(Naples, 3-4 April 2000)

At the beginning of April 2000, the fifth regular "Sabean Meetings" (Rencontres sabOennes, 5) were held at the Interfacult Center for Archaeological Research (Center Interdipartimentale di Servizi per I' Archeologia - CISA) of the University of Naples Orientale (Istituto Universitario Orientale - IUO). They were dedicated to archaeological and epigraphic research in Southern Arabia and were organized by the Oriental University with the participation of the Institute of Africa and the East (Istituto Italiano per l 'Africa e l' Oriente-IslAO). The conference was attended by the heads and participants of the main archaeological missions working in Yemen.

The first meeting of the conference in Palazzo Corigliano opened with greetings from A. Rossi, Head of the International Relations Department of the IUO, and B. d'Agostino, President of CISA. In two days, 10 reports were heard and discussed.

I. Gerlach (Berlin) in her report "Excavations of the Avam burial ground" spoke about the results of three seasons of research on the territory of the necropolis near the Avam temple in Marib, where for the first time it was possible to find materials on the characteristics of burial structures and the funeral rite of the Sabeans. Impressive is the epigraphic material obtained during the excavations, which is published by the famous German epigraphist N. Nebes. The report of S. Yapp (Berlin) "Ceramics of the Avam burial ground" was devoted to the analysis of the most widespread category of finds in the ruins of burial structures of the Avam necropolis. The conference participants were presented the classification of the discovered material, the result of its comparative analysis, and possible chronological frames of the existence of the selected types of ceramics. Attention is also drawn to the fact that the vast majority of ceramic vessels found are miniature products, models made most likely specifically for placement in burials. In this connection, a natural question arises, which was raised in the discussion on the report, about the validity of using the criteria developed in the study of "real" ceramic dishes for the analysis of this material.

A.V. Sedov (Moscow) in his report "Once again on the early Qataban coinage: the second part of the treasure from al-Surayr" presented new material that appeared in 1999 in several museums in Yemen. We are talking about 110 copies of silver coins-imitations of the Athenian tetradrachms, sold to the museums of Sana'a, Aden and Taiz in the summer and autumn of 1999 by 'Abdul Rahib al-Himyari, a resident of the village of al-Surayra, who found a treasure of more than 300 silver Kataban coins in 1994 ^.1 It is essential that among the new ecs-

¹ For the publication of most of the hoard coins that have been made available for research, see 'Abdullah Yu. M., Ghaleh' A.O" Sedov A.V. Early Qatabanian coinage: the as Surayrah coin hoard // AAE. V. 8. 1997. P. 203-229.

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semplyarov has a large group of imitations with a weight of 3.9-4.2 g, i.e. with a weight close to Attic drachmas. Similar coins were first identified in the early coinage of Kataban. The report of B. Vogt (Sana) was devoted to the first season of work of the joint Russian-German expedition under the INTAS-97-20237 project "The coast of Yemen in ancient times: environment, human adaptation and life activity, cultural contacts". In October-November 1999, for the first time on the territory of Yemen, the expedition began to study such a peculiar category of monuments as "shell heaps". The monument, called an-Nabwa, is located in one of the districts of Aden, on the edge of an ancient sea terrace. The researchers obtained a unique material that pre-dates from the "early Bronze Age" period, and possibly goes back to the Neolithic era. A whole series of similar monuments were also discovered by the expedition during the survey of a large section of the coast of the Gulf of Aden, in the territory between Aden and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

V. Buffa (Cairo) In the report "Ceramics of Maleiba", I described the first results of classification and dating of material belonging to the early stage of the Sabir culture. Apparently, the earliest cultural layers in the stratigraphic pit at the Maleiba site should be attributed to the very beginning of the second millennium BC. It is noteworthy that the previously noted typological correspondences between the ceramics of the early stage of the Sabir culture (stages Maleiba I and Maleiba II) and the ceramics of the so-called "pre-Aksum" monuments of Ethiopia However, there are sporadic contacts between the United States and Eritrea, rather than strong cultural and commercial ties. A. Avanzini (Pisa) in her report "Excavations of Khor Rori" presented the results of the work of the Italian Mission in Dofara on the excavation and restoration of the ancient fortress of Samharam, founded by Hadhramaut colonists on the coast of the "incense-bearing country". A new interpretation of the already known inscriptions from this monument, supplemented by the latest archaeological finds, allowed the Italian researcher to come to the conclusion that the time of the fortress's foundation should be attributed to the last decades of the first century BC - the first decades of the first century AD. This date is also confirmed by numismatic finds from the earliest cultural layers of the monument. One of the first stages of the construction of the fortress defenses can be attributed to the name of Yashkhar ' ila Yuhar'ish, the son of Abiyasa, Muqarrib Hadhramaut.

The report of R. Robin (Aix-en-Provence) "The Revolt of Hadhramaut against Himyar" was listened to and discussed with great interest, in which a well-known French researcher proposed, based on a comprehensive study of epigraphic and numismatic sources, the reconstruction of a previously unknown episode of the ancient history of Yemen at the end of the III-beginning of the IV century AD.) presented the results of the last season of excavations of the expedition of the German Archaeological Institute on the site of Jebel al-Aud. Here the study of the monumental building in the central part of the settlement was completed, and excavations of the south-eastern city gate were started. Among the finds of this season, first of all, a series of magnificent magnesite sculptures should be noted, similar to the famous finds from the Shuka ' burial ground (prov. Gave'). This is the first discovery of products of this kind during archaeological excavations in a layer that is quite confidently dated to the III century AD.

A. de Maigret (Naples) dedicated his report "Franco-Italian excavations in Timna'" to the results of the first season of work in the framework of a new archaeological project on the excavation of the ancient capital of the South Arabian kingdom of Cataban. A site near the northwest city gate was chosen for the study. The ruins of a partially excavated building here are tentatively interpreted as the remains of a large temple complex, in which, judging by the inscriptions found, the goddess Asherat was worshipped.

The presentation of A. de Maigret was supplemented by the report of M. Arbache (Aix-en-Provence)" Inscriptions from the Franco-Italian excavations in Timna'", which described the nine inscriptions found during the excavations and suggested their translation. Note that in six of them, the name of the deity is read or restored with a very high degree of reliability. The goddess Asirat is also known from votive inscriptions from another Qataban site, now called Khanu az-Zureir (ancient Haribat) in Wadi Harib.

The conference ended in Rome with the opening day of the exhibition " Yemen. The Land of the Queen of Sheba", which opened on April 6, 2000 in Palazzo Ruspoli, one of the largest private exhibition halls in the Italian capital ² . The opening ceremony was attended by President of the Republic of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh. Presentations on the significance of the ancient Yemeni civilization and its contribution to the history and culture of the ancient East were made by the Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Yemen Abdumalik Mansour, President of IslAO G. Nyoli, President of the Memmo Foundation, one of the organizers and sponsors of the exhibition, R. Memmo and President of the General Organization of Antiquities, Manuscripts and Museums of the Republic of Yemen Yusuf M. Abdallah.

The sixth Sabaean meetings are scheduled to be held in Berlin in June 2001.

² Exhibition catalog published by: Yemen. Nel paese della Regina di Saba. Roma-Milano, 2000. P. 1-423.

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