Ce court article veut donner une première idée des anciennes structures de chasse en Arabie du Sud ; cela représente un nouveau sujet de recherche. Les pièges de chasse au Yémen peuvent être comparés aux célèbres desert kites de l’Arabie du Nord. La structure du desert kite du Yémen est fixe : deux longues murailles conduisent à la tête, qui est une structure ouverte avec quelques chambres à gauche, la muraille-guide à droite et la ruelle au milieu. Trois exemples sont exposés en détail. Les desert kites servaient à chasser les gazelles. Ils furent probablement utilisés du Néolithique à la période Sabéenne.

The use of remote sensing in archaeological research leads to a better understanding of the geography of ancient and modern South Arabia. The five main regions are discussed in relation to the conditions for settlement and farming. A case study from the heartland of the Kingdom of Awsān indicates in the lower part of Wādī Marha beginning of irrigation in the second half of the third millenium and an end already in the first half of the first millenium BC. The huge tell of Haǧar Yahirr seems to have been destroyed at the same time, whereas in the upper part of the wadi irrigation and settlements continue till the first centuries AD. On aerial pictures a dozen ancient settlements could be detected and located. Consequently, it may be suggested that Haǧar Yahirr is the site of the capital city of Awsān. The capitals of the ancient South Arabian kingdoms were all located along the most frequented camel route, the incense road. A comparison of the climatic conditions and the irrigation agriculture of Arabia Felix and the Fertile Crescent shows the difficulties of the transfer of know‐how between these two fertile and rich regions on the Arabian Peninsula.

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There is a distinctive type of desert kite in southern Arabia. On low-resolution aerial photographs it has the form of a Y and a closer look reveals a scissor-shaped structure. The head and the tails are very distinctive: the head is an open structure with a continuous wall on the right side and many chambers on the left; the tail consists of many piles of stones arranged in a straight line, and only towards the head does it change into a continuous wall. These impressions, together with the-now known-wide distribution of desert kites in non-arid regions as well, lead to the idea that the stone alignments of Carnac in France could also have served as animal traps.

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