ARCHEOLOGY IN SOUTH ARABIA — VAN BEEK, COLE, AND JAMME 537 



a bone plaque from Mugharet el- Wad (fig. 3 : b) , one of the Mount 

 Carmel caves, and on a basalt bowl from Eynan, Israel; the design 

 of these parallels is more elaborate — and perhaps more advanced — 

 than the Wadi Sarr example, in view of the adjustments in the width 

 of the crenels required by the compression of the crenelated lines which 

 form the basic element of the motif. Wliether the similarities between 

 these structures and designs in Palestine and Hadhramaut are coinci- 

 dental or are evidence of cultural relationship camiot be determined at 

 this time. If a relationship exists — and this is by no means impossi- 

 ble — it may indicate that the Wadi Sarr complex represents a 

 Mesolithic or Neolithic horizon in southern Arabia which may belong 

 somewhere between the eighth and second millennia B.C. 



Another type of site discovered during the reconnaissance usually 

 consists of no more than one building, and is always located near one of 

 the camel tracks leading to the southern coast of Arabia. These sites 

 are invariably situated on the west side of the southern tributaries 

 near their junctions with the main wadi. They occur in every wadi in 

 which there is a caravan track to the plateau ; none was found in wadies 

 which do not provide access to the plateau for camel traffic. The size 

 and strategic location of these sites suggest that they served as cus- 

 toms or guard posts, where import and transit taxes were levied on 

 products consigned to the main wadi and to regions to the north and 

 west of Hadhramaut. One site (pi. 6:1), located in the Qatn area, 

 was built of stone and finished with smooth-dressed stone wall panels. 

 In front of it was a rectangular enclosure formed of large undressed 

 stones, which may have been a corral for caravans in transit, suggest- 

 ing that the site may have served as a caravansary as well as a cus- 

 toms-guard post. Another site, a small stone fort, was situated on 

 the ledge of the lower cliff-forming limestone a few meters from a 

 track which runs along the ledge in its ascent to the plateau. The only 

 artifacts foimd at such sites are sherds and, in one instance, fragments 

 of dressed wall panels. 



In Hadhramaut, the largest and most impressive pre-Islamic re- 

 mains are those of town sites. These sites usually are located either in 

 the middle of the wadi on the silt or close to the cliff wall near the 

 junction of the gravel talus and the silt. In the southern tributary 

 wadies, such as Wadies Du'an and 'Idim, some of these sites attain 

 considerable size; one measures about 600 meters long by 300 meters 

 wide, and the occupation debris reaches a depth of at least 9 

 meters (pi. 6:2). Because of their location on the silt, all sites are 

 badly eroded from the action of flash floods, with the result that 

 each site consists of a series of small mounds separated by gullies of 

 varying depth. Each of these mounds preserves the remains of one or 

 two buildings. At some sites — in addition to natural erosion — seil 

 farming is being carried on in the eroded gullies, exposed dressed 



