Ceramic production in medieval Yemen: the Yadhghat kiln site.

Axelle Rougeulle (1)

1 OM - ORIENT ET MÉDITERRANÉE : Textes, Archéologie, Histoire

While excavating the medieval trade entrepôt of Sharma on the coast of Hadramawt (Yemen), a survey in the hinterland led to the discovery of a contemporary ceramic production centre near the village of Yadhghat in the Wâdî Jerba. The site is mostly destroyed except for a dozen small buildings and several heaps of ceramic shards associated with traces of bone-fire kilns. Excavations yielded thousands of fragments of a typical coarse ware which was found in quantity at Sharma. The site also delivered imported material typical of the Sharma horizon, c. 980-1150, but the presence of Abbasid pieces suggests that the prosperity of the kilns started before the foundation of the entrepôt, while the end of the production seems to be connected with its destruction.

Mots clés: Yemen; Hadramawt; Sharma; medieval; Islam; ceramic production; kiln

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire

Axelle Rougeulle. Ceramic production in medieval Yemen: the Yadhghat kiln site.. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 2007, 37, pp.239-252. ⟨halshs-00358601⟩