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In the spring of 1992, J.F Breton head ofthe French Archaeological Misson in Yemen invited me to accompany himto the Wadi Markha which is principally in the area of the formerPDRY, but the western reaches of which are in the area between Shabwaand Timna (see Yemen Update 32). After the work wascompleted, he was so gracious as to suggest the possibility of ajoint mission with the American Institute for Yemeni Studies. Wediscussed several possibilities, and one evening Khayran Zubaydi,director of Antiquities for the government of Shabwa opened up thesafe in his office, and brought forth some of the treasures that hadbeen found in a salvage effort a few years earlier.
In 1985 local residents of the Wadi Durrabrought a number of objects to the Ataq Museum,which cane from fieldswhich had been bulldozed in preparation for cultivation. The FrenchMarchaeological Mission in the PDRY then made a small sounding at apromising site on the edge of the area where the bulldozer hadremoved several metres of silt. In this sounding, severalsuperimposed tombs sunk into the silt itself were discovered, and theobjects likewise brought to the Ataq Museum. This material will bepublished in the spring of 1993 ( Les Tesors de Wadi Durra,edited by M. Baraqih and J-F Breton, Paris, Geuthner BibliothequeArcheologique et Historique). From the very start, it was clear thatthe tombs were associated with the adjacent mound, Hajaram-Dhababiyyah, one of the highest mounds in Yemen, at some 18 metresabove the plain. An incription from the mound itself proved to beSabaen dating to the seventh century B.C. One of the last Himyariticinscriptions (dating to the sixth century A.D.) also adorns a wadiwall.
Jean Francois then pointed out that the tellbeside the cemetery in this wadi would seem to be an interestingplace to excavate. When examining the decorated silver hilt of along iron sword with obvious Parthian/Sassanian influence, it wasdifficult to turn down the suggestion, as the excavation might bringthe settlement associated with the cemetary to light. In the summer,Khayran, Jean Francois and I then went off to Wadi Durra to have alook at the inscriptions, tell and cemetery. I needed no furtherpersuasion, and Prof. McGuire Gibson of AIYS gave us full support todo what we could. We were able to begin the excavation in the lastdays of November 1992 and continue for three weeks.
Ably supported by Augusta McMahon (who isfinishing her PhD thesis at the University of Chicago and whom I hadfirst met with Prof. Gibson at Nippur in Iraq), we opened up four10x10 metre squares from the top of the tell down the slope, startinga step trench on the southeast edge of the tell, where the slope was"gentler" than elsewhere, at slightly less than 50 degrees (12 metresvertical difference over 25 metres horizontal). It rapidlytranspired that the well-coursed granite blocks of a single largebuilding with foundation ca. 6x6 metres had prevented the erosion ofthe tell, the outer facing having been merely reduced to a series ofterraces. Below this, but clearly constructed at about the same timeon the basis of the stratigraphic evidence, was a belt of roundedgranite blocks slanting steeply upwards, maintaining the slope of thetell. Below but apparently standing on the lowest courses of thisband of granite, were a couple of more modestly built houses. Theuppermost square straddling the flat surface of the tell and thebeginning of the slope brought several superimposed houses to light,but for the most part, the stones of fallen walls in the metre thickdeposits of windblown silt.
The initial impression of the potteryindicates that the structures should be dated to the first centuriesof our era. The coins and other bronze objects have been turned overto Mohammad Said Amir of the Aden Branch of the AntiquitiesOrganization, who will clean them in the comming months, so that theycan be properly dated. They will then join the pottery and otherobjects at the 'Ataq Museum, where the finds from the salvage effortare on display and in storage. It was logical that at some point anexcavation might uncover domestic dwellings contemporary with thetombs from the neighboring necropolis.
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