Arabia and the Red Sea after the Turning to the Common Era: Advancing the State of the Art

In the young field of Arabian archaeology, much more is known about the pottery from the different sites than is published for the age subsequent to the turning of the time scale to the Common Era. Few relevant archaeological studies on Arabia have been written; the quality and quantity of the contexts there lie far behind that of established neighbouring fields, such as Greek and Roman sites on the Mediterranean littoral, which profit from some 150 years of research. Rare publications on Arabia differ in the representation of shapes, fabric descriptions, the definition of types or classes etc. Such may feature a few striking imports and may tersely list key trading partners in the Mediterranean and Red Sea coast. Few focus intensively on Roman period and more specifically late antique parallels in Arabia. The unpublished pottery finds from Zafar/Yemen deserve mention, since they hardly match those of other OSA sites. The reputation of the late antique period itself has enjoyed an upgrading in the past 10 years in different disciplines, for example Qurʼān research. Now it would be desirable to also contextualise the pottery into the general cultural-historical picture.

Obviously from BCE to CE there is no caesura in the pottery tradition. This dating simply helps to focus the emphasis of the pottery to the Roman imperial and late antique periods. Key topics and areas may include

1 North-eastern Africa, Adulis, Axum, Berenike, Black Assarca wreck, Yeha

2 South-eastern Arabia, Bandar Jissa, Khor Rori, Samad al-Shan, Suhar

3 South-western Arabia, Qani, J. al-Awd, Zafar

4 North-western Arabia, Aqaba, Tayma

5 South Asian imports

6 Mediterranean imports 

This geographic list is not exclusive, but rather serves to focus our view on the topic. Given the newness of Arabian archaeology and the developing state of research, we have a good chance for new insights such as new wares found in different sites. 

To obtain funding, we require also young participants. In addition to the speakers, auditors are welcome and will be invited. Again, we propose to concentrate effort on the pottery and its contexts. Programm

Contact:
Professor Dr. Paul Yule
Seminar für Sprachen und Kulturen des Vorderen Orients
Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Schulgasse 2
69117 Heidelberg
Telefon +49 (0)6221 54 2961
E-Mail: paul.yule@ori.uni-heidelberg.de