Palaeography of the Ancient South Arabian script. New evidence for an absolute chronology

Abstract

The chronology of the Ancient South Arabian civilisation in the first millennium BC has always been based on palaeography. In the past, however, palaeographical comparison of the extant inscriptions was in fact the only reliable tool for historical reconstruction of that period; absolute dates were confined to the alleged synchronism of the Sabaean ruler Karibʾil Watar in Assyrian sources in the early seventh century BC. Only recently have some Ancient South Arabian inscriptions come to light, which are dated according to an absolute (foreign) era and thus allow us, for the first time, to determine the absolute date of a particular ductus of the script in that period. Furthermore, the radiocarbon analyses of a number of inscribed wooden sticks from ancient Yemen have helped to establish a reliable chronology for this particular type of documentation as well (see Drewes et al., this volume). Based on this new evidence, the paper gives a general overview of the development of the Ancient South Arabian script from its emergence in the late second millennium BC up to the latest instances in the mid-sixth century AD. The different periods of both monumental and minuscule variants of this script are characterised by representative examples of established chronology in order to provide some reliable cornerstones for dating epigraphic material from pre-Islamic Yemen.