band along the western side of the Sana’a region, namely at Raydah, Amran and Shibam (Kawkaban) (Korotayev 1995; 1998). Robin (1982) observed that the archaic inscriptions from the northwestern zone of the Sana’a region claim that the bkl (Bakil) people lived there, a term that he has translated as ‘settlers’. This has led Robin (1995) - and later Korotayev (1998) - to conclude that the northwestern part of the Sana’a region was originally occupied through Sabaean colonisation. This idea might gain further support from the fact that, in a report on the epigraphic data from the Sana’a area, Robin (1982) alluded to the presence of nine sanctuaries dedicated to Almaqah in the north-western zone (around Raydah, Amran and Shibam). These temples appear to be separated from the main zone of Almaqah temples in the Sabaean Sayhad region by a vast stretch of highlands with no temples of Almaqah but with many shrines of a nonSabaean deity Ta’lab (Robin 1982). Although details of these temples have not been published, Breton (1998) has reported that at least one temple dedicated to Almaqah, at Alaw, near Shibam (Kawkaban), has been epigraphically dated to around the 7th century BC, i.e. contemporary with the early inscriptions.

Interestingly, while the very definition of Iron Age occupation on the Tihamah is critically dependent on the recognition of Sayhad-related ceramics, no ‘local’ Iron Age wares from the Dhamar region have been documented on the Tihamah. This may reflect a real behavioural pattern, or it may largely represent a recognition bias, since the Iron Age sites in the Dhamar region have only recently been surveyed, and a preliminary typology of the pottery has been published (Edens 1999). In addition, none of the ceramic assemblages from the Tihamah has been published in detail, which might also explain why ceramic links with ‘local’ Dhamar pottery have not yet been drawn. Similarly, although we might expect the Bakil region to produce Sayhad-related ware, or perhaps even pottery comparable to ‘local’ Tihami Iron Age pottery, no ceramics from the western Sana’a area have been published. In overview, it seems that links between the Sayhad and the Tihamah were relatively limited in both scope and time, since most of the datable elements of Sayhadian culture found on the Tihamah - the inscriptions and temple architecture - seem to belong to the first half of the 1st millennium.14 An early connection between the Tihamah and the interior is also suggested by the discovery of equally archaic Sabaean-related inscriptions from the western part of the Sana’a region. The discovery of vessels related to the Sayhad ceramic complex on the Tihamah does not elucidate the length of time that the Tihamah was involved in relations with the interior,

Unfortunately, since the archaeological data from the Sana’a region - both the pre-Himyarite and Himyarite period evidence - remain unpublished, they cannot be closely compared to that from the Tihamah. The one exception is the elaborate Sabaean temple of alHuqqa in the eastern Sana’a region published by Rathjens and von Wissmann (1932). It has been palaeographically dated to the 1st millennium BC, but in terms of scale and ornamentation, it is quite different from the simple temple architecture from al-Hamid. In overview, the early Sabaic epigraphy and the presence of

13

This arises from the fact that the Dhamar region was home to the Himyarite kingdom and that only one pre-Himyarite inscription was discovered during the Dhamar Survey. 14 I.e. the archaic inscriptions, and possibly the temple from alHamid; only the Bajil hoard of Sabaean coins post-dates the first half of the 1st millennium BC.

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THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE CULTURE-HISTORY OF THE TIHAMAH I N since Iron Age pottery discovered in dated contexts in the interior has been found to be an extremely conservative tradition (Ciuk and Keall 1996). As a result, it is possible that Tihami links with the Sayhad did persist after the mid 1st millennium BC. Yet, since the Sayhad ceramic complex has also been found in the Central Highlands, its discovery on the Tihamah need not necessarily imply direct links between the Tihamah and the Sayhad region.

THE

IRON AGE

Three Iron Age sites have been identified from the inner zone in the Hodeidah to Zabid region. Although their location within the permanently watered part of the Wadi Siham makes it extremely probable that both Waqir and al-Hamid were supported by local agriculture, there is no primary evidence to support this. No landscape surveys or aerial photographic surveys have been undertaken, which might provide evidence of archaic field systems around the sites (so long as they are not deeply buried beneath silt accumulation). Nor have researchers sought evidence for ancient irrigation systems. These might be less obvious than in the inland areas, because sophisticated irrigation methods, such as monumental dams, were not needed to divert the biannual floodwater or water from the wadi; traditional irrigation involves diverting water onto crops using barrages of impermanent vegetal matter, known as ‘bunds’ (Wadi Siham Feasibility Report 1979). Finally, no Iron Age archaeobotanical evidence has yet been found, apart from a single zizyphus seed from al-Hamid, probably because such delicate data have been destroyed by wind deflation and because appropriate recovery techniques have not been used in the investigations at any of the Iron Age sites. The numerous ground stone tools found during the excavation of al-Hamid provide the only (secondary) evidence for crop processing. With respect to animal husbandry at al-Hamid, numerous bones of domesticated sheep and goat bones have been recovered. To date, no faunal data have been recovered from the unexcavated site of Waqir. The third site from this region, STN, is also located in the fertile inner zone. Although unexcavated, the limited surface investigation has produced no evidence for permanent architecture, faunal data, or plant processing tools. While there is no clear evidence that STN was permanently occupied, or that its occupants were agriculturalists, this would appear to be most likely, because of the site’s large size and optimal agricultural location on the fertile zone of the Tihamah.

Finally, as indicated in the previous section, without wellinvestigated and documented Bronze Age sites, it is not possible to trace a local development of the Tihami Iron Age culture from the Bronze Age. The apparent absence of a local developmental trajectory towards the Iron Age sites helps to explain the need for migrationist theories to elucidate their appearance. 5.6.3. Settlement systems In the end synthesis of Chapter 1, we observed that scholars have viewed the Tihamah in terms of a culturally integrated region. This section investigates this issue, by exploring the local settlement systems on the Tihamah. It examines the agricultural basis of the settlements, and the cultural, economic and political links between the Iron Age sites. 5.6.3.1 The agricultural basis of the Iron Age sites on the Tihamah Significant palaeoenvironmental research would be of great help in the interpretation of the agricultural basis of the sites, as outlined in Chapter 4, but in its absence, we have no choice but to (cautiously) use the results of modern environmental studies. Unfortunately, in the case of the Jizan area mainland or Farasan Island, the contemporary - or ancient - agricultural potential is unknown, since no palaeo- or modern environmental studies have been undertaken on the Saudi Tihamah. Moreover, the only information of the Iron Age economy derives from Farasan Island, and comes mainly from the sounding from the structure on midden 217-91. Unsurprisingly, the middens indicated a marine economy. Midden 217-91 produced a fishhook, shells, fish bones and possible net floats; it also revealed animal bones, although no information has been published about their species, or whether they were wild or domesticated. No plant processing tools have been recorded from any of the sites on Farasan Island or from the Jizan mainland. The Iron Age sites on the mainland have not been excavated, so the economy of these sites remains unknown.

The remaining Iron Age sites in the Hodeidah to Zabid area - i.e. the middens and al-Midaman - have been located in the less fertile outer (near-coastal) zone. By definition, the shell middens provide evidence of a marine economy; although many middens also have ground stone tools that might have been used to process crops. There is no recorded settlement evidence from the Iron Age middens; however, none have had even limited test excavations. Therefore, it remains unclear whether any were permanently settled; it is possible that some might simply have been marine food-processing sites. Finally, the megalithic site of al-Midaman is also located close to the coastline. Keall (2000b) has suggested that its inhabitants practised agriculture during an unsubstantiated period of particular fertility during the 3rd/2nd millennia BC. Based on modern agricultural practices in the outer zone of the Tihamah, it is more likely that the inhabitants of al-Midaman will have practised local agriculture during the seasonal monsoon rains.

Thankfully, contemporary environmental studies have been undertaken on the Yemeni Tihamah, including in the Hodeidah to Zabid region (as discussed in Chapter 2, Section 2.2). They have revealed that the inland half of the Tihamah is the most fertile area owing to the combination of rich silt and wadis that are perennially watered (Wadi Siham Feasibility Report 1979). 96

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 5.6.3.2 Cultural connections between sites on the Tihamah

sites that lack inscriptions since most of the latter remain unexcavated. As a result, inscriptions could simply remain undiscovered, or, their absence could reflect a lack of suitable contexts, such as monumental temples, at the other sites.

Cultural links can be identified from elements such as a shared language, shared religion, shared ideas of origin and shared material culture. To begin to gauge cultural similarities between the Iron Age Tihami sites, this section examines the parallels in their material culture; the epigraphic record is used to consider religious links, a common (written) language, or a claimed universal origin.

However, a number of other differences are apparent in the Iron Age archaeological record of the various sites on the Tihamah, suggesting that there were cultural differences between them. For example, a range of idiosyncratic Iron Age architecture has been found. It is represented by the undated monumental building from al-Midaman and the cursorily described buildings from Farasan Island, which include a structure flanked by columns and an isolated structure built on top of a midden, and by the Sabaean-related temple at alHamid. Only the domestic architecture from the neighbouring sites of Waqir and al-Hamid appears to be comparable.

With respect to the material culture, some comparable types of pottery have been identified at all of the Iron Age sites on the Tihamah. The discovery of Sayhad-related ceramics at all of the sites (or al-Hamid related pottery in the case of Wadi Urq and Shell Midden II) suggests that there were links between the Tihami sites. The apparent absence of Sayhad-related pottery at the two shell middens indicates that the latter were never directly tied into Sayhad-type linkages.

In overview, the existing evidence suggests that the Tihamah was occupied by diverse Iron Age cultures, with just al-Hamid and Waqir showing explicit evidence of cultural connections with each other.

Although Sayhad-related pottery has been identified from the Jizan area (in the northern Tihamah), distinctive Najran-related decoration has only been found on pottery from the Jizan area, which could indicate that the northern Tihamah was not connected with the Hodeidah area (mid-way on the Tihamah). Finally, the Sabir area (in the southern Tihamah) has no evidence for Sayhad-related pottery, which might reflect a cultural, as well as perhaps a chronological difference. However, as emphasised earlier, although the destruction and abandonment of Sabir has been C-14 dated, it is not clear whether other Bronze Age sites (replete with Sabir-related ceramics) were only occupied in the Bronze Age, or whether they represent local traditions that continued into the Iron Age, but that were not linked to the Sayhad region.

5.6.3.3 Economic connections between sites on the Tihamah There is no clear evidence of economic links between sites from different regions of the Tihamah (such as between the Jizan and the Hodeidah area). Indeed, as outlined above, the presence of Najran-related decoration in the Jizan area, but not elsewhere on the Tihamah, hints that there were no long-distance connections between sites from different parts of the Tihamah. Moreover, researchers have not reported the presence of natural resources specific to particular regions of the Tihamah, which might allow us to determine economic connections between different areas.

The inscriptions from al-Hamid and Waqir mention common (Sayhadian) gods in the Sabaic language. This provides the most explicit evidence of Iron Age cultural connections on the Tihamah, and with Saba, between at least some - possibly the elite part, as discussed in Section 5.6.5 - of the population of those sites. The Jizan area inscriptions do not provide comparable evidence of cultural connections between the sites on the northern Tihamah since their content and language remains elusive. However, one Jizan area inscription might have been written in Minaic, which at least suggests that the northern Tihamah may have had a different culture, or pattern of cultural influence, from the Hodeidah region. The latter is further suggested by the content of inscription Phillips-Waqir 3, which claims a political dichotomy between the northern and southern Tihamah (see Section 5.6.3.4). Finally, the fact that epigraphic data have only been discovered at alHamid, Waqir, and Site 217-92, need not indicate that those sites were culturally distinct from the Iron Age

At best, it is possible to suggest that economic links might have occurred between the two (inland and coastal) zones of the Tihamah. Thus, evidence for economic interaction between the coast and the interior is suggested by the presence of marine shells at al-Hamid; a pattern also documented in the Bronze Age by the fish bones at Sabir. 5.6.3.4 Political connections between sites on the Tihamah A settlement pattern - such as a hierarchy of sites - would help to determine the political organisation of the Tihamah. However, no pattern is apparent on the Tihamah since so few sites are known, and no systematic regional fieldwork has been undertaken. Despite this situation, evidence from al-Hamid and Waqir does allow us to explore their political relationship to Saba, and ultimately to one another.

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THE

IRON AGE

The Sabaean-related data from al-Hamid (inscriptions and temple) and Waqir (inscriptions) indicate that at least some members of both sites followed the Sabaean religion, and in doing so they appear to have been claiming political allegiance to Saba. Such political connections can be suggested for three main reasons. First, the inscriptions from both sites refer to the chief Sabaean god, Almaqah, who, in the Sayhad region, was only invoked by the Sabaean people to demonstrate their allegiance to the Sabaean kingdom (Beeston 1984). Second, the use of Sabaean-related temple architecture at al-Hamid might have been emblematic of a political adherence to Saba, since each Sayhadian kingdom symbolised their political and cultural unity through the use of common temple styles (Darles 1997). Finally, inscription PhillipsWaqir 3 claims political connections between the southern Tihamah and Saba. Taking its content literally, Phillips (2000a) has suggested that this inscription indicates that the (Yemeni) Tihamah was closely allied to Saba.

at Waqir and al-Hamid15 indicate that there were people on the coast who wrote Sabaic in the first half of the 1st millennium BC, which in turn suggests that there were relations between Saba and the Tihamah. The potential political and cultural functions of the inscriptions from alHamid and Waqir have already been considered in Section 5.6.3.2 and 5.6.3.4. Here, it is pertinent to note that only two inscriptions found on the Tihamah clearly date to after Ancient Sub-Period I - i.e. the reused inscriptions from Mawza and Mocha (the Jizan area inscriptions are undated). This suggests that relations between the Tihamah and Saba were strongest during the first half of the 1st millennium BC, the period of early Sabaean supremacy, although clearly the sample is too small and biased to argue this point forcefully. Nevertheless, the archaic inscriptions do change the scholarly perception that the Tihamah only played a part in pre-Islamic South West Arabian history in the 1st millennium AD, when the region is first mentioned in the epigraphic corpus.

However, on balance it seems that the political association of the Yemeni Tihamah with the Sabaean kingdom was relatively limited. Thus, political links between the Tihamah and Saba seem to have been short-lived, since they are only suggested by the archaic inscriptions and the one-phase, archaic ashlar temple at al-Hamid, and are not attested in the ESA inscriptions found in the interior until the 1st millennium AD. Moreover, although the inscriptions from al-Hamid and Waqir do suggest that at least some of the population of those sites were (at least nominally) claiming political allegiance to Saba, it is possible to interpret such assertions in terms of largely local political competition, and in a context where there were few direct political connections between the Tihamah and Saba. In this scenario, the presence of Sabaean-related architecture and inscriptions at al-Hamid and Waqir could signify local Tihami emulation of the Sabaean culture, perhaps by the elite, or even simply some of the elite, at those sites, in order to legitimate or increase their status. Indeed, imitation of the Sabaean culture must have been particularly appealing to the Tihami elite during the first half of the 1st millennium BC - the time when the inscriptions and temple from al-Hamid and Waqir seem to have been created - since that was exactly when Saba was the most powerful Sayhadian kingdom, according to the epigraphic record.

With respect to the undated, laconic inscriptions from the Jizan area, they provide rather less information about connections. However, researchers have suggested that the text from Al-Qisar village (on Farasan Island) might be drafted in Minaic; if so, then it provides evidence of possible links between Farasan Island and Main (the kingdom centred in the Jawf). Based on external textual sources, historians maintain that the Minaean kingdom controlled the incense trade from South West Arabia to Najran and thence to the north (Müller 1988), which fits well with the discovery of ceramics in the Jizan area that are decorated with designs known from the Najran region. It is unsurprising that trade between Main and the Jizan area is not mentioned in ESA texts, since trade is almost never referred to in the Arabian ESA corpus. Finally, the fact that most of the known Jizan area inscriptions come from the Farasan Island is striking and could suggest that there was something special about the island (an idea that also arises from the presence of monumental architecture at several sites and the newly-published Latin inscription (Phillips et al. 2004)). It is possible that the islanders controlled or exploited sea-borne Red Sea trade particularly since the region along the northern Tihamah mainland coast was difficult to navigate. 16 The Latin inscription may also hint at a Roman involvement in Red Sea trade from Farasan Island.

5.6.4 The epigraphic data from the Tihamah: evidence of connections

In conclusion, the inscriptions demonstrate links between the Yemeni Tihamah and Saba, as well as possible links between the Jizan area and Main. Most of the dated inscriptions have been attributed to the first half of the 1 st millennium BC, indicating that there were early connections between the Tihamah and the interior.

It is evident from the previous sections that the inscriptions found on the Tihamah serve a key role in establishing relations between sites on the Tihamah and other regions of South West Arabia. This section focuses on how the inscriptions suggest links with the South West Arabian interior.

15

Re-used archaic inscriptions, which are likely to originate from the Tihamah, have also been recorded from the Ali-Mahmul mosque located near the Wadi Mawr. 16 According to the PME, the area before the Burnt Island (identified as Jabal al-Tair, around the Hodeidah area (Casson 1995), was dangerous because of its forbidding geography and its inhabitants (Huntingford 1980).

The archaic Sabaic inscriptions discovered on the Tihamah

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THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 Nonetheless, it seems that the Tihamah was not of any great political or economic importance to the interior societies, or indeed to overseas cultures, until the 1st millennium AD, when the Tihamah - and its relations with Ethiopia - is first mentioned in the ESA corpus of the interior (as discussed further below).

distant relations, however limited, with Ethiopia or the Tihamah. The written sources first refer to the Tihamah in the late 1st millennium BC, when it is recorded in the ‘Classical’ accounts of Red Sea trade. As mentioned above, the Tihamah is first mentioned in the Arabian ESA sources during the 1st millennium AD, which is concurrent with the period of Ethiopian Aksumite exploitation of the Red Sea. Indeed, the Sayhadian interest in the Tihamah, from perhaps the 3rd century AD, could be linked to Aksum’s use of the Red Sea as a major trade artery, which must have threatened the dominant position of the South West Arabian kingdoms as traders of luxury goods along the inland Sayhad route. Certainly, the loss of a dominant trading position by the Sayhadian kingdoms might explain why South West Arabian coinage apparently stopped being minted after about the 3rd century AD. Paradoxically, despite the references to the Tihamah in the historical texts, almost no archaeological evidence found on the Tihamah clearly post-dates the first half of the 1st millennium BC, apart from the two coin hoards and two re-used inscriptions. While this might, to a degree, reflect the nascent stage of archaeological research on the Tihamah, we also do not know what local, nonSayhad-related, later Iron Age evidence on the Tihamah would look like, so it is not possible to be certain that the known Iron Age sites did not continue to be occupied long after the decline in Sayhadian influences in the mid 1st millennium BC.

5.6.5 Relations between the Tihamah and the inland Sayhad region The early date of many of the Sabaic inscriptions, together with the archaic character of the Sabaean-related temple at al-Hamid, suggests that the Tihamah might have been part of an early cultural, political, and economic expansion of the Sabaean kingdom. The equally early Sabaeanrelated data from the Bakil area of the northern Central Highlands provide evidence of the route that such a connection might have taken. Moreover, the Sabaic epigraphic evidence from Ethiopia (Chapter 6, Section 6.8.1) also dates to the Ancient Sub-Period I, indicating that Sabaean connections extended west, well beyond the Tihamah, and into the Horn of Africa at that time. The data from both the Tihamah and Ethiopia suggest that a direct Sabaean presence or influence generally occurred in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. It also appears that such links were limited in scope, since they seem mainly to have affected the upper echelon of society. This observation opens up the possibility that the Tihami - and pre-Aksumite - elite aimed to emulate the culture of the politically dominant Sayhadian Sabaean kingdom, perhaps to legitimate their local social standing, rather than that there was an en-masse migration of Sabaeans to the Tihamah or Ethiopia.

5.6.6 Relations between the Tihamah and the Horn of Africa The above discussion has touched on the relations between the Tihamah and the Horn of Africa. Although connections between the two regions are historically documented in the lst millennium AD, no clear archaeological materials originating from the Horn of Africa have been recovered on the Tihamah, apart from the al-Madhariba gold coin hoard, which would have been buried after the mid 6th century AD.

But if there were early links with Saba, why do the Tihamah and Ethiopia appear to have developed along independent trajectories both from each other, and from the Sayhadian interior, in the second half of the lst millennium BC (or at least no longer show any evidence of Sabaean influence)? The answer might be linked to the political eclipse of the Sabaeans. During the third quarter of the 1st millennium BC, the Sabaeans lost their dominant position as mukarribs, while the other Sayhadian kingdoms rose in power (Müller 1988). It is feasible to explain the ascension of the other kingdoms partly in economic terms, related to their control over portions of the Sayhad incense route. During the latter half of the 1 st millennium BC, sites along the Sayhad route became increasingly wealthy and buildings became ever more elaborate, Hellenistic and Classical-style iconography appeared - such as the cherubic lion-riders from Timna - as did an international monetary system, modelled on Greek prototypes. It is possible that in response to the political and economic growth of the other kingdoms, Saba would have been forced to focus its attentions on controlling its position on the Sayhad incense route - over and above maintaining any more

However, there is archaic (early 1st millennium BC) Sabaean-related archaeological evidence in the Ethiopian highlands, and these so-called ‘pre-Aksumite’ data imply that there were links between Saba and the Horn of Africa at that time, which probably occurred across the Tihamah. The similarly early Sabaean-related evidence from the Tihamah seems to provide archaeological documentation of such relations and present a new dimension to understanding these links. Moreover, scholars have recently suggested, largely on the basis of the prehistoric data from the Tihamah (discussed in Chapter 4), that connections between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia existed before the historic pre-Aksumite period. The objective of Chapter 6 is to present and examine the disparate evidence for prehistoric and historic links between South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa in detail.

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CHAPTER 6 RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA TH TH FROM THE 6 MILLENNIUM BC TO THE 6 CENTURY AD Prehistoric investigations in the Horn began over a century ago1 with the surface-collection and description of diverse lithic finds by non-archaeologists, including European travellers, colonial administrators and scientists. During the 1920s, the archaeologists Azais and Chambard (1931) recorded thousands of megaliths, tombs and stelae of unknown date throughout the Horn. Their work laid the foundation for all future work on these monuments (Brandt 1997).

6.1. Introduction “Recent work along the Tihamah coastal plains of Saudi Arabia and Yemen promises to provide the most consistent evidence [of connections between Arabia and Africa] upon which to build” (Tosi 1986b, 463). The previous chapters have noted a series of links between South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa, which are now examined from the African perspective. This chapter reviews and assimilates the diverse data from the Horn of Africa that may document relations between the two regions from about the 6th millennium BC to the 6th century AD.

The first professional prehistoric archaeological excavations were undertaken by Tielhard de Chardin and de Monfried (Tielhard de Chardin 1930) at Porc Epic Cave in eastern Ethiopia and by Graziosi (1940) in Somalia. They established the first Stone Age lithic sequences for the Horn. Graziosi (1940) also uncovered the first evidence for domesticated cattle and ovicaprines, but did not pursue questions related to cereal agriculture, despite the hypothesis that Ethiopia was one of the eight world centres of the origin of cultivated plants (Vavilov 1926).

Following a brief historiographic overview of archaeological research in the Horn of Africa (Section 6.2), Chapter 6 is divided into two main parts: Part I relates to the prehistoric period (from the 6th-1st millennia BC) and Part II explores the historic period (1st millennium BC-6th century AD). This prehistoric/historic division corresponds to Chapters 4 and 5 respectively, but also “reflects the different theoretical, methodological, topical and historical trajectories these temporal subfields have taken” within the archaeology of the Horn of Africa (Brandt 1997, 69).

J. D. Clark’s seminal work Prehistoric Cultures of the Horn of Africa (1954) remains the only major attempt to place the Stone Age of the Horn of Africa into a regional and pan-African culture-historical framework. Clark (1954) made a typology for lithic finds and developed a stylistic sequence for the numerous rock-art sites. During the 1950s and 1960s, largely theoretical approaches to understanding the evolution of food production in the Horn of Africa were developed (owing to an absence of archaeobotanical and faunal data from this region). These approaches centred on migrationist arguments (Murdock 1959; Clark 1962; 1967).

6.2 A history of archaeology in the Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa is marked by environmental and physiographical diversity: mountain massifs reach a maximum altitude of over 4600m and lowlands dip to just over 100m below sea level. There are both extensive areas of extreme aridity and some of Africa’s most arable soils (Brandt 1997). This variation has conspired to produce an equally diverse archaeological record (Phillipson 1993). However, archaeological research in the Horn of Africa has been relatively limited - the result of a complex series of political, social, academic and ideological factors, combined with logistical difficulties that have restricted research to more accessible areas (Brandt 1997). These issues, together with the wealth of archaeological material, are highlighted in the following historiographical review, which provides a background to a discussion of the archaeology of the region. The overview is divided into research concerning the entire prehistoric period (to the 1st millennium BC) and the historic period (from the 1st millennium BC until the 6th century AD).

Two important palaeoanthropological projects were begun in the late 1960s. One was centred on sites along the banks of the Awash River in highland central Ethiopia and revealed a culture sequence that spanned more than 1 million years (Chavaillon 1979). The second uncovered the world’s earliest securely dated archaeological sites (dated to 2.3-2 million years ago) at exposures at Omo, north of Lake Turkana in southern Ethiopia (Chavaillon 1971; Merrick 1976). Political and military conflicts led to the cessation of fieldwork in large parts of the Horn of Africa after 1974. Scholars then turned their field interests to southern Ethiopia and highland eastern Ethiopia where they 1

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The explorer Revoil is credited with the first documented account [in 1882] of a prehistoric site (Brandt 1997).

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA focused on describing and classifying the stelae and megaliths first recorded by Azais and Chambard (1931). This work persisted into the 1990s (Joussaume 1995). During the 1970s, archaeologists also continued to explore theoretical models for the evolution of food production. Scholars emphasised the indigenous origins of food production (Ehret 1976; 1979) and investigated the processes involved in the transition from hunting and gathering to food production (Brandt 1984). The shift from migrationist to increasingly autochthonous interpretations reflected the general intellectual shift towards local explanations within all areas of African archaeology over the last 25 years.

systematic excavations, at Yeha, Aksum and at the Eritrean coastal site of Adulis (see Fig. 3). The Bents (accustomed to South West Arabian epigraphy having previously undertaken travels in Yemen), also recorded Sabaic inscriptions that predated Aksumite levels (labelled the ‘pre-Aksumite’ period by Anfray in 1967). In the early 20th century, Italian archaeologists excavated at Adulis and carried out a detailed archaeological, geographical, and geological survey of the Eritrean Plateau (Danelli and Marinelli 1912). The Deutsche Aksum-Expedition (Littmann et al. 1913) conducted systematic studies on the route from Asmara to Aksum and surveyed the site of Aksum and its environs.

From 1982 until 1990, all palaeoanthropological and archaeological research in Ethiopia led by non-Ethiopians was halted by the Ethiopian government, which suspended permits to foreign expeditions (Brandt 1997). In Somalia, archaeological fieldwork only resumed in 1982 after a gap of almost 20 years (Brandt 1997). Prehistoric research in both Somalia and Djibouti has been characterised by rapid reconnaissances and small test excavations (for example, at the Djibouti dwelling sites and middens: Ferry 1981; Grau 1981a; 1981b; 1981c; Amblard 1991; Gutherz 1991; Joussaume 1991). However, since the mid 1990s, large areas of Djibouti and Somalia became inaccessible due to heightened political tensions. This was also the case for Eritrea and Ethiopia in the late 1990s, although archaeologists are currently working in those countries.

No further significant pre-6th century AD historical research was undertaken in the Horn of Africa until the 1950s, when the Ethiopian Institute of Archaeology was established. Under its director, Anfray, a number of excavations were undertaken by the French archaeological mission at sites from both periods. The pre-Aksumite evidence is represented by ESA inscriptions, monumental architecture, and iconographic elements, which compare with South West Arabian Sabaean examples. Although less well known than the Aksumite culture, the pre-Aksumite culture has played a contentious role in the interpretation of Ethiopian history. Some scholars argued that the pre-Aksumite culture was the result of Sabaean colonists or immigrants (e.g. Bent 1893; Littmann 1913; Nielson 1927; Conti Rossini 1928; Doresse 1957; von Wissmann 1953; Jamme 1962; Anfray 1967; Mekouria 1981; Tosi 1986b). Others have stressed the local development of the pre-Aksumite culture and thus minimised any South West Arabian influences (e.g. Fattovich 1977; 1990; Isaac and Felder 1988; Munro-Hay 1991; 1993; for an extreme example of the latter stance see Bekerie 1997, who wrote of the mythical external paradigm of South West Arabian influences on Ethiopian history).

During the 1980s, the Gash Delta of the SudaneseEritrean border was surveyed and over 140 sites thought to cover some eight millennia were located (from the 6th millennium BC to pre-modern times) (Fattovich 1984; 1989a; 1989b; 1990; 1991a). One of these, the stratified site Mahal Teglinos, was excavated and has provided a cultural sequence spanning the 4th through 1st millennia BC (Fattovich 1991a). Because of a few ‘administration tokens’ found at Mahal Teglinos, and the Nubian-related pottery found in the region, the Gash Delta has been interpreted as the gateway to Punt, the historically attested but archaeologically unlocated region with which the Egyptians traded (Fattovich 1990; see Chapter 2, Section 2.3.1). Investigations at Mahal Teglinos continued into the 1990s (Fattovich 1993).

During the 1970s, the British and Americans dominated Aksumite archaeology. Excavations began at Aksum (Chittick 1973-4), and environmental studies were undertaken in the area (Butzer 1981). During the 1980s, western scholars, unable to excavate in Ethiopia, reassessed and synthesised the previously excavated data. As was the case for the prehistoric period, emphasis was placed on the autochthonous development of preAksumite and Aksumite society (e.g. Fattovich 1980; Munro-Hay 1991). Political problems have precluded much research during the 1990s, although two major historical excavation programmes have been undertaken at Aksum in Ethiopia (Phillipson 1995; Bard and Fattovich 1997). Finally, during the 2000s, a number of additional small-scale investigations, with a focus on the agricultural evidence from Ethiopia have been carried out (Finneran and Phillips 2004; Phillips et al, 2004).

Research into the historic period (c.1st millennium BC to our cut-off date in the 6th century AD) in the Horn of Africa has focused on the pre-Aksumite and the Aksumite cultures, both of which are known from Eritrea and Ethiopia. The pre-Aksumite period is dated to the first half of the 1st millennium BC and the Aksumite period to the first seven centuries of the 1st millennium AD; the ‘intermediate period’ refers to the time between these two eras. The explorer Salt (1805) first published inscriptions from a stela at Aksum. He was followed, almost a century later, by the Bents (1893), who undertook the first

It is evident from this review that historical work has been centred on Ethiopia and Eritrea; almost none has 102

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 emphasis on animal or plant remains (Marshall 2000). (As a result, rather than dividing the evidence according to the prehistoric and historic period, which would break up the flow of the arguments, all of the pre-Islamic faunal and botanical data are discussed in Part I.)

been undertaken in Somalia or Djibouti. Indeed, the principal historical investigation undertaken in either of the latter regions is represented by a British survey led by Chittick in 1976 along the Somali coast, in which he uncovered Islamic ruins and a possible port at Ras Hafun that may date to Ptolemaic or Roman times (Smith and Wright 1988), but which possibly last as late as the 5th or 6th century AD owing to the presence of Parthian and Sasanian pottery (St John, pers. comm. 2004).

6.3.1 The dissemination of domesticated plants Archaeobotanical evidence of domesticated plants has largely been retrieved from Horn of Africa sites since the 1980s. These data have led scholars to propose complex theories for the dispersal of cultivars. Before exploring these models, it is necessary to briefly summarise the relevant evidence.

Finally, it is necessary to add a note about nomenclature. As mentioned in Chapter I, this thesis refers to Eritrea and Ethiopia collectively as Ethiopia. This is in line with the literature, avoids excessive repetition, and reflects the common heritage of the area (following Phillipson 1998). Secondly, in keeping with the chronological terminology of the previous chapters of this thesis, and for brevity’s sake, the era before the 6th century AD of the Horn of Africa is referred to as pre-Islamic. This periodisation is not typically applied to the Horn of Africa, which according to the region’s history, was predominantly Christian after the 4th century AD. PART I: PREHISTORIC millennia BC)

EVIDENCE

Crops discovered in pre-Islamic contexts can be subdivided into plants of western Asian origin, Ethiopianorigin, and of an African - but not necessarily Ethiopian origin. The oldest known archaeobotanical evidence for domesticated crops in the Horn of Africa is represented by species of Near Eastern origin. These comprise legumes and a single, unconfirmed, fragment of domesticated barley, which were found at the stratified site of Mahal Teglinos, Kassala on the SudaneseEthiopian border (Fattovich and Piperno 1982; Costantini et al. 1983). Their position within the C-14 dated stratigraphy of Mahal Teglinos provided dates of 25001000 BC. Domesticated strains of hulled and naked barley, chickpea and legumes (Dombrowski 1970; 1971; Andrea et al. 1999) have been found in the Lalibela cave near Lake Tana in north central Ethiopia. They have been dated to c.500 BC by association with other material evidence from the poorly stratified rock shelter. Domesticated wheat and barley from Aksum has been dated by its association with charcoal to c.400 BC (Bard and Fattovich 1995; Bard et al. 1997). Domesticated wheat, barley, and lentils dated to c.300 BC (Bard and Fattovich 1996) have also been recovered from Aksum.

(c.6th-1st

“No relevance has been attached to [South West Arabia’s] relations with Africa before the assumed Sabaean influence in the formation of the Aksumite state of highland Ethiopia, around 500 BC” (Tosi 1986a, 462). Part I first investigates the major question of the dissemination of domesticated plants and animals between the Horn of Africa and South Arabia. It then draws together and examines the prehistoric African data that have been explicitly linked to the Tihamah in the literature, namely obsidian finds, ceramics and megalithic monuments. In examining these connections, this study runs against the traditional Arabianist perception that the Red Sea corridor - ranging in width from c.25km by the tip of Bab-al Mandab, to c.400km in the Jizan area - was a formidable barrier in the prehistoric period (Caton Thompson 1957; Van Beek 1967).

Evidence of indigenous Ethiopian or African domesticates in the Horn of Africa appears relatively late, in contexts dated to about the mid 1st millennium BC to mid 1st millennium AD. Indigenous Ethiopian crops comprise the banana-like ensete, noog plant, and finger millet. Tef probably originates from elsewhere in Africa (Harlan 1993). Sorghum might originate in Ethiopia, as argued by Doggett and Prasada-Rao (1995), although Harlan (1993) prefers an origin in the savannahs from Sudan to Chad. There is no clear botanical evidence either way (Fuller, pers. comm. 2000). Archaeobotanical evidence of the Ethiopian or African origin crops has only relatively recently been found during research at Aksum (Boardman 1999; Boardman and Gale 2000) and comprises cultivated tef, which appears in contexts dated to about 500 BC; noog, finger millet and sorghum appear in contexts dated to between the 6th and early 7th centuries AD. Analyses of these data are at a very preliminary stage and the evidence is extremely limited. For example, only two grains of finger millet and one grain of sorghum have been identified from Aksum (Boardman 1999).

6.3 The dissemination of domesticated plants and animals The historiographical overview indicated the importance attached to the theoretical study of the development of food production in the archaeology of the Horn of Africa. A number of models related to this issue have envisaged the dispersal of domesticated species between South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa, making the subject of direct relevance to this study. However, it is to be noted that this topic remains largely conjectural since there has been little study of later prehistoric sites in the Horn of Africa. Indeed, substantially more archaeological research has been done on Aksumite sites dating to the 1st millennium AD, although thus far with very little 103

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA region (Costantini 1990; see Chapter 3, Section 3.4.1). Domesticated strains of sorghum have also been identified from an early date in South East Arabia. Thus, one complete and one fragmentary charred grain of apparently domesticated sorghum have been recorded from an early 4th millennium BC context from site RH5 at Qurm, Oman (Cleuziou and Costantini 1980). Charred seeds, identified as domesticated sorghum and dated to c.3000 BC, have also been found at Hili 8 in Oman by Cleuziou and Costantini (1980). An impression on pottery of three spikelets and two seeds of tentatively identified domesticated sorghum was recovered from the same site, and dated to the mid 3rd millennium BC (Cleuziou and Costantini 1980; see Potts 1994). Domesticated sorghum has also been discovered in the Indian subcontinent (Fuller and Madella 2000). The earliest examples come from Hulas, in Uttar Pradesh, India and have been dated to 1700-1000 BC (Saraswat 1986; 1993). As outlined above, domesticated sorghum is first known from the Horn of Africa in the mid 1st millennium AD; no wild sorghum has been recovered from sites in the region. Elsewhere in Africa, domesticated sorghum is first documented in the 1st century AD at the Nubian site of Qasr Ibrim, where sorghum appears to still be a wild crop in 800 BC.

Wild strains of these plants of African origin have not yet been recovered from Ethiopian sites. Largely before the discovery of these data, a number of models were proposed to explain of the dissemination of domesticated plants. Scholars theorised that crops of Near Eastern or of non-Ethiopian African origin were introduced to the Horn of Africa from North Africa by ‘pre-Nilote’ populations, who migrated southwards in response to climatic deterioration at around the 3rd millennium BC (Murdoch 1959; Clark 1962; 1976). Murdoch and Clark (ibid.) proposed that the northern migrants introduced farming to the Ethiopian indigenes, who then began to cultivate such indigenous plants as tef, noog, and sorghum. Other researchers, notably Steihler (1948), suggested that Near Eastern crops might have entered the Horn of Africa via South West Arabia between 3000-500 BC. However, because of the presence of Sabaean-related material in the Ethiopian highlands in the 1st millennium BC, scholars also proposed that important Ethiopian agricultural developments, such as terrace agriculture or the plough, were introduced from South West Arabia at that time (Clark 1976; Connah 1987). This view has been challenged by academics such as Ehret (1976; 1979; 1982; 1984), whose historical linguistic research indicated that words relating to cereal cultivation, such as barley, wheat and plough are borrowed from Cushitic and not Semitic sources. This led Ehret (ibid.) to suggest that agriculture predated contact with the Semitic writing (and presumably Semitic speaking) Sabaeans.

The three main interpretations for the relatively recent appearance of domesticated sorghum in the Horn of Africa are as follows. Firstly, it has been argued that the relevant botanical data simply remain undiscovered (Phillipson 1993). This could reflect preservation problems, particularly as African-origin crops are apt to disintegrate when charred (Finneran, pers. comm. 2000). The scant recovery of relevant data might also be related to the limited amount of archaeobotanical research undertaken in the Horn of Africa; to support this view, scholars have observed that crops (both of African and western Asian origin) grown in Ethiopia today have a vast genetic diversity. This has suggested a long cultivation history of such crops in Ethiopia, which predates their appearance in the archaeological record (Phillipson 1993; Bower 1995).2

Following the recovery of archaeobotanical data from the Horn of Africa, scholars began to wonder why crops of Ethiopian or African origin appear in the archaeological record long after Near Eastern crops. This question was further complicated by the discovery that sorghum - of Ethiopian or African-origin - occurs much earlier in South Arabia and in the Indian subcontinent than in the Horn of Africa or indeed elsewhere in Africa (discussed below). This finding has led to three main theories concerning the dissemination of domesticated sorghum, which need to be considered since they can help our comprehension of prehistoric connections between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia. Before presenting these theories, the aforementioned evidence of sorghum from the rest of Africa, Arabia, and India is summarised.

The second explanation for the late occurrence of domesticated sorghum in the Horn of Africa focused on its earlier appearance in South West Arabia and beyond. Researchers have proposed that cultivated, but morphologically wild sorghum was exported to India via Arabia and was later reintroduced to Africa as a domesticate (Haaland 1996; Rowley-Conwy et al. 1997). The botanist Harlan (1993) has suggested a slightly different model: that the more primitive strain of domesticated sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) was exported via South West Arabia to India, where it was selected for free-threshing, etc., which caused it to mutate into the

Pre-Islamic evidence of sorghum from the rest of Africa is limited to wild strains of the crop found in the Khartoum area, in contexts dated to between 5000-3000 BC (Hassan 1986a), and from contexts dated to about 800 BC at Qasr Ibrim in Nubia (Rowley-Conwy et al. 1997). Qasr Ibrim has also provided the earliest, most secure evidence for domesticated sorghum, which is dated there to around the 1st century AD (Rowley-Conwy et al. 1997).

2

In South West Arabia, domesticated sorghum has been identified from 3rd millennium BC contexts in the Hawlan 104

However, Harlan (1969) has drawn attention to the fact that the Ethiopian highlands are subjected to strong ultra-violet light, which might have caused mutations in the DNA - possibly resulting in an exceptionally heterogeneous genetic make-up.

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 between the two regions at an equally early date (as Steihler (1948) originally hypothesised for the Near Eastern plants). At the outset of this research, it was expected that the archaeobotanical data would demonstrate links between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia because of the presence of the Africanorigin ‘domesticated’ sorghum in the Hawlan. While this link has not been definitively shown, it remains likely. However, recent research has shown how complex and unresolved this whole issue remains. Therefore, let us turn to the archaeozoological data from the Horn of Africa in order to explore whether they provide more secure evidence for relations between the two regions.

more developed durra variety of sorghum. Harlan suggested that this developed variety of domesticated sorghum was then reintroduced to the Horn of Africa, presumably via South West Arabia. In the third perspective, the status of the archaeobotanical data from South West Arabia and India has been questioned. Fuller and Madella (2000) have queried the evidence for domesticated sorghum from Hawlan. They argued that the photographs of the single sorghum imprint from ar-Raqlah (mid 3rd millennium BC) and the three sorghum imprints from Wadi Yana’im (late 3rd millennium BC) in the Hawlan region (Costantini 1990) are unconvincing. The status of the sorghum from South East Arabia also remains in doubt (Potts 1994; RowleyConwy et al. 1997; Fuller 2000). Finally, Fuller and Madella (2000) have highlighted the problems involved in dating the evidence from the Indian subcontinent as well as the poor quality of the data.

6.3.2 The dissemination of domesticated animals The earliest evidence of probable domesticated cattle, sheep and/or goats in the Horn of Africa comes from levels dating slightly earlier than 1500 BC from Gogoshiis Qabe, Somalia (Brandt and Carder 1987). Teeth of domesticated cattle, dated to about 1500 BC, have been found at Asa Koma in Djibouti (Guerin and Faure 1996). Evidence of domesticated cattle, uncovered from Laga Oda rock shelter on the Somali Plateau near Harar, has been dated to c.1500 BC and is mostly represented by dental fragments (Clark and Prince 1978). Teeth of domesticated cattle discovered near Lake Besaka in the southern Afar Rift have also been dated to c.1500 BC (Carder and Brandt 1982; Brandt and Carder 1987). Dombrowski (1971) recognised the presence of domesticated cattle and ovicaprids from bones at Lalibela and Natchaibet caves, east of Lake Tana in the northern Ethiopian highlands, and dating from about 500 BC. Finally, the bones of domesticated cattle have been found at Aksum and have been dated to c.300 BC (Bard and Fattovich 1996).

The archaeobotanical data from the Tihami site of Sabir (de Moulins 1998), which have been dated to about the 9th century BC, add an important piece to the puzzle of the dissemination of plants, including sorghum: not only do they include Indian origin sesame, which indicates longdistance links with the Indian subcontinent, but they also have morphologically wild strains of sorghum. Four suggestions can be offered for the presence of wild sorghum at Sabir. Firstly, its presence at Sabir could indicate that sorghum grew wild in Yemen at that date (de Moulins 1998; Fuller pers. comm. 2000). Secondly, it might support the suspicion that the domesticated sorghum from South West Arabia and India dated to the 3rd and 2nd millennia respectively has been falsely identified (or in some of the Indian cases, incorrectly dated). Thirdly, the wild sorghum could represent a contemporary import from the Horn of Africa (de Moulins 1998). Finally, the presence of wild sorghum at Sabir may indicate that the Tihamah, or at least the region around Sabir, represents a distinct economic trajectory from the agricultural developments that occurred in the Central Highlands, in which wild sorghum was harvested on the Tihamah whereas domesticated sorghum was grown on the highlands. If so, then it would seem that farming on the Tihamah might not have been the result of a simple migration of agriculturalists from the Central Highlands to the coast in the Bronze Age (as proposed by Ghaleb 1990).

It is important to note that researchers have been unable to demonstrate whether the cattle bones and teeth belong to the humped ‘zebu’ cattle (Bos Indicus), or the humpless cattle (Bos taurus), since identification of the zebu rests on the presence of bifurcated posterior thoracic (spinal) vertebrae and on the shape of the skull (CluttonBrock 1993; Martin pers. comm. 1999). The earliest osteological evidence of zebu has been recovered from a 1st millennium AD context at Aksum in the Horn of Africa (Finneran, pers. comm. 2000). The occurrence of humped cattle figurines from about the 2nd century AD in Aksumite contexts suggests their presence by that time (Marshall 2000).

In overview, although the dynamics of the dissemination of domesticated plants remain uncertain, scholars agree that sorghum – albeit possibly wild sorghum – is present in the Hawlan in the 3rd millennium BC. Unless sorghum naturally grew wild in South West Arabia, then its presence suggests human links between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia in prehistory, and that these links feasibly occurred across the Tihamah. Of course, if sorghum were dispersed between South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa in the 3rd millennium BC, then it is viable that other crops - i.e. those of Near Eastern, or Indian origin - were also disseminated

Based on an overview of the data from the rest of Africa, it seems that domestic cattle were present in most of North Africa (including the Sahara) by at least 4500 BC (MacDonald 2000), although the earliest indications of possible domesticated cattle in Africa date to c.7000 BC (Gautier 1984; Grigson 1991; MacDonald 2000; Marshall 2000). It appears that the goat was first domesticated in the southern Levant (Jordan, Israel/Palestine) by c.7000 BC, while 105

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA Cervicek (1971b; 1979) identified a common ‘EthiopianArabian’ style of pastoral rock art in Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia, which was dominated by humpless bovids rendered in profile with the horns in plan and often with pincer-like legs, and by so-called ‘cattle’ bucrania (i.e. skull and horns or just horns). Such representations have been found at over a hundred rock art sites throughout the Horn of Africa and are concentrated in Ethiopia (Joussaume 1991). In sharp contrast, at Cervicek’s time of writing, only two rock-art sites including such pastoral images were known from Saudi Arabia: in the southern Hedjaz (Cervicek 1971b) and at Jabal Qara (Anati 1968).

domesticated sheep were in that region by c.6600 BC (Legge 1996; MacDonald 2000) but were probably not introduced into North Africa until the 5th millennium BC (Clutton-Brock 1993; Marshall 2000). The faunal evidence from South Arabia was outlined in previous chapters; in overview, domesticated cattle have been identified from the Tihamah in 4th millennium BC contexts (Chapter 4, Section 4.2.3); evidence for domesticated cattle and probably for domesticated sheep and goat comes from 4th millennium BC contexts in the Hawlan region of the Central Highlands (Chapter 3, Section 3.4.1). Domesticated cattle, dated to the 4th millennium BC, have also been identified from South East Arabia (Chapter 3, Section 3.4.1).

While Cervicek maintained that direct links between the two regions were apparent in the similarities of the cattle representations, Anati (1968a; 1968b; 1972; 1974) proposed that such connections were indicated by representations of long-headed anthromorphs - ‘Oval Headed People’ - who were often depicted wearing headdresses. However, Anati’s basis for categorising diverse figures as ‘Oval Headed People’ is in serious doubt, largely owing to his failure to specify the exact components of this style (Khan 1994). Equally problematic is his argument that the art must have been drawn by Africans, which stems from his belief that the human representations “look Negroid” and that “all their cultural baggage is exotic in the area” (Anati 1968a, 180). Finally, comparable human representations have not yet been discovered in the Horn of Africa.

In considering the dispersal of domesticated animals, this discussion will focus on the dissemination of cattle because most work has been carried out on these animals and, secondly, the Indian-origin zebu provides evidence for long-distance links that probably occurred across South West Arabia. Two traditional models have been proposed for the dissemination of domesticated cattle into the Horn of Africa: one was northward-looking and maintained that domesticated cattle were introduced into the Horn of Africa from North Africa (Clark 1958; 1962; 1980). The second, eastward-looking perspective, argued that domesticated cattle were introduced from the Near East via South West Arabia (Steihler 1948).

Thus, although the common presence of stylised cattle in Saudi Arabia and the Horn of Africa may support the idea of the dissemination of domesticated cattle between the two regions (Phillipson 1993), the idea that the art provides evidence of direct links between certain groups of people (such as the ‘Oval Headed People’) at particular times remains tentative. Moreover, it is unclear when such relations occurred since the art has not been absolutely dated. Rather, the chronology of the art is based on an assumed stylistic development, which suggests that the art changed from a naturalistic to a schematic (more abstract) style, as first proposed by Breuil (1934) and later developed by Clark (1954). However, even attempts to relatively date the art soley according to stylistic developments is a subjective exercise, and open to question. Indeed, in attempting such a chronology, Anati has a tendency to minimise or maximise perceived differences or changes in style (Newton and Zarins 2000). It did not help that Anati was working from photographs, since this makes it far more difficult to see the relative chronology of the designs (which underlie which).

More recently, scholars have proposed that humpless cattle (Bos taurus) were introduced from Eurasia to the Sinai and thence to the Horn of Africa, while humped cattle (Bos indicus) came from India via South West Arabia (Blench 1993). However, others have argued that the picture was more complicated (Grigson 1991). This complexity was confirmed by a genetic study of modern African cattle in the mid 1990s (Loftus et al. 1994), which indicated that modern African zebu are the result of complex interbreeding episodes rather than a simple migration of Indian zebu. Although their research was unable to demonstrate when the first interbreeding episode took place, the presence of zebu in the Horn of Africa provides additional - albeit ephemeral - evidence that humped cattle were probably introduced from India across the Horn of Africa.3 In order to understand the date and patterns of dispersal of domesticated cattle between the Horn of Africa and Arabia, researchers have investigated the so-called ‘pastoral’ rock art from the Horn of Africa and Saudi Arabia, which depicts domesticated animals, particularly cattle (Phillipson 1993; Negash 1997).

3

Despite these shortfalls, many individuals support both the relative dates proposed for the rock art, and the notion of direct pastoral migrations across the Red Sea (Joussaume 1991; Fattovich 1997a; Negash 1997 and Barnett 1999). For example, Fattovich (1997a, 281) claims, without foundation, that the common EthiopianArabian style on both sides of the Red Sea demonstrates

It is to be noted that evidence for zebu has not yet been found in South West Arabia, probably because its identification rests on a specific spinal bone and the skull, as mentioned above.

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THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 “a strong interregional interaction, if not a proper movement of people from Arabia to Ethiopia, in the 3rd– 2nd millennia BC”.

Obsidian finds have been reported from many sites throughout the Horn of Africa (Zarins 1990) as well as from the Red Sea Dhalak and Farasan islands (Francaviglia 1988; Fattovich 1997a). However, relatively few obsidian artefacts have been characterised. The idea that obsidian might have circulated between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia becomes plausible when we consider that obsidian has been found far from its original source. Since there are no known obsidian sources in Egypt, any obsidian found there must have been imported. Zarins (1989) undertook new chemical analyses on five of the seven Predynastic obsidian artefacts analysed by Cann and Renfrew and found that they belong to Group 4d.5 A single obsidian bead from a tomb in eastern Qatar (in eastern Arabia), roughly dated to the 5th millennium BC, has also been attributed to group 4d. Otherwise, the obsidian from eastern Arabia and Bahrain has been consistently identified as coming from eastern Anatolian sources (Renfrew and Dixon 1976).

Finally, since Cervicek’s time of writing, additional rock art has been identified from the B’ir Hima region of southern Saudi Arabia (Zarins et al. 1981), from Sada near the Saudi border with Yemen - (Garcia and Rachad 1997) and along the Central Highland region of Yemen (Jung 1991b). However, no illustrations of EthiopianArabian style images of cattle have been published or mentioned from the South West Arabian rock art corpus (Jung 1991b; Garcia and Rachad 1997), even though this region lies closest to the Horn of Africa. This could reflect the early stage of research into rock art in South West Arabia (Jung 1991a, 1991b; Garcia and Murad 1997), or it could suggest that the individuals who left the pastoral art moved from Saudi Arabia to the Horn of Africa, and not between South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa. Alternatively, the apparent absence of comparable pastoral rock art in South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa could indicate that such rock art does not provide a testimony to the movement of domesticated animals.

It has been suggested that the obsidian provides evidence of an ‘interchange network’ (Fattovich 1997a; 1997b) or a ‘trade network’ (Zarins 1990; 1997). Fattovich envisaged that this network emerged in the 7th-4th millennia BC, positing trade in raw material and artefacts from the Horn of Africa to Arabia. He proposed that by the 4th millennium BC, the exchange network included the lower Nile Valley and maritime trade along the Red Sea and possibly on to India. He maintained that in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC obsidian sources from both Arabia and Africa were exploited as trade with Egypt intensified. This idea was based on the historical records of Egyptian contact with the land of Punt, which scholars suggest was probably in the Horn of Africa (as outlined in Chapter 2). Zarins’ interpretation was less specific; he simply suggested that prehistoric ‘trade’ in obsidian provides a longer-term perspective to the historically attested incense trade between South West Arabia, Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean.

In overview, the archaeobotanical and zoological evidence points to the likelihood of prehistoric agriculturally-related contacts between people from the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia, while the rock art only hints at relations between Arabia and the Horn of Africa. 6.4 Obsidian As discussed in Chapter 4 (Section 4.2.2), the obsidian from South West Arabia, Ethiopia/Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, and Chad (Tibesti) has been chemically categorised as ‘Group 4d’ (Cann and Renfrew 1964; Renfrew and Dixon 1976). Researchers have therefore acknowledged that some of the obsidian artefacts from the Tihamah (Zarins 1989; 1990) and the Hawlan region (Francaviglia 1988) might derive from the Horn of Africa. It is necessary to examine the evidence from the African perspective to assess the likelihood of this proposal.

The presence of obsidian far from its original source points to long-distance prehistoric contacts. However, the current evidence is limited and does not corroborate the notion of a significant trade or exchange ‘network’. Moreover, analysts have not been able to discriminate between the obsidian from the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia, so, as yet, the obsidian alone cannot categorically demonstrate interaction across the southern Red Sea.

Trace-element analysis and knowledge of obsidian sources from the Horn of Africa is at a very early stage. Forty-two obsidian source areas in the Horn of Africa have been reported, but this “most assuredly does not represent the total number” (Zarins 1989, 351). Only ten of these sources have standard chemical sample reports, of which five have more than one analysed sample. Trace-element analysis has been carried out on four sources. No source has been subjected to both major chemical and trace-element analysis. The chemical analysis has not clearly discriminated between African and Arabian sources (Zarins 1990).

6.5 Ceramics As observed in Chapter 4, several researchers have drawn parallels between the prehistoric ceramics of the Tihamah and assemblages from Nubia and the Horn of Africa. These comparisons have been used to suggest prehistoric 5

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Cann and Renfrew concluded that the three blades belonged to either Group 4c or 4d.

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA spherical, up to 30cm high and with a 15-20cm diameter. They are well-fired, burnished, hand-made, and decorated with incised horizontal or vertical bands and sometimes with triangles (Gutherz 1991).

connections between the two regions. Comparisons with African assemblages have been drawn for prehistoric ceramics from the Tihami sites of Sihi, the Hodeidah area middens and Sabir. Scholars have typically offered parallels based on published illustrations and descriptions of the African and Tihami pottery.

The Ona Group A refers to a culture from the Ethiopian plateau (from the Hamasien plateau, near Asmara) (Tringali 1980-1981). These ceramics consist of handmade burnished ware, characterised by a red and black polished slip - colours that derive respectively from processes of oxidizing and reducing. The vessels are often decorated with impressed or incised rim and/or shoulder bands. Fattovich (1991a) dated the style to the second half of the 2nd millennium BC through a comparison of ware from the Gash Delta in the Sudanese-Ethiopian borderland.

6.5.1 African ceramic parallels with pottery from Sihi The Sihi ceramics have been divided into a Red Ware group and a Black Ware group (Zarins and Zahrani 1985). Zarins and Zahrani suggested that Black Ware bowls from Sihi were comparable to either C-Group pottery from Lower Nubia (2100-1500 BC) or with ceramics from the more southern Kerma Culture (17001500 BC), which is thought to be an offshoot of the CGroup culture. Zarins and Zahrani specifically compared two bowls from Sihi with C-Group ware from the site of Debeira West, based on their black, burnished appearance, a chevron design and interior combing. They compared the heavy punctate design from a third bowl to the general mode of decoration found on C-Group ware (Zarins and Zahrani 1985; Zarins and Al-Badr 1986). These authors expected that the entire Sihi Black Ware corpus should prove to have direct African parallels with the coastal areas of the Horn of Africa. It was later suggested that the Sihi ceramics may have general comparisons with the ceramics from Adulis and with the Eritrean Ona Group A culture (early 1st millennium BC) (Fattovich 1990; Vogt and Sedov 1998). Finally, Fattovich (1990) drew non-specific comparisons between the Sihi pottery and ceramics from the Sudanese-Ethiopian border (dated from the 3rd-mid 1st millennia BC). Before assessing these claims, an outline of the key elements of each of these traditions is provided.

A long ceramic sequence has been defined from the Sudanese-Ethiopian border, spanning from the 6th millennium BC to the 18th century AD, which has been labelled the Atbai ceramic tradition (Fattovich 1989). Four main phases have been distinguished within this tradition, and Sihi ware was compared to the ‘Kassala phase’ (4thmid 1st millennia BC). This phase is represented by three groups of ware, the Butana Group (c.4th millennium BC, found in the plains to the east of the Atbara river and occasionally in the Gash Delta), the Gash Group (c.3rd-2nd millennia BC, discovered in the Gash Delta) and the Jabal Mokram Group (c. mid 2nd-mid 1st millennia BC, known from the plains between Kassala and Khashm el Girba). Each of these groups has been further divided into chronological sub-phases (e.g. ‘terminal Gash Group’). The Sihi pottery was specifically likened to the Gash Group and Jabal Mokram Group ceramics (Fattovich 1991a), which are best known from the one extensively excavated site in the region, namely the stratified and C-14 dated site of Mahal Teglinos, near Kassala (Fattovich 1988). No typology of the Gash Group and Jabal Mokram Group ceramics has been published. Descriptions are limited and few illustrations of the ceramics have been published (Fattovich et al. 1984; Fattovich 1989a; 1991a; Marks 1991). Having reviewed all of the available publications on the archaeology of the Sudanese-Ethiopian borderland, it is apparent that the distinction between the three groups within the Kassala Phase has been based on the proportional variation of the scraped wares and some variation in the decorative patterns (Fattovich et al. 1984; Fattovich 1993). Decoration on both the Gash Group and Jabal Mokram Group vessels includes geometrical designs of lines and diamonds (Fattovich et al. 1984), ‘scraped ware’, in which the outside is roughly scraped, and ‘rimbanded’ vessels, i.e. with the addition of a plastic band beneath the rim (Cremaschi et al. 1986; Fattovich 1991a). Gash Group assemblages have a higher proportion of ‘scraped ware’ than Jabal Mokram Group assemblages. Unlike the Early Gash Group (c.2700-1900 BC) or the Jabal Mokram Group (c.1500-500 BC), Middle Gash Group (c.1900-1700 BC), and Late Gash Group (c.17001500/1400 BC) ceramics are sometimes decorated with burnished lines (Fattovich 1991a).

C-Group pottery is handmade and normally represented by black burnished bowls. It is frequently decorated with impressed or incised geometric patterns, which were often filled with a white pigment (Shinnie and Shinnie 1978). Kerma culture pottery is characteristically highly polished, black-topped red ware that was made on a potter’s wheel. It includes vessels shaped like animals, such as birds, or simply decorated with animal motifs. The walls of vessels are often thin (Sheriff 1981). Prehistoric ceramics from the coast of the Horn of Africa are known from two sites: from two prehistoric levels from the Aksumite port of Adulis (Paribeni 1907) and from the coast of Djibouti (Amblard 1991; Gutherz 1991). Pottery from the lower prehistoric level at Adulis was characterised by coarse yellow or reddish ware and the upper level by black or red ware decorated with geometric and anthropomorphic patterns (Paribeni 1907; Fattovich 1988). These ceramics have subsequently been dated to the 2nd millennium BC, but only through comparisons with the pottery from Sihi (Fattovich 1991b). The Djibouti sites have only been preliminarily published. Black ware ceramics have been recovered from one of these sites, Asa Koma, which has been C-14 dated to the 2nd millennium BC (Gutherz 1991). Vessels from Asa Koma are ovoid or 108

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 ware or of their chronology to draw meaningful comparisons or assessments.

From the published descriptions and illustrations of the relevant pottery, it appears that the Black Ware from Sihi shows general comparisons with C-Group pottery in terms of its black-burnished finish and the punctate chevron and triangular decorations.65 However, there are no convincing parallels with diagnostic Kerma ware, which is represented by distinctively shaped, wheel-made wares.

6.5.3 African ceramic parallels with pottery from Sabir Scholars have proposed that the ceramics from Sabir, which are apparently paralleled on all of the Bronze Age sites on the Tihamah, find their closest match in the Sudanese-Ethiopian borderland (Vogt and Sedov 1998; Buffa pers. comm. 1999). Specific comparisons with pottery from this region have been drawn with the Late Gash Group (c.1700-1500/1400 BC) and Early-Middle Jabal Mokram Group (c.1500/1400-1000/900 BC) (Fattovich 1997a). It has also been claimed that the Sabir ware is comparable to ceramics from the early levels of the pre-Aksumite sites of Yeha and Matara and from the coastal site of Adulis (Vogt and Sedov 1997; 1998a; 1998b).

The Sihi Black Ware is also broadly comparable to the Adulis assemblage, which also includes black ware with geometric and punctate decoration; however, the anthromorphic representations on the Adulis pottery find no parallels at Sihi. (Only illustrations of body sherds have been published from Adulis (Paribeni 1907), which means that the vessel forms cannot be compared.) The discovery of black burnished ceramics on the Djibouti coast points, again, to general similarities with the Sihi Black Ware. Illustrations of the Ona Group A assemblage have not been published, although the decorated rim-band described as characteristic of this ware (Fattovich 1991a) may find parallels at Sihi.

The limited published information related to the Gash Group and Jabal Mokram Group ceramics were outlined above. Pottery from the earliest levels at Matara includes black polished ware, sometimes with incised triangles (occasionally filled with white paste) along the rim and red-brown burnished ware (Fattovich 1990). The ceramics from the earliest levels at Yeha include red-orange ware, cream ware, and ware that is red-orange on the outside with a black interior (Fattovich 1980). No pre-Aksumite ceramics show any signs of having been wheel-thrown (Anfray 1981). Characteristic forms of the early preAksumite ceramics from both Matara and Yeha are large jars with a groove along the rim, a moulded rib running parallel to the rim and a vertical handle (Fattovich 1980). The dates of the pre-Aksumite sites are unknown. However, the earliest occupation of Matara has been dated to the mid to late 2nd millennium BC because of (unspecific) ceramic comparisons with Sabir ware (Fattovich 1997b). Vogt and Sedov (1998b) suggested that the bands of impressed decoration around some Adulis pots are comparable to decoration on Sabir ware.

Based on the available data of the Kassala Phase ware, it is difficult to assess the likelihood that it is related to the Sihi assemblage. The closest comparisons between the Kassala Phase Gash Group and Jabal Mokram Group ceramics and those from Sihi that this author could discern from the published illustrations are reproduced in Fig. 23. In overview, the Sihi ware shows very general similarities to black burnished, geometrically decorated ware found in Nubia and the Horn of Africa. On the other hand, these parallels are so general that similar connections could be posited quite widely. Nevertheless, similar wares have not yet been identified from other sites on the Tihamah or in South West Arabia. 6.5.2 African ceramic parallels with pottery from the Hodeidah area

According to Vogt (1998b), general comparisons between the Sabir corpus and the Kassala phase ceramics are based on shapes, production techniques, the surface treatment and decoration. The literature indicates that Kassala phase ware is represented by scraped ware, small bowls and some geometrical designs (Fattovich et al. 1984; Cremaschi et al. 1986; Fattovich 1991a; Marks 1991). As outlined above, very little information has been published on the Kassala pottery and the scraped surface treatment represents the best point of stylistic similarity between it and the pottery from Sabir. Such a correlation is very general and can be drawn with either Gash Group or Jabal Mokram Group pottery, which were in use between the 3rd to mid 1st millennia BC (see Fig. 24). The vague nature of the comparisons is reflected in the literature: scholars have not drawn definitive comparisons between specific types within the Sabir corpus and pottery from the SudaneseEthiopian borderland.

No illustrations of the Hodeidah area ceramics have been published. This pottery is only briefly described by Tosi (1985; 1986b) as undiagnostic brown burnished ware, typically represented by hole-mouth jars. Through consultation with Tosi, Fattovich (1997b) suggested that the Hodeidah area ware (or specifically ware from the Wadi Urq Hodeidah area midden) could be compared to Late Gash Group ceramics (c.1700-1500/1400 BC) of the Sudanese-Ethiopian border because of a comparable ‘burnished linear motif’. However, it is apparent that too little is known about the characteristics of the Hodeidah 6

Figure 6 depicts the specific C-Group vessel from the Nubian site of Debeira West that Zarins and Zahrani (1986) found comparable to pottery from Sihi. Unfortunately, Zarins and Zahrani have not indicated whether the ‘comparable’ vessels from Sihi - mentioned in their text - have been illustrated; therefore, Figure 6 reproduces illustrations of pottery from Sihi that this author finds most similar to the C-Group ware.

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RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA

Fig. 23: Gash Group and Jabal Mokram Group ceramics: comparisons with pottery from Sihi

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THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600

Fig. 24: Gash Group and Jabal Mokram Group ceramics: comparisons with pottery from Sabir With respect to the ware from Adulis, the bands of impressed decoration around some Adulis pots are found on Sabir examples. However, the geometric and anthropomorphic decoration that features in the Adulis assemblage does not occur on Sabir ware. The correlation between Sabir pottery and that from the pre-Aksumite sites of Yeha and Matara cannot be assessed since specific parallels have not been drawn in the literature and the published vessels from Sabir are too few to permit typological comparisons. However, there are some striking differences: in particular, many of the Sabir ceramics were made using the composite technique (i.e. part wheel-, part hand-made), which is absent in the preAksumite assemblages (Anfray 1981). Moreover, the geometric decoration, such as triangles and diamonds, that are found on the pre-Aksumite ware, for example on

the black burnished cups from Matara, are not represented on the pottery from Sabir. Instead, they call to mind the general, possibly Nubian-related, black ware tradition described above. In overview, the Sabir ware, which has been identified at all of the Bronze Age sites on the Tihamah, can be only vaguely compared to ceramics from the Horn of Africa. No clear diagnostic comparisons between the Sabir ware and pottery from the Horn of Africa is apparent. It is pertinent to note that comparisons between the ceramics from the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia have almost exclusively been drawn with pottery from the Tihamah. The only exception is provided by a few decorated sherds from Mahal Teglinos, which have been compared to decorated sherds from the Hawlan Bronze 111

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA Age sites of Wadi Yana’im, Ar-Raqlah 1 and Wadi Rahma 2 in the Central Highlands of South West Arabia (Fattovich 1991a; 1997a). Illustrations of two such body sherds from Mahal Teglinos have been published: one with a dotted wavy line decoration and a second with a scalloped decoration (Fattovich 1991a). This decoration, which is unknown from the Tihamah, does find correlations on some of the Hawlan Bronze Age ceramics. Fattovich has argued that the few sherds with Hawlan-like decoration from Mahal Teglinos are therefore possible imports from Hawlan. However, this has not yet been demonstrated through chemical or petrological analysis. Furthermore, the decorated pottery from Hawlan pre-dates the ‘comparable’ pottery from Mahal Teglinos. Thus, the Hawlan-like sherds from Mahal Teglinos have been dated to c.1900-1700 BC and to c.1700-1500/1400, through their association with Middle Gash Group and Late Gash Group pottery, whereas the C-14 dates from the Hawlan sites in question range between 2600-2000 BC. Thus, the hypothesis that pottery was imported from the Hawlan to Mahal Teglinos remains unproven.

Having examined all of the available data, general comparisons can be drawn between the megalithic traditions from either side of the Red Sea. Thus, of all the megalithic sites in the Horn of Africa, the presence of stone circles at Mahal Teglinos provides some general similarities with the al-Muhandid stones on the Tihamah. However, despite the common occurrence of stone circles, the two sites appear to be quite different: the stones at al-Muhandid are erected along a distance of 700m, while those from Mahal Teglinos extend over an area of 10m x 20m. Al-Muhandid also has no apparent associated settlement, burials or pottery, although it has also not been excavated or investigated in detail. Stone circles have also been discovered at Aqiq, but, again, these circles seem to be associated with step structures and buildings. The coastal location of Aqiq and the use of stones within the associated buildings evokes a connection with al-Midaman, which lies less than 2km from the coast of the Tihamah. However, the comparison is again vague. As for Midi the third megalithic site on the Tihamah - Forbes’ brief description alludes to isolated stones. Single monoliths in the Horn of Africa tend to be represented by seemingly phallic or anthropomorphic examples; such types are not mentioned in the description of Midi.

In overview, the ceramics from Sabir do show some general comparisons with assemblages from the Horn of Africa. However, definitive connections are not demonstrated. Thus, the argument that Sihi and Sabir were the result of migrations from the Horn of Africa or Nubia receives no convincing support from the ceramics. A real danger of drawing these comparisons is that although speculative and poorly supported, they become fossilised as ‘facts’ in the literature. For example, it is to be noted how the poorly dated pottery from Sihi has been used to date cultural levels from Adulis.

In overview, no close comparisons are apparent between the stones on the Tihamah and those from the Horn of Africa. It is, however, possible that the megalithic sites on the Tihamah are part of a general megalithic tradition that is much better represented in the Horn of Africa than in South West Arabia and is attested in Africa from at least the mid 3rd millennium BC to the early 2nd millennium AD. (It is worth noting that while there are general comparisons, it is not possible to argue, as Fattovich (1997) does, that the dolmens from the Harar region compare with those from al-Muhandid, since no dolmens have been found at the latter.)

The purpose of this section has been to outline what is published on the ceramics from both regions, to chart the comparisons that have been drawn and to assess their viability based on the published data in order to elucidate whether the ceramics indicate prehistoric relations between the Horn of Africa and the Tihamah. To date, no convincing connections have been documented.

6.7 An overview of relations between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia in the prehistoric period Part I has examined the diverse data that have been adduced to support claims of connections between the Tihamah and the Horn of Africa. Before the archaeological research on the Tihamah undertaken since the 1980s, Arabianists claimed that the Red Sea was a formidable barrier between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia in the prehistoric period, which was only overcome in the mid 1st millennium BC with the Sabaean migration or colonisation of the Ethiopian highlands (Caton Thompson 1957). Recent archaeological research on the Tihamah has opened up the possibility that such connections extended back before the 1st millennium BC.

6.6 Megalithic monuments It is significant that of the few archaeological sites on the Tihamah, three are megalithic complexes (as detailed in Chapter 4, Sections 4.3.3-4.3.5). A widespread megalithic tradition has been recorded from the Horn of Africa. Given the proximity of the two regions, it is pertinent to examine whether the megaliths from the Tihamah are related to the megalithic monuments from the Horn of Africa. This section first tabulates the evidence for megalithic sites from the Horn of Africa and then ascertains the potential comparisons.

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THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 Table 8: Megalithic Monuments in the Horn of Africa Region Djibouti Harar highlands (Ethiopia)

Central Ethiopia Sidamo region (Ethiopia)

Northern Ethiopian plateau (Aksumite)

Northern Ethiopian plateau (Ona culture) SudaneseEthiopian borderland

Ethiopian coast (modern Eritrea)

Site description

Date

Phallic and anthropomorphic stelae (up to c.2 metres high) found associated with rectangular graves. Monoliths (up to 1m high) and shaped stelae: rectangular, triangular, cylindrical and sometimes associated with dolmens. Over 200 stelae known. Represented by anthropomorphic and phallic stelae (c. 0.5–4m high) often associated with cemetery areas. About 1000 recorded, either isolated or grouped to form large stelae fields. Represented by phallic stelae (up to 8m high) and by anthropomorphic stelae (c. 2m high). Some are associated with burials (e.g. at site of Waheno). Aksumite stelae have mainly been found in Tigrai, at Addi Dahno, Beita Giyorgis, Aksum, Henzat, Hausien and 'Anza. Four stelae fields in Aksum, at Gudit, Mai Hejja, Mai Malahso and Bazen. Four main types of Aksumite stelae: (i) unhewn, elongated and flat stones, sometimes with smooth round sides and square section, usually 3- 5m high; (ii) pointed stones with smooth round sides and square section, c.1.5 - 9.5m high; (iii) hewn slabs with smooth sides, rectangular section, round top, up to 21m high; (iv) 'storied' stelae, carved with symbolic representations of houses, 15-33m high. Offering tables, often carved with small basins, are found at the base of type (iii) and (iv). Probable funerary function of stelae. Stelae, up to 1.5m high, associated with funerary evidence.

Funerary monoliths reported from Mahal Teglinos. Formal burial ground dated to c.2500-1500 BC developed to the area south of the settlement area. 114 stelae recorded over area of 10 x 20 m. Represented by pointed stones, flat stones and small pillars. Height of stones: 0.9-1 m. Human burials found in association. 6 circles of stelae found at coastal site of Aqiq (c. 2km from coast). Height of stelae: 30 cm to over 2 m; circles c.2.5 –12m in diameter. Found in association: circular and conical stone cairns up to 10m in diameter; 6 square or oval structures made of coral blocks, sometimes paved with white plaster (c. 6 x 7m in area); 6 or 7 'step structures' made of coral, granite or basalt blocks (up to 8 x 6m in area). Perfectly squared blocks of granite found throughout the site.

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Unknown. 2nd millennium BC, based on unspecified parallels with dolmens from South West Arabia (Joussaume 1995). Single C-14 date from the cemetery at Gattira-Demma: 12-13th C AD. Unknown.

Reference Joussaume 1980; 1995; Fattovich 1987. Joussaume, 1972; 1975; 1980; 1995; Fattovich 1997. Fattovich 1987; Joussaume 1995; Anfray 1982; 1995. Azais and Chambard 1931; Joussaume 1980; Anfray 1982; Fattovich 1987.

The monoliths have been dated to the Aksumite period on the basis of Aksumite inscriptions and associated artefacts e.g. 3rd4th century AD glass vessels of Egyptian type found in a pit grave in the Gudit stelae field (Chittick 1974).

Littmann et al. 1913; Chittick, 1974; Fattovich 1987; Phillipson 1998.

Stones from cemetery at Addikhe are associated with the Ona Group A culture of the early 1st millennium BC. Others might be later. Middle Gash Group phase to Late Gash Group phase (c. 2500-1500 BC).

Trucca 1980; Fattovich 1987.

Unknown.

Cremaschi et al. 1986.

Fattovich 1987; 1991.

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA However, as we have seen, some Africanist archaeologists have long appreciated the possibility of relations before the mid 1st millennium BC, particularly in terms of the dissemination of domesticated plants and animals (Steihler 1948). One of the most important contributions of South West Arabian archaeology to this question has been the discovery of domesticated crops dated to the 3rd millennium BC from Hawlan in the Central Yemeni Highlands (see Chapter 3, Section 3.4.2). This evidence includes domesticated strains of Near Eastern crops and possible examples of domesticated sorghum, which has been attributed to an African, or specifically Ethiopian, origin. The mere presence of these crops, whether domesticated or not, suggests prehistoric links with the Near East and with Africa. The appearance of wild strains of sorghum on the Tihamah dated to the early 1st millennium BC has added to the conundrum of the dissemination of domesticated sorghum between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia, which, so Costantini (1990) argued, took place in the 3rd millennium BC.

and South West Arabia, presented in Section 6.10, at the close of this chapter. PART II: THE HISTORIC PERIOD (c.1st millennium BC-6th century AD) The historiographic overview of pre-Islamic historical research within the Horn of Africa (Section 6.2) indicated that investigations have dealt with the pre-Aksumite culture, and focused on the Aksumite culture. Both cultures provide specific evidence of relations with South West Arabia at particular times, so replacing the vague indications of prehistoric connections discussed in Part I. This part of the chapter examines the pre-Aksumite culture (Section 6.8) and then the Aksumite culture (Section 6.9). Both of these sections first explore the chronology, then the data, followed by a discussion of the published interpretations for cultural connections between the two regions. Section 6.10 offers a new analysis of these links. 6.8 The pre-Aksumite culture

The occurrence of the Indian-origin humped zebu in the Horn of Africa suggests that this animal moved from India via South West Arabia. Unfortunately, zebu have not yet been identified from the pre-Islamic archaeological record of South West Arabia or from prehistoric contexts in the Horn of Africa, probably reflecting the difficulties involved in identifying this species. The broad similarities in the pastoral rock art found in Saudi Arabia and the Horn of Africa hints at the possibility of cultural relations between cattle herders across the Red Sea and thus potentially across the Tihamah. However, since the rock art has not been absolutely dated, or systematically compared, it cannot definitively elucidate when such relations might have occurred.

The pre-Aksumite archaeological record found in highland Ethiopia is distinctive in its similarity to the Iron Age Sayhadian archaeological evidence, particularly that of the Sabaean kingdom. Lying between these two areas of early Iron Age complex society, the Tihamah plays a significant – yet hitherto largely unexplored - role in the interpretation of the nature of the connections between them. 6.8.1 Chronology “The main cultural feature of this [preAksumite] period is the evidence of a strong South Arabian influence.” (Fattovich 1990, 1).

The obsidian, megalithic monuments, and ceramics suggest very general connections and shared traditions between the two regions. Thus, it is possible that obsidian moved between the two areas, particularly as obsidian that originated from either the Horn of Africa or South West Arabia has been found much further away from these source areas. Despite this, definitive relations cannot be demonstrated because it is not yet possible to discriminate chemically between the obsidian sources in the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia. The prehistoric ceramics show some general similarities with assemblages from the Tihamah, although precise comparisons are not in evidence. This is also the case for the megalithic monuments, which suggest general - but not specific - connections between the two regions.

In the absence of a firm set of C-14 dates for the preAksumite period, scholars have relied on cross-dating with other cultures. The most widely accepted chronology for the pre-Aksumite period has been based on the palaeographic comparison of the monumental inscriptions written in ESA script found in Ethiopia, with those from South West Arabia (de Contenson 1981). The pre-Aksumite palaeographic chronology was first published by Anfray (1967; 1968) and until very recently was consistently used in the Africanist literature (Phillipson 1998). However, the absolute dates of this chronology need revising since they are correlated to the South West Arabian short chronology (Pirenne 1956), which is no longer accepted by Arabianist archaeologists (as outlined in Chapter 3, Section 3.3.1).

Unfortunately, none of these data point to specific or definitive prehistoric connections; however, this research has revealed that they hint at the possibility of prehistoric relations between the two regions. This can be built into a picture of long-term relations between the Horn of Africa

In Anfray’s (1968) chronological framework, the ‘preAksumite period’ refers to (a) the ‘Ethiopian-Sabaean period’ (early 5th to late 4th centuries BC) and (b) the ‘intermediate period’ (3rd century BC until the start of the Aksumite period, c.1st century AD). The ‘Ethiopian-

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THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 In response to these proposals, palaeography depends on the style of the script and does not require the language to be absolutely identical.8 Moreover, it would also be a remarkable coincidence for the tradition to develop in parallel ways without some degree of contact: as the epigrapher Irvine (1978, 44) stated, the style “of the letter forms on the monumental texts [of both groups] is purely South Arabian”. Therefore, it is no more problematic to use the South West Arabian palaeographic chronology to date the monumental preAksumite inscriptions than it is to use this method to date South West Arabian ESA inscriptions. However, while palaeography can serve as a method of dating the monumental inscriptions, epigraphers have emphasised that the South West Arabian palaeographic chronology cannot be used to date the approximately 150 Ethiopian rock-graffiti texts (Anfray 1990). The latter are rendered in cursive scripts, of which only some seem to be closely related to the ESA monumental script. Certainly, these texts might therefore belong to the so-called intermediate period, but might also be a less formal tradition contemporary to the pre-Aksumite monumental ESA.

Sabaean period’ refers to the time when so-called ‘Sabaean-related’ material appeared in the Horn of Africa, i.e. the ESA inscriptions, monumental architecture and iconography whose presence in Ethiopia has been explained in terms of direct contact with South West Arabians. The poorly understood ‘intermediate period’ refers to the era between the Ethiopian-Sabaean and Aksumite periods.7 The ESA monumental inscriptions from Ethiopia range in style between Pirenne’s palaeographic Types A to C, which, according to the short chronology, provide a date range of the early 5th century BC to the late 4th century BC. Most of the pre-Aksumite monumental inscriptions are in Type B, and, using the short chronology (Pirenne 1956), have been dated to 430-350 BC. None of the preAksumite ESA inscriptions are rendered in styles later than Type C, and, therefore, none of the Sabaean-related data of the ‘Ethiopian-Sabaean period’ have been dated to after the late 4th century BC. This created a gap of 300 years or more between the last pre-Aksumite inscriptions and the appearance of the Aksumite culture (the chronology of the Aksumite period is discussed in Section 6.9.1). As a result, Anfray (1968) suggested that it might be necessary to reduce the time span of the intermediate period and perhaps to advance the dates of the Ethiopian-Sabaean period.

Although it is practical to use palaeography to date the pre-Aksumite monumental inscriptions, is it reasonable to date the end of the pre-Aksumite culture according to the most recent monumental inscription? Is the apparent cultural hiatus - the intermediate period - between the Ethiopian-Sabaean period and the Aksumite period a reality, or simply a reflection of the end of monumental ESA inscriptions? Unfortunately, these questions remain unanswered since no archaeological evidence is clearly attributable to the intermediate period (Fattovich 1990). Archaeological investigations have simply not clarified what happened between the end of the pre-Aksumite period and the start of the Aksumite period. Despite this, Anfray (1968) suggested that, during the intermediate period, the local Ethiopians began to assimilate the foreign influences of the preceding pre-Aksumite period, but also began to generate a new cultural pattern from which the Aksumite culture emerged. In contrast, MunroHay (1993, 614) conceded that the intermediate period represents a ‘dark age’, when “the major towns disappeared ... together with the monumental inscriptions, buildings, art, and so forth” and a collapse of the ruling power. To these views, we might suggest that any apparent occupation gap could relate to the fact that almost all of the archaeological evidence from both periods is represented by seemingly elite monumental sites (Fattovich 1990), which probably provides an incomplete picture of ancient occupation patterns.

However, and importantly, according to the currently accepted South West Arabian medium chronology, Types A to C should be dated to the first half of the 1st millennium BC (c.800-500 BC). Thus, using the medium chronology, the pre-Aksumite Ethiopian-Sabaean period should be dated to the first half of the 1st millennium BC. It is therefore necessary to extend, and not reduce, the time span of the intermediate period. More recently, a few scholars, such as Avanzini (1997), have questioned the use of palaeography to date the preAksumite inscriptions, and by extension, the preAksumite culture. To elaborate, of around the 60 monumental ESA inscriptions known from Ethiopia, only 15 are in pure Sabaic language; the rest show local linguistic innovations, and the latter have therefore been regarded as a local development (an idea first proposed by Drewes 1962). Therefore, Avanzini has argued that the ‘local’ pre-Aksumite inscriptions cannot be dated according to the palaeographic sequence of Arabian ESA inscriptions. Furthermore, she has suggested that they could represent an Ethiopian development that occurred after the cessation of contact with the South West Arabia, which, she claims, can only be dated via the 15 pure Sabaic inscriptions.

Indeed, all that is known of the overall occupation of the Ethiopian highlands between the two periods is the result of large landscape surveys undertaken by Michels in the 7

It is to be noted that the ‘pre-Aksumite period’ initially referred to the period immediately before the rise of Aksum, as distinct from the earlier ‘Ethiopian-Sabaean period’ (Anfray 1967). This definition is no longer used in the literature.

8

115

At least four slightly different languages have been recognised from the South West Arabian ESA corpus and all are dated according to the same stylistic development.

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA Aksum-Yeha region in 1974 (Michels 1988). Michels proposed that indigenous, autonomous hamlets, dated to 700-400 BC, gave way to a complex governmental system and social stratification with large, nucleated settlements at around 400-150 BC, during the ‘South Arabian colonial zenith’, or the supposed date of the Sabaean-related evidence. He identified a South Arabian settlement pattern from stone edifices - which he interpreted as dwellings and irrigation structures - found on high ground near to fertile ploughlands and alluvial valleys that he claimed were susceptible to cultivation using South Arabian irrigation techniques. He suggested that the Sabaean-related period was followed by the resumption of the original settlement pattern of scattered villages and hamlets, with no sign of large nucleated communities or religious structures in the intermediate period, which he dated to between 150 BC- AD 150.

transition between the pre-Aksumite period and the Aksumite period is not understood, it is important to emphasise that connections between South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa are palaeographically attested during the first half of the 1st millennium BC, but not thereafter. 6.8.2 Pre-Aksumite data “One of the most enigmatic inquiries in Ethiopian history concerns the question of Ethiopian-South Arabian relations, its nature and extent.” (Isaac and Felder 1988, 71). In order to explore the nature of relations between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia in the 1st millennium BC, this section provides an overview of the pre-Aksumite epigraphic record, architecture, iconography and ceramics.

There are many problems with Michels’ model. Firstly, his timeframe was based on obsidian hydration dating. This technique requires a well-defined chronological sequence against which the local obsidian hydration patterns can be calibrated, a condition that does not appear to have been satisfied. Secondly, it remains to be shown that South West Arabians alone would have been able to cultivate these landscapes. Thirdly, he has not provided clear evidence for a change from nucleated settlements to scattered villages from his survey, in which he made pottery collections, soil surveys and reported the presence of stone structures. Instead, he seems to have based this shift on the apparent disappearance of the elite monumental sites. Fourthly, it is to be noted that Michels’ (1988) dates correspond well with the short palaeographic chronology, since he would have used that chronology to ‘calibrate’ the hydration sequence. However, using the medium palaeographic chronology, the South West Arabian presence should be dated to the first half of the 1st millennium BC.

6.8.2.1 The epigraphic record Over 200 epigraphic texts, dated to the pre-Aksumite period, are distributed throughout the known pre-Aksumite sites (Bernand et al. 1991a). Most of the pre-Aksumite inscriptions consist of a few words or letters and only a handful of the monumental inscriptions exceed more than two or three lines in length. Inscriptions occur on monuments, ashlar blocks, rock surfaces, pottery, metal plaques, statues, and votive altars. Potsherds inscribed with ESA letters are poorly represented in pre-Aksumite contexts and are only known from Matara (Bernand et al. 1991). The pre-Aksumite epigraphic corpus has been divided into two groups, labelled Group I and Group II (Drewes 1962). The former consists of 15 monumental inscriptions, written in pure Sabaic (Anfray 1990), albeit with a few unique elements of vocabulary (Irvine 1978). About 200 Group II inscriptions have been published, of which about 45 are monumental inscriptions, and about 150 are represented by rock-graffiti (Bernand et al. 1991a; 1991b). Some of the latter are drafted in a form of ‘monumental cursive’, while others are in an unclear ‘derivative’ script that seems to be related to this cursive script (Drewes 1962). Group II inscriptions are written in a language that contains major innovative features in grammar, vocabulary, phonology, and onomastics (Irvine 1971, 1978). Despite the linguistic differences, epigraphers have argued that the Group II monumental texts are related to Sabaic, while the poorly understood (Schneider 1978) ‘derivative’ Group II cursive texts are also thought to owe their origin to Sabaic (Irvine 1978).

In overview, the monumental inscriptions in ESA characters have been used to date the pre-Aksumite culture. Africanists have typically dated the EthiopianSabaean period to the 5th-4th centuries BC, using the short chronology (v. Phillipson 1998). These dates need to be revised to the first half of the 1st millennium BC probably between about 800 and 500 BC - using the medium chronology (v. Phillipson 2000). Since all of the Sabaean-related evidence has been dated according to these inscriptions, it appears that there is a long occupational gap between the date of the last monumental inscriptions and the Aksumite period. At present, there is no clear archaeological evidence firmly dated to the second half of the 1st millennium BC (for example, there are no C-14 dated stratified sites, nor are there any external references). On the other hand, the dates, which are based purely on the epigraphic record, might be misleading. Thus, it is possible that the divergence of rock-graffiti inscriptions from the monumental inscriptions could represent a phase of unknown duration after the cessation of contacts with Saba. Though the

Group I inscriptions are only known from Yeha, Matara, Gobochela and Enda Cherqos (Irvine 1978). They comprise family names, place names and names of deities (de Contenson 1980). The deities mentioned in the Group I inscriptions – i.e. Athtar, Almaqah, Hawbas, Dhat Himyam and Dhat Badan - belong to the South West 116

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 temple, thanks to the in situ paraphernalia. However, a number of other structures have been defined as temples, even though they have less evidence to support this categorisation – e.g. no religious inscriptions or religious equipment. Nevertheless, even if their function cannot be assumed, their definition as a temple is in each case reasonable, owing to the special nature of their architecture.

Arabian pantheon (de Contenson 1981). The family names mentioned in Group I inscriptions are Semitic and some of the named individuals are argued to have originated in the Sabaean area (Schneider 1976). For example, the authors of two texts from Matara claim to come from Marib and Hadaqan (24km north of Sana’a) (de Contenson 1980; Robin 1995), while two inscriptions from Yeha and Melazo record that the stone-masons originate from Marib (Muller 1990).

Of these, the pre-Aksumite temple at Yeha is perhaps the best known. It consists of a rectangular structure measuring c.18.5m x 15m, which rests on a sevenstepped podium. It is built of marginally drafted and pecked sandstone ashlar blocks, each up to 3m long. The temple walls are preserved up to a maximum height of 13m (Phillipson 1977; Plant 1978; Fattovich 1990). The entrance is on the west and traces of four central pillars are visible inside (Fattovich 1990). There are no in situ inscriptions, but three stone slabs bearing Sabaic texts, held in an adjacent church, may once have been incorporated into the body of the temple (Phillipson 1998). The Yeha temple was itself later converted into a Christian church, which accounts for its exceptional preservation.

A few Sabaean names, together with possibly non-Semitic names (e.g. wdgly, ssrwm) (Irvine 1978), occur in Group II inscriptions. Deities belonging to the South West Arabian pantheon plus otherwise unknown - possibly local - deities appear in Group II texts. Such ‘local’ deities include Yf’m (Littmann 1913), Sdgn and Nsbthw (Drewes and Schneider 1970). All 13 royal pre-Aksumite inscriptions are written in monumental ESA, in the language characteristic of Group II inscriptions (Schneider 1976). They record kings with names and titulature unknown from Saba (Schneider 1978, 51; Bernand et al. 1991a). The royal inscriptions are drafted in the palaeographic styles A and B; most are in Type B, and five have been specifically defined as Type B1 (Bernand et al. 1991).9 The content of the royal inscriptions has been used to reconstruct the pre-Aksumite political organisation (de Contenson, 1981), as discussed in Section 6.8.3. In brief, they refer to the d’mt kingdom (transliterated as D’iamat), and indicate that the local monarch was ‘king of D’iamat’. Three inscriptions expressly identify him as the ‘maitre des Sabaeans’ (Schneider 1976). The D’iamat kingdom is only attested in the Group II pre-Aksumite inscriptions, and is unknown from the ESA corpus from South West Arabia (Irvine 1978) or from the Ethiopian inscriptions dated to the Aksumite period (Bernand et al. 1991a). Of the four pre-Aksumite rulers known to date, the earliest was W’rn Hywt, who only bore the title mlkn (king). He was succeeded by three leaders Rd’m, Rbh and Lmm, who use the paramount South West Arabian title, mukarrib (Schneider 1976c). This may have been an hereditary monarchy since the fourth dynast (Lmm) is referred to as the son of Rbh. The last two leaders both bore the title ‘King Sr’n of the tribe of Yg’d mukarrib of D’iamat and of Saba’ (Schneider 1973; de Contenson 1981). An inscription asserts that mukarrib Rbh descended from a Sabaean tribe (de Contenson 1981). The sovereign Lmm is also mentioned with Sumu’alay, which was a dynastic name of the Sabaean mukarribite (Schneider 1965a; Von Wissmann 1976; de Contenson 1981; Kitchen 1994; Robin 1995).

A second structure at Yeha, interpreted as a palace or a temple has been partially excavated from a high terrace called Grat-Beal-Guebri (Anfray 1990). It is built on an 11-stepped podium and lies on a foundation of 5m of stone blocks. Because it has only partially been excavated, its dimensions remain unknown. However, excavations have revealed a stairway and portico with the remains of six square pillars set on massive blocks (measuring 2.25m x 1m) marking the entrance (Anfray 1990). The building material of this structure has not been recorded in the literature. Two ESA letters are drafted onto the architectural remains at Grat-BealGuebri (Bernand et al. 1991). Two small quadrangular temples (11m x 11m and 10.5m x 10.5m) made of dressed blue granite in roughly square blocks have been found at Haoulti (de Contenson 1959). They were built next to each other and are oriented to the east (Fattovich 1990). Inside the temples, benches are set around the walls on which ex-voto pottery figures were placed (Munro-Hay 1991). Square monolithic pillars surround the temples (de Contenson 1959; Kobishchanov 1979). No inscriptions have been recorded from the body of the temples at Haoulti. The remains of another small rectangular temple (known as the ‘sanctuary of Almaqah’) have been uncovered at Gobochela (Leclant 1959). It measures 8.9m x 6.75m, and is oriented eastwards. The structure is made of small dressed square limestone blocks and is surrounded by an enclosing wall 18.2m x 12.3m in plan. An entrance is positioned on one of the short walls. A bench running parallel to the short wall subdivides the interior; many small votive altars have been found within the inner subdivision (Leclant 1959). Fourteen inscriptions have

6.8.2.2 Architecture Of all the known pre-Aksumite architecture, the sanctuary of Almaqah is the most certain example of a 9

Type B1 was the style of script that was in use in South West Arabia at the time of the Sabaean mukarrib, Karibil Watar, who has been dated to around 700 BC (Nebes 1997).

117

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA been recorded from the religious paraphernalia found in the sanctuary of Almaqah; all but one (which is incomplete) are dedications to Almaqah (Bernand et al. 1991).

metal plaques, which have parallels with both Sayhadian and Nubian iconography, but also show some unique elements. No temple friezes have been found in situ, although the walls of a modern church adjacent to the Yeha temple incorporate two finely carved stones depicting a frieze of stylised ibex, thought to have once been part of the temple structure (Phillipson 1998). The three stone blocks bearing inscriptions are bordered by a denticulated (toothlike) design. Two of the blocks fit together and it has been hypothesised that all three belonged to a larger frieze (Bernand et al. 1991). Fragments of friezes, thought to have once served as wall coverings, have been uncovered from Matara, Haoulti and Enda Cherqos; they depict ibex and a denticulate design (Anfray and Annequin 1965; de Contenson 1981). A frieze of ibex also decorates the borders of the stunning throne carved from a single block of stone, discovered at Haoulti (de Contenson 1963). The throne has bovine sculptured legs and both sides are decorated with a relief image of a bearded figure in a short kilt, who holds a fan, together with a small figure, possibly a female, wearing a long dress and holding a stick. Several figurines of bulls have also been found. Uniquely, one small schist figure of a bull has a dedication to Almaqah (Drewes 1959).

Some of the less well-known pre-Aksumite structures include four buildings from Matara made of undressed schist (referred to in Anfray and Annequin 1965). Fiqya has remains of a temple; defined as such on the basis of a number of dedicatory inscriptions (Anfray 1965). Kaskase - on the road from Yeha to the coastal site of Adulis - has remains of six rectangular megalithic pillars, which survive in no apparent arrangement (Anfray 1990). Remains of a small ashlar temple have been recorded from Enzelal (Conti Rossini 1922). With the exception of the structures at Matara, about which little is published, all of the above buildings are monumental, and all have been interpreted as temples. Where dedications are present, they evoke Almaqah, the chief Sabaean deity. Thus, a dedicatory inscription thought to have belonged to the Yeha temple, evokes Almaqah, as do 13 inscriptions from the sanctuary of Almaqah in Gobochela (Bernand et al. 1991). The single letters from Grat-Beal-Guebri are too short to be translated. None of the three short inscriptions from Haoulti came from the temples and none refer to deities.

Seven types of ‘votive altars’, i.e. altars assumed to be associated with offerings to the gods, have been identified from Gobochela, Yeha, Addi Galamo, Matara, Der’a and Addi Grametan (Fattovich 1990). These comprise four different types of incense burners, two types of offering tables, and one type of basin. The sun disc and moon crescent motif plus the club or mace motif, which are known from South West Arabia, occasionally appear on the incense burners. Some of the rectangular offering tables have a spout sculpted to represent a lion’s head, according to Fattovich (1990).

Typically, the temples have been dated to between the 5th and 4th centuries BC (Anfray 1990), which corresponds to the date given to the ‘Ethiopian-Sabaean’ period on the basis of the short palaeographic chronology. Using the medium chronology, their date should be altered to the first half of the 1st millennium BC. However, since none of the inscriptions commemorates the construction of any of the buildings, the inscriptions cannot definitively date the terminus ante quem of the buildings. Nevertheless, the association of Ancient Sub-Period I inscriptions with these monuments suggests a date in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. Moreover, South West Arabianist archaeologists have argued that Sabaean temple architecture became increasingly complex over time, and that the older the temple, the more simple its ground plan (Schmidt 1988; Jung 1988). Most of the temples from Ethiopia are relatively simple, which accords well with the hypothesis that they are early examples dated to the first half of the 1st millennium BC. The one exception is the temple from Grat-Beal-Guebri. Its surviving elements suggest that the original structure was relatively complex and could feasibly post-date the first half of the 1st millennium BC, or, that it represents something other than a temple.

A few stone sculptures of sphinxes - a reposing lion with an anthromorphic head - have been discovered: one example is known from Haoulti (de Contenson 1959), a second comes from Dibdib while a third, from Addi Grametan, has long plaited hair (Fattovich 1990). An offering table with two projecting sphinxes has also been found at Fiqya (Anfray 1965). Several stone sculptures of sitting women have been published (Caquot and Drewes 1955). For example, two sitting women, with their hair in tight stylised curls, were found at Haoulti (de Contenson 1959; 1981). Bronze seals have also been discovered. They represent schematised profiles of animals (often ibex, lions and birds) or geometrical symbols, sometimes framing a few letters of ESA script (Leclant and Miguel 1959). Finally, small rough clay representations of steatopygous women, cattle and other animals many of which are rare or absent in South West Arabian iconography (e.g. warthogs, hippos, lions, birds), a plough, a conical and a rectangular hut have also been recovered from Haoulti (de Contenson 1959).

6.8.2.3 Art and iconography Here ‘iconography’ refers to artistic images with a clear symbolic meaning; while ‘art’ is used to refer to aesthetic designs whose potential symbolism remains unknown to us. Pre-Aksumite art and iconography is represented by temple friezes, sculptures, votive altars and decorated 118

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 However, some of the art and iconography finds close comparisons in the Sayhad region of South West Arabia. Thus, the stylised ibex, the sun disc and moon crescent, the club or mace motif, and the bull are closely comparable to elements of Sayhadian iconography. Moreover, a single dedication to Almaqah (reported by Drewes 1959) on the schist bull found in Ethiopia, suggests that in this example, the bull symbolised Almaqah.

culture, since dedications to Almaqah appear with the crescent and disc symbol. The mace or club symbol found on a number of pre-Aksumite incense altars has been specifically associated with Almaqah in South West Arabia (Beeston 1984). Despite the many comparisons in the art and iconography of the pre-Aksumite culture and Saba, other influences are also apparent. Thus, the sphinxes suggest a Nubian influence (de Contenson 1981). Indeed, some preAksumite offering tables incorporate a lion’s head, whereas in South West Arabia a bull’s head (Ryckmans 1988) would typically be used.

The beautifully stylised ibex frieze from the Yeha ‘temple’ is very similar to friezes attested from Saba, such as that from the temple at Sirwah (Schmidt 1999). Similarly, the denticulate design is well-attested in the Sayhad region (Calvet and Robin 1997). See Fig. 25 for a comparison of the Yeha ibex frieze with one from the Ba’ran temple in Marib.

Other art and iconography might reflect local innovations. Consequently, it is very possible that the bull motif was already a local sacred symbol in the Horn of Africa before the Sabaean-related period. This is suggested by its depiction in the rock art of the Horn of Africa (some of which might date to the prehistoric period). (Though the dedication to Almaqah on the schist bull clearly indicates that in this example at least, the bull symbolised the chief Sabaean god during the preAksumite period.) In addition, the pre-Aksumite ‘sitting women’ appear to be local to the Ethiopian highlands, although broadly comparable to South West Arabian statuary. The bronze seals are probably also local innovations, since they are virtually unknown from South West Arabia: only one example of a bronze seal has been published from a South West Arabian site (at Hureida by Caton Thompson 1944) and ten pieces have been obtained from the antiquities market (Fattovich 1990). Finally, the steatopygous women and other clay representations found at Haoulti do not necessarily relate to a specific cultural or chronological horizon, since a steatopygous woman is also attested from an Aksumite level at Matara (Anfray 1968; fig 13), and from the Bronze Age Tihami site of Sabir (Vogt 1998a). 6.8.2.4 Ceramics The pre-Aksumite ceramics have been most extensively examined by Fattovich (1980; 1990). He argued that most of them are related to a local Ethiopian or African tradition. He only suggested that four pottery types - i.e. amphorae, cups, bowls and jugs, all from Yeha - are comparable to South West Arabian Sayhadian Iron Age wares (Fattovich 1980). The specific comparisons drawn by Fattovich are presented below. It is to be noted that although Fattovich has drawn explicit parallels with the Sayhad ceramic complex from specific Sayhadian sites, recent archaeological work suggests that the Sayhad ceramic complex is a widespread Iron Age tradition found throughout the Sayhad region, the Tihamah, and from the archaeologically investigated areas of the Central Highlands.

Fig. 25: A comparison of similar iconography in Yemen and Ethiopia 25 a) Frieze of ibex from the pre-Aksumite Yeha temple in Ethiopia (Top) 25 b) Frieze of ibex from the Sabaean Ba’ran temple in Marib (Bottom) The crescent and disc motif found on some of the incense altars is also represented throughout the Sayhad region (Beeston 1984). Within Saba, it seems to have been used to symbolise Almaqah (Vogt 1997), and it is reasonable to argue that this was also the case in the pre-Aksumite

Thus, Fattovich (1980) compared a red ware amphora from Yeha labelled CXL 1 (Anfray 1963, 187) to the 119

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA amphorae (fig. 113; Type 4100) from Hajar Bin Humeid in the Sayhad region of South West Arabia (Van Beek 1969). The surface colour of Type 4100 from Hajar Bin Humeid is generally red and all are finished with red slip (Van Beek 1969, 170). The amphorae from Hajar Bin Humeid occur from the 7th century BC to 1st century AD.

have an applied band or an incised line under the rim (Fattovich 1972). Fattovich (1980; 1990) compared this type to a vessel categorised as Type LVI, 7 from the Sayhadian site of Hureida (Caton Thompson 1944). He drew this parallel on the basis of its shape, which is convincing. In addition, we can suggest further morphological comparisons with LVI 6, 8 and 11, made in a reddish-brown fabric, and all from the fill of ‘temple C’ (c. mid 1st millennium BC) at Hureida.

In suggesting this parallel, Fattovich followed Van Beek (1969) who had already drawn similarities between the shape of the amphorae from Yeha, Hajar Bin Humeid, and from the Wadi Hadramawt (c.260km east of Hajar Bin Humeid). To determine whether the amphorae from the three areas shared a common origin, their fabric was analysed (Kital et al. 1969). Eight amphorae sherds from Wadi Hadramawt and two amphorae sherds from Hajar Bin Humeid were found to be petrographically comparable to amphorae from Yeha, but distinct from the rest of the amphorae at the two South West Arabian sites. Van Beek (1969) concluded that these ten South West Arabian examples were imported from Ethiopia. This conclusion remains uncertain; for example, it could be that the amphorae from Yeha, Hajar Bin Humeid and Hureida all originated from some other location in South West Arabia. Nevertheless, this pioneering scientific work seemed to provide the first indication of the longdistance movement of ceramics, as material recovered from all of these sites appears to share a common point of origin. However, recent thin-section analysis by Porter (2004) has revealed that the composition of the amphorae sherds from Yeha and from Hajar Bin Humeid sampled by Van Beek, and thought to have moved between Arabia and Africa, were in fact probably locally or regionally produced.

Fattovich (1980) also compared the pre-Aksumite bowls with Type 1620 from Hajar Bin Humeid. The latter are represented by a number of fairly diverse bowl forms, which all have an applied band under the rim (Van Beek 1969). Type 1620 has been found in levels dated to the 11th century BC to early 3rd century AD, but predominantly from the 6th/5th century BC (Van Beek 1969). The colour of the fabric of these vessels is light reddish-brown. This comparison appears to be viable. The jugs from Yeha are made of a red burnished ware (Anfray 1963). Fattovich cites pot CXLII from tomb 3 at Yeha as an example of such a vessel. Fattovich explicitly compared the jug from Yeha with a container made of a dark grey unburnished ware from the Qatabanian kingdom (site not specified) published by Doe (1971). Doe interpreted the latter as pottery for domestic use. There seem to be a number of differences between the two vessels; for example, the handle of the Qatabanian jug is placed on its body, whereas the handle is on the neck of type CXLII, and other similar jugs (e.g. type CXXXIII from tomb 3 at Yeha). The fabric (red burnished versus dark grey unburnished) and probable use of the vessels (mortuary as opposed to domestic) also points to significant differences. This comparison is not particularly convincing.

The cups from Yeha are made of burnished black ware. Fattovich (1980) compared an example from tomb 6 at Yeha with similar forms - labelled Types 1111 and 1511 from Hajar Bin Humeid (Van Beek 1969). Type 1111 is present from the 11th to 5th/3rd centuries BC. It tends to be represented by light red ware, although 12% of Type 1111 sherds range from very dark grey to light brownish grey; most are burnished. Type 1511 occurs from the 10th century BC to the 5th century BC and mostly from the 8th/7th century BC to the 6th/5th century BC. Red ware is again common, but colours range from lightish reddish brown to dark grey. The fabric of both 1111 and 1511 has been described as local (Van Beek 1969), although this has not been scientifically demonstrated. Types 1111 and 1511 both have applied bands around the rim.

In overview, Fattovich discerned only four vessel types that have counterparts in South West Arabia. Of these comparisons, two are convincing, but two are not. A very real difficulty in judging ceramic parallels between the two regions is the limited published material. Fattovich (1990) argued that, in general, the ceramics found in Ethiopia indicate a local development and that the bulk of the pre-Aksumite ceramics show no connections with South West Arabia. Only two pre-Aksumite forms appear to have close parallels with South West Arabia, and one of these (the amphora) is might even have circulated between the two regions. But, as Porter’s (2004) analysis indicates, this is not a clear-cut assumption. Indeed, based on Porter’s work, it would seem that the pottery was probably not widely moved between areas but locally manufactured.

Having considered the published illustrations, it is apparent that two elements of the Yeha cup differ from Types 1111 and 1511 from Hajar Bin Humeid. First, the Yeha vessel is made of a burnished black ware, and, second it does not have an applied band, of the type often found on Types 1111 and 1511. This comparison is therefore not persuasive.

6.8.3 Pre-Aksumite contacts between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia: the published interpretations The antiquarian J T Bent (1893) suggested two extremely influential theories based largely on the inscriptions that he and others, such as Salt (1814), recorded from

The pre-Aksumite bowls that Fattovich compared to South West Arabian vessels are made of a red fabric and 120

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 Ethiopia. The first hypothesis was that South West Arabians, with their ‘superior culture’, colonised northern Ethiopia in the 1st millennium BC. His second premise was that the South Arabians joined physically and culturally with the local population to form the hbst (‘Habashat’) people. That name, attested in Sabaic inscriptions found in Arabia and dated to the 1st millennium BC, was noted for its similarity to the Arabic word al-habasa (meaning Ethiopia) (Brandt 1997). Littmann (1913) observed that this word only appears in Ethiopia in the Aksumite inscriptions of the 1st millennium AD.

Indeed, a number of scholars have used the inscriptions to stress the local perspective of the pre-Aksumite culture. For example, it is now generally accepted that the Group II texts were the work of indigenous Ethiopians (Drewes 1962; Irvine 1978). Since all royal inscriptions are drafted in the ‘local’ language, some authors have extrapolated a local autonomous rulership (Isaac and Felder 1988). Given that three Group II inscriptions expressly assert the pre-Aksumite king to be ‘maitre des Sabaeans’ (Schneider 1976), it has also been argued that the preAksumites were politically superior over the Sabaeans (Isaac and Felder 1988). More recently, Pirenne suggested that the Sabaean civilisation was first established in Ethiopia and was then taken to South West Arabia by Ethiopian migrants (an idea also expressed in an unpublished conference paper by Pirenne (1987), cited in Munro-Hay (1991)). This notion has subsequently been developed by Bekerie (1997), who argued that the pre-Aksumite culture should not be interpreted in terms of a mythic South Arabian paradigm, in which Ethiopian developments are seen as the result of South West Arabian influences.

Bent’s ideas were developed by Conti Rossini (1906; 1921; 1928), who proposed that the hbst were a Sabaean tribe that crossed the Red Sea north of Bab al-Mandab and set up commercial and military posts on the Ethiopian coast. Conti Rossini also suggested that these ‘culturally superior’ Sabaeans then colonised the fertile highlands around or before the 5th century BC and that, while they mixed with the locals, the Sabaeans remained dominant. Thus, he argued that epigraphy and all other facets of pre-Aksumite culture were introduced by the hbst South West Arabians.

A few others, notably Fattovich (1990), have emphasised that the Sabaean-related data are all elite in character and therefore probably represent only a limited range and quantity of the material culture of the Ethiopian highlands. This is highlighted in his observation that the pottery found in pre-Aksumite contexts generally has local antecedents, and suggests few links with South West Arabia, which has led him to question the true impact of the Sabaean culture on pre-Aksumite Ethiopia.

The theory that the Sabaean immigrants were dominant colonists is still maintained in some of the recent literature (e.g. de Contenson 1980; Mekouria 1981; Michels 1988; Burstein 1998), while others have argued against this view (e.g. Isaac and Felder 1988; Fattovich 1990; Bekerie 1997). The 13 royal inscriptions have been marshalled both to support and to reject the notion of dominant South West Arabian colonisers or migrants. For example, the use of the paramount South West Arabian title ‘mukarrib’ in the pre-Aksumite texts has been used to imply that Ethiopia was a Sabaean colony of the mukarribite of Saba. As von Wissmann (1976, 48) wrote, Ethiopia “war als Siedlungskolonie enger en den [Sabaean] Mukarrib und dessen Kernland gebunden” (i.e. Ethiopia was a colony, bound to the Sabaean Mukarrib and his heartland). In a similar vein, it has been proposed that the titulature ‘King Sr’n of the tribe of Yg’d, Mukarrib of D’iamat and of Saba’ (Schneider 1973), as used by two pre-Aksumite mukarribs, indicates that these rulers exercised the power of the South Arabian mukarrib of Saba over their subjects (de Contenson 1981). Indeed, de Contenson (1981) interpreted the meanings of D’iamat and Saba in three ways, all of which can accommodate a model of dominant South West Arabian influence. Thus, he suggested that they refer to the South Arabian regions whence the Arabian colonists originated; to the names given by South West Arabian colonists to African districts; or to the South West Arabian people. However, other scholars have observed that we do not know who, or what, D’iamat and Saba were (Munro-Hay 1991; Fattovich 1997a). The latter authors have suggested that these terms need not refer to South West Arabian people or places, particularly since d’mt is not attested in Arabian ESA texts and could quite feasibly refer to a local authority.

To end this summary of the published interpretations of pre-Aksumite relations between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia, it is pertinent to note that all researchers - even the most radical Afro-centric such as Bekerie (1997) - accept that there were connections between the two regions. These links are demonstrated not only by the inscriptions but also by the architecture and iconography, and by some limited ceramic comparisons, as outlined above. 6.8.4 Pre-Aksumite contacts between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia: a re-examination By drawing upon the evidence and interpretations summarised above, and by harnessing the recently discovered archaeological evidence from the Tihamah, this section re-considers the potential cultural, political and finally the economic connections between South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa. 6.8.4.1 Pre-Aksumite cultural contacts with South West Arabia That there were pre-Aksumite relations between Ethiopia and South West Arabia is undeniable. Such links are indicated by similarities in material culture, particularly in the architecture, epigraphy, art and iconography, as 121

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA well as by the comparable religious elements, genealogy and political titulature expressed in the inscriptions. These parallels, and whether they suggest cultural connections with South West Arabia, are discussed below.

The content of the inscriptions also indicates cultural relations with Saba. In South West Arabian epigraphy, the Sabaeans are identified as the ‘children of Almaqah’ (Beeston 1984), just as the chief gods of the other Sayhadian kingdoms are closely identified with their people. Furthermore, within the Sayhad region, the chief god of each kingdom is (usually) only attested in the inscriptions of that kingdom and only ever in the language of that kingdom. The fact that the preAksumite inscriptions refer to Almaqah provides evidence of either a real, or a symbolic, connection with Saba, while his evocation in the ‘local’ Sabaic-related language could suggest that the Sabaean religion was appropriated by the local pre-Aksumites, or at least by those elite individuals who wrote the inscriptions or were responsible for the construction of the temples.

Generally, the monumental pre-Aksumite architecture is typical of Sayhadian monumental traditions. Since the ground plans of temples were distinct within each of the Sayhadian kingdoms, it appears that the ground plans of both the pre-Aksumite Yeha temple and the sanctuary of Almaqah in Gobochela conform specifically to Sabaean temple architecture. Thus, both are rectangular, have a centrally positioned door in the short side, and neither have elements peculiar to the other kingdoms, such as the bent-access found in some Minaean temples. However, some temples appear to be local innovations, namely those from Haoulti. The latter are not clearly Sabaean-related because of their square ground plan, nor do they compare stylistically with temples of the other Sayhadian kingdoms. For example, while Hadrami temples are also often square in shape, they are approached by a monumental staircase (Breton 1980). Nor does the use of dressed blue granite in the Haoulti temples conform to the stylistic canons of Sayhadian temple architecture (Jung 1989). Not enough remains of the Grat-Beal-Guebri ‘temple’ or the other ‘temple’ structures to establish their cultural affiliation.

The Sabaean family names and Sabaean toponyms attested in the pre-Aksumite texts also claim cultural relations and at least some migration of Sabaeans from Saba to the Horn of Africa. This is, for example, suggested by the reference to the stonemasons who came from Marib. While such inscriptions should not necessarily be taken as factual reports, they support the possibility that some individuals did have a Sabaean origin or migrated from Saba, or at least that such a claim would have been viewed as plausible. Alternatively, Pirenne (1987) suggested that ‘Sabaean’ onomastics (such as ‘Marib’) were first used in Ethiopia and only later used in Saba. Pirenne’s idea runs against accepted consensus, but cannot be entirely ruled out owing to the poor chronology of the pre-Aksumite period and of the early Sayhadian Iron Age.

The earliest temples from the Sayhad region, Ethiopia, and the Tihamah have all been dated via the oldest (Type A) ESA inscriptions. The actual date that such architecture emerged remains unclear. Without independent dating, priority cannot be established for any region, so it is unknown whether the style was introduced from the Sayhad area - as the Arabianist literature unanimously argues - or whether it represents an earlier development in the Horn of Africa, as Pirenne’s (1987) argument implies. On the other hand, the diversity of monumental temple structures in the Sayhad region may support the idea of an indigenous development there, unlike the restricted range of temple forms in Ethiopia, which more plausibly suggests an intrusive, rather than an indigenous, tradition. As yet, no clear local precursors have been documented in any region.

As Fattovich (1990) has argued, the focus on elite monumental sites, iconography and inscriptions may have led to an overstatement of the strength of cultural relations between the two regions, particularly since almost nothing is known of the local non-elite culture, such as dwelling sites or ceramic corpora. However, even within the elite data there are expressions of a nonSabaean/Sayhadian cultural input, which might therefore be representative of local culture. Thus, the architecture also shows some non-Sabaean traits, notably in the temples of Haoulti (de Contenson 1959). In addition, local (or at least non-Sabaean) names and deities are mentioned in the inscriptions. Finally, local, and probable Nubian, art and iconographic elements are also apparent, as reviewed in Section 6.8.2.3.

Some of the pre-Aksumite art and iconography also points to cultural connections with the Sayhad region and specifically with Saba. This is stunningly demonstrated by the frieze of ibex from Yeha (Phillipson 1998) that is almost identical to a frieze from the first Sabaean capital at Sirwah (Schmidt 1999). Iconographic parallels with Saba are also indicated by the use of symbols that were associated with Almaqah (such as the crescent and disc), but the absence of iconographic symbols specifically related to gods of other Sayhadian kingdoms.

The question of the cultural relationship between the two regions is aided by the recent archaeological discoveries from the Tihamah. The temple to Almaqah at al-Hamid is broadly comparable to the temple at Yeha, in both layout and date, although smaller in scale. Secondly, the equally archaic Sabaic inscriptions on the Tihamah provide a geographical link between Saba, in the South West Arabian interior, and the Horn of Africa.

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THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 The pre-Aksumite evocation of the god Almaqah in Ethiopia also prompts alternative interpretations of the nature of political relations. Within South West Arabian pre-Islamic history, it has been argued that political relations are indicated not only through allegiance to a terrestrial king, but also to the chief celestial deity of the kingdom (Beeston 1984c). Moreover, Arabianists have argued that the common religion of each kingdom played a political role in binding together the members of that kingdom (Beeston 1984c; Darles 1997). Thus, they have maintained that political commitment to the kingdom was demonstrated through religious rituals of allegiance, which in Saba included the annual panegyris of Almaqah held at the main temples at Marib, to which each Sabaean ‘tribe’ was expected to send delegates (Beeston 1984).

6.8.4.2 Pre-Aksumite political contacts with South West Arabia Previous interpretations have used the epigraphic record to reconstruct the nature of political relations between the two regions during the ‘Ethiopian-Sabaean period’. As discussed in Section 6.8.3, the pre-Aksumite inscriptions have been employed to argue two contrasting positions: either that Ethiopia was subjugated by the Sabaeans, or that the pre-Aksumites were an autonomous people. However, the inscriptions - and indeed the pre-Aksumite ‘temple’ architecture - can be used to offer alternative interpretations of political relations between the two regions. A good avenue for considering political associations via the pre-Aksumite inscriptions is by exploring the use of the title mukarrib and the evocation of the god Almaqah. It is to be recalled from Chapter 1 that Almaqah was central to the political identity of the Sabaeans, as was the title mukarrib, which they held in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. The title of mukarrib - interpreted as unifier or federator (Beeston 1984a) - appears to have been the highest political title, and was restricted to the paramount South West Arabian leader of all the Sayhadian kingdoms (according to philologists such as Müller 1988; Nebes 1997). During the Ancient SubPeriod I, its use was guarded by Saba (as indicated in Karibil Watar’s unification inscription, RES 3945) (Nebes 1997).

According to this perspective, the evocation of Almaqah in the pre-Aksumite inscriptions would suggest close political relations between the pre-Aksumite people and the Sabaeans. However, this need not necessarily have been the case. For example, his evocation could have served to link the elite members of pre-Aksumite society with Saba, but have had no real political impact on the rest of that society. Indeed, since almost nothing is known about the non-elite pre-Aksumites, it is impossible to argue that the Sabaean-related religion was used to unite the local pre-Aksumite population. Alternatively, Almaqah’s evocation might have been purely religious, having no political dimension, and thus serving a different function in Ethiopia to its apparent use in Saba.

In the Ethiopian inscriptions, the first pre-Aksumite leader was titled king, whereas the three subsequent leaders adopted the title mukarrib. The development of the pre-Aksumite titulature can be interpreted in four main ways, which provide new insights into political relations between Saba and Ethiopia. Firstly, the replacement of the title king with mukarrib could suggest a development in stature of the Ethiopian leader. Secondly, the use of mukarrib could represent a provocative Ethiopian assertion of power. Thirdly, the title of mukarrib might have been used as a political tool for local legitimation. Or fourthly, its application could simply reflect a local change in semantic usage. The first three interpretations suggest different types of political relations between Ethiopia and Saba. For example, the foremost reading could indicate a move from a subservient to an equal political partnership between the pre-Aksumite and the Sabaean leaders. The second proposal implies that the Ethiopians were subservient to the Sabaeans but that Sabaean dominance later weakened. In the third scenario, the use of the title ‘mukarrib’ is regarded as a symbolic method of raising the Ethiopian leader’s stature and credibility. Here the pre-Aksumite leader might not even have been involved in direct political relations with Saba, although he (and others) would clearly have been aware of the stature of that kingdom.10 10

Given that the inscriptions allow us to offer alternative interpretations for the nature of political links with South West Arabia, let us turn to the archaeological data to see whether they elucidate these relations. Within South West Arabian archaeology, Arabianists have argued that the temples of each kingdom had a political role of uniting members of each community under the celestial authority of the chief god and the terrestrial power of the king (Beeston 1984). In South West Arabian terms, the very presence of Sabaean-related temple architecture in Ethiopia would therefore indicate political relations between the people of the two regions. However, this interpretation is not so clear-cut, for it is possible that the pre-Aksumite Sabaean-related ‘temples’ (assuming that they have been correctly interpreted as religious buildings) served a purely religious rather than a political function, since none of the inscriptions help to elucidate the meaning of the ‘temples’ to the people. For example, not one of the pre-Aksumite leaders claims to have commissioned the construction of the ‘temples’. Moreover, even if Sabaean-related ‘temple’ architecture had the same political role in Ethiopia as in Saba, the fact that there only two pre-Aksumite temples fully conform to the Sabaean model - i.e. Yeha ‘temple’ and the sanctuary of Almaqah at Gobochela - suggests rather Ethiopian rulers is suggested by the addition of ‘descendant of the [Sabaean] tribe W’ren of Raydan’ to the titulature of Rbh, the first pre-Aksumite monarch expressly titled the ‘mukarrib of D’iamat and Saba’ (Drewes and Schneider 1970).

Indeed, the importance of claimed South West Arabian descent to

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RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA between South West Arabia and Ethiopia were relatively restricted.

limited political links between the two regions. To be sure, the non-Sabaean character of the other ‘temples’ - at Haoulti, Fiqya, Matara and Kaskase - means that they do not support political connections with Saba or the Sayhad region.

Perhaps yet another way of looking at this issue is in terms of a level of economic reciprocity between the two countries (Simpson, pers. comm. 2004) – perhaps to be viewed as a more developed version of a (pre-coinage) gift exchange network of the type first observed by the anthropologist Malinowski (1922) on the Trobriand Islands. Here, neither side is dominant but the two groups reciprocate to mutual benefit.

In overview, the use of Sabaean titulature and the claimed Sabaean heritage of at least one of the pre-Aksumite mukarribs strongly suggest that there was some sort of political connection between the two regions. These relations might have been real political links or purely symbolic connections, such as propagandist legitimation claims. Furthermore, since we have no clear image of the non-elite pre-Aksumite culture, it is difficult to establish the extent or significances of any real, or purely symbolic, Sabaean political influence in Ethiopia.

The absence of any archaeological evidence for links between Ethiopia and Saba clearly dated to the second half of the 1st millennium BC is also pertinent to this discussion. If Saba was involved in pre-Aksumite trade, then why did relations between the two regions apparently cease? One reason might relate to the rise in power of the other Sayhadian kingdoms along the inland spice route in the second half of the 1st millennium BC (Breton 1999). This could have forced Saba to concentrate on maintaining its place on the Sayhad spice route and its relationship with the other Sayhadian kingdoms over and above any relations with the Horn of Africa. On the other hand, Saba might have chosen to focus its attentions on the Sayhad route, which, compared to long-distance relations with Ethiopia, would have been relatively easy to monitor, control, and thus benefit from.

6.8.4.3 Pre-Aksumite economic contacts with South West Arabia The evidence suggests that economic contacts between the two regions were relatively limited: they are not mentioned in the epigraphic record of Ethiopia (or of South West Arabia),11 and few common ceramic types, which might have been involved in trade, have been identified. One reason for restricted economic connections between Ethiopia and the South West Arabia might have been that both areas were exporting comparable goods and therefore had little recourse to trade with one another. That each region was trading in similar commodities is indicated by the ‘Classical’ texts (see Chapter 2, Section 2.3.2), which, although written centuries after the preAksumite period, mention that comparable luxury goods, such as incense and gold, were exports from both the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia. They suggest that there were only a few differences in the natural resources of the two regions, namely that South West Arabian incense was superior (Groom 1981) and that ivory was available in the Horn of Africa. Thus, it is possible, although not archaeologically attested, that any trade between the two regions might have been in a limited range of goods.

Evidence from the Tihamah adds another element to the picture of economic relations. Above, it was noted that parallels between the pre-Aksumite and Sayhadian pottery appear to be restricted to two types, and that published analytical work on one of these types - the amphora (Kital 1969) - suggests that some amphorae might have circulated between Ethiopia and the Sayhad region. However, recent pioneering scientific research by Porter (2004) refutes this claim: vessels thought by Kital to have been circulated have been shown to be locally produced. Though it remains possible that some vessels (yet to be thin-sectioned) were circulated, the results of Porter’s (2004) petrographic research provide yet another indication that we must refrain from emphasising economic links, or from assuming some massive trading venture back in the earlier first millennium.

Alternatively, economic links between the two regions in the first half of the 1st millennium BC, might have been related to a Sabaean attempt to control the trade in luxury goods out of Ethiopia. Egyptian historical sources record that such trade was the result of infrequent major royal expeditions (assuming that the equation of Punt with the Horn of Africa is correct). It is feasible that in the preAksumite period, Saba, then the dominant Sayhadian kingdom (Müller 1988), might have extended its power over Ethiopia in an attempt to monopolise such occasional trade expeditions to the Horn of Africa. This hypothesis ties in with the idea that economic links 11

However, there probably was some smaller-scale connection. Comparable amphorae have been found on the Tihamah and are particularly numerous at al-Hamid (Phillips, pers. comm. 1999). Moreover, thin-section analysis of amphorae from al-Hamid and from sites in the Sabaean kingdom, has suggested that some share a common origin (Porter 2004). Given that amphorae are usually assumed to have been used to transport commodities, the purported common origin of vessels from the Sayhad region and the Tihamah hints that trade relations did exist between South West Arabia.

Although to reiterate, Arabian ESA texts almost never mention trade relations (Kitchen 2000).

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THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 Unfortunately, even if thin-section analysis were to show that some amphorae did circulate between the two lands, this vessel cannot yet be used to clarify the development of economic links between Africa and Arabia. For example, they do not elucidate any change in the economic relations between the first and second half of the 1st millennium BC, since their developmental chronology has not yet been worked out in detail.

gold coins followed fluctuations in Roman/Byzantine weight standards (Munro-Hay 1991; Phillipson 1998). Finally, of the twenty kings recorded on the coinage, Ezana has been dated through a letter addressed to him by the Roman Emperor Constantius II in AD 356 (Anfray 1981; Munro-Hay 1991; Phillipson 1998). The 6th century reign of King Kaleb is attested by many external authors, including the Byzantine historian Procopius, and the Byzantine writers Nonnus and Antiochus (Shahid 1971; Kobishchanov 1979).

Having discussed the pre-Aksumite evidence, and the potential cultural, political and economic nature of relations with South West Arabia, the following section explores contacts between the two regions in the Aksumite period.

In the period before coinage was issued, the chronology of Aksum is uncertain. Scholars have suggested that Aksum was established and rose as the centre of a major polity during the preceding three centuries (Phillipson 1998), a theory that is largely based on ‘Classical’ accounts (see Chapter 2, Section 2.3.2). Thus, the PME, which has been dated to about the mid 1st century AD, claims that Aksum was a “city” (Schoff 1912, 13) or a “metropolis” (Huntingford 1980, 20; Casson 1989, 53). On the other hand, Pliny the Elder (writing in AD 77) does not mention Aksum, which has led researchers to question whether Aksum really was established in the 1st century AD and to challenge the date of the PME (Pirenne 1987). However, recent archaeological investigation has indicated that Aksum was occupied during the 1st century AD (Munro-Hay 1991). Moreover, the first South West Arabian inscriptions to refer to Aksumite rulers have been dated to the early 2nd century AD. As a result, it is likely that the Aksumite kingdom was established at the start of the 1st millennium AD.

6.9 The Aksumite culture The Persian Gnostic Mani (d. AD 276 or 277) is reported by his followers to have described Aksum as one of the four most important kingdoms of the world (Anfray 1990; Munro-Hay 1991); but as Munro-Hay (1991, ix) has written: “of all the important ancient civilisations of the past, that of the ancient kingdom of Aksum still remains perhaps the least known”. The Aksumite kingdom was centred on the site of Aksum in the Ethiopian highlands, in the same general area as the pre-Aksumite kingdom. Several Aksumite sites have been systematically examined, including Aksum, Melazo and Matara as well as the Aksumite port of Adulis on the Ethiopian coast. Investigations have focused largely on elite evidence, which primarily constitutes burial evidence, and much research has been concerned with the kingdom’s role in international trade, particularly with the Mediterranean.

The decline of Aksum has been gauged by the abandonment of settlement areas, the cessation of monument construction and by the end of the coinage series in the 7th century AD (Phillipson 1998). The Islamic control of Arabia (see Chapter 2, Section 2.3.5) and the possible resultant isolation of Christian Ethiopia may have contributed to its disappearance as a world power at around the 7th century AD.

Following consideration of the chronology and a presentation of the Aksumite data, the evidence for cultural, political, and economic relations between Ethiopia and South West Arabia - and specifically the Tihamah - will be examined.

6.9.2 The Aksumite data 6.9.1 Chronology The distinctive Aksumite monumental stelae, architecture, and funerary monuments are quite different from anything known in South West Arabia. The range of Aksumite stelae, which can weigh several tonnes, are summarised in Section 6.6. Details about the numerous multi-storeyed monumental buildings known from the Aksumite kingdom have been synthesised by Kobishchanov (1979). These structures use a variety of building materials, combining wooden beams for frames and supports, coupled with monolithic stone panels, columns, slabs and polished stone. The mortuary evidence tends to be represented by burial vaults, some of which have been excavated (notably the ‘Tomb of the Brick Arches’) (Phillipson 1998, 2000c; Durrani 2004). Until the 1990s, almost nothing was known of non-elite architecture or culture, evidence of which is only now gradually emerging (Phillipson et al. 1997).

The Aksumite period has been dated to the first seven centuries AD (Phillipson 1998; 2000b). Details of the chronology from the 3rd century onwards come from several thousand Aksumite coins, which appear to have been issued from the end of the 3rd until the 7th centuries AD (Munro-Hay 1991). Although the coins bear no dates, a fairly precise chronology has been based on the stylistic changes of the coins, their weights relative to international numismatic standards, and on the names of two kings - Ezana (4th century AD) and Kaleb (6th century AD) - whose dates are firmly supported by external sources (Phillipson 1998). To elaborate, a key stylistic change is the inclusion of the cross from the time of the Christian king Ezana. Secondly, early Aksumite gold coins appear to have followed the weight standard prevailing in the Roman Empire, while later 125

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA 6.9.2.1 Coins

light relief on the outside (Anfray 1981), which is presumably judged to be South West Arabian because animal horns were a frequent motif in that area. Aksumite ware in South West Arabian contexts has thus far only been identified at the ancient port of Qana on the Hadrami coast (Sedov 1997).

To date, only a few links between Ethiopia and South West Arabia are indicated by the Aksumite coinage, ceramics, inscriptions and iconography, which are now outlined. With respect to the coins, Greek legends appear on the gold examples throughout their issue. In contrast, copper coins, which were issued from the 4th century AD, and in far greater numbers, are often inscribed in the local Ge’ez language. The Greek legends suggest that gold coins were for international use; while the copper coinage was probably primarily intended for internal, everyday, use (Munro-Hay 1991). None of the Aksumite coins have Arabian ESA legends. The Aksumite coins were first minted in the late 3rd century AD, a few decades after South West Arabian coinage stopped being produced (Phillipson 1998). Both gold and copper Aksumite money seems to have stopped being minted at around the end of the 7th century AD (Munro-Hay 1991; Phillipson 1998). Only two South West Arabian coins have been found in archaeological excavations in Ethiopia. These comprise a bronze coin discovered near the Cathedral at Aksum (de Contenson 1963) and a silver coin from Ona Nagast (Manzo pers. comm. 2000). As discussed in Chapters 3 and 5 (Sections 3.4.3 and 5.4.2), within South West Arabia, a few gold Aksumite coins have been found in Qana (Sedov 1997b), about 500 bronze and gold Aksumite coins seem to derive from Shabwa (Munro-Hay 1991b), and a hoard of Aksumite and Roman gold coins has been discovered near Aden (Munro-Hay 1989b).

6.9.2.2 Inscriptions Aksumite inscriptions are written in three scripts: Ge’ez, South West Arabian ESA, and Greek, and in two languages: Ge’ez and Greek. Ge’ez (or Ethiopic) is a Semitic language of assumed, but not proven, South West Arabian ancestry (Munro-Hay 1991). Ge’ez is generally written in a cursive script, which scholars have suggested could either be a local development, or have descended from Monumental South Arabian (Ullendorf 1955; Drewes 1962; Drewes and Schneider 1976). Those Aksumite inscriptions written in Arabian ESA script use the Ge’ez language, rather than Sabaic, or any other Sayhadian language. It is unclear whether they represent the continued use of ESA from pre-Aksumite times, or whether ESA was revived in the Aksumite period.12 By using the medium chronology, the intermediate period expands to about 500 years, which makes it rather more difficult to sustain the idea that Aksumite ESA writing developed from pre-Aksumite precursors. The Greek inscriptions use both Greek script and language. About 100 inscriptions dated to the Aksumite period have been recorded from Ethiopia (Bernand et al. 1991a). Twelve of these are lengthy royal inscriptions, which are inscribed on large smoothed stone blocks, and have been found in Aksum. Five of the royal inscriptions use cursive Ge’ez, employing the Ge’ez script and language. Four are written in the ESA script, but in the Ge’ez language. Two are bilingual, drafted in three scripts: ESA (using the Ge’ez language), Ge’ez (Ge’ez language and script) and Greek (Greek language and script). Finally, one is written in Greek (language and script). A further three royal inscriptions, written in Greek, have been found outside Aksum (as discussed below).

The ceramic assemblages most intensively studied come from Aksum and Matara. All of the pottery from Aksum dated to before the 4th century AD has been judged to be local, but distinct from the pre-Aksumite ceramics (Anfray 1966; Munro-Hay 1991). Almost all (99%) of the pottery from later contexts has also been interpreted as local (Phillipson 1998). Ceramics that pre-date the 4th century AD come predominantly from funerary contexts, whereas pottery post-dating that century is mostly known from domestic contexts (Phillipson 1998). It appears that funerary pottery does not differ significantly from domestic ware, although predominantly red burnished ware is typical of funerary contexts, while more crudely made black or grey vessels have been found in the later domestic contexts (Phillipson 1998). Overall, the local pottery seems to have been made without the potter’s wheel and firing was at comparatively low temperatures, probably in a bonfire, rather than in a constructed kiln (Phillipson 1998).

About 70 shorter inscriptions are written in the Ge’ez language and script. These comprise inscribed pottery sherds, which have been found at Aksum, Addi Keramaten, Aratu and Matara, as well as writing inscribed on rock surfaces (‘rock graffiti’). The latter tend to be related to religious matters (see Bernand et al. 1991a).

The 1% of imported, post 4th century AD pottery mostly comprises Roman terra sigillata Africana ware (Phillipson 1998) and Mediterranean amphorae (Anfray 1974). A number of closed ceramic lamps with moulded decoration from Adulis have been attributed to the eastern Roman Empire and probably come from Egypt (Munro-Hay 1991). Very few ceramics have been attributed to a South West Arabian origin. The latter include an oblong bowl with a bucranium modelled in

Finally, in addition to the aforementioned royal inscriptions found at Aksum, 12 other Greek (in script and language) inscriptions have been discovered in Ethiopia. Of these, two are royal inscriptions and were found in Daqqi Mahari and the port of Adulis. The 12

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The palaeographic style of the Aksumite ESA inscriptions has not been specified, but published commentary suggests that it was not identical to that of contemporary South West Arabia ESA.

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 inland. The Arabian ESA texts indicate that the Aksumites were present in South West Arabia, both in the western Central Highlands and on the Tihamah (Robin 1995). At times, the Ethiopian titulature claims that the Aksumites ruled the whole of South West Arabia, which will have included the Tihamah. A period of direct rule in South West Arabia in the 6th century AD by the Aksumite king, Kaleb, is reported in the external histories and is recorded in a royal Ge’ez inscription found in Marib (Bernand et al. 1991). Scholars have not investigated the nature of these political relations beyond the original claims asserted in the historical sources.

remaining ten Greek inscriptions originate from Adulis and comprise a few letters at most; two are represented by inscribed potsherds and the others are written on stone. A third royal Aksumite inscription drafted in Greek language and script derives from Meroe, in Sudan. The pre-Christian religious Aksumite inscriptions concentrate on the god Astar and on three ‘local’ gods, Beher, Meder and particularly Mahrem, who was the Aksumite royal or dynastic god and war-god (Munro-Hay 1991). Astar13 is regarded as the chief Aksumite deity since he was always mentioned at the head of the astral triad and is identified with Zeus in local Greek inscriptions (Munro-Hay 1991). He is also the only South West Arabian god to be mentioned in the Aksumite inscriptions. The Christian cross replaced the crescent and disc during the reign of Ezana (4th century AD), traditionally taken to mark Ethiopia’s adoption of Christianity. The disc and crescent, a symbol of Almaqah that was previously used in pre-Aksumite contexts, occurs on Aksumite stelae from Matara and Anza. It has been suggested that in the Aksumite period, this symbol was appropriated to symbolise Astar (Munro-Hay 1991).

Traditionally, scholars argued that there were close cultural links between South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa in the Aksumite period, essentially because the Aksumite culture was interpreted as the result of earlier pre-Aksumite - Sabaean migrants (Conti Rossini 1928; Mekouria 1981). However, more recently, Africanists have argued that the Aksumite culture is a local development and have therefore emphasised that preAksumite relations with South West Arabia had very little impact on the Aksumite culture (Isaac and Felder 1989; Fattovich 1990). This view may be strengthened by the adoption of the medium chronology, which lengthens the duration of the intermediate period.

6.9.3 Aksumite contacts between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia: the published interpretations Aksum has usually been viewed in terms of its place in the international economy, primarily in terms of trade relations with the Mediterranean. Phillipson (1998, 63) has observed that the emphasis on trade with the Mediterranean derives from the ‘Classical’ sources, which have “almost certainly resulted in Mediterranean imports being over represented in accounts of Aksumite international trade”. Moreover, items originating from the better-documented circum-Mediterranean world are more easily identified than goods from other regions. Indeed, there is little recognised archaeological evidence for trade with the Far East, which comprises glass beads and semiprecious stones, bangles and other jewellery that may come from India (Bard 1995). In addition, a single piece of iron, representing an angled strip or bracket joined at the ends by a silver rivet, from the 3rd century ‘Tomb of the Brick Arches’, might be of Chinese origin (Phillipson 1998). The limited amount of South West Arabian evidence identified in Ethiopia - and vice versa - was outlined above. As a result, scholars have tended not to discuss trade with the East, or with South West Arabia.

6.9.4 Aksumite contacts between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia: a re-examination To re-examine the relationship between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia, we will explore the evidence of cultural, political, and economic contacts. Culturally, no real links are apparent from the archaeological record. The crescent and disc motif used on some of the monumental stelae and coinage need not represent contemporary links with South West Arabia; rather, it could signify continuity from the pre-Aksumite period, or reflect the re-appropriation of a symbol that was sacred to the pre-Aksumite culture during the Aksumite period. Similarly, the Aksumite evocation of Athtar in pre-Christian Aksumite inscriptions need not indicate contemporary relations with South West Arabia, it could underscore a connection with the pre-Aksumite culture, or simply represent a new religion: Athtar was a well-known Semitic deity, worshipped throughout the Near East as Ishtar, Astarte, Ashtaroth, etc. (Beeston 1984c). The fact that the Aksumite texts no longer refer to any other deities specific to South West Arabia suggests both a cultural and political separation from South West Arabia and from the pre-Aksumite Sabaeanrelated culture. Moreover, although some of the royal Aksumite inscriptions are written in ESA, they do not seem to be intended for South West Arabian readers since they are written in the Ge’ez language. It is plausible to argue that the use of ESA was to add legitimacy to the royal texts, since ESA was locally used for religious and royal inscriptions in the pre-Aksumite period, although this suggestion presupposes that literacy continued across the intermediate period.

Political relations with South West Arabia have been gauged from the Arabian ESA record and the other texts outlined in Chapter 2. These claim that from perhaps the 3rd century AD until Islam, the Tihamah was politically allied to, or dominated in different phases by, either Ethiopia or the South West Arabian kingdoms based 13

Astar was known as Athtar in South West Arabia and was the head of the entire South West Arabian pantheon – as recorded in the ESA inscriptions - throughout the Iron Age.

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RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HORN OF AFRICA AND SOUTH WEST ARABIA Despite the absence of archaeological evidence for close links between the two regions, strong political relations between the two regions are reported in both the Arabian ESA inscriptions and in the Ethiopian texts. Thus, the Arabian sources describe an Aksumite presence on the Tihamah, while the Aksumite texts assert their domination over various parts of South West Arabia including an area thought to refer to the Tihamah. The archaeological record of the Tihamah does not help to elucidate this picture since no sites dated to this period have been recognised.

structures. The discovery of domesticated cattle on the Tihamah, apparently in the 4th millennium BC, hints at the possibility that such animals could have been transferred to the Horn of Africa some two millennia earlier than the limited faunal data from the latter region suggest. Unfortunately, the physically undated pastoral rock art does not clarify when such movements might have occurred, though the presence of some comparable pastoral rock art on both sides of the Red Sea suggests that there were relations between the Horn of Africa and Arabia. The presence of African-origin sorghum in South West Arabia indicates that such links occurred in, or by, the 3rd millennium BC.

But why should either Aksum or the South West Arabian kingdoms have wanted to make claims over the Tihamah? Firstly, accounts of dominion over their neighbours, whether invented, real, or a combination of the two, would have been good propaganda for the Ethiopian rulers. The need for propagandist counterclaims, or for actual campaigns to keep a real Aksumite threat out of the Tihamah (and the Central Highlands), by the South West Arabian leaders helps to explain their interests in the coastal region. Secondly, the Aksumite Monumentum Adulitanum inscription, dated to c. AD 200-330, (see Chapter 2, Section 2.3.4) suggests that Aksumite interests in the coastal plain were related to a desire to control Red Sea trade. This helps to explain Arabian concerns with the Tihamah. It is probable that international interest in the Red Sea must have precipitated the South West Arabian rulers to make, or reinforce, their claims over their portion of the coast. Indeed, we need to recognise the potential impact of Aksumite Red Sea trade on the South West Arabian economy, which will have broken South Arabia’s apparent former monopoly over commerce in luxury goods, and might even help to explain the demise of the Sayhadian kingdoms in the 1st millennium AD. This possibility should be added to the traditional argument that their fall was related to the fact that, during the Christian era, the Mediterranean no longer demanded incense to the degree it was used in the centuries before (Groom 1981).

With respect to the obsidian, although researchers have not clearly distinguished between Arabian-origin and African-origin Group 4d obsidian, it has been discovered far from its original source (in Egypt and east Arabia), which opens up the likelihood of shorter-distance links across the southern end of the Red Sea. The use of megalithic monuments in both regions again feasibly demonstrates similarities in cultural traditions. Finally, the Bronze Age ceramics from the Tihamah have been related to Bronze Age pottery from the Horn of Africa. While this research has failed to establish the strength of the claimed connections, largely because the prehistoric pottery from both regions has been so cursorily published, general ceramic parallels do point to the potential of relations between the Tihamah and the Horn of Africa. Building on all of the data, prehistoric relations between the Tihamah and the Horn of Africa are extremely likely, but cannot yet be definitively demonstrated between particular cultures at precise times. Traditionally, it has been thought that relations between the two regions only began in the mid 1st millennium BC with the presumed Sabaean migration or colonisation of Ethiopia. The probable prehistoric links suggest that connections between the two regions extended further back, and, therefore, that this later episode was not as exceptional as has usually been assumed.

6.10 An overview of relations between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia from the Neolithic to the 6th century AD

In contrast to the ephemeral evidence for prehistoric relations between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia, there is clear archaeological evidence of specific connections between Saba and the Ethiopian highlands. Given that the pre-Aksumite monumental inscriptions are all rendered in archaic styles, which should be dated to the first half of the 1st millennium BC, it seems that links with Saba existed over the course of a few hundred years. Moreover, the restricted number of known pre-Aksumite inscriptions - a mere 60, of which at least 75% show local innovations - coupled with the fact that the Sabaean influences are only known from a restricted number of elite, monumental sites, strongly suggests a limited amount of fairly specific forms of contact with Saba.

Chapter 6 has assimilated diverse data to investigate preIslamic connections between the Horn of Africa and the Tihamah as well as the wider links between the Horn of Africa and the rest of South West Arabia. Its long-term perspective provides a more complete insight into the nature and development of such associations, which are now reviewed, than previous period-specific considerations. The prehistoric period is marked by embryonic signs of cultural connections. These are suggested by the dissemination of domesticated species, the possible exchange of obsidian, broad similarities in some ceramics, and by the common occurrence of megalithic

In order to explain this contact, we proposed that the Sabaean-related evidence could reflect an early Sabaean 128

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 difficult for the pre-Aksumite elite to sustain relations to the South West Arabian interior after that date. Alternatively, the cessation of links between the preAksumite and Sabaean elite might have been the result of unknown environmental, political, or economic changes within the Horn of Africa that occurred in the inadequately understood intermediate period.

attempt to control the sources of luxury goods from the Ethiopian highlands. Aspects of the Sabaean culture might therefore originally have been introduced by a Sabaean elite, in order to claim their authority over the region or adopted by the local elite, in emulation of the Sabaean culture. However, the change from king to mukarrib in the titulature of the second, third and final epigraphically attested pre-Aksumite rulers suggests that any period of direct Sabaean control over Ethiopia was even shorter lived than the phase of Sabaean influences. This idea derives from the recognition that in the Sayhad region the mukarrib title was jealously guarded by the Sabaeans in the Ancient Sub-Period I (Müller 1988), and its ‘illegitimate’ use by other kingdoms apparently precipitated bloody conflicts, as claimed in Karibil Watar’s unification inscription (Nebes 1997). Consequently, its use in Ethiopia by the later pre-Aksumite leaders would suggest political autonomy from Saba. Thus, while some of the Sabaean-related pre-Aksumite material might have been established by an early, short-lived, Sabaean presence, some of the pre-Aksumite evidence - such as the ‘local’ ESA Sabaic-related inscriptions, or the more idiosyncratic ‘temple’ architecture - might represent an attempt by an independent local elite to emulate elite characteristics of Sabaean civilisation.

The Aksumite period followed this intermediate period, or ‘dark age’, of the second half of the 1st millennium BC. The contemporary written sources tend to refer to the Aksumite kingdom in terms of its power and involvement in long-distance commerce. These aspects are archaeologically attested by such evidence as the impressive monumental material culture and its international monetary system. Despite the historical assertions of contact with South West Arabia during the Aksumite period, the archaeological record provides negligible evidence for such contact. Indeed, the only archaeological evidence of the claimed Aksumite presence on the Tihamah is the Aksumite/Roman gold coin hoard. Elsewhere in South West Arabia, links with Aksum are signified by a few Aksumite pots identified at Qana (Sedov 1997) and by a few hundred Aksumite coins, mostly thought to derive from the Shabwa area. Finally, five Aksumite inscriptions have been discovered in South West Arabia: two are located at Zafar in the Central Highlands, two derive from unknown contexts, while a fifth - a royal inscription, commissioned by King Kaleb in the 6th century AD – comes from Marib (Bernand et al. 1991). Interestingly, a reverse of this situation is apparent in the pre-Aksumite period, when connections with South West Arabia are archaeologically indicated, but not historically attested in the Arabian ESA corpus. The anomaly in the relative amounts of archaeological or historical evidence during the historic period might underscore the idea that inscriptions need not always be accepted as factual truths. It could also point to the limited extent of archaeological research in both areas and the possibility that non-local evidence has simply not been identified as such, since there has been little overlap or collaboration between archaeologists on the two sides of the Red Sea.

Earlier, we suggested that the early Sabaean contact with Ethiopia could be interpreted in terms of a Sabaean attempt to control infrequent, yet significant, royal trade from Ethiopia to Egypt. It is also feasible that links might have been established to obtain a limited set of goods that were only found in the Horn of Africa, such as ivory, or even to meet excessive external demands for South West Arabian luxury goods. Yet, if Saba was initially involved in economic relations with Ethiopia, why then is there no clear evidence for continued links in the second half of the 1st millennium BC? This might mirror the economic, political, and cultural events in South West Arabia. It is possible that the rise in political and economic power of the other Sayhadian kingdoms during the latter half of the 1st millennium BC might have caused Saba to focus on controlling its position on the Sayhad spice route - to the relative neglect of maintaining more distant relations with Ethiopia. Alternatively, the apparent cessation of connections might simply reflect the poorly understood chronology of Ethiopia. However, since the clearly-dated Sabaean-related evidence from the Tihamah is also essentially restricted to that time range, it does seem that most of Saba’s relations with regions to the west probably did end or severely decline in significance in the mid 1st millennium BC.

Although investigations into relations between the Horn of Africa and South West Arabia are at an early stage, the Tihamah is proving to be an important region for understanding such connections, as Tosi (1986a) anticipated. It is apparent that the research already undertaken on the Tihamah adds significant new pieces to the picture of contacts with the Horn of Africa. Further archaeological research on the Tihamah will certainly help to clarify the nature and extent of relations between South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa. This process will be helped once archaeologists whose interests lie either solely on the African or Arabian side of the Red Sea begin to recognise the importance of potential interactions between the two regions and familiarise themselves with the archaeological record from the other region.

This rather Sabaean-centred interpretation gives the impression that the pre-Aksumites had no part in withdrawing from relations with Saba. Yet, it is feasible that the pre-Aksumite elite also lost interest in, or were unable to maintain relations with Saba. This might be related to Saba’s apparent retreat from the Tihamah in the mid 1st millennium BC, which would have made it too 129

CHAPTER 7 SYNTHESIS: THE PRE-ISLAMIC TIHAMAH IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT FROM TH TH THE 6 MILLENNIUM BC TO THE 6 CENTURY AD 7.1. Summary of research

foothills to the east, or beneath coastal sand dunes to the west. In addition, it gave an idea of the environmental character of the region in the past by observing the present contrast between the agricultural potential of the inner and outer zones of the Tihamah.

This book has assembled the first long-term culturehistory of the pre-Islamic Tihamah through the synthesis and critical analysis of diverse archaeological and historical data. It covers some seven millennia, thereby providing a time trajectory which is long enough to trace changes and to identify recurrent themes and patterns relating to cultural, economic and social phenomena on the Tihamah. This end synthesis begins by offering a brief summary of each chapter’s main findings; thereafter it draws together the main themes that emerge from the thesis as a whole. Finally, some suggestions for further research are outlined.

The second chapter also discussed the written sources relevant to an interpretation of the Tihamah in more depth. These comprised the Pharaonic references to Punt, the ‘Classical’ Greek, Roman and Byzantine sources, the ESA accounts, the Aksumite inscriptions, and later historical reports. In addition, it outlined the political and cultural history of the Tihamah in the Islamic period. It observed how the historical sources, particularly the preIslamic texts, have played a critical role in scholarly interpretations of the pre-Islamic Tihamah. It identified that these sources have led historians to view the Tihamah in terms of an imperialist model, in which the region has been discussed in terms of its position on the Red Sea trade route, and as a region open to economic ‘exploitation’ by outsiders. However, Chapter 2 also used the historical sources to suggest other hitherto undiscerned scenarios for how the pre-Islamic Tihamah might have functioned as a region, or articulated with other regions. Thus, the Tihamah could have served as an integrating region between the interior of South West Arabia, the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa. Secondly, it could have functioned as an autonomous - although not necessarily politically unified - region. Thirdly, the combination of political and economic integration and independence mean that it could also have acted as a boundary area – or buffer zone - between different external powers. These alternative scenarios not only reflect the different perspectives of the texts and provide an insight into the alternative models used in interpreting the archaeological record of the Tihamah, but also point to the dynamism of the Tihamah and highlight the validity of examining the region over a long time perspective.

Chapter 1 discussed how, before the 1980s, pre-Islamic South West Arabian studies focused principally on the epigraphic record. This was supplemented by reports of archaeological evidence - mostly monumental Sayhadian Iron Age monuments - and of seven excavations of Iron Age sites, six of which were located on the Sayhad desert margin, home to the Iron Age kingdoms and the historically documented overland incense route. Over the past two decades, professional archaeological research has expanded to about 70 excavations and investigations. Although archaeologists have explored other areas outside the Sayhad region, it remains the focal area of interest. This book has sought to redress this imbalance by providing a culture-history of the coastal Tihamah plain. However, in order to do so, we have had to be explicit about the biases, assumptions and expectations, which have been, often implicitly, incorporated in earlier fieldwork and interpretations. The first chapter identified three main - and often inexorably linked - perspectives that dominate the literature concerning the Tihamah. The first perspective endeavoured to fit the archaeological data to the historical accounts, and is typical of the approach of pre-Islamic South West Arabian studies as a whole. The second stance interpreted sites in terms of migrations from neighbouring regions. In the third perspective, local developments have been emphasised.

Chapter 3 reviewed the archaeological data of the rest of South West Arabia, apart from the Tihamah. It provided a contextual background that is essential for an interpretation of the archaeological record of the Tihamah. Chapters 4 and 5 assembled and critically examined the archaeological data from the Tihamah for the prehistoric and historic periods respectively. Chapter 6 then provided a close study of the data from the Horn of Africa in order to establish the nature and range of relations that might have existed between it, the Tihamah and South West Arabia between the 6th millennium BC

Chapter 2 provided information on the geographical and environmental character of the region, which helps in the interpretation of the formation of the archaeological record. For example, it observed that the harsh winds which blow across the Tihamah have generally been destructive of site integrity, while sites might also lie hidden beneath the heavy silt accumulation near the

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SYNTHESIS and the 6th century AD. A number of important conclusions about the Tihamah concerning its economic, political and economic developments and relations with the rest of South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa emerged from Chapters 4 to 6, which are reviewed in Section 7.3. Before doing so, it is necessary to offer a final synthesis of the chronology of human occupation on the Tihamah.

not only is it unclear when the Sabir-related ware first appeared, but, as considered further below, neither is the date at which it fell out of use. Finally, there are real problems associated with tying the Bronze Age Tihami ceramic chronology into those from neighbouring regions. Thus, the African pottery has generally been only cursorily published, and often comes from poorly dated contexts, for example, from contexts dated on the basis of parallels claimed with the Tihamah. As a result, the parallels drawn in the literature are, at best, only generic, and so vague that they are of little chronological or historical value. Attempting to tie the Sabir-related ware to the Bronze Age ceramics of the South West Arabian interior is also problematic since prehistoric pottery from the Sayhad region and the Central Highlands is poorly known. This is highlighted by the fact that Sabir-related ceramics have only been discovered in inland contexts at two sites investigated by the excavators of Sabir (Vogt and Sedov 1998).

7.2 A chronology for the pre-Islamic Tihamah The pre-Islamic data in this study were divided into three periods: the Neolithic (c.6th-4th millennia BC), the Bronze Age (c.3rd-2nd millennia BC) and the Iron Age (c.1st millennium BC until Islam in AD 622). While the literature related to the Tihamah has tended to confidently apply these (or similar) chronological frameworks to the sites, this thesis has highlighted major problems with the existing chronology. In reviewing these difficulties, some ways forward in understanding the chronology are presented.

Despite the problems involved in establishing a chronology for the Sabir-related pottery, the fact that it has been found in well dated contexts from Sabir irrefutably indicates that it was in use from the mid 2nd millennium BC to the early 1st millennium BC on the Tihamah. The deep soundings from Sabir also hint that it was probably in use throughout the 2nd millennium BC at that site. It is for this reason that we have accepted the published interpretations that sites with such ware date to the Bronze Age. However, we acknowledge that this view might change with future research.

It is to be recalled that the Neolithic of the Tihamah is solely represented by midden sites. A Neolithic occupation has been gauged from the presence of material culture diagnostic to that period, namely ABT lithics, and via the absence of ‘Bronze Age’ pottery (discussed below). A number of Neolithic C-14 determinations have also been taken, although as Chapter 4 observed, the use of C-14 to date the unstratified Tihami middens (of all periods) is far more complex than the original investigators suggested. While it is unnecessary to dismiss the published C-14 chronology of the Neolithic middens since the evidence tends to fit within the emerging picture of that period within South West Arabia as a whole, it is important to regard their dates as approximate.

Finally, the megalithic sites of al-Muhandid and Midi remain undated. They are tentatively attributed to the Bronze Age through a general comparison with the megaliths recently discovered at al-Midaman. General external parallels between the implements found buried beneath one of the stones at Al-Midaman can be cautiously used to provide a Bronze Age date.

The Bronze Age Tihami sites have typically been attributed to that period based on the comparison of their ceramics with pottery from dated contexts, i.e. with Sabir, the only site on the Tihamah to have produced stratified, C-14 dated deposits, or with pottery from neighbouring (African) regions. However, there are a number of hitherto unobserved problems associated with either procedure.

Moving to the chronology of the Iron Age, no C-14 dates are available for this period from any site on the Tihamah. Instead, sites have been dated through comparisons with dated Iron Age evidence, i.e. with material from the Sayhad region of the interior. In the case of al-Hamid and Waqir, inscriptions and the ashlar temple are comparable to early 1st millennium BC examples known from the Sayhad. All other sites have been attributed to the Iron Age through the presence of pottery comparable to that of the Sayhad ceramic complex.

Firstly, although Sabir has provided a stratigraphically coherent series of dates, investigators have not yet taken dates from the lower two (or more) metres of stratified deposit, so it is unclear how much earlier such pottery appeared at Sabir. Moreover, preliminary investigations have suggested little difference in the ceramics through the entire Sabir sequence - including the pottery revealed by three deep soundings - indicating that the ceramics only provide a very broad chronological marker. In addition, anchoring the Bronze Age chronology of the entire region to a single site - Sabir - is also a dangerous endeavour since it is possible that Sabir only documents a phase in the history of the use of Sabir pottery. Indeed,

Unfortunately, the chronological phasing within the Sayhad ceramic complex remains unclear, since no precise subdivisions have been defined even at the stratified Sayhadian sites (dated from the mid 2nd millennium BC to mid 1st millennium AD) (Edens and Wilkinson 1998). As a result, the presence of such Sayhad-related pottery on the Tihamah provides only a general Iron Age marker, and one that might have 132

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 appeared as early as the second half of the 2nd millennium BC.

Bronze Age and continued into the Iron Age. On balance, this book has followed the published consensus that each corpus was restricted to one period, although the aim of the foregoing discussion has been to point out some of the uncertainties inherent in this assumption.

Moreover, using the ceramics to date Tihami sites to the Iron Age is problematic owing to the aforementioned observation that it remains uncertain when Sabir-related ceramics fell out of use. Thus, although researchers have assumed that the latter were replaced by Sayhad-related pottery in the Iron Age, this is far from clear. At first sight, the theory that Sabir-related ceramics were replaced by Sayhadian pottery seems to be supported at Sabir and al-Hamid, since Sabir, which has provided Bronze Age C-14 dates, has no Sayhad-related ware, while al-Hamid, with its Iron Age data, has no Sabirrelated ware. However, although the Sayhad-related ware probably did appear after the Sabir-related pottery, the former did not necessarily sequentially replace the latter in the Iron Age. Indeed, the Sayhad-related pottery could have coexisted with the Sabir-related ceramics on the Tihamah for at least 500 years: from around the mid 2nd millennium BC (i.e. the date that the Sayhad ceramic complex appears in the Sayhad region) to the early 1st millennium BC or later (i.e. the abandonment of Sabir or after). It is also to be recognised that the early 1st millennium BC date of the temple and the inscriptions at al-Hamid need not date from the earliest occupation of that site, and therefore, do not necessarily date the appearance of Sayhad-related wares on the Tihamah. Moreover, if the Sabir-related pottery continued to be used on the Tihamah after the abandonment of Sabir, then the two traditions could have coexisted for a substantial period of time. If this were so, then the distinction between traditions might have been chronological, but representative of cultural, economic or political differences, possibly related to a geographical distinction between the far south of the Tihamah (where no Sayhadrelated pottery has yet been found) and the rest of the coastal region.

While the Sayhad-related pottery cannot provide a clear chronological framework for the sites, the palaeographic styles of the inscriptions from al-Hamid and Waqir can: they indicate that those sites were occupied at least during the first half of the 1st millennium BC. The archaic date of the inscriptions is supported by the simple – and thus, seemingly early – ground plan of the al-Hamid temple. However, though these data provide evidence of early 1st millennium BC occupation on the Tihamah, it is rather more problematic to establish the chronology of Tihami occupation in the second half of the 1st millennium BC. Owing to an absence of evidence that is clearly attributable to the second half of the 1st millennium BC, such as epigraphy, coinage or iconography, it has been implied that none of the Tihami Iron Age sites were occupied after that period (Phillips 1998). In fact, the apparent absence of later Sayhadian evidence could simply indicate that links between the Tihamah and the interior diminished after the first half of the 1st millennium BC, even though the sites continued to be occupied. Alternatively, the absence of such evidence might simply mean that we have not yet discovered the Tihami sites, or investigated the relevant parts of the known Tihami sites, with later Sayhadian data. Furthermore, since later 1st millennium BC Sayhadian ceramics are not distinct from early 1st millennium BC ceramics, it is possible that some, or all, of the Tihami sites with Sayhadian ceramics could continue beyond the mid 1st millennium BC. In overview, while the chronological framework of the Neolithic middens should not be regarded as exact, it does appear to be broadly acceptable since it fits with other cultural or economic evidence in South West Arabia. With respect to the Bronze and Iron Age Tihami sites, these sites tend to have been dated via the ceramics; three main problems with this procedure were discerned. First, the ceramics from the Tihamah have generally been extremely cursorily published, which often reflects the fact that the sites have only recently been investigated. Second, Sabir is the sole stratified site investigated in any detail on the Tihamah, so we lack a clear view of the regional ceramic sequences over time. Third, the ceramics with which the Bronze Age pottery is compared, i.e. from sites in the Horn of Africa, are virtually unpublished, while the ancestry and development of the Sayhad ceramic complex, with which the Iron Age Tihami pottery is compared, remains to be established. Therefore, at present, the ceramics offer only a very weak chronology. Thus, it has generally been assumed (by default followed here) that the Sabir-related ceramics signify probable Bronze Age evidence, while the Sayhad-related pottery indicates an Iron Age occupation, which could date from as early as the mid 2nd millennium

Al-Midaman and STN encapsulate many of the problems associated with establishing a chronology for the Tihamah based on the ceramics. Experts cannot agree whether these sites include both Sabir-related and Sayhad-related material. However, scholars that have argued that they do contain a mixed assemblage suggest that the Sabir-related ware corresponds to a Bronze Age phase and the Sayhad-related ceramics to an Iron Age phase at each site. Yet, it is possible to offer other equally plausible interpretations for such a mix. It is possible that Sayhad-related pottery was present on at least parts of the Tihamah in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, implying that sites with a mix of both types of pottery could be dated to that millennium (which chronologically corresponds to the Bronze Age). It is equally feasible that Bronze Age Sabir-related pottery continued in use on the Tihamah after Sabir was abandoned, i.e. into the Iron Age, indicating that sites with mixed corpora could date to the Iron Age. Finally, given that each corpus is not necessarily restricted to one chronological period, sites with both assemblages might have been established in the 133

SYNTHESIS BC. Despite these problems, the ESA inscriptions from alHamid and Waqir do clearly indicate that those sites were in use at least during the first half of the 1st millennium BC.

Tihami sites attributed to the Bronze Age cluster in three main groups: middens and the megalithic site of Midi lie in the Jizan area; additional middens, al-Midaman, STN and al-Muhandid are in the general Hodeidah to Zabid region; finally, Sabir - and several related sites known only from unpublished surface survey - is on the southern stretch of the Tihamah.

This research has outlined a general chronology for the Tihamah. By drawing attention to its limitations and problems, we can approach future research on the Tihamah from a more critically informed standpoint, with an awareness of the shortfalls and requirements for a more exact chronological framework. For example, one method of investigating whether there was a development – or hiatus - between the use of Sabir-related and Sayhadrelated ceramics on the Tihamah would be to excavate beneath the floor levels of structures at al-Hamid in order to examine any pre-Sayhad-related ceramic assemblages. This research has also highlighted the importance of establishing a more secure chronological framework for the entire region from inland South West Arabia to the Horn of Africa.

The diagnostic cultural marker of the Bronze Age middens is the ceramics. Both the Jizan area and Hodeidah area middens have red-coloured Sabir-related pottery, with black burnished ware only reported from the Jizan area middens. Comparable Sabir-related pottery has been identified at all of the other sites attributed to the Bronze Age, apart from al-Muhandid and Midi. At Sabir, clay is additionally moulded into small figurines. Metal also makes its appearance in the Bronze Age. Although only metalworking debris has been recorded from Sabir, metal artefacts, including spearheads reminiscent of Levantine examples, have been excavated from beneath a fallen megalith at al-Midaman.

7.3 Key themes The long time span covered by this book has allowed us to trace major themes of cultural, economic, and sociopolitical change or continuity over time. An analysis of these themes has benefited from our wider regional perspective and the pre-Islamic history of the regions neighbouring the Tihamah, namely the rest of South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa. The following sections synthesise the long-term evidence for pre-Islamic Tihami cultural groups, cultural contacts with regions beyond the Tihamah, Tihami economic developments, economic connections on the Tihamah and with more distant regions, and finally, the socio-political organisation of the Tihamah.

In addition, monumental architecture appears to make its debut: three substantial mud-brick buildings from Sabir have been uncovered. While their original function is uncertain, they have been interpreted as religious structures. The relatively complex layout of Sabir, which has distinct areas of craft specialisation and of domestic architecture, has led to its interpretation as a ‘town’. Monumental buildings made of hewn granite blocks, of uncertain date or function, have also been discovered at alMidaman. Megaliths have been recorded from al-Midaman, alMuhandid and Midi. Those from al-Midaman and Midi appear not to be in any particular arrangement, which might result from the later removal of stones. In contrast, the stones at al-Muhandid present a careful arrangement into avenues and circles. Purposefully buried humans have only been identified at al-Midaman, where humans and indeed metal goods - have been excavated from beneath some of the fallen megaliths, or areas where megaliths are thought to have once stood. It remains a real possibility that the unexcavated sites of al-Muhandid and Midi might still have hidden mortuary evidence or other evidence that could help us to discern specific cultural manifestations at those sites.

7.3.1 The pre-Islamic cultures on the Tihamah Within archaeology, a ‘culture’ may be discerned through those material characteristics, e.g. artefacts, features, burial types and architecture, that might identify a particular group. Other elements that contribute to cultural identity, such as a common genealogy or ideology, can only be gauged in this study of the pre-Islamic archaeological record of the Tihamah from the epigraphic records at alHamid and Waqir. This section first reviews the main cultural features of the Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age sites. Thereafter, it considers whether the sites provide evidence of a common pre-Islamic culture, or cultures, on the Tihamah. Finally, it examines the evidence for cultural change over time. Such changes tend to be accompanied by economic and political developments, which are discussed later in this chapter.

Two groups of Iron Age sites have been located on the Tihamah: the first set has been discovered in the Jizan area, and includes sites on Farasan Island; the second group clusters in the region between Hodeidah and Zabid and is made up of al-Hamid, Waqir, Wadi Urq, Shell Midden II, al-Midaman and STN.

In summary, Neolithic cultural markers constitute stone tools, notably ABT lithics and ground-stone implements. The Neolithic sites, represented solely by the Jizan and Hodeidah area coastal middens, appear to be aceramic, and have no burial, ritual or domestic architecture - apart from the possible organic dwelling structures from site SRD-1 in the Hodeidah area.

All of the Tihami Iron Age sites have Sayhad-related pottery. The Sayhadian pottery from the Jizan area sites is uniquely augmented by vessels bearing decoration known from the inland Najran area (which is due north of the Sayhad region). While the ceramics are the only recorded 134

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 necessary to acknowledge the three key difficulties associated with ascertaining cultural groups or developments on the Tihamah: the poorly established chronology, the research biases and perspectives of the individuals working in the region and the restricted scope of archaeological research to date. For example, the last two shortfalls are illustrated by the fact that all of the preIslamic archaeological sites come from three main zones: the Jizan area, the region between Hodeidah and Zabid and from Sabir, which almost certainly reflects fieldwork strategies pursued to date rather than the actual distribution of sites on the Tihamah. As a result, we probably only have a very fragmentary picture of the original settlement systems of the region, in any period. Similarly, there is a dearth of evidence that can be dated to the second half of the 1st millennium BC and the first half of the 1st millennium AD.

element of material culture from the Iron Age sites of the Jizan area mainland, STN, Shell Midden II and Wadi Urq,1 a wider data-set, comprising architecture, burial evidence and ESA inscriptions, has been recorded from Farasan Island, al-Hamid and Waqir. The cursorily published Iron Age architecture from Farasan Island is represented by a rectangular monumental building located on one of the shell middens (site 217-91) and by additional rectangular monumental buildings with columns from a second site, labelled 21792. A number of buildings from al-Hamid have been excavated, including a rectangular ashlar temple, set on a slight platform and surrounded by buildings, one of which is well preserved and was carefully built. Although most of the architecture from al-Hamid remains unexamined, what is visible on the surface seems to resemble the rectangular structures built of roughly hewn granite blocks excavated in an area adjacent to the temple and labelled Area B. A superficial survey of Waqir suggested the presence of broadly comparable rectangular architecture to that examined in Area B at al-Hamid. Finally, as Keall (1998) has proposed, the monumental structures from al-Midaman (mentioned above) might date to the Iron Age.

Despite these problems, it is possible to draw some preliminary conclusions concerning cultural groups and developments. It seems that the (coastal) Neolithic on the Tihamah is represented by aceramic sites with ABT lithics and ground stone tools. The notion of an aceramic Neolithic has been borne out by other research into the Neolithic of South West Arabia (as outlined in Chapter 3, Section 3.4.1). Although the Neolithic middens from the Jizan and Hodeidah areas have comparable data-sets, any perception that the occupants belonged to the same culture cannot be demonstrated, since it would be based on very limited and generic evidence. Thus, the ABT tradition is very wide-spread, and although several more localised lithic traditions have been defined in the Sayhad/Central Highland areas, not enough sites have been investigated intensively enough to allow any such regional traditions to be defined on the Tihamah.

Burial evidence has only been discovered at al-Hamid, where both square and circular tombs, with and without grave-goods, have been excavated. The date, content and language of the ESA inscriptions from the Jizan area remain unclear, with the exception of one inscription found in an unspecified context at alQusar village on Farasan Island. Though of uncertain date, it is thought to be written in the Minaean language, Minaic. In contrast, all of the inscriptions from al-Hamid and Waqir have been dated to the first half of the 1st millennium BC, are written in Sabaic and record Sabaean names and deities, together with some ‘local’ names and deities. Equally archaic Sabaic inscriptions have also been found in a re-used context at the ali-Mahmul mosque on the Wadi Mawr. Finally, two reused inscriptions from Mocha and Mawza represent the only ESA evidence clearly post-dating the Ancient Sub-Period I, although the 2nd century AD Latin inscription from alQuasar also dates to this later period.

The Bronze Age sites have comparable ceramics and recurrent cultural expressions, most notably the use of megaliths or monumental architecture. These elements could indicate common points of cultural reference across the region. However, since the sites extend across a distance of 600km, it is perhaps unsurprising that precise evidence of identical cultures has not been forthcoming in the prehistoric period. The absence of information for similar cultural items is further compounded by the limited number of sites investigated to date on the Tihamah. For example, although monumental buildings have been found at both Sabir and al-Midaman, the literature indicates that there are major differences in terms of ground plan and building material. Yet excavations at both sites have been so limited that we cannot claim to have characterised the full range of architectural variation at either site, which means that the significance of the differences is not clear. In addition, the function of the buildings – especially at al-Midaman – is unclear, making it uncertain whether we are comparing like with like. Finally, while al-Midaman, al-Muhandid and Midi all have megalithic stones, they are each arranged quite differently, but again, we cannot know if such differences are culturally significant.

In addition to the inscriptions from Mocha and Mawza, the two coin hoards found on the Tihamah also belong to a later date. The hoard of Sabaean coins found near to the Wadi Siham is dated to the second half of the 1st millennium BC, while the Roman and Aksumite hoard discovered near Aden is dated to the first half of the 1st millennium AD. Having outlined the pre-Islamic material culture of the Tihamah, the evidence for cultural groups and cultural developments in the region can be explored. First, it is 1

A fragment of an alabaster bracelet was also recorded at Wadi Urq.

135

SYNTHESIS The clearest evidence of a common cultural expression, not surprisingly, comes from the neighbouring Iron Age sites of al-Hamid and Waqir. Comparable Sabaic epigraphy has been found at those sites, and although it might only evidence claims of a shared culture by the elite of those sites, it is notable that the building resources and layout of the domestic architecture from al-Hamid and Waqir are more similar than the architecture from any other known sites. But with so few diagnostic cultural features found, or described, from the other Iron Age sites, it ultimately remains unclear whether they might have belonged to the same ‘Sabaean-related’ culture as al-Hamid and Waqir. Additionally, it is uncertain whether ‘Sabaean-related’ is a valid grouping, since different local cultures could be Sabaean-influenced in similar ways, yet still be distinct cultures.

reasons why scholars have drawn such links and to recapitulate the resultant models for cultural relations. Wider-ranging cultural contacts with the Tihamah have been offered in order to establish a chronological framework for the Tihamah. Alternatively, such links have been used to provide a cultural background for Tihami sites that appear to lack a local developmental trajectory, as Vogt and Sedov (1998) have suggested for Sabir. Finally, comparative and diffusionary perspectives have been emphasised to support broaderscale models for cultural connections between Africa and Arabia. The most persistent pattern of long-distance cultural contacts to emerge from the literature is that, during the prehistoric period, the Tihamah was involved in contacts and migrations from Africa, whereas in the historic period, the Tihamah was marked by migrations and contacts from the Sayhadian interior. This thesis has tried to break down these two rather extreme models and to explore their validity. We discussed how general prehistoric relations with the Horn of Africa are suggested by the presence of megalithic monuments, some broadly similar ceramics, the possible circulation of obsidian, and probably by the movement of plants and animals. However, we also observed that none of these data definitively documented specific cultural links. Moreover, it is possible to propose similarly ephemeral prehistoric relations with other regions of South West Arabia as those drawn with the Horn of Africa. For example, the presence of domesticated cattle in the 4th millennium BC and sorghum dated to the 3rd millennium BC in the Central Highlands opens up the likelihood of prehistoric links between the Tihamah and that region. The obsidian found on the Tihamah might also derive from sources in the Central Highlands. It is feasible that Sabir-related ceramics simply remain unrecognised in other South West Arabian regions, particularly given that they are only cursorily published. Finally, the unpublished megalithic sites in the Hadramawt (reported in Edens and Wilkinson 1998) might be comparable to such sites on the Tihamah.

In overview, very broad cultural similarities, such as the presence of megaliths, and possible cultural differences, such as the use of either mud-brick or stone in the monumental architecture, can be observed from the prehistoric sites of the Tihamah. Vague prehistoric cultural groups are replaced by clear evidence of a shared Sabaean-related Iron Age culture at the neighbouring sites of al-Hamid and Waqir. Although cultural changes or developments over time are not easy to identify on the Tihamah owing to the poor chronology of elements of the sites, a marked cultural change is represented by the appearance of non-local, Sabaean-related and Sayhad-related evidence at all of the sites attributed to the Iron Age. However, these Sabaean-related data are not necessarily dominant at every site attributed to the Iron Age (i.e. Wadi Urq, Shell Midden II) and further attention to the Bronze Age ceramics and so-called ‘local’ Iron Age pottery could help with the identification of cultural groupings and developments on the Tihamah. Indeed, future research on the Tihamah, including at the sites discussed in this thesis, might reveal additional, possibly more definitive evidence of particular preIslamic cultures on the Tihamah. For example, it will be interesting to compare the final results of the excavations of al-Midaman with Sabir, particularly since additional monumental buildings were discovered in the last excavation season at al-Midaman (Keall 2000a). Similarly, it would be useful to undertake trial excavations at the megalithic sites of Midi, al-Muhandid and the deflated site of STN in order to provide a more complete picture of the material culture from those sites. It is worth remembering that, following his surface survey of the wind-deflated, sherd-covered site of Sabir, Harding (1964) concluded that there was nothing of any great archaeological interest at that site.

In the historic period, relations with other regions of South West Arabia - i.e. the Sayhad and possibly the Central Highlands - are indicated by the presence of Sayhad-related pottery on the Tihamah. Decoration on pottery from the Jizan area points to specific links between the northern Tihamah and the Najran area. Finally, distinct links between the Hodeidah area and the Sabaean kingdom are indicated by the archaic inscriptions and temple architecture from al-Hamid and Waqir. Such links may have occurred across the northern Central Highlands, since similar archaic temple architecture and Sabaic inscriptions have been discovered in the Bakil area of the western Sana’a region.

7.3.2 Pre-Islamic cultural contacts with regions beyond the Tihamah In order to examine the evidence for cultural contacts from a critical standpoint, it is pertinent to review the

Archaic Sabaic inscriptions and Sayhadian-related 136

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 evidence have also been discovered in pre-Aksumite contexts in Ethiopia, which indicate links between the Sayhad region and the Horn of Africa that feasibly occurred across the Tihamah. It is noteworthy that no clear evidence of Sabaean-related or Sayhadian evidence (such as later inscriptions or coinage) attributed to the second half of the 1st millennium BC has been found either on the Tihamah or in Ethiopia. This could reflect the limited scope of archaeological research in both regions, or the inherent shortfalls of using palaeography to date the entire material culture from Ethiopia or from the two Sabaean-related sites on the Tihamah. Alternatively, it could indicate that contacts between the three regions declined after the Ancient Sub-Period I, and that the Tihamah and the Ethiopian highlands began to develop along a different cultural trajectory from each other, and from the Sayhad region. Indeed, the Aksumite archaeological record indicates few links with the South West Arabian interior during the 1st millennium AD. A similar argument cannot be posited for the Tihamah owing to the lack of sites clearly attributed to that phase.

of the animal bones from al-Hamid indicates that domesticated animals were kept there (Vagedes 2000). Evidence of plant agriculture is hinted at by the ground stone tools found at sites dated to the Neolithic onwards, although such implements might have been used for a variety of other purposes, including the processing of wild gathered plant material. Primary evidence for crop production is represented by a wide range of archaeobotanical data, which has been recovered from storerooms at Sabir, dated to the 9th century BC. Although the sorghum found there was morphologically wild, it is still highly likely that it, and other plants in the assemblage, would have been locally harvested by the inhabitants of Sabir throughout its occupation, which stretches back into the 2nd millennium BC. No direct evidence for plant agriculture has been uncovered from al-Hamid, Waqir or STN, though recovery strategies at al-Hamid have not aimed at the retrieval of botanical material, and the latter two sites have not been excavated. It is probable that agriculture was practised at these three sites since they lie on the inner, fertile zone of the Tihamah.

With respect to the epigraphic data and the monumental architecture from the Jizan area, owing to the fact that they have only been cursorily published, they simply indicate general Iron Age connections with the Sayhad region. However, the Najran-related decoration and possible Minaic inscription found in the Jizan area might represent a different set of connections with the interior to those attested at the Iron Age sites to the south of Jizan.

Although not always the case, animal herding and plant agriculture can provide a more reliable and sustainable food source than hunting, gathering and fishing. Such modes of production can be related to socio-economic developments, including the establishment of larger settled populations, who could use any surplus in exchange for other goods with different groups of people, or to support craft-specialisation, such as pottery production.

In overview, cultural connections in the prehistoric period are generally only vaguely attested. It is possible that such relations took place both with the Horn of Africa and with other regions of South West Arabia. Ephemeral prehistoric links are replaced by specific connections between Saba, the Tihamah (al-Hamid and Waqir), and pre-Aksumite Ethiopia during the first half of the 1st millennium BC. The Iron Age Najrandecorated pottery and possible Minaic inscription also hint at a second set of relations between the Jizan area and the South West Arabian interior, interestingly, these follow a slightly distinct set of Bronze Age relations, represented by the African black burnished tradition.

However, the continued use of a marine economy throughout the pre-Islamic period is indicated by the middens, which have been dated to all of the periods considered, by the discovery of fish bones and marine shells at the Bronze Age and Iron Age sites of Sabir and al-Hamid, and by the ‘classical’ texts which refer to the coastal dwellers as Ichthyophagoi. Indeed, the coastal middens provide unique evidence of local economic diversity that might have accompanied the Neolithisation of the Tihamah. For example, throughout the time period considered, some middens might have been the sites of nomadic herder-gatherer-fishers, others might have been seasonally occupied by people moving from other sites along the coast or from the inner zone of the Tihamah, and yet others might represent the specialist marine food processing sites of settled agricultural groups based elsewhere on the Tihamah.

It is apparent that the relations between the Tihamah and the interior were not simply cultural, but had economic and political dimensions, which are discussed below. 7.3.3 Pre-Islamic economic Neolithisation of the Tihamah

developments:

the

Drawing all of the data and published interpretations of the various sites together, a picture emerges in which hunting and gathering was replaced or at least supplemented by herding, at around the 4th millennium BC, and in which animal pastoralism preceded plant agriculture. Since the complex site of Sabir, with its ample archaeobotanical evidence dated to the 9th century BC, was established by at least the mid 2nd millennium BC, it is likely that agriculture was practised by that time.

The sites on the Tihamah provide evidence for the development of agriculture, which is now brought together. Faunal data from the Hodeidah area midden sites indicate that hunting preceded herding. While no additional faunal analyses have been published from the other sites on the Tihamah, an unpublished examination 137

SYNTHESIS also difficult to establish possible economic connections from the Tihamah to other regions of South West Arabia or the Horn of Africa. The one exception is marine shells, thought to be specific to the Red Sea (Edens and Wilkinson 1998). Such shells have been found at sites in the interior of South West Arabia, notably from the campsite HARii in the western Sayhad desert margin (di Mario 1988; see Chapter 3, Section 3.3.1).

This economic trajectory, where hunting was replaced by herding and followed by agriculture, agrees with the findings of archaeological research in the Hawlan region of the Central Highlands. In the latter region, herding replaced hunting in the 4th millennium BC, while plant agriculture is first evident by the 3rd millennium BC (de Maigret 1990). Finally, these changes seem to have been accompanied by the continuous exploitation of marine resources on the Tihamah coast.

While it is not easy to detect links with the Tihamah in other regions, the presence of non-local evidence on the Tihamah clearly indicates inter-regional relations. Three exotic goods - crops of an African and Indian origin, domesticated cattle, and obsidian - could have had an economic dimension.

In order to gain a more complete insight into the development of pastoralism and plant production, and the social changes associated with these economic developments, future research should endeavour to locate and investigate other Neolithic or Bronze Age sites situated in the inner, fertile zone of the Tihamah. For example, a clear view of the development of plant agriculture, or the socio-economic changes that it might have accompanied, cannot be ascertained from the coastal middens, since even research on Iron Age middens has failed to reveal clear evidence of crop production or of other socio-economic developments, such as the use of permanent architecture.2 This may be down to the fact that middens are the rubbish dumps of people living and processing on the foreshore, so perhaps at least in some cases they should be regarded as ‘decoy’ sites with the real occupation elsewhere, away from the midden.

Thus, the presence of sorghum at Sabir, which is of African- or more specifically perhaps of Ethiopian-origin, suggests connections between the Tihamah and the Horn of Africa, and with the South West Arabian Central Highlands, where it has also been uncovered (de Maigret 1990). The discovery of Indian-origin sesame, also at Sabir, signifies long-distance links with the Asian subcontinent. The fact that African-origin sorghum has been found in India, in contexts possibly dated to the early 2nd millennium BC, opens up the likelihood of wide-ranging prehistoric economic connections. Indeed, the discovery of either African- or Indian-origin domesticated cattle in the Hodeidah area supports the notion that economic links were forged over considerable distances as early as the 4th millennium BC. Relations between pastoralists from either side of the Red Sea are hinted at by stylistic similarities in the rock-art.

7.3.4 Pre-Islamic economic relations on the Tihamah and with neighbouring regions This section investigates economic relations between sites on the Tihamah and with neighbouring regions over the seven millennia considered in this thesis. Here, a new model for long-distance economic connections during the Iron Age is offered, although local economic links, and wider-ranging prehistoric economic connections are less easy to demonstrate.

Fattovich (1991; 1997a) and Zarins (1989; 1990; 1997) have used the presence of Group 4d obsidian on the Tihamah to argue that the western coastal plain was integrated into a wide-scale trade or exchange system with Africa in the prehistoric period. Given the present inability to discriminate between the African and Arabian sources of Group 4d obsidian, it is perhaps premature to develop a Red Sea trade model based on the obsidian alone. However, since obsidian does not naturally occur in the Jizan and Hodeidah areas, its discovery in these areas implies contact either with the Horn of Africa or with other areas of South West Arabia. Such relatively short-distance relations are extremely likely, given that Arabian/African origin obsidian has been found much further away in the (Persian/Arabian) Gulf. In conclusion, it is probable that there were economic relations between sites on the Tihamah in the prehistoric period. Such connections with other regions of South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa are also likely, although specific economic relations between certain cultures are not indicated, owing to an absence of evidence for material diagnostic to particular external cultures.

Contacts between Tihami sites in the prehistoric and historic periods is indicated by the discovery of comparable ceramics; whether these associations had an economic dimension is less clear from the data. No known natural resources (e.g. carnelian) are peculiar to particular regions of the Tihamah, such as the Jizan area, making it impossible to document the movement of local resources between different areas of the Tihamah. The only difference in local natural resources is between the outer zone, with its marine economy, and the inner, agricultural zone. Certainly, the presence of fish bones and molluscs at the two excavated sites located in the inner zone of the Tihamah (al-Hamid and Sabir) hints at economic exchange between people from the two zones, or a seasonal movement of some people between the inner zone and coastal outer zone. Given the absence of clearly local natural resources, it is 2

In contrast to these non-specific prehistoric economic relations, it is possible to offer a more precise model for economic links between sites on the Tihamah and

With the exception of the Iron Age midden 217-91 from Farasan Island (Zarins et al. 1981).

138

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 neighbouring regions in the first half of the 1st millennium BC, i.e. the Ancient Sub-Period I: the period of the Sabaean mukarribs in South West Arabia, and the pre-Aksumite period of Ethiopia. At that time, the vague prehistoric interregional connections between the two regions are replaced by specific links between Saba, the Tihamah and the pre-Aksumite culture of the Ethiopian highlands. Although none of the ESA inscriptions found in Ethiopia or South West Arabia elucidate the reasons for connections with Saba during the pre-Aksumite period, it is possible that such connections had an economic dimension.

connections between the two regions, and across the Tihamah, during the Iron Age. During the pre-Aksumite period, one scenario for connections between Saba and Ethiopia could be that the quantity of luxury goods demanded by outsiders actually exceeded South West Arabian production, forcing Saba to acquire such resources from the Horn of Africa. Alternatively, the external peoples, with whom the Sabaeans were in contact, might have wanted certain luxury goods that were not naturally available in South West Arabia but did exist in the Horn of Africa (e.g. ivory). Likewise, the pre-Aksumites might have traded with South West Arabia to meet their own external trade demands, or to procure goods only available from that region, such as the high-grade South West Arabian incense recorded in the ‘Classical’ accounts.

Indeed, economic links are suggested by two common vessel types found in the Sayhad region and Ethiopia. Of these two pottery types, petrographic analysis of amphorae from Yeha in the Ethiopian highlands, the Sayhadian site of Hajar Bin Humeid and other nearby sites within the Qatabanian kingdom, had suggested they shared a common origin (Kital 1969), although Porter (2004) has subsequently questioned this claim. However, while scientific analysis has so far shown no evidence for the movement of amphorae between Africa and Yemen, it is important to remember the old archaeological adage that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, particularly since only a very limited number of amphorae sherds from the Horn of Africa have been petrographically tested. Indeed, Porter’s (2004) research on considerably higher numbers of amphorae from alHamid (a site whose ceramic assemblage is dominated by this style) indicated that a few had been moved a considerable distance. Thus, analysis of the pottery from al-Hamid suggests that some of the amphorae originate from the interior of Yemen, and specifically from Saba (Porter 1999; 2004). It seems that this is one-way traffic Porter has not published evidence for any Ethiopianorigin amphorae from the al-Hamid assemblage. Nonetheless, the amphorae might well have been associated with moving commodities between the Sayhad and the Tihamah, if not feasibly on to Ethiopia. But, the limited range and quantity of comparable vessel forms (notably the amphorae) in Ethiopia and Saba does suggest that any economic connections between those regions, or between Ethiopia and South West Arabia more generally, were rather limited or focused.

A second scenario could be that Saba’s relations with Ethiopia developed in an attempt to control and exploit the large, formal and probably infrequent trade relations with the Horn of Africa, such as the historically attested royal Egyptian expeditions to Punt. The extraordinary nature of these expeditions is suggested by the pomp surrounding Queen Hatshepsut’s mission to ‘God’s Land’ (Punt), and although the classical period of these expeditions was in the mid 3rd to early 2nd millennia BC, before any Sabaean influence in Ethiopia, a final Egyptian allusion to Punt is dated to the 6th century BC. This second scenario implies that there was a power imbalance between Saba and Ethiopia and, despite the recent Afro-centric perspective that has stressed Ethiopian developments (Isaac and Felder 1988; Fattovich 1990; Bekerie 1997), it does seems that during the Ancient Sub-Period I the Sabaeans were relatively wealthier and probably more powerful than the Ethiopians. During the latter half of the 1st millennium, there is almost no Sabaean-related evidence in Ethiopia or on the Tihamah (the exceptions are one re-used inscription from Mocha and the Bajil coin hoard). In the case of Ethiopia, this could be related to a rise in power of the preAksumites, who might have resisted Saba’s sporadic attempts to monopolise their trade economy. An increase in local power is already suggested in the first half of the 1st millennium BC by pre-Aksumite assertions that they were ‘masters of the Sabaeans’ and by their use of the premier Sabaean title of mukarrib. The increased economic power of the pre-Aksumites might have had many catalysts, including the presence of a centralised elite. If Saba’s interest in the Tihamah depended on its role as a staging post en route to Ethiopia, then Sabaean withdrawal from Ethiopia would have led to Saba’s retraction from the Tihamah.

Residue analysis from the amphorae to ascertain what might have been traded has not been published. Moreover, although the ‘Classical’ sources record the goods - namely luxury commodities, notably gold and incense - channelled out of South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa, they never mention any trade between the two regions (undoubtedly because this was of no interest to them), focusing instead on their trade with those areas. Indeed, it is perhaps because both the external and the South West Arabian historical sources do not mention trade relations with Ethiopia that Arabianists have neglected to explore the possible reasons for economic links between the Sayhad region and Ethiopia. Let us therefore consider the development of economic

It is also possible to relate the apparent cessation of Sabaean links with both the Tihamah and Ethiopia to economic and political events in the Sayhad region during the second half of the 1st millennium BC. The 139

SYNTHESIS latter period was marked by the decline in power of the Sabaeans and ascension of the other Sayhadian kingdoms (Müller 1988). The rise of the other kingdoms might have been related to their position on the lucrative Sayhadian incense route. Their new-found power could have required Saba to focus on controlling its position on the Sayhadian route over and beyond relations with Ethiopia or the Tihamah.

suggests a loose core-periphery model (following Wallerstein 1974; 1980), where the Sabaean core - i.e. the politically and economically dominant centre - controlled economic and political relations with the peripheral areas of the Tihamah and Ethiopia. The apparent cessation of economic connections with the Tihamah and the Ethiopian highlands after the Ancient Sub-Period I could have been related to socio-political changes in the Sayhad region or to the fact that the Sabaeans were unable to maintain a monopoly over long-distance economic relations. The Sayhadian monopoly over international trade appears to have been broken by a combination of the more regular use of the Red Sea route by external peoples, such as the Greeks and Romans, and by the rise of the Aksumite kingdom, which traded in similar goods to those derived from South West Arabia. The expanding international economic interest in the Red Sea will have encouraged local, autonomous trade by people along the Tihamah. By the 1st millennium AD, international economic interest in the Red Sea, and by extension the Tihamah, is evident: it is reported in the ‘Classical texts’, is hinted at by the very presence of a Latin inscription at al-Qusar on Farasan Island, is reflected in the first ESA references to the Tihamah dated to that time, and in the Aksumite claims of control over the Tihamah. This political dynamic, associated with cultural and economic developments on the Tihamah, is addressed below.

However, Saba might have chosen to concentrate its attentions on the inland Sayhadian route, which would have been much easier to control compared to trade relations with the Tihamah, Red Sea and Ethiopia. This controllability rests on the fact that the over-land Sayhadian desert margin route was restricted by natural topography, and by human impositions such as the great Qatabanian wall, the ‘Qalat at al-Mabna’, described in Chapter 3 (Section 3.3.1), which was built across a mountain pass to control the passage of goods. In addition, four major kingdoms existed along the route, closely governing the trade. In contrast, trade with the Tihamah, Ethiopia or via the Red Sea could not have been so easily monopolised by Saba. Instead, such trade could have passed along multiple routes and be tapped by external peoples, including other polities, and opportunistic or freelance traders, who could have traded with people on either side of the Red Sea; such options could then have been used to beat the prices of goods down. Indeed, the apparent demise of Sabaean links with the Tihamah and Ethiopia might reflect a change from occasional large-scale organised Egyptian-Ethiopian trade, which Saba could feasibly have exploited, to a proliferation of small freelance traders in the Hellenistic period, who could not be so easily controlled or regulated by the Sabaean polity. This alteration is suggested by the historical documentation. Thus, the ‘Classical’ sources indicate that Greek and Roman use of the Red Sea as a trade route began to take off after the 2nd century BC and was probably pursued in an attempt to undercut the extortionate prices of the luxury goods exported from South West Arabia (as reported by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century AD).

7.3.5 Pre-Islamic socio-political organisation on the Tihamah This section examines how the pre-Islamic sites on the Tihamah interacted with one another and with the major Sayhadian/Ethiopian polities that lie either side of the coastal plain. Before attempting to interpret the political organisation of the Tihamah, it is necessary to note two shortfalls related to reconstructing the relationship of Tihami sites to one another. First, with the exception of some of the middens, the known sites on the Tihamah are mostly all estimated to be large (c.20ha or more). It is therefore unclear which settlements were primary centres, or which might have been satellite or secondary settlements. Second, the vague chronology of the sites makes it difficult to offer a definitive picture of a settlement pattern on the Tihamah at any given time. Nevertheless, having investigated all of the available archaeological data from the Tihamah, our assessment of the political and social organisation of the Tihamah can go further than has been expressed in the literature.

It is feasible that in the second half of the 1st millennium BC the Ethiopians co-operated with such smaller-scale traders, which would fit with the idea that the Sabaeans had withdrawn any previous (early 1st millennium BC) economic control from the region. Ultimately, the Greek and Roman use of the Red Sea route and their trade with Ethiopia will have broken South West Arabia’s apparent monopoly on international trade in opulent goods along the interior Sayhad desert margin route. This Red Sea trade might have contributed both to the rise of Aksum and to the decline of the Sayhadian kingdoms.

The Neolithic middens were probably left by mobile hunter-gatherers and, from the late Neolithic (c.4th millennium BC), by pastoralists. The undiagnostic nature of the material culture means that the Neolithic middens could have been seasonally occupied by the same groups or temporarily occupied by different groups. Individuals could have traversed down the coast, or moved between the inner and outer zones of the Tihamah, to exploit

In conclusion, economic relations in the prehistoric period were at best ephemeral and unorganised. However, in the Ancient Sub-Period I (the pre-Aksumite period), the Sabaeans might have controlled a small amount of long-distance trade from Ethiopia. This trading system 140

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 different natural resources. Unfortunately, since the middens are the only Neolithic sites known on the Tihamah, we cannot explore the possible relationship of the coastal middens to sites in the inner zone of the Tihamah in that period.

exercise). However, features that do point to a chiefdom society are the megaliths, the monumental buildings, and the evidence for craft specialisation, such as metalworking. These elements suggest central accumulation and redistribution, which could have been governed by local chiefs. Sabir provides the most convincing evidence of a chiefdom society: its storerooms indicate centralised accumulation, while the different types of domestic and elite/religious architecture signify a ranked internal organisation.

Moving into the Bronze Age, the discovery of Sabirrelated pottery at most of the sites attributed to the Bronze Age provides much clearer evidence of interactions between the occupants of different Tihami sites. For example, the presence of such ceramics at the Bronze Age middens could indicate that some of the middens continued to be occupied by mobile herders, who might have exchanged goods with the inhabitants of permanent sites (such as Sabir), while other middens represented seasonal specialist food-processing sites left by members of settled communities (such as by occupants of al-Midaman).

As is the case for the Bronze Age, it is necessary to admit that there is again no clear evidence of a local settlement system on the Tihamah during the Iron Age. Iron Age sites are again consistently large, and the data do not elucidate how they might have politically interacted with other contemporary sites on the Tihamah. Al-Hamid and Waqir provide the only exception: the Sabaean-related data discovered at those sites can be interpreted in terms of local political dynamics. For example, elite individuals from those sites might have emulated aspects of Sabaean culture to legitimate or increase their status within purely local political competition. This idea runs contra to the equally plausible argument - discussed further below that such Sabaean-related data demonstrate direct political connections with Saba (Beeston 1995a; Robin 1995; Phillips 1999a).

However, the other Tihami Bronze Age sites - alMidaman, Sabir, al-Muhandid, and possibly Midi (although little is known about the latter two sites) – are more appropriately interpreted in terms of major regional centres, which would have served secular and/or, ritual functions. Yet, the consistently large size of the sites, the analytical questions concerning their contemporaneity, together with the different amounts of investigation at the sites, makes it impossible to establish a hierarchy of sites, let alone a local settlement pattern. Furthermore, no intensive regional survey has been undertaken around the known sites. For example, other large contemporary tell sites near Sabir have been reported, but their chronological and spatial relationship is not clear from the work published to date. Political relations between the Bronze Age sites are therefore currently uncertain. Yet, if the known sites do represent some of the major regional centres, then we could expect the future discovery of smaller satellite sites around these centres, as more systematic, intensive regional survey projects are undertaken.

It is also not clear how members of Tihami sites attributed to the Iron Age (such as al-Hamid) might have articulated with occupants of locally important sites occupied in the Bronze Age (such as Sabir). For example, linking the Sabaean presence at al-Hamid to the destruction and abandonment of Sabir in the 9th century BC, and the fact that Sabir was never rebuilt, implies a widespread - and powerful - Sabaean presence on the Tihamah. To date, a Sabaean existence has not even been indicated in the region around Sabir, since no ESA inscriptions or Sayhad-related pottery have been discovered in the preliminary surveys undertaken in that area (Hamilton 1964; Vogt and Sedov 1998a).

Despite the inability to establish political connections between the Tihami Bronze Age sites, it is possible to propose that these sites indicate the presence of a chiefdom society. According to Service’s (1971) classification, a chiefdom type society can be recognised from a settlement pattern of fortified or ritual centres, by large-scale monuments, by some craft specialisation, by central accumulation and redistribution, by populations of over 5000 and by an hereditary chief - often with religious duties - who ruled a kinship-based ranked society. Clearly, certain of these characteristics are not perceptible at the aforementioned Tihami sites. Thus, neither the use of fortification, nor the method (kinship or otherwise) by which society was organised can be discerned. The population density at any given time is also unclear, apart from at Sabir, whose large size might feasibly suggest thousands, rather than just hundreds of inhabitants (although estimating past populations without any historical records is a thorny if not impossible

Finally, it is important to recognise that the political organisation of the Tihamah during the Iron Age has been heavily skewed towards its relationship with the Sayhad region, since Tihami sites belonging to that period have only been identified through the presence of Sayhad-related data (see Section 7.2). Indeed, this bias is apparent in the following discussion, which focuses on political connections between the Tihamah and the Sayhad area. Despite the fact that most of the Tihami Iron Age evidence can be described as Sayhad-related, the Najranrelated decoration found on the Jizan area pottery suggests specific links between the northern Tihamah and the Najran area (due north of the Sayhad region). The additional discovery of a possible Minaic inscription in

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SYNTHESIS the Jizan area hints at connections with Main3, which are not attested elsewhere on the Tihamah. A second set of links with the interior is apparent at the Iron Age sites from the region between Hodeidah and Zabid, where two sites - al-Hamid and Waqir - have explicit epigraphic links (al-Hamid also has architectural connections) with the Sabaean kingdom, located just south of the Minaean kingdom. The division between the northern and southern Tihamah might have a history since the black burnished ware of the Bronze Age has not been found south of the Jizan area.

elite members of those sites, where no effective political links with Saba existed. Instead, taking a middle line, it seems that political links between the Tihamah and Saba during the Ancient Sub-Period I were weak, or at least not important to Saba. This is supported by two key observations: first, the Tihamah is not mentioned, or alluded to, in the very extensive ESA corpus of the interior before the 1st millennium AD. Second, any political links with the known sites on the Tihamah seem to have been short-lived and limited. For example, all of the inscriptions from al-Hamid are written in the same epigraphic style, and while those from Waqir seem to be written in two epigraphic styles, they have still all been dated to the Ancient Sub-Period I. Moreover, the connections were restricted to an elite-focused ideology, represented by the temple at al-Hamid and the inscriptions at al-Hamid and Waqir, and to a limited range of economic interests, as indicated by petrographic analysis on the ceramics from al-Hamid, which suggests that only (some of) the amphorae were imported from the Sayhad.

Interestingly, the alternative Iron Age connections outlined above correspond to a political dichotomy claimed in the inscription labelled Phillips-Waqir 3 (c.7th century BC), which asserts that the northern part of the Tihamah - apparently from the Wadi Mawr northwards was politically connected to Main, while the rest of the Tihamah was attached to Saba (Phillips 2000a). Of course, it would be unwise to build a definitive argument for political relations from a single, potentially propagandist inscription, and it is also important to remember that the dates of the Jizan area sites (with their Minaean/Najran-related data) remain unclear and may post-date the time of Phillips-Waqir 3. However, the information from the textual and archaeological sources, limited as it is, is at least consistent.

The presence of Sabaean-related data in the pre-Aksumite culture of Ethiopia adds an extra dimension to this model of weak political links between the Sabaean kingdom and areas peripheral to it. It seems likely that direct political command over Ethiopia might have been attempted by Saba, for example to control trade relations. However, the relatively limited amount of Sabaean-related data from the Ethiopian highlands suggests that political control over Ethiopia by Saba, if it ever was effective, was probably sporadic, short-lived at best and at an end by the mid 1st millennium BC. Moreover, the purely elite nature of the Sabaean-related data found in Ethiopia suggests a pre-Aksumite emulation of the culture of the Sabaean core.

This demonstrates how, in the absence of a local settlement pattern, the epigraphic record, together with some of the archaeological data, can be used to begin to explore political connections. Indeed, a model for political connections between the Tihamah and the major polities lying to its west and east can be offered by marshalling both the epigraphic and archaeological evidence from the sites of al-Hamid and Waqir.

The apparent cessation of political connections between Saba, the Tihamah and Ethiopia after the mid 1st millennium BC can be related to political events in the Sayhad region, notably the rise of the other Sayhadian kingdoms. Their ascendancy4 might have forced Saba to focus its attentions on its relationships with them, rather than with the more distant regions of the Tihamah and Ethiopia, who presumably posed no danger to the economy or political organisation of the interior. Indeed, the Arabian ESA record first mentions Ethiopia and the Tihamah when they threatened the political and economic stability of the South West Arabian kingdoms during the 1st millennium AD. At that time, Aksum claimed domination over parts of South West Arabia and over the Red Sea, and the South West Arabians recorded the allegiance of the people on the Tihamah with the Aksumites. Clearly, this reflects two perspectives on events, but nonetheless highlights the importance of

Arabianists maintain that the Sabaeans expressed their identity and political subservience to Saba and the Sabaean king through the temple and the dedications to the chief Sabaean god, Almaqah (Beeston 1984; Darles 1997). The presence of a Sabaean-related temple at alHamid, together with Sabaic dedications to Sabaean gods, would therefore support a notion that al-Hamid and Waqir were politically linked, though not necessarily dominated by Saba. Phillips (2000a) has also emphasised that the political content of Phillips-Waqir 3 demonstrates strong links between the Tihamah and Saba in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. However, in the final analysis, it is most likely that links between the Tihamah and Saba in the first half of the 1st millennium BC were not extremely strong (contra Phillips 2000a). Nor is it likely that they were virtually non-existent, as implied by our earlier proposal that the Sabaean-related material culture found at al-Hamid and Waqir could have reflected local political competition by 3

4

With its capital at Qarnaw (See Figure 4), Main is the most northern Sayhadian kingdom.

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Their political power is symbolised by the appropriation of the supreme title ‘mukarrib’ by both the Qatabanian and Hadrami leaders during the second half of the 1st millennium BC and is signified by the apparent increase in wealth along the Sayhad desert margin.

THE TIHAMAH COASTAL PLAIN OF SOUTH WEST ARABIA IN ITS REGIONAL CONTEXT: C.6000 BC-AD 600 considering the Tihamah in any discussion of political relations between the two regions.

only by taking a long-term perspective that models or patterns for political connections on the Tihamah and between neighbouring regions emerge.

By comparing the two episodes of South West Arabian interaction with Ethiopia, we can offer two important observations concerning the nature of political relations between the two regions in the historic period. First, the Arabian ESA texts appear not to record political relations with Ethiopia in the Ancient Sub-Period I/pre-Aksumite period, whereas they do report such links in the Himyarite/Aksumite period. This suggests that from the Sayhadian perspective, the political connections with the Tihamah were weak, and probably non-threatening in the Ancient Sub-Period I. In contrast, the Himyarite period reports of (often strained) political relations between the South West Arabian kingdoms and Ethiopia suggest that the Aksumites were politically - and probably economically - threatening.

7.4 Future research This book has examined the long-term culture-history of the Tihamah using a comparative and critical perspective. By employing the emerging archaeological data, including the results of personal survey and excavation, together with a range of historical sources, this research has examined both local developments on the Tihamah and relations between the Tihamah and neighbouring regions. It is usual for archaeological research to present or open up many avenues for future research, and, given the nascent stage of archaeological research on the Tihamah, this book is no exception. Problems constantly encountered in the present attempt to synthesise the evidence for the culture-history of the Tihamah need to be addressed as a priority, if understanding of the region is to be developed. Firstly, the chronology of the Tihamah needs to be refined through further detaileded studies of the ceramics, particularly those excavated from stratified contexts, such as at Sabir. This needs to be accompanied, where possible, by C-14 dates to establish an independent absolute chronology. In addition, a close comparative study of the ceramics from neighbouring regions and sites needs to be undertaken, and ideally even-further afield to take in wider regional developments throughout the Arabian Peninsula and into the Near East. Secondly, systematic settlement surveys in different parts of the Tihamah should be undertaken using comparable methodologies. Thirdly, given the extreme environments of the Tihamah, it is important to undertake further geomorphological landscape research. This will help us to understand the patterns of occupation in the past in relation to environmental resources and constraints, and will also improve our perception of the pattern of preservation and visibility of sites in different parts of the region.

The second observation concerns the fact that while the elite pre-Aksumite data are heavily Sabaean-influenced, the elite archaeological evidence from the Aksumite period is not. Although the pre-Aksumite evidence could indicate real political connections between the highest levels of both societies, it is possible that they were either not significant enough to the South West Arabians to merit mention in the Arabian ESA texts. It therefore seems that the Sabaean-related character of the preAksumite evidence reflects Ethiopian emulation of the Sabaean culture. The lack of Sayhadian emulation by the Aksumite people of the 1st millennium AD implies a difference in the nature of their relationship with South West Arabia, such as political independence, or even a change in the relative status of the two regions. In overview, the evidence from, or related to the Tihamah has provided an extra dimension to an interpretation of the political relationship of the major Iron Age Ethiopian and South West Arabian polities. Thus, the Tihami archaeological evidence dated to the first half of the 1st millennium BC provides documentation of short-lived Sabaean connection with the Red Sea and Ethiopia. This relationship can be seen in terms of a loose coreperiphery model, in which the pre-Aksumite elite and elite individuals on the Tihamah attempted to emulate some elements of the Sabaean culture. In addition, there might have been brief episodes of direct political connections between Saba and sites in both regions. After a ‘dark age’ of over half a century, textual sources suggest that Ethiopia had become politically and economically powerful and now posed a real threat to South West Arabia or South West Arabian interests. It is

This book has brought together a great deal of very disparate research. It has critically examined the assumptions that have underpinned the inferences and interpretations of that data. Finally, it has indicated the importance of the Tihamah coastal plain to understanding wider cultural, economic, and political developments in South West Arabia and the Horn of Africa. As the old Yemeni proverb claims: ‘al-Tihamah turuq’, ‘the Tihamah is all roads’.

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