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Following a 40-year tradition of research conducted by the University of Naples L’Orientale in the Arabian Peninsula, since 2009 the Italian Archaeological Mission in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been carrying out research activities at the site of Dûmat al-Jandal (ancient Adummatu) and in the North Arabian region of Jawf. The research, which initially focused on the ancient oasis and rediscovered major cultural phases from Assyrian times to the advent of Islam, now spans a broader spectrum of contexts and disciplines. Archaeological excavations in the oasis are complemented by restoration and consolidation work (which has already contributed to Dûmat al-Jandal’s entry on the UNESCO Tentative List); as well as remote geoarchaeological activities have been implemented, which have both exponentially enriched the mapping of the region’s cultural heritage, identifying over 18,000 prehistoric sites, and contributed to the training of Italian and Saudi collaborators on the production of remotely sensed archaeological maps based on the use of photointerpretation and remote paleoenvironment recognition. Therefore, this contribution would like to present the most recent scientific activities and major achievements of the Mission, as well as all those activities aimed at enhancing a cultural heritage straddling South-Arabia, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the first results of the joint Omani‐Italian archaeological project at Wādī Banī Ḫālid (northern Šarqiyyah governorate, eastern al‐Ḥaǧar), where a dense Iron Age and ancient Islamic occupation was detected. The aim of the project is the definition of the Iron Age settlement patterns along the eastern al‐Ḥaǧar landscape and its relationship with both the coastal areas and the al‐Ḥaǧar inner piedmont sites of central Oman. In fact, this project follows previous studies of the coastal environment between Muscat and Raʾs al‐Ḥadd, where several seasonal fishermen villages were investigated, and their connections with inner permanent sites, such as Lizq, recognised during the Early Iron Age II (1300–600 BCE). Therefore, Wādī Banī Ḫālid stands as a peculiar case of an Iron Age territorial unit, a natural scenario made of a narrow alluvial valley which provided natural conditions for the development of a complex culture. Moreover, the material culture emerged after a first excavation campaign proved that the main occupational phase of the imposing fortified settlement WBK1 is the Late Iron Age (late first millennium BCE to third–fourth centuries CE), thus hopefully allowing new questions to be posed for the definition of Late Iron Age cultures and the chronology in central Oman, which is mostly known based on the excavation of funerary evidence. For this reason, the first part of the paper focuses on the results of the first season in Wādī Banī Ḫālid, and the second part discusses the links between Wādī Banī Ḫālid and the south‐eastern Arabia general framework during the Late Iron Age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After 2014–2015 field season BMH2 is going to assume a more defined profile within the Iron Age of Southeast Arabia. According to the material culture the village was at its best during the Early Iron Age II, between 1100–600 BCE. During this long time span a complex local society took place thanks to coastal exploitation, agricultural activities and trade. Nonetheless, the transitional periods between the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age I as well as the end of the Early Iron Age and the beginning of the Late Iron Age should be the objects of future excavations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work we analyse the so-called 'construction inscriptions' from domestic buildings. In particular we deal with the inscriptions from domestic buildings from Tamnaʿ, the ancient capital of the Qatabān Kingdom, dated between the fourth century BC and the first century AD, a building located in the site of Darb aṣ-Ṣābi, near Barāqish, dated around the second century BC and a private house in Qaniya dated around the third-second centuries BC. We offer explanations of the lexical differences in the nouns used to indicate parts of buildings, not in terms of chronology, dialect or linguistic variations and influences, but on the basis of the architectonic and structural data available. Starting from the architectonic features (typologies of domestic buildings, different construction techniques, different uses of materials, etc.) we try to explain the differences in terminology concerning the inscriptions found in buildings known to us. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The architectural decorations in pre-Islamic Yemen feature a wide and heterogeneous range of materials. Their many functions cover different fields: domestic, religious, funeral architecture, grave goods (particularly censers and furnishings) and, last but not least, epigraphs. Thus the study of this class of materials requires a two-fold approach: on the one hand to identify and understand the various ornamental motifs in themselves; on the other to study which types of decorative motifs were applied in various circumstances, and hence what it is that links them to each other and to the structure they adorn. This work aims to provide a foundation for a thorough study of the decorative motifs on stonework in various contexts. We begin by defining the use of architectural decorations in the domestic sphere. The archaeological context of the Market Square at Tamna‘ is particularly suitable, in view of the number of houses brought to light, the amount of related materials found and, above all, because it represents a coherent urban context over a specific period of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]