Introduction
Plan of the structure (T. Sagory).
In 1989, at Rawk, the erosion caused by the overflowing of a seasonal riverbed (Sha'b) revealed three anthropomorphic statuettes placed between two upright stones (Sedov & Saqqaf 1992: 125-29). In 2004, the inhabitants of the same village discovered another statuette at the same location. The director of the Sayun Museum then authorised the French "Jawf-Hadramawt" expedition to study the structure in which these objects were found. Apart from a votive deposit, a rescue excavation also unearthed a set of grave goods.
Description of the structure
The village of Rawk is located in the Wadi 'Idim. It lies at the very foot of the Jôl limestone plateau. The excavated construction is situated in the middle of the modern village. It is an incomplete structure whose western part is missing. The latter has been scraped by the seasonal watercourses of a small sha'b. As for the western part, several soundings show the foundations of a stable built in the 1970s.
The remains consist of five upright stones (P1 to P5) and 4 slabs, superimposed in pairs (D1 to D4). The slabs form a bench and are located to the west of P4 and P5.
Excavation
The upright stones and the slabs were inserted and stuck in a layer of very hard soil consisting of a mix of rounded pebbles and ashy inclusions. This sandy and gravely matrix is the product of water runoff from nearby slopes. Against the foot of P1, in the fill (i.e. 10cm above the base of P1), were discovered several fragments of an adult's skull (aged 16-30 years), and the almost complete skeleton of a child (between 6 months and one year old). These bones were associated with a small bone pendant, an obsidian flake, a knapped flint, a small nucleus and an anthropomorphic statuette (No. 5) set vertically with its face looking towards the south-west. A few centimetres away from the base of P2 was found the lower molar of a bovid. To the west of P4, on slab D1, lay a flint flake and a pottery sherd. Under D3 was found a copper fragment of unidentifiable shape (11.6 x 7.58mm). To the west of the bench, on the sandy interface, had been lain to rest a skull and some bone fragments (part of a collar bone) belonging to a newborn baby (aged 0 to 4 months). The position of the lower part of the baby’s mandible confirms that one is dealing here with primary inhumation in a sealed context. An unstable reddish deposit was visible on some parts of the skull.
In situ: an anthropomorphic statuette
Photograph and drawing of statuette N°5 (T. Sagory and O. Lavigne).
The fifth statuette was discovered during excavation. It is made of yellow granite, without any traces of polishing or painted decoration (H. 209, L. 95; 90mm in width). The head is rounded and the face, whose features are very faint, is not symmetrical and gazes slightly towards the left. The nose is straight and thick. The mouth and eyes are not shown. The shoulders are not symmetrical, the left one being slightly higher and more rounded. The right shoulder is flattened and seems to have been badly carved. In the middle part of the body, the arms form a right angle, but are not identical in length. The hands end in stumps and do not join. In the lower part of the body no motif was carved; moreover the base is rounded. In Yemen, 14 statuettes belonging to this category have been discovered: one in the Hawlan region (De Maigret 1990), four in the Jawf (Robin & Vogt 1997; Reference AudouinAudouin 2005); two in Mareb (Robin & Vogt 1997; Reference AudouinAudouin 2005); three other are of unknown provenance (Newton and Zarins 2000) and four in Rawk (Sedov & Saqqaf 1992).
Conclusion
The originality of the construction at Rawk lies in the fact that it associates in its foundations both a funerary deposit and a group of votive offerings like the bovid tooth and the anthropomorphic statuettes. The structure's function as an open sanctuary is reflected by the presence of a bench and of two upright slabs.
The adult and child's bones in the immediate proximity of statuette 05 have yielded 14C dates of 3499-3198 BC - one standard deviation (1s, Pa 2392). The Rawk monument appears to be one of the first in Yemen to be discovered and attributed to the fourth millennium BC. Even though its preservation is incomplete, it is a unique building that has yielded important elements of information on burial traditions and modes of funerary deposition (primary and secondary), construction techniques (use of megalithic stones, as well as of finer masonry), ancient technology (metals, sculpture and pottery), burial offerings placed jointly with the deceased (bovid tooth, statuette, obsidian flake, pendant and maybe even pigments (?)), on imports into Hadramawt from the Yemeni highlands, both of objects (statuettes) and of raw materials (granite, obsidian). The complexity of funerary ritual associated with the standing stones, as well as the discovery of the group of anthropomorphic statuettes, testify to an elaborate system of beliefs unique to the population of South Arabia in the fourth millennium BC. Monuments like Rawk are a prelude to the appearance on a regional and Arabian scale of a cult of standing stones (baetyls) in the third millennium B.C. The most striking examples are the stone alignments of the Tihama and the Jawf (Bernardelli-Parinello 1971; Bayle de Hermens 1976; Reference KeallKeall 1998; Reference PringlePringle 1998; Reference PhillipsPhillips 1999; Reference KhalidiKhalidi 2005), or the alignments of pillbox structures of the Jebel Ruwaik and Jebel Jidran, whose functions remain mysterious to this day (Reference Steimer-herbetSteimer-Herbet 2004).
