Suchergebnisse

Regarding the appearance of Himyarite cityscapes, written and archaeological sources are rare. Hamdānī's 10th century AD citation of Abū Naṣr regarding the appearance of Ẓafār's gates has been discussed by scholars, for example Faris, al‑Shamārī and Muḥammad al‑Akwa'. Some contradictions lie in the rendering of the names in the three Arabic manuscripts which contain the text, because the pointing is erratic. Based on new large‑scale maps and archaeological investigation at Ẓafār, it is possible to reopen the question of where the gates were positioned around the ancient city. Although today none of the city gates are intact, remains of the fortification walls shed some light on where these once stood. The main entry complex to the city lay to the south and remained in service, although in a very much changed and reduced form, until recently. Although these textual and archaeological evidence do not concur at all points, bringing them together may lead us to new questions and new answers.

Newly found Himyarite reliefs and other finds shed light on the nature of hunting and warfare toward the end of the Himyarite age. While technically speaking, some are published, for the first time they are recogniseable in the present study in good drawings. The role of archery and cavalry of the age has been little understood. A variety of militaria are identifiable in the musnad texts.

An Indo-German research team took up the first season on the archaeological component of the Orissa Research Project (SPP1066, "Contested Centres: Construction and Change of Sociocultural Identities in the Indian Region Orissa"), funded by the DFG. We tested the hypothesis that from the iron age into the early medieval period that politically and culturally, Western Orissa was pre-eminent and superior to the coast, as is the case in recent times.

In 1998, the Heidelberg University Expedition to Zafar, in the Yemenite Highlands, initiated a programme of excavation, mapping and training. Zafar was the capital of the tribal confederation known to the outside world as Himyar, which for some 250 years dominated the entire Arabian Peninsula politically and militarily. The mapping showed the ancient walled city to be worthy of its name with a core area comprising some 1000 x 1200 m. The 2000 season concentrated on the excavation of a late Himyarite cemetery on a mountain slope called al-Asima/Salm. During the 2002 season, a foundation at the southern foot of the famous Husn Raydan was excavated, the site museum was newly installed and all of the inscriptions were photographed. In 2003, we photographed the entire collection of sculptures and began excavation on the south-western flank of the Husn Raydan in what appears to be magazines. Finally, in 2004 excavation was taken up in an area 10 m to the south, where a corner of a large limestone building came to light. Parts of the site were investigated by means of magnetometer survey. Until this time, experts described Zafar as utterly ruined and decadent in terms of its material culture. The foregoing contains the first preliminary report of the fieldwork in Zafar, a project which attempts to illuminate the latter part of the late pre-Islamic period.