  |
Excavations at Jujah-Shibam, Wadi Hadhramaut - 1994-1995 |
A team from the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University under the direction of the late Donald P. Hansen
excavated the site of Jujah, four kilometers to the west of Shibam in the Wadi Hadhramaut of Yemen during two seasons in
1994 and 1995. The excavations were conducted under the auspices of the American Institute of Yemeni Studies.
During the first season three different areas in the
central part of the mound were excavated. Nine rooms bounded
by mud brick walls in the top level of the first area (North
10 - South 10, East 180-190) proved to be a private
establishment with two distinct building phases (Level I &
Level II). Level III, surprisingly, turned out to be a temple
with closest parallel to the simplest and latest temple of
Rayboun V. The second area (North 20 - South 10, East 220-240)
was a large, private, architectural complex with at least
three distinct periods of construction. What remains of this
structure is the ground level or basement storage areas. Given
the size of the foundation stones and the thickness of the
outer walls, the building was at least two stories high. The
third area, which represented the lowest portion of the mound
exposed by the robbing of the central part of the tell,
produced a series of small units whose walls were founded at
the level of the plain. Below these walls there was nothing
but pure sand without a trace of occupation; the area was
excavated to a depth of two and one half meters.
During the second season excavations were concentrated
in the first area. Beneath the Level III temple was an older
temple which had painted walls in its earliest phase. The
murals in the cella show fragmentary depictions of human and
bird-like figures, dress and textile patterns, and a partial
inscription in South Arabian script. Only the cella was
decorated with multi-colored, figural paintings; the other
rooms were painted in plain colors. In subsequent periods the
cella paintings were covered over with numerous layers of lime
wash attesting to the temple's long use. Carbon 14 dates for
the earliest levels of the temple, the so-called "Painted
Temple", fall between the late 9th and 7th centuries BC.
____________________________
back to projects page
