Vie et mort des cités du Jawf. La remise en question des causalités traditionnelles

Vie et mort des cités du Jawf

Schiettecatte, Jérémie¹ 

关键词: peuplement;    archéogéographie;    Jawf;    YEM;   

DOI  :  10.4000/cy.1172

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Centre Francais d Archeologie et de Sciences Sociales de Sanaa

【 摘 要 】

This paper deals with an archaeological and geographical approach of the settlement process in a large valley of Yemen, the wâdî al‑Jawf. By studying epigraphic sources and archaeological data, several sites were informed within a database; their hierarchical status has been quantified on the basis of functional considerations and they were analysed through a GIS. Mapping these sites by period helps to figure out the dynamic process affecting the urban network of this region, taking into account the hierarchical weight of each site, their evolution into the urban pattern and their long‑term evolution. Looking at this mapping, some ancient considerations on the reasons of the collapse of these cities, in one of the most important area of pre‑Islamic Yemen, are to be put into perspective. Until now, socio‑historical factors were mainly used to explain the decline of these South‑Arabian cities. Indeed, these factors are to be considered, but only as having hastened the fall. The deep causes seem to be linked to a recession of the flood irrigating the fields twice a year. Indeed, the maps show, in a dynamic perspective, the slow decline and the collapse of the main cities from downstream to upstream, following the contour lines of the relief of the slightly tilted plain. This recession is understandable on the one hand by the over‑silting of the irrigation network but also, and most probably, by the increase of the number of water catchments on the Highlands, drainage basin of the Jawf valley.

【 授权许可】

Unknown