Does anyone know the City of Dwarves in the Yemeni desert? [Archives:2008/1143/Community]

By: Wijnand van Riel
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For an article I'm writing I would like to have some information. Some ten years ago I worked as a tour manager in Yemen. Almost all my contacts with Yemen are gone. I visited a lot of places, but my last trip we saw something quite peculiar. On this tour we went on a desert trip from Marib to Sayun. In the morning our Yemeni drivers made a detour to a ruined and abandoned place with small beehive-like buildings not higher than two meters and one or two large rectangular structures (market-square??). All were made of black stones. It was north of the main track in the vicinity of some black rocks. Because it was morning I suppose it was not very far from the oil-wells. I speak a little Arabic and from what I understood the place was called 'the city of dwarves'. If this is the official name, I'm not sure. Does anyone know of this place or its location? Does anyone know something about the history of this place or know someone who can tell me more about this place?
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