A tour of ancient Yemeni artifacts [Archives:2006/1011/Last Page]
December 28 2006
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For Yemen Times
Yemen's National Museum contains a number of archeological artifacts our forefathers handed down throughout history and Yemen is famed for such artifacts among Near East nations.
Due to the advancement and progress achieved in Yemen, historians were prompted to call it Arabia Felix. Since water was necessary for peoples and societies, most ancient societies, such as the Egyptian and Iraqi civilizations, existed along riverbanks, whereas Yemenis overcame water scarcity difficulties by building dams, thus enabling them to build cities and large farms.
Over the past few years, the National Museum has progressed a lot as its monument collections increased and were documented. Most of these collections also were restored. Further, exhibition halls were rearranged and new halls added, while others received new monuments.
The museum's wing for Pre-Islamic Monuments dedicates two stories to the period:
First floor
The ground floor contains statues of Dhamar Ali Yahber and his son Tharan Yahnem and the wing is named for them. Upon their discovery in Al-Nakhlah Al-Hamra (Red Palm city] in Dhamar, they were in a bad state, so they were sent to Germany's Hahn-Meitner Institute in Berlin for maintenance and restoration. There, two copies were made, modeled after the originals.
A new antiquity, a bronze boiler (utensil used in cooking) discovered in Qataban's capital of Tamna, was added to the wing. The circular-shaped boiler, one of the world's largest, has a strip written in ancient Al-Musnad script and also underwent 10 years of maintenance at the same institute.
Further, a number of tableaus written in Al-Musnad and discovered in Al-Jawf and at a Shrine in Marib are offerings presented to Yemen's ancient lunar god, Almaqah, from the seventh century B.C.
Second floor
Antiquities are exhibited chronologically, with each grouping placed in a separate room according to the room's size and shape.
Himyarite Kingdom Hall
This hall includes archaeological pieces of various shapes and sizes. Such statues made of marble, red granite, bronze and pottery, representing human beings and animals.
Inscriptions Hall
This is a separate hall which includes documentary inscriptions written in Al-Musnad on marble, stone and bronze were offered to gods on different occasions, some of them narrating war stories between two factions.
Wood inscriptions written in ancient Al-Zabour (Holy text of David) script recount individuals' correspondence and privileges.
Hadramout Kingdom Hall
This hall opened after collecting a group of antiquities including human heads, incense containers and pottery.
Ma'een Kingdom Hall
This hall holds a great portion of new archeological artifacts, including gold pieces dating to the first century B.C. found in Hamadah Kharbat Hamdan in Al-Jawf.
Sheban Kingdom Hall
This hall includes a number of bronze pieces depicting human and animal feet and another artifact with shapes of ibexes and lions with human faces, all of which underwent restoration and maintenance operations at the museum. Further, various marble, pottery and limestone pieces represent human heads, the most important of which are two cornices in the form of ibexes.
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