Mission archéologique de Madain Salih (Arabie Saoudite) : Recherches menées de 2001 à 2003 dans l'ancienne Hijrsa des Nabatéens (1)

Abstract

Mission archéologique de Mad a)in S@ alih@ (Arabie Saoudite) : Recherches menées de 2001 à 2003 dans l'ancienne H@ ijr a des Nabatéens (1) Hégra, H@ ijr a, al-H@ ijr, Mad a)in S@ alih@ , quatre noms différents pour désigner l'un des sites archéologiques majeurs d'Arabie Saoudite et le site nabatéen le plus important après la capitale du royaume, Pétra, en Jordanie. Cela est dû non seulement à la quantité de vestiges qui y ont été découverts mais également aux informations qu'il est à même de livrer, notamment -mais pas seulement, nous le verrons -du fait de la présence d'un ensemble épigraphique nabatéen sans équivalent ailleurs. C'est enfin le site nabatéen le plus méridional de la Nabatène.Le site appartient au domaine géographique de l'Arabie du Nord-Ouest (Fig. 1). Il se trouve à environ 400 km au nord-ouest de Médine et à This contribution presents the preliminary results of the Mad a)in S@ alih@ archaeological project, which started in 2001 and which, in December 2004, completed its fourth field season. The aims of this five-year project are a systematic recording of the archaeological remains at the site as well as an analysis of its agricultural potential. The former include not only the tombs, sanctuaries, wells, quarries, walls, buildings, etc., but also the inscriptions written in various scripts and languages. Parallel to this exploration of what is visible on the surface, an extensive geophysical survey was undertaken in the so-called residential area, in the central part of the site, in order to obtain an image of the sub-surface remains. This contribution begins with a presentation of the sources, followed by a brief history of the exploration of Mad a)in S@ alih@ . The focus is on the conditions which allowed this project to be established as well as the problematics which guided it. J.-B. Rigot then presents his analysis of the agricultural potential of the site, demonstrating the existence, in antiquity, of a large oasis. Finally, a preliminary description of the main components of the sites: the necropoleis, the sanctuaries and the residential area, is given.

The settlement patterns of north‐eastern and south‐eastern Arabia in late antiquity

“…The development of towns from such a distribution of separated plots, corresponding to different families or clans, is characteristic of desertic Arabia (Bianquis 1985: 238; Dentzer 2000: 162). The most recent study of the urbanisation of Shabwa, capital of the Hadramawt in antiquity, confirms this pattern, and the same applies to Madâ’in Sâlih, where geophysical survey revealed a town made up of groups of buildings, separated from each other yet generally compact (Breton 2000: 855–857; Nehmé et al 2006: 112–113). The same pattern can be found throughout mediaeval and modern times.…”

Cottoning on to Cotton (Gossypium spp.) in Arabia and Africa During Antiquity

“…The city of Madâ'in Sâlih, the ancient Hegra, is located in north-western Saudi Arabia, on a vast sandy plain surrounded by mountain massifs (Nehmé et al 2006;Courbon 2008). Occupied since the 4 th -3 rd century BC (Durand and Gerber 2014), it was densely inhabited from at least the 2 nd -1 st centuries BC to the mid-4 th century AD.…”

“…From the 1 st century BC to the 1 st century AD, the town was at the southern limit of the Nabataean kingdom, on the route between Petra-the Nabataean capital-and Arabia Felix, before being integrated into the Roman Province Arabia (Arabia Petraea) after the annexation of the Nabataean kingdom in 106 AD. The work of the Franco-Saudi project, directed by L. Nehmé, D. al-Tahli and F. Villeneuve (2008-present) has revealed the existence of a residential area that was continuously inhabited from the earliest period, 4 th -3 rd century BC, to Late Antiquity (Nehmé et al 2006(Nehmé et al , 2011. Monumental tombs carved into sandstone cliffs, mainly used during the 1 st -3 rd centuries AD, surround the residential area (Nehmé 2015).…”

Les puits nabatéens de Mad in āli (Arabie Saoudite)

“…La présence d'encoches a été signalée dans le rapport sur la campagne 2004 de la mission (Nehmé et al. 2006), où elles sont décrites de la manière suivante: « presque tous les puits mixtes présentent, dans la partie rupestre, deux séries d'encoches destinées à faciliter l'accès au fond.…”

“…À l'issue de la campagne 2003 de la Mission archéologique de Madin āli, l'ancienne Hégra, Jean‐Baptiste Rigot, chargé de l’étude géoarchéologique du site, a proposé une première synthèse sur ce thème parue dans le volume 2006 de la revue Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy (Nehmé et al. 2006: 54–73).…”