The Genesis of the Textile Industry from Adorned Nudity to Ritual Regalia documents and evaluates the changing role of fibre crafts and their evolving techniques of manufacture and also their ever-increasing wider application in the lives of the inhabitants of the earliest villages of the Ancient Near East. It is a broad-spectrum enquiry into fibre working in a broad swathe from Mesopotamia across Persia and Anatolia to the Nile Valley. It focuses, however, on the southern Levant from incipient sedentism in the Natufian culture, c. 13,000 cal BCE to the Ghassulian culture, c. 4500-3800/3700 cal BCE. This is the first comprehensive study addressing the fibre technologies of the southern Levant on a long chronological axis. Currently, fibre crafts play only a minor role in archaeological thinking. This research demonstrates the magnitude and also the indispensable role that fibre crafts have played in the quotidian events, activities and practices of the inhabitants of the region. It has created an awareness of the substantial, often invisible, presence of fibre-craft products which was hitherto lacking in archaeological thought.

This volume - in Italian, with an English summary - presents the 1930s archaeological photo-albums of John Alfred Spranger (1889-1968). Engineer, topographer, mountain climber, archaeologist, art collector and photographer, Spranger traveled extensively - in the Balkans, Greece, Egypt and the Near East, Canada, Central Asia - and left several photo albums detailing archaeological explorations as well as travel memories. In the 1920s-1930s, he took part in a number of Etruscan excavations in Tuscany, together with Harry Burton, the photographer of the Tomb of Tutankhamun. With a pioneering approach, they used the photo-camera to document the excavation work in progress. The albums are dedicated to a trip to Egypt in 1929, a trip to Mesopotamia (Iraq) in 1936 and some surveys and excavations carried out in Etruria (Tuscany, Italy) in 1929-1935. Spranger's photos are particularly meaningful, especially because he combined his skills in using the camera with a great expertise in archaeology and topography. His photos make it possible to understand, after almost a century, how many Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Etruscan sites appeared at the time of their first excavations | Il volume - in italiano con riassunto in inglese - e dedicato agli album fotografici realizzati negli anni Trenta del Novecento da John Alfred Spranger (1889-1968): fu ingegnere, topografo, alpinista, archeologo, collezionista e fotografo. Viaggio molto - nei Balcani, in Grecia, in Egitto e nel Vicino Oriente, in Canda e in Asia centrale - lasciandoci molti album fotografici dedicati ai suoi viaggi e alle sue ricerche archeologiche. Negli anni Venti e Trenta partecipo a ricognizioni e scavi archeologici in Toscana, assieme a Harry Burton, il fotografo della Tomba di Tutankhamun. Con un approccio pionieristico, ambedue sperimentarono l'uso della macchina fotografica per documentare lo scavo archeologico. Gli album presentati sono dedicati a due viaggi, uno in Egitto nel 1929 e l'altro in Mesopotamia (Iraq) nel 1936, e a ricognizioni e scavi condotti in siti etruschi della Toscana tra 1929 e 1935. Le fotografie di Spranger sono particolarmente significative perche riflettono sia la competenza del fotografo che quella del topografo e dell'archeologo, e ci permettono di capire, a quasi un secolo di distanza, quale fosse l'aspetto di numerosi siti egizi, mesopotamici ed etruschi, al momento della loro prima indagine archeologica.

The development of a prehistoric civilization in the Sultanate of Oman was strongly connected with the exploitation and the use of copper. The Oman Peninsula has several rich copper ore deposits that have been exploited since prehistoric times. The earliest evidence of metallurgical activities in Oman dates back to the end of the Neolithic period in the 4th millennium BC. Thanks to the availability of this precious raw material, Oman became one of the main copper sources for the entire Middle East during the Bronze Age. The cuneiform texts of Mesopotamia referred to Oman as the Land of Magan, a region where the precious copper was found in fabulous abundance. This volume describes the geography and environments of Oman, its rich copper ore deposits and the ancient mining and smelting techniques, and it also includes an overview of the physical properties of the different metals exploited in antiquity and of the analytical techniques used in archaeometallurgy. Moreover, the author presents for the first time a comprehensive and detailed typology of the metal objects discovered at sites in Oman dating to the millennia from the Neolithic up to the Early Iron Age, emphasizing the development of advanced alloying techniques in order to obtain artefacts with specific proprieties and appearance.

The revolutionary cult of sun-worship that Akhenaten introduced, and such contentious issues as the role of Nefertiti as a goddess, the dominant part played by plague during Akhenaten's reign, and likely events of the king's twilight years are treated with new insight and set within the framework of an authoritative overview of the entire period.

Bridging Times and Spaces is composed of papers written by colleagues of Professor Gregory E. Areshian on the occasion his 65th birthday reflecting the breadth and diversity of his scholarly contributions. The range of presented papers covers topics in Near Eastern, Mediterranean and Armenian archaeology, theory of interpretation in archaeology and art history, interdisciplinary history, historical linguistics, art history, and comparative mythology. The volume opens with an extensive interview given by Gregory Areshian, in which Gregory outlines the pathways of his academic career, archaeological discoveries, different intellectual quests, and the organic connections between research questions that he explored across different social sciences and the humanities, stressing the importance of periodizations in interdisciplinary history as well as his views on holism and interdisciplinary studies.

The burgeoning of archaeological research in the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq is one of the great success stories of world archaeology today. For twenty years it was impossible for western archaeologists to work in Iraq, and for most of this time there were also heavy restrictions on the activity of Iraqi archaeologists. In addition to this Kurdistan remains a region never systematically explored. The conference presented the first opportunity for the leading figures in this renaissance of research in the area to gather and present all the key new projects which are revolutionising our understanding of the region. The following papers are available to download in Open Access: Current Investigations into the Early Neolithic of the Zagros Foothills of Iraqi Kurdistan - Roger Matthews, Wendy Matthews, Kamal Rasheed Raheem and Kamal Rauf Aziz: Download About Bakr Awa - Peter A. Miglus: Download

This volume is a tribute to the career of Professor Olivier Rouault who has conducted extensive research in the fields of both Assyriology and Ancient Near Eastern archaeology. The book is composed of 25 papers written by his colleagues, friends and former students from Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, Israel, Japan, The Netherlands, Poland, Syria and the United States. The contributions presented here combine archaeological, iconographic and Assyriological studies from the Neolithic to the 1st millennium BC, covering whole of Mesopotamia and regions of Anatolia and the Levant. Nine papers deal with the data of Terqa, Mari and Qasr Shemamok, sites close to Professor Olivier Rouault's main field of research. He published cuneiform tablets from Mari and Terqa and worked as a director of archaeological missions at Terqa and Qasr Shemamok. The book is divided into six main topics: Palace and Administration, Temples and Cults, Families and Societies, Literatures and Historiography, Representation and Symbolic Aspects, Cultural Markers and Stratigraphy - all the topics that attracted Professor Olivier Rouault during his fruitful career. More intimate texts recounting memories of moments shared with Olivier punctuate the reading of these contributions.

Members of the Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East (ASTENE), founded in 1997, continue to research, hold international conferences, and publish books and essays in order to reveal the lives, journeys and achievements of these less well-known men and women who have made such a contribution to the present day historical and geographical knowledge of this region of the world and who have also given us a better understanding of its different peoples, languages and religions. The men and women from the past who are written about in this volume are a mixture of the incredibly rich or the very poor, and yet they have one thing in common, the bravery to tackle an adventure into the unknown without the certainty they would ever return home to their families. Some took up the challenge as part of their job or to create a new business, one person travelled to learn how to create and manage a harem at his house in London, others had no choice because as captives in a military campaign they were forced to make journeys into Ottoman controlled lands not knowing exactly where they were, yet every day they were looking for an opportunity to escape and return to their homes, while hoping the next person they met would guide them towards the safest route. Apart from being brave, many of these men and women travellers have something else in common: they and others they encountered have left a collective record describing their travels and their observations about all manner of things. It is these forgotten pioneers who first gathered the facts and details that now fill numerous modern guidebooks, inflight magazines and websites.

Ceramics in Transition focuses on the utilitarian ceramic traditions during the socio-political transition from the late Byzantine into the early Islamic Umayyad and 'Abbasid periods, c. 6th-9th centuries CE in southern Transjordan and the Negev. These regions belonged to the Byzantine province of Palaestina Tertia, before Islamic administrative reorganisation in the mid-7th century. Cooking ware and ceramic containers were investigated from five archaeological sites representing different socio-economic contexts, the Jabal Harun monastery, the village of Khirbet edh-Dharih, the port city of 'Aqaba/Aila, the town of Elusa in the Negev, and the suburban farmstead of Abu Matar. The ceramics were typo-chronologically categorised and subjected to geochemical and micro-structural characterisation via X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (ED-XRF) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS) to geochemically 'fingerprint' the sampled ceramics and to identify production clusters, manufacturing techniques, ceramic distribution patterns, and material links between rural-urban communities as well as religious-secular communities. The ceramic data demonstrate economic wealth continuing into the early Islamic periods in the southern regions, ceramic exchange systems, specialized manufacture and inter-regional, long-distance ceramic transport. The potters who operated in the southern areas in the formative stages of the Islamic period reformulated their craft to follow new influences diffusing from the Islamic centres in the north.

This is the story of the landfill that operated in Jerusalem during the first century CE and served as its garbage dump during the ca. 50-year period that followed Jesus’s crucifixion through to the period that led to the great revolt of the Jews just prior to the city’s destruction. The book presents an extensive investigation of hundreds of thousands of items that were systematically excavated from the thick layers of landfill. It brings together experts who conducted in-depth studies of every sort of material discarded as refuse—ceramic, metal, glass, bone, wood, and more. This research presents an amazing and tantalizing picture of daily life in ancient Jerusalem, and how life was shaped and regulated by strict behavioral rules (halacha). The book also explores why garbage was collected in Jerusalem in so strict a manner and why the landfill operated for only about 50 years. Half a century of garbage from Early Roman–period Jerusalem provides an abundance of new data and new insights into the ideological choices and new religious concepts emerging and developing among those living in Jerusalem at this critical moment. It is an eye-opener for archaeologists, historians, anthropologists, and theologians, as well as for the general reader.

The first volume of the series EMMS, 'Etudes Mesopotamiennes - Mesopotamian Studies' presents a collection of articles, communications and preliminary reports representing the advancement, in recent years, of human sciences - archaeological, historical, philological and cultural researches -concerning ancient Mesopotamia area studies. It contains the first results of some excavation and survey programs carried out by different European teams namely in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, developed since the reopening of this large territory to international research after the long pause due to war. The volume includes also studies, debates, reflections preparing and illustrating the new trends of the research launched now in Mesopotamia. Marked by the continuity of the scientific traditions, they show the changes induced by the evolution of mentalities and by new methods, techniques and instruments of work. The proceedings of an international congress held in Paris in 2013, show also the orientation of Iraqi archaeologists' researches, and their perceptions of the new, possible collaboration starting now in the region. In the same spirit, to allow a better circulation and sharing of their contents, the texts are accompanied by large summaries translated into Arabic and Kurdish.

Composite Artefacts in the Ancient Near East: Exhibiting an imaginative materiality, showing a genealogical nature examines the complex relationship between environment, materials, society and materiality with particular reference to the composite artefacts in the ancient Near East. On the one hand are the objective and natural attributes of materials, possibly exalted from their transformation: a form of fascination immanent in all kind of technical activity which promotes the transition from the ordinary into an 'extra-ordinary' realm, imbuing the object with new meaning. On the other hand is the idea that properties of materials are not fixed attributes of 'matters', but are processual as well as relational: the qualities of artefacts are subjective and are included in the worldview of artisans making them, as well as in the mind of who observes who appreciate them. Thus, the craftsmanship is oriented towards the achievement of sophisticated products through assemblage techniques and the blending of contrasting properties and qualities of materials. The term 'composite' is a combination of the power of technology and the ability to form new images: the strict relationship between creativity, technology and manufacture produces novel interactions and solutions. Although the primary concern of this volume is to provide specific case studies in which theoretical assumptions and hypotheses can be applied to the ancient evidence, most of the papers take not only the general perspective, such as the relationship between materials and humans, but also a defined body of evidence - material, textual and visual through which they address the issue. This volume represents a first attempt to conceptualise the construction and use of composite artefacts: the richness of approaches, the development of new issues depending on specific case studies, and the overturning of widely accepted ideas, show the interest towards this category of objects and the opportunity to enlarge this field study in the future.

Sepphoris was an important Galilean site from Hellenistic to early Islamic times. This multicultural city is described by Flavius Josephus as the “ornament of all Galilee,� and Rabbi Judah the Prince (ha-Nasi) codified the Mishnah there around 200 CE. The Duke University excavations of the 1980s and 1990s uncovered a large corpus of clay oil lamps in the domestic area of the western summit, and this volume presents these vessels. Richly illustrated with photos and drawings, it describes the various shape-types and includes a detailed catalog of 219 lamps. The volume also explores the origins of the Sepphoris lamps and establishes patterns of their trade, transport, and sale in the lower city’s marketplace. A unique contribution is the use of a combined petrographic and direct current plasma-optical emission spectrometric (dcp-oes) analysis of selected lamp fabrics from sites in Israel and Jordan. This process provided valuable information, indicating that lamps found in Sepphoris came from Judea, the Decapolis, and even Greece, suggesting an urban community fully engaged with other regional centers. Lamp decorations also provide information about the cosmopolitan culture of Sepphoris in antiquity. Discus lamps with erotic scenes and mythological characters suggest Greco-Roman influences, and menorahs portrayed on lamps indicate a vibrant Jewish identity.

‘Isaac went out to the field (Genesis 24:63)’ is a collection of 28 articles by 47 authors from research institutions in Israel and around the world honoring Professor Isaac Gilead on the occasion of his 71st birthday. The authors include the honoree’s mentors, colleagues, and students. Most of the articles deal with archaeological subjects, especially prehistoric and proto-historic archaeology, which are the focus of the honoree’s teaching and research. Reflecting the broad horizons of Gilead’s interests, the volume also includes studies in other subjects including the Bible and the ancient Near East, Second Temple literature, the history of biblical exegesis, and the influence of the Bible on contemporary Hebrew Literature.

Located at the margins of the Rub Al-Khali desert, a place of interactions between settled and nomadic populations, the Adam oasis occupies a pivotal role in the history of Oman. However, almost nothing was known about its foundation and early developments. In 2006, the French Archaeological Mission in Central Oman began the exploration of the area. After ten years of field research using innovative methods and technologies, much is now revealed about the importance of Adam in the prehistory and early history of Oman. This is the first monograph about the research carried out at Adam and it includes seven chapters written by specialists directly involved in the field activities. Each major period is described in detail, including evidence of Palaeolithic occupation, Neolithic settlements, Early and Middle Bronze Age necropolises, Iron Age ritual sites and also an ethnographic study of the traditional water sharing within the oasis.

Politics of the past: The Representation of the Ancient Empires by Iran's Modern States' examines the highly problematic politics of the past surrounding the archaeology of ancient empires in Iran. Being indigenous, the authors regard the relations between archaeological remains, (negative) heritage, and modern strategies of suppression. The chapters provide a detailed analysis of how the practice of archaeology could be biased and ideologically charged. Discussing their own personal and professional experiences, the authors exemplify the real (ethical) dilemmas that archaeologists confront in the Middle East, calling for reflectivity and awareness among the archaeologists of the region. The text is accompanied by visual deconstruction of ancient rock reliefs to indicate the possibility of alternative histories.

Der vorliegende Sammelband prasentiert die Ergebnisse des 2015 und daruber hinaus vom Institut fur die Kulturen des Alten Orients der Universitat Tubingen durchgefuhrten Surveys in Al-Khashbah, einem der groessten fruhbronzezeitlichen Fundorte auf der Omanischen Halbinsel. Zehn Monumentalgebaude, 273 Graber sowie weitere Bauwerke aus der Hafit- (3100-2700 v. Chr.) und Umm an-Nar-Zeit (2700-2000 v. Chr.) konnten hier dokumentiert werden. Dadurch ist Al-Khashbah pradestiniert fur die Untersuchung der Anfange komplexer Siedlungen und Gesellschaftsstrukturen im noerdlichen Inner-Oman am UEbergang vom 4. zum 3. Jahrtausend v. Chr., denn viele der bislang der Umm an-Nar-Zeit zugeschriebenen Errungenschaften, so zum Beispiel die Monumentalarchitektur und das Schmelzen von Kupfer, sind hier bereits in der vorausgehenden Hafit-Zeit nachweisbar. In der Umm an-Nar-Zeit setzt sich die Entwicklung Al-Khashbahs kontinuierlich fort, wodurch der Fundplatz zusatzlich an Bedeutung gewinnt. Nach den Ergebnissen des Surveys scheint die Kupferproduktion vor Ort in dieser Zeit aber keine Rolle mehr zu spielen. Aus den auf die fruhe Bronzezeit folgenden Epochen des 2. und 1. Jahrtausends v. Chr. sowie des 1. und 2. Jahrtausends n. Chr. gibt es in Al-Khashbah nur ausserst wenige Befunde. Erst im 18.-20. Jahrhundert n. Chr. erfahrt der Ort eine intensive Wiederbelebung, wovon insbesondere die alte Lehmziegelsiedlung im Norden der Palmenoase, eine kleine Siedlung im Osten des Untersuchungsgebiets, eine Reihe von Bewasserungsanlagen, mehrere Friedhoefe, Petroglyphen sowie zahlreiche an der Oberflache gefundene spatislamische Keramikscherben zeugen.

Recent excavations on the border between Jordan and Syria have uncovered ancient building ruins that provide interesting materials revealing the domestic and working lives of the people who settled within the valley of Tall al Fukhar in Wadi ash-Shallale. The volume provides a detailed and thorough examination of the excavations conducted between 1990 and 2002. The Scandinavian expedition, located on a 375m natural spur, revealed a rare quantity of pottery, antiques and ancient building structures that provided archaeologists with an insight into the social, economic and material developments that emerged from the Early Bronze Age 3600 BC. Tall al-Fukhar commemorates centuries of historical artefacts that document the alternations mankind made to improve living standards, constructing modern day life as we know it.

This volume brings together 22 of the papers presented at a conference held in Esztergom, Hungary, in May 2018 to coincide with the 800th anniversary of the crusade of King Andrew II of Hungary to the Holy Land in 1217-18. The theme, Bridge of Civilizations, was chosen to highlight aspects of the links and contrasts between Europe and the areas around the eastern Mediterranean that were visited and occupied by western crusaders and settlers in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, giving special attention to the evidence provided by archaeology and material culture, as well as historical sources. The results of the joint Syrian-Hungarian Archaeological Mission (SHAM) to the Hospitaller castle of Margat (al-Marqab) highlighted in this volume include an up-to-date overview of the structural development of the site from 1187 to 1285, as well as particular studies of the wall paintings, cooking installations and pottery. SHAM's recent rescue work at Crac des Chevaliers also provides the basis for studies of the water-management system and medieval burials revealed in its courtyard, while other papers examine the masonry marks and surviving evidence of medieval trebuchet damage at both castles. Other papers focus on the medieval castles of Karak (Jordan) and Jubayl (Lebanon), the medieval buildings of Latakia (Syria), the impact of the Crusades on buildings in Cairo, historic bridges in Lebanon, the medieval chapels of Yanouh-Mghayreh and Edde-Jbeil (Lebanon), piscinas in Crusader churches in the East, the images of donors found in medieval Lebanese churches, and the activity of late thirteenth-century Western metal-workers in Cyprus. Papers focusing more particularly on historical sources include a new edition of a late eleventh- to twelfth-century pilgrimage itinerary from Hungary to the Holy Land, a discussion of two minor military orders in Hungary, and the portrayal of Sultan al-Kamil in a contemporary western account of the Fifth Crusade.

This study serves as a source book on domestic food storage in Ancient Israel and Judah by outlining important ethnographic and ancient textual and pictorial sources relevant to the discussion. These allow us to understand the motivated actions in relation to food storage, and the significance of food storage in daily life. On the basis of twenty-two well-excavated buildings from thirteen Iron Age sites, representative archaeological data is examined. For each house the total preserved food storage capacity is calculated, activity areas are identified, and specific patterns are noted. Food storage equipment, the location and role of food storage in the household, and the integration with other activities are analysed. Storage rooms were often located at the margins of houses, but a considerable part of the stored food was kept in other activity areas toward the centre. The data indicates that in Iron Age I food was stored mainly domestically or in shared community facilities, while redistributive food storage became more common in Iron Age II, with significant domestic storage continuing. The ideal of self-sufficiency remained.

Since the beginning of Gandharan studies in the nineteenth century, chronology has been one of the most significant challenges to the understanding of Gandharan art. Many other ancient societies, including those of Greece and Rome, have left a wealth of textual sources which have put their fundamental chronological frameworks beyond doubt. In the absence of such sources on a similar scale, even the historical eras cited on inscribed Gandharan works of art have been hard to place. Few sculptures have such inscriptions and the majority lack any record of find-spot or even general provenance. Those known to have been found at particular sites were sometimes moved and reused in antiquity. Consequently, the provisional dates assigned to extant Gandharan sculptures have sometimes differed by centuries, while the narrative of artistic development remains doubtful and inconsistent. Building upon the most recent, cross-disciplinary research, debate and excavation, this volume reinforces a new consensus about the chronology of Gandhara, bringing the history of Gandharan art into sharper focus than ever. By considering this tradition in its wider context, alongside contemporary Indian art and subsequent developments in Central Asia, the authors also open up fresh questions and problems which a new phase of research will need to address. Problems of Chronology in Gandharan Art is the first publication of the Gandhara Connections project at the University of Oxford's Classical Art Research Centre, which has been supported by the Bagri Foundation and the Neil Kreitman Foundation. It presents the proceedings of the first of three international workshops on fundamental questions in the study of Gandharan art, held at Oxford in March 2017.

Khirbat Faris: Rural Settlement, Continuity and Change in Southern Jordan. The Nabatean to Modern Periods (1st century BC - 20th century AD) is the first of three volumes which chart the temporal, and spatial, occupational fluctuations at the site of Khirbat Faris in Southern Jordan and the stories of the communities that lived there. The detailed final excavation report follows the site and its environs throughout their many phases of use and occupation, from the 13th century BC to the present day. It provides a firm foundation for the succeeding discussions on key questions affecting our picture of the Nabatean, Late Antique and Islamic Levant. This well-illustrated book is essential reading for archaeologists, architectural historians, historical geographers, ethnographers: for anyone trying to understand the impact of varied environmental, social and economic forces upon settlement; for anyone seeking to unravel ways in which the use of ethnographic and historical data, together with archaeology and the types of excavation and analysis employed, can best respond to questions about rural settlement; for anyone eager to unpick the relationship between 'The Desert' and 'The Sown', between nomad and farmer, between tribe and state, between Christianity and Islam.

This is the first full biography of James Rendel Harris (1852-1941), Bible and patristic scholar, manuscript collector, Quaker theologian, devotional writer, traveller, folklorist, and relief worker. Drawing on published and unpublished sources gathered in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, many of which were previously unknown, Alessandro Falcetta tells the story of Harris's life and works set against the background of the cultural and political life of contemporary Britain. Falcetta traces the development of Harris's career from Cambridge to Birmingham, the story of his seven journeys to the Middle East, and of his many campaigns, from religious freedom to conscientious objection. The book focuses upon Harris's innovative contributions in the field of textual and literary criticism, his acquisitions of hundreds of manuscripts from the Middle East, his discoveries of early Christian works - in particular the Odes of Solomon - his Quaker beliefs and his studies in the cult of twins. His enormous output and extensive correspondence reveal an indefatigable genius in close contact with the most famous scholars of his time, from Hort to Harnack, Nestle, the 'Sisters of Sinai', and Frazer.

Collections management practice is an often ignored aspect of archaeological research and salvage activities in many Middle Eastern countries, yet literally thousands of artefacts are recovered every year with no real strategies for managing them sustainably into the future. In this guide, archaeologist Dianne Fitzpatrick sees archaeological collections management not in terms of a last-ditch effort to solve on-site storage crises and preservation problems at the end of a project, but as a means of integrating achievable good-practice strategies into research designs and site management plans from the start, or for that matter, at any time that assist project directors and local Antiquities Directorates. Strategies designed to protect and preserve ensure the cultural significance and research potential of artefacts is maintained throughout the archaeological process and encourages those creating, managing and preserving archaeological collections to work toward the same goals. Merging together conservation-led principles with current on-site practice in a practical manner, Managing Archaeological Collections in Middle Eastern Countries aims to be a good practice standard or checklist.

Cited by al-Muqaddasi in c.985 and then by al-Idrisi in c.1150, the medieval port of Sharma was discovered in 1996 at the extremity of the Ra's Sharma, 50km east of al-Shihr on the Hadramawt coast of Yemen; it was excavated in 2001-2005. This unique site was actually a transit entrepot, a cluster of warehouses probably founded by Iranian merchants and entirely devoted to the maritime trade. It knew a rather short period of activity, between around 980 and the second half of the 12th century, which may be acknowledged as the Sharma horizon. Excavations proved that this settlement experienced six occupation phases, which are closely related to the political and economic developments in the region at that time. The material is mainly transit merchandises, small objects, resins, glass and pottery; some of the ceramics were locally made, in the nearby kilns of Yadghat, but most (70%) were imported, from all parts of the Indian Ocean from China to East Africa. The typo-chronological study of this closed assemblage brings very precise information on the dating and evolution of the various types recorded, and the historical analyse sheds new light on the history of the Islamic maritime trade in the 10th to 12th centuries. French text throughout.