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Analysis, carried out within a wide chronological framework, of the variability of technological modalities for the lithic industries known from Yemen to date, has allowed a certain 'fine-tuning' in terms of our knowledge of the regional prehistory of Yemen. This research is founded on the definition of the environmental context of the region and the methodologies used for fieldwork and analysis. A focus on the Hadramawt region follows, which is used as a strong model for defining and orienting questions related to the transformations of the role occupied by southwest Arabia throughout prehistory. Starting with the oldest recovered prehistoric lithic artefacts (Acheulian bifaces and Levallois methods) to the youngest (South Arabian microliths), and with an intensive focus on the intermediate Early to Mid- Holocene industries, this work temporally traces a large corpus of prehistoric knapping modalities in Hadramawt and compares these to adjacent regions in Yemen. The temporal and spatial analysis of lithic technologies has enabled for a number of models of prehistoric occupation and dispersal to be proposed for Yemen. At the same time, the discovery and excavation of several stratified prehistoric sites has allowed for a reassessment and restructuring of the chronology and terminology used for the region, as well as introducing new research perspectives that have, until now, been undervalued. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

An Apprpriate Desceiption of Labour Government in the Mid-Sixties
The closing years of British presence in South Arabia were remarkable for the lack of vision an aptitude on the part of Laour government that came into power in 1964. The authors capture a glimpse of the scale of damage the myobic decision of Wislon's government has caused not only to South Arabia but also to the British reputation as steadfast friends.

The authors, from their prespective, have done a good job of describing the shameful abandonment of friends in Arbia but fail to describe fully the inculcable damage such shameful policies have brought to the people of the Federation of South Arabia and Aden.

On the whole, however, the book is a good read and I find the title is atelescopic summary of the end of the British Empire. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Midstream, published by Theodor Herzl Foundation on May 1, 2000. The length of the article is 3837 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Jewish Kingdom of Himyar (Yemen): Its Rise and Fall.
Author: Joseph Adler
Publication: Midstream (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 1, 2000
Publisher: Theodor Herzl Foundation
Volume: 46Issue: 4Page: 28

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This digital document is an article from APS Diplomat Fate of the Arabian Peninsula, published by Thomson Gale on June 26, 2006. The length of the article is 721 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: YEMEN - The North-South Merger & Challenges.(Yemeni Unification, 1990)
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication: APS Diplomat Fate of the Arabian Peninsula (Newsletter)
Date: June 26, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 51Issue: 6

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This digital document is an article from APS Diplomat Fate of the Arabian Peninsula, published by Pam Stein/Input Solutions on July 17, 2000. The length of the article is 798 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: YEMEN - Economic Reform.(Brief Article)
Publication: APS Diplomat Fate of the Arabian Peninsula (Newsletter)
Date: July 17, 2000
Publisher: Pam Stein/Input Solutions
Volume: 40Issue: 1Page: NA

Article Type: Brief Article

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Almost totally isolated from the modern world and modern politics until the overthrow of the imamate in 1962, contemporary Yemen provides a unique historical laboratory for the student of politics and socio-economic modernisation. ... Read more

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The prospect of unification of the Yemen in 1990 prompted the beginning of work on this collection which is likely to remain unrivalled as the definitive source work for the history of the region. Five years of research, including privileged access to ancient and fragile archives now closed to public view, have culminated in an extensive collection of key original documents reproduced in facsimile from British government files, detailing the history of the affairs of the Imams of Sana'a and the Aden Colony and Protectorate. The important historical material in this work provides scholars, administrators and diplomats with an extensive and importance repertoire of primary documents reflecting the history of the Yemen. The editor, the late Doreen Ingams, and her husband Harold, the distinguished administrator, traveller and writer, first came to Aden in 1934 and were the first Europeans to live in Hadhramawt. ... Read more

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Chaos in Yemen challenges recent interpretations of Yemen’s complex social, political and economic transformations since unification in 1990. By offering a new perspective to the violence afflicting the larger region, it explains why the ‘Abdullah ‘Ali Salih regime has become the principal beneficiary of these conflicts.

Adopting an inter-disciplinary approach, the author offers an alternative understanding of what is creating discord in the Red Sea region by integrating the region’s history to an interpretation of current events. In turn, by refusing to solely link Yemen to the "global struggle against Islamists," this work sheds new light on the issues policy-makers are facing in the larger Middle East. As such, this study offers an alternative perspective to Yemen’s complex domestic affairs that challenge the over-emphasis on the tribe and sectarianism.

Offering an alternative set of approaches to studying societies facing new forms of state authoritarianism, this timely contribution will be of great relevance to students and scholars of the Middle East and the larger Islamic world, Conflict Resolution, Comparative Politics, and International Relations.

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This digital document is an article from Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 3547 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Advances in technology continue to accelerate the pace at which people and companies are doing business with entities in foreign countries. As a result, the demand for comprehensive, up-to-date economic information about foreign companies has increased as well. The Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies satisfies this immediate need and provides a thorough understanding of the current and historical economic development of foreign nations. Clearly arranged by country within broad geographic regions, the Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies provides accurate, in-depth analysis of each country's economic environment, reliable statistics on the country's current economic conditions and trends and key demographics of the nation's citizens. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Journal of Social Sciences, published by Thomson Gale on July 1, 2007. The length of the article is 2334 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: Key words: Building material, concrete block, Yemen architecture

Citation Details
Title: Old and modern construction materials in Yemen: the effect in building construction in Sana'a.
Author: Issa A. M. Al_Kahtani
Publication: Journal of Social Sciences (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 3Issue: 3Page: 138(5)

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This digital document is an article from World Education Encyclopedia, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 6943 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.This country-by-country survey of educational systems provides detailed essays on the histories, legal foundations, and primary and secondary educational systems of 233 countries. This edition provides up-to-date coverage of reorganized educational systems and technological advances. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Countries and Their Cultures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 2261 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Covers the broad range of popular religious culture of the United States at the close of the twentieth century. Beliefs, practices, symbols, traditions, movements, organizations, and leaders from the many traditions in the pluralistic American community are represented. Also includes cults and phenomena that drew followers, such as Heaven's Gale and UFOs. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 4398 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices provides information on current religious practices around the world with an emphasis on how religions impact the daily lives of their followers. Included are detailed entries on 13 major religions, such as Christianity and Islam, and entries on 28 religious subgroups, such as Shi'ites or Baptists.Provides Date of Origin, Dietary Practices, Number of Followers, Social Aspects, Controversial Issues, Major Theologians and Authors, Cultural Impact, Houses of Worship, Holy Places, What is Sacred, Rituals, Rites of Passage, Festivals and Holidays, Membership, Social Justice, Modes of Dress and Founder.Also includes significant religions in 193 countries that detail History, Political Impact, Other Religions, Religious Tolerance and more. ... Read more

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Examining the unification process between North and South Yemen, this study begins with the preparations during the 1970s and '80s, which preceded union in 1990. It then examines the subsequent evolution of unity and the problems which led to internal war and the occupation of South Yemen by North Yemeni forces in 1994, concluding with some thoughts on the implications of this forced unity. Within the broad context of post-Cold War conditions, the Gulf War and inter-Arab relations, Yemeni hopes for unification are examined, as are the reasons why these were to be frustrated, with the co-existence of two rival state systems and communities. Attention is paid to the role of Islamic and tribal groups and values, and special emphasis is placed on the convulsions accompanying democratization. ... Read more

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Yemen is arguably the most fascinating and least known country in the Arab world. Classical geography described it as a fabulous land where flying serpents guarded incense groves. Medieval Arab visitors told of disappearing islands and menstruating mountains. Our current ideas of this country at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula have been overrun by images of the desert, by oil, by the Gulf War-but there is another Arabia. Writing with an intimacy and a depth of knowledge gained through thirteen years among the Yemenis, Mackintosh-Smith is a traveling companion of the best sort-erudite, witty, and eccentric. Crossing mountain, desert, ocean, and three millennia of history, he reveals a land that, in the words of a contemporary poet, has become the dictionary of its people. In Yemen: The Unknown Arabia we witness the extraordinary in the ordinary. Yemen is a part of Arabia, but it is like no place on earth, and Yemen is a book in which every page is filled-like the land it describes-with the marvelous.Amazon.com Review
Englishman Tim Mackintosh-Smith was studying Arabic at Oxfordwhen he visited Yemen, a forgotten country at the heel of the Arabianpeninsula, and became obsessed with the place and its language. He'slived there since 1982, and this book--marketed as travel writing butmore a blend of personal memoir and national history--is theresult. There are certainly travel episodes, such as a trip to theremote island of Susqatra where the Gulf of Aden meets the IndianOcean. Yet Yemen is more the product of a man gone native thana visitor with an itinerary. Indeed, Mackintosh-Smith offers aforthright defense of the country's lotus-like drug culture, whichcenters on qat, a leaf that produces a narcotic effect whenchewed. "We qat chewers, if we are to believe everything thatis said about us, are at best profligates, at worst irretrievablesinners," he writes. Although international health officials havewarned against the drug, Mackintosh-Smith assures us this is all"quasi-scientific poppycock." The leaf, he says, helps its users to"think, work, and study." Yemen is surely an exotic land, and one ofits charms--fully revealed in Mackintosh-Smith's digressive prose--isthe way it has remained quaintly Arabic and seemingly immune to themodern forces transforming its neighbors. Well-received upon itsinitial publication in the United Kingdom, Yemen may come to berecognized as a small classic. --John J. Miller ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Travels in Dictionary Land, if by another name
Very much a British Arabist travelogue, and as Sir Charles Doughty, Sir Richard Burton, Wilfred Thesiger, Freya Stark, and T.E. Lawrence-- and perhaps less fervently so Jonathan Raban-- have demonstrated the past century-and-a-half, Mackintosh-Smith takes the trouble to enter the culture. He learns the language, and this account of what the British edition called "Travels in Dictionary Land" is what made me seek this book out. His explanation of the nuances and ambiguities of Arabic remains, five years at least since I read this, the most vivid characteristic of this narrative.

His visit to the island of Socotra, by its natural contrasts with mainland Yemen, intrigued me. Here, perhaps freed from some of the constraints of the interior of the nation, it appeared to me that the author allowed himself a sense of adventure that parts of the dominant narrative, landlocked, did not spark in him. He does make you wonder, as with many earlier British Arabists, about his motives in separating himself from his native land. His reserve remains coy, although it appears that part of this may be--as with some of his predecessors-- that his sexuality may lead him into compromising or dangerous situations. This is hinted at more than discussed and adds a frisson to this somewhat antique mode of storytelling of a foreigner's long sojourns, his nearly three decades spent in such forbidding lands, trying to "pass."

This and his sequel of sorts (also reviewed by me) "Travels with a Tangerine" which attempts to follow the medieval Ibn Batutta's route across Asia, are recommended with therefore slight reservation. The amount of disclosure on the part of those he meets balances with the author's own reticence. He deploys himself rigorously, and part of the charm and a bit of the frustration of his two books taken together is this stance that he assumes.

eh
I suppose I expected a bit more with this book, I mean, it was okay...the author provided a concise conveyance of the history and culture, but I have a hard time believing that the Yemenis are steeped in such ridiculous superstition (mostly because I'm of Yemenite descent myself.)I further was deeply annoyed by his generalist comments not only concerning the Yemeni people, but particularly the Hadramis; for me it bordered on rascist.I also which he spoke more about the people and customs of Socotra, and what the indigenous Socotri language sounded like as opposed to Arabic.But obviously the author loves his adopted homeland or he would've left it a long time ago.

Entertaining travelogue about Yemen
This is a travelogue of a Brit's visit to and exploration of Yemen.The author paints a beautiful and romantic picture of Yemen with text that is both easy and enjoyable to read.I knew virtually nothing about Yemen before reading this book, and I purchased it from Amazon on a whim.I was not disappointed.Although there is some discussion of history and politics in this book, the author's primary emphasis is describing the scenery, the people, and the culture that he has experienced on his travels.If the author's goal was to convey a bit of the complexity of Yemeni culture, some of the natural beauty of the Yemeni landscape to a Western audience, and a part of the rich history of Yemen, he has succeeded.I found the author's description of a sailing trip to Suqutra, an island off the coast of Yemen, to be particularly evocative.The `ritual' of qat was also surprising and interesting.I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about Yemen from a Westerner's viewpoint, particularly if one looking for an entertaining, not scholarly, account.Some of the less enthusiastic reviews of this book state that the account is too idealistic.This is probably a fair criticism, but I do not view this as a drawback in this type of book.

decent book at best
Apparently a reprinted version of Travels in Dictionary Land (if it was different i didn't notice) it gives a good historical and social look at Yemen but mostly in an overly exotic manner. The book and its many anecdotes, however, are very useful as a basis for further research.The chapter on traveling to Socotra is fascinating as well.At times, the reading seemed difficult to an American who is not accustomed to British humor or idioms, but rarely is the meaning lost.While this book is good for light reading or to get an idea of some of the historical, geographical and social aspects of Yemen, the idealistic vision of traditionalism grows tiring.If you're looking for serious commentary on what it is like to live and work as a foreigner in modern day Yemen, look elsewhere.

excellent travel book on a truly unknown part of Arabia
Often times reviled throughout history as a backwater, often backward, author Tim Mackintosh-Smith does a wonderful job in showing Yemen as an intriguing land, an unknown section of Arabia, bringing to the reader some of the history, culture, people, and geography of this much neglected corner of the Middle East.

Mackintosh-Smith provides an excellent primer of Yemni history. Yemen we find out once hosted powerful pre-Islamic civilizations, South Arabian states like Saba, Ma'in (whose massive and expertly produced stone works later overawed the Romans), Qaban, and Hadramawt, wealthy merchant kingdoms that grew rich on their tight control of aromatic gums - particularly frankincense and myrrh as well as cinnamon brought from India - in great demand among the Pharaonic Egyptians for medicine and for the process of mummification, by the Assyrians, by the Greeks, the Romans, the ancient kingdoms growing rich on spices rather than oil. Many of the lands were cultivated thanks to the Marib Dam - a massive structure that finally collapsed in the sixth century, that according to legend was destroyed by a rat with iron teeth - or to very impressive irrigation works, via stone tunnels cut into the living rocks of the mountains, some tunnels 150 yards long and big enough to drive a car through and still used to supply water to highland villages over 2000 years after they were built.With the collapse of this civilization - linked by many to the collapse of the Marib Dam - there was a Yemeni diaspora of sorts, as many Yemenis were in the vanguard of the early conquering armies of Islam, spreading throughout the Arab world as far as East Africa, Ethiopia, Iraq, Syria, Tunisia, and even Spain. Later on the Rasulid sultans ruled southern Yemen between the 13th and 15th centuries, making their capital of Ta'izz a wealthy and cosmopolitan capital, its rulers patrons of many of the sciences, producing astrolabes and magnetic compasses while the rest of the Islamic world was in ruins thanks to the Mongols.Modern Yemeni history is also well covered though I found it at times confusing.

The author visited many areas of Yemen. He hiked down canyons and dry wadi (seasonally dry river beds), warned by the locals of the tahish, a cow-sized, hyena like Yemeni bogeyman, though more likely in danger of the sayl, a roaring chest-high wall of water that can suddenly fill canyons thanks to distant highland rains. He viewed many mountain villages and homes perched precariously over such wadi, its citizens living on centuries-old terraces carved into the mountain, designed to catch and slow the descent of every bit of precious water that rains upon the mountains.He sampled a great variety of Yemeni foods, such as saltah (stew based on vegetables and broth topped by hulbah,fenugreek flour whisked to a froth with water), rawbah (soured milk from which the fat has been removed to make butter, popular on the island of Suqutra), qishr (a drink made from the husks of coffee beans, the bean of which have long been a major Yemeni export), and baghiyyah honey, said to the finest in the world and produced only in Yemen by bees pasturing only on ilb trees. He encountered a few of the Jews of Yemen, only a few thousand of which are left, identified by their corkscrew curl side locks. He viewed a bara', an Islamic tribal festival still practiced in the mountains, looking like a dance but more akin to a medieval tournament, a place to display skill with weapons and with heavy connotations of honor and tribal solidarity. He wrote of the qabili - the mountain tribesmen - who are regarded by city dwellers as yokels but also regarded with pride as part of their ancestry, regarding them as honorable people, ones practicing great hospitality to strangers, with many symbolically becoming a tribesmen by adoption of the asib, the tribesman's upright dagger. He visited those who were sayyid, male descendents of the Prophet, often whom devote their lives to Qur'anic knowledge, forming a class that has long had a critical role in Yemeni politics and religion. He visited Aden, one of the greatest ports in the world, its "craggy profile" formed by volcanic activity, a weird city thanks to local topography, not "one city but a series of settlements separated by outriders of the central peak, Jabal Shamsan," many of those settlements quite distinct in character, a city once contested by the Ottomans, the French, and held by the British for the better part of two centuries. He visited two sub-cultures within Yemen that don't always Arabic; the Mahris, located east of Hud along al-Masilah, racially distinct and following the very un-Arabic matrilineal descent system, and the native peoples of Suqutra, who until relatively recently many did not speak Arabic at all but rather Suqutri. Indeed the Island of Suqutra, once called the Island of Dragon's Blood thanks to one of its most famous exports, a blood red resin from the dragon's blood tree (_Dracaena cinnabari_, actually a member of the Lily family), is the subject of the last chapter, an island 260 miles from the Yemeni mainland, closer to Somalia than to Yemen, a country that once practiced very un-Islamic adult public circumcisions and witch trails into the late 1960s.

Well covered is one of the most famous and unique aspects of Yemeni culture, the chewing of qat. A dicotyledon known to science as _Catha edulis_, it is chewed by groups of men socially, the qat chews often important arenas for the transaction of business, discussions of politics and religion, to accompany weddings and funerals, or simply to unwind with friends. Qat is recognized to have a huge variety of sub-types by many Yemeni connoisseurs, with many esoteric rules; qat from a tree over a grave is to be avoided, and qat from lower branches (qatal) is the least prized of qat.

I really enjoyed this book, which boasted some interesting sketch book type illustrations, a glossary, and a good bibliography. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Volume: 2; Original Published by: E. J. Brill in 1907 in 377 pages; Subjects: Yemen; Foreign Language Study / Arabic; History / Middle East / General; ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Publisher: E. J. Brill; Publication date: 1908; Subjects: Arabic language; Yemen; Yemen (Republic); Foreign Language Study / Arabic; History / Middle East / General; ... Read more